Not so Sweet 16 quiz

[rthomas]

A friend of mine sent me this today.
Parity in college basketball.

Okay, quick quiz.
What teams have been to the sweet sixteen each year for the past four years? Think, think.

Can't think of any? You're right - there are none. Zip.

Only five teams have been there three of the past four years:
WVU, Villanova, UCLA, North Carolina, and Memphis.

Ten other teams have been there twice since 2005:
Wisconsin, Washington, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan State, Louisville, Kansas, Georgetown, Florida, and Duke.

There's been only one trip to the sweet sixteen in the same period of time for such storied programs as:
Stanford, Pitt, Ohio State, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Connecticut, and Arizona.

[fan345678]

On the Jacobs piece, keep in mind that after the ACC expanded, the Big East also expanded...to 16!!!

Plus, teams like Marquette, Louisville, and Cincinnati, who used to be in Conference USA (which I assume is counted as a mid-major) are now in the Big East, so their Sweet Sixteen appearances now count for the major conferences rather than the mid-majors, as they did until '04-ish.

[SharkD]

The thing I'm curious about, with regards to Barry's article, is how many teams each of those conferences sent to the round of 64 in each of those years. If the ACC is only fielding 4 teams, but the PAC-10 or BigEast get 6 or 7, that has an effect on the probabilities of getting teams into the Sweet 16, doesn't it?