Tuesday Top Ten: Longest Droughts Between Final Four and National Title

Last night's national title game was a bit of a letdown after an otherwise thrilling NCAA Tournament, as Baylor led from start to finish, beating Gonzaga handily, 86-70, for the Bears' first-ever national title.

Even with the anticlimactic national title game, it was an historic Final Four.

• For the first time ever, all four Final Four teams were located west of the Mississippi River, and for the first time since 1995 and only the 4th time ever, both championship game participants were located west of the Mississippi. 
• For only the 6th time ever, we had a double-digit seed in the Final Four (11-seed UCLA), and for the second time since the "First Four" format began in 2011, one of the First Four teams advanced to the Final Four.  VCU also did it in 2011.
• For the first time ever, two teams from Texas made the Final Four in the same year (Baylor and Houston). 
• For the second NCAA Tournament in a row (and only the 7th time since 1964), both teams playing for the title had never won an NCAA title. 
• Gonzaga was the first team to enter the national title game undefeated since Larry Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores in 1979.  Of course, because of the Zags' loss, the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers remain the last team to go a full season undefeated.
• Baylor was playing in the national title game for the first time since 1948. Only Wisconsin had a longer span between national title game appearances (1941-2015). 
• The Bears became the first team from Texas since the historic 1966 Texas Western Miners to win the national title.

In between Baylor's 1948 national title game appearance and this year's national championship, the Bears played in the Final Four one other time, in 1950.  The span of 71 years between their most recent prior Final Four appearance and their national title is the longest in men's college basketball history by more than double Virginia's prior record, set at the last NCAA Tournament in 2019.  And you know I love college basketball stats, so here are the ten longest droughts between when a school won a national title and the school's most recent previous Final Four before winning said title.

1.  Baylor - 71 years (1950-2021)

2.  Virginia - 35 years (1984-2019)

3.  NC State - 24 years (1950-1974)

4.  Michigan State - 22 years (1957-1979)

5.  UCLA - 15 years (1980-1995)

6.  Villanova - 14 years (1971-1985)

7 (tie).  California - 13 years (1946-1959)

7 (tie).  Indiana - 13 years (1940-1953) (both were national titles)

7 (tie).  Michigan - 13 years (1976-1989)

10.  Kansas - 12 years (1940-1952)