What to Know About 2020 Conference Tournaments

 

MIKEDROPSPORTS is excited to cover the 2020 NCAA Tournament and March Madness, known around here as M!KEDROP MADNESS.

This article is meant to highlight some key notes on the contenders in each conference tournament and some fun facts about various teams.

ACC

Top contenders: Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia

Louisville is one of 6 schools to never win the ACC Tournament Championship (joined ACC before 2014-15 season)

The other five without a championship are Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Clemson

Duke has a league-high 21 Tournament championships, including winning in 2019 (21-12 overall record in championship games)

North Carolina is second with 18 championships. NC State is third with 10 championships

Virginia has won 3 times, the most for a school outside the state of North Carolina (Wake Forest is 4th with 4)

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Big 12

Top contenders: Kansas, Baylor

Baylor is 0-3 in Championship Games and last made it in 2014

Kansas is 11-3 in Big 12 Championship games, which represents the most appearances and wins

6 schools have never won the Big 12 Tournament Championship – Baylor, Texas Tech, Kansas State, West Virginia, Texas, TCU

Iowa State is a perfect 5-0 in championship games, including beating Kansas to win in 2019

Texas Tech has the worst tournament win percentage (37.8% – 14-23 overall)

TCU is the only Big 12 team never to appear in the championship game (joined Big 12 before 2012-13 season)

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Big Ten

Top contenders: Michigan State, Maryland

Michigan State won their 6th B1G Tournament Championship in 2019 (6-1 in Championship Games), the most all-time and has the highest tournament win percentage (66.7%, 32-16)

Either Michigan or Michigan State have won the last four championships (Michigan State in 2016 and 2019 and Michigan in 2017 and 2018)

Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Illinois have each lost a conference-high 4 championship games

2020 potential tournament-bound teams Maryland, Indiana, Penn State, and Rutgers, along with Northwestern, Nebraska, and Minnesota have never won the B1G title game

Maryland is one of four schools to never appear in the Championship Game (plus Rutgers, Northwestern, Nebraska)

Maryland is 2-5 since joining Big Ten before the 2014-15 season

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PAC-12

Top contenders: Oregon, UCLA, Arizona State

Arizona has the most Championship Game wins (7) and has won 3 of the last 5 championships

Oregon has won 5 championships, including 2019

Oregon head coach Dana Altman has the highest win percentage all-time 76% (19-6) and is one of only three active coaches to win the PAC-12 Championship Game (Arizona’s Sean Miller and Colorado’s Tad Boyle)

UCLA last appeared in the Championship Game, and won it, in 2014

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, in his first year with Bruins, has coached in three straight conference tournament Championship Games, winning the last two

Arizona State is one of five teams who have never won PAC-12 Tournament Championship

The other four are Washington State, Utah, California, and Oregon State

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SEC

Top contenders: Kentucky, Auburn

Kentucky is has won 31 SEC Championships all-time and had won 4 in a row until 2019

Auburn won their second SEC Championship, and first since 1985, in 2019

LSU has just one SEC Championship, back in 1980

Alabama has won the second most Championships (6) but hasn’t won since 1991 and hasn’t made the Finals since 2002

Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M have never won the SEC Championship

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AAC

Top contenders: Cincinnati, Houston

Cincinnati is seeking their fourth consecutive Championship Game appearance and have won the last two (2-1 overall)

Houston is seeking their first conference Tournament Championship since 2010 (Conference-USA) and have lost back-to-back AAC championship games.

SMU is the only school other than Cincinnati with more than one championship (2)

Memphis has never won the AAC Championship, and appeared in the championship game once, in 2016

Wichita State won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in 2017 and won 4 MWC Championships overall, before joining the AAC in 2017-18 and have yet to appear in the Championship Game.

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Big East

Villanova has won 3 straight Championship Games and 4 of the last 5. They have 5 Championship wins all-time (second most)

Marquette is one of 5 schools who have never won Big East title and the Eagles have not won a conference Tournament Championship since 1997 (Conference-USA)

The other four who have yet to win are Butler, Creighton, Xavier, Depaul

Xavier and Creighton have both lost championship games – Butler and Depaul have never appeared

Creighton last won a tournament championship in 2013 in the Missouri Valley Conference

Providence (2014) and Seton Hall (2016) are the only schools outside of Villanova who have won a Championship Game in the era of the “new Big East”

Georgetown has won the most Tournaments, among active Big East members with 7 and last appeared in the Finals in 2010

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Other Conferences

A look at some of the top contenders in the smaller conferences and what to know about their conference tournament history.

Atlantic 10

Dayton has been in the Atlantic-10 since 1995-96 and has just won Championship Game victory and are 1-3 overall in Championship Games, last appearing in 2015

5 different teams have won the Championship Game in each of the last 5 years (VCU, Saint Joe’s, Rhode Island, Davidson, Saint Louis in order from 2015-2019)

Richmond has 1 A10 Championship win back in 2011

Mountain West

San Diego State has the most Championship Game appearances (11), championship wins (5), and highest tournament win percentage (66%). They last won in 2018

Utah State beat San Diego State to win the 2019 Championship Game, their one-and-only MWC Championship. Overall, they are 8-5 in the tournament since joining the conference before the 2013-14 season

WCC

Gonzaga has won 7 of the last 9 championships and saw their 6 year run end with a loss to Saint Mary’s in 2019. The last time Gonzaga failed to appear in the Finals was 1997.

Saint Mary’s 4-8 in championship games, including a win in 2019

Gonzaga is 17-8 all-time in championship games. 15 of those championships have come under Mark Few

2008 is the last time neither Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s won the title (San Diego)

1994 is the last time that neither Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s missed the finals (Pepperdine vs San Diego)

BYU is 0-3 in championship games (last appeared in 2018)