Does College Basketball Bleed Blue?

 

        The memory is permanently seared into all college basketball fans brains, hell, it's permanently seared into sports fans brains.

      'The Shot' by Christian Laettner in the 1992 NCAA Tournament East Regional Final capped off what is arguably the greatest college game ever played. The game had it all, stars in Grant Hill & Christian Laettner, the blue-collar kids in Bobby Hurley, Richie Farmer, and John Pelphrey. The game also featured Hall of Fame head coaches in Rick Pitino and Mike Krzyzewski. It was Kentucky-Duke. The only thing missing from the game was a lighter shade of blue. Carolina blue to be exact. 

    Coach K, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Adolph Rupp, Rick Pitino, the Dean Dome, Cameron Indoor, Rupp Arena, Michael Jordan, and....okay are you gagging yet?

    Raise your hand if you get tired of hearing about Duke, UNC, or Kentucky. Come on, all of us have giggled with joy as Duke or UNC gets knocked off by a weaker team or Kentucky falling short of getting that much-needed championship to ease the blue-blood nation. Why is it so much fun to hate these schools?

    Well, if you want to continue to hate them or continue your secret envy of them while publicly shouting, "he doesn't even have a real name, they have to call him Coach K", keep reading....

29 is the number of times one of the 'blue schools' have won or reached the NCAA Tournament finals out of 72 tournaments played.

Even more mind-boggling is the number of times one of the three schools made the Final Four:

        

        That's right...46 of 72 tournaments where one of the three schools reached the Final Four. I understand that from 1939 (the inaugural tourney) until 1950 the field was only 8 teams, but the best 8 teams went. 

        46 out of 72 is completely absurd. That's almost 64% of the 72 tournaments played.....which is about the same percentage of how much your hatred went up for these schools. To make it even more painful, I am going to break down each teams accomplishments:

 

Duke has reached the Final Four 15 times, the Title Game 10 times, and cut down the nets 4 times.

North Carolina boasts 17 Final Four Appearances, 9 National Title Game Appearances, and 5 National Championship Titles.

 

The Kentucky Wildcats, with the 'American Hitler', Adolph Rupp, experienced success much earlier than the other two 'blue' schools. The 'Cats boast 7 National Titles (0 since 1998), 10 National Title Game Appearances,  and 14 Final Four Appearances. 

This story was not meant to put any of the three schools on a pedestal....it was to notify the NCAA that something is up, especially in Lexington,KY...kidding (sort of). It was meant to show why we hate them. Who doesn't hate success? Justin Bieber ring a bell?

What these three schools have been able to accomplish while coordinating colors with each other is incredible.  In all seriousness, these schools are at the so called 'Peak' of college basketball and the longevity of their good fortune is pretty nuts.