March Madness Trivia, Question #10

[coolhandgopher]

Final MM trivia question everyone, at least from me.

Whichever team wins tonight's game will bring home the first national championship for that respective program, which is the second straight NCAA tournament where this has occurred (Virginia vs. Texas Tech in 2019).

Prior to the last two tournaments, when was the last year that either of the two teams facing off in the national championship game would bring home the first national championship to their university?

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

UNLV vs Duke

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

I just want to take a moment and thank all the people who never stopped believing in me throughout this contest.

 

[coolhandgopher]

UNLV vs Duke

FoRW, coming on strong at the finish! In fact, I had overlooked that Duke had yet to win the championship in 1990, I was all ready to declare Michigan vs. Seton Hall in 1989 as the correct answer.

Interestingly, from the years 1983-1990, there were four occurrences where you had matchups of teams where neither had won a national championship prior (1983, 1984, 1989, and 1990). My guess is the combination of UCLA's juggernaut coming apart upon John Wooden's retirement and the rapid expansion of the field from 40 teams in 1979 to 64 teams in 1985 (with three intervals between those years of expanding brackets) lead to this explosion of newbies in the title game.

 

[cjbfbp]

UNLV vs Duke

Interestingly, the championship game right before that (Michigan v. Seton Hall) was the same situation. I guess meeting that qualification naturally gets more difficult as time goes on.

 

[cjbfbp]

FoRW, coming on strong at the finish! In fact, I had overlooked that Duke had yet to win the championship in 1990, I was all ready to declare Michigan vs. Seton Hall in 1989 as the correct answer.

Interestingly, from the years 1983-1990, there were four occurrences where you had matchups of teams where neither had won a national championship prior (1983, 1984, 1989, and 1990). My guess is the combination of UCLA's juggernaut coming apart upon John Wooden's retirement and the rapid expansion of the field from 40 teams in 1979 to 64 teams in 1985 (with three intervals between those years of expanding brackets) lead to this explosion of newbies in the title game.

Actually, 3 times in that era. North Carolina State won a championship under Norm Sloan in 1974 defeating UCLA in the semifinal and Marquette in the final.

 

[coolhandgopher]

Actually, 3 times in that era. North Carolina State won a championship under Norm Sloan in 1974 defeating UCLA in the semifinal and Marquette in the final.

Oops, I overlooked that NC State title from '74.