March Madness 2024: These California schools have not yet made the tournament
(FOX40.COM) — March Madness is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the United States.
Sixty-eight teams have competed in the men’s single-elimination tournament since 2011. The tournament has become synonymous with people filling out brackets and upsets, which are commonly referred to as “bracket busters.”
Since Sacramento State has competed in NCAA Division I athletics, the men’s basketball team is part of an unlucky group.
Sac State is one of 34 universities that has never made it to the Men’s Division I Basketball tournament, according to the NCAA. Sac State’s women’s basketball team appeared in the Division I tournament for the first time in March 2023.
The Hornets are also one of three Division I men’s basketball teams in California to never compete during March Madness. The other two programs are UC Riverside and California Baptist.
UC San Diego is not eligible to compete in the tournament until it completes its transition on July 1, 2024.
What happened to the University of the Pacific’s football team?
Sacramento State
The 2024 Big Sky Championship Tournament provided the Hornets’ best chance of a March Madness berth, as they were two wins away from winning the conference tourney.
As the 10th seed, Sac State earned its fourth trip to semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament, where they fell 74-71 to eventual conference champion Montana State. The Hornets won two Big Sky Tournament games for the first time since joining the conference in 1996.
One of their wins was upsetting top-seeded Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals, the first time in Big Sky Tournament history that a No. 10 seed defeated a No. 1 seed.
UC Riverside
Before becoming a Division I program, the UC Riverside Highlanders made several appearances in the D-II tournament.
The Highlanders played in the championship D-II game in 1995, losing to Southern Indiana 71-63. Their last appearance in the national tournament was in 1997.
UC Riverside officially became a D-I school in 1998 and joined the Big West Conference, which includes UC Davis, in 2001.
The Highlanders were close to making March Madness in 2023. As the No. 3 seed, UC Riverside played in the semifinals of the Big West Conference, but lost in that round to UC Santa Barbara.
Sac State holds Pro Day at Hornet Stadium
California Baptist
Like the previous two schools mentioned, California Baptist had success before making the transition to Division I.
The Cal Baptist Lancers joined Division II from the NAIA level in 2010 and made five appearances in the NCAA D-II tournament. The furthest the Lancers advanced in the D-II tournament was in 2018, making it to the Elite Eight that year.
The Lancers recently completed the transition to Division I, currently competing in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The school joined the WAC in 2018, but didn’t become eligible for March Madness until the 2022-23 season.
The Lancers competed in the postseason WAC tournament since 2021 and have won three tournament games combined.
Monarchs, Mountain Lions, Gold Miners: The Sacramento sports teams that no longer exist
Who hasn’t made the tournament?
There are 363 basketball teams in Division I, but only 352 are eligible as 11 schools are in the transitioning process to the D-I level.
The 2024 tournament will include first time appearances from Stetson and Grambling State after each school earned an automatic berth following a conference championships.
Besides the three eligible California schools, here are the other universities that have not yet appeared in the tournament, according to the NCAA:
While in Division II, the Hornets made the NCAA D-II Tournament four times, last making the tournament in 1988. They reached the championship game in 1962, losing in the championship to Mount Saint Mary’s in a 85-57 overtime loss.
•Army
•Bethune-Cookman
•Central Arkansas
•Chicago State
•The Citadel
•Denver
•Elon
•High Point
•Incarnate Word
•Kansas City
•Maine
•Maryland Eastern Shore
•Merrimack
•New Hampshire
•New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
•North Alabama
•Omaha
•Presbyterian
•Purdue Fort Wayne
•Quinnipiac
•Sacred Heart
•Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE)
•South Dakota
•UMass Lowell
•University of South Carolina, Upstate
•University of Tennessee at Martin
•University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
•Utah Valley
•Western Illinois
•William & Mary
•Youngstown State
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.
