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How hard is it to make the NCAA tournament?

stan raymond

Nebraska Football Hall of Fame
Gold Member
Apr 26, 2005
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Actually, it's not that hard. Looking at the 79 teams in the 5 Power conferences, (B1G, SEC, Big 12, ACC, Big East). Using the current projections on ESPN and the last 4 years for a 5 year period.

13% of the team made it all 5 years
25% of the teams made it 4 out of 5 years
47% of the teams made it 3 out of 5 years
62% of the teams made it 2 out of 5 years
85% of the teams made it 1 out of 5 years

32 to 39 of the 79 teams in the Power 5 make it to the NCAA tournament annually, that's the top 41% to 49%.

You don't have to be a good team or have a special season to make the NCAA tournament from a Power 5 conference, you just have to be slightly above average. It is not unreasonable to expect a team to make the NCAA tournament more years than not, it's almost the same as expecting a team to win more conference games than they lose, it's expecting a team to just be a bit above average.

When I started the research I though it was going to be harder to make the NCAA tournament, but for Power 5 teams, it really isn't much of an accomplishment, it's about like making a bowl game in football, it's something that should be happening more often than not if it's a successful program.
 
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