KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aside from attracting TV dollars and offering bottom-rung teams a chance to be reborn, conference tournaments don’t hold near the value they did decades ago.
Some even debate whether playing three or four games in a league tourney becomes counterproductive for teams already in the NCAA field. Takes away their legs. Doesn’t really mean anything.
Recent Final Fours say otherwise.
Of the 40 teams that reached the Final Four during the past 10 years, nearly three-quarters appeared in the championship games of their conference tournament. Here’s the breakdown:
19 — Conference tournament champs
9 — Lost in conference final
7 — Lost in semifinals
4 — Lost in quarterfinals
1 — Failed to reach quarterfinals
Only five of those 40 Final Four teams failed to reach the semifinals, whereas five of last 10 national champions won their league tournaments. It’s not a foolproof formula, but the numbers reveal: Prideful, talented teams typically don’t require external motivation to play hard in their league events — they only need someone to toss a ball in the air.
The Gold & Blue Lunch Report makes its picks for the Big 12 tournament, with a soft spoiler alert: There’s a non-Kansas winner.