As a counter example
Posted on: July 18, 2019 at 12:45:20 CT
FIJItiger
MU
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1973 was before the Final Four existed, so it wasn't something to be obtained.
MU went 21-5, undefeated in the non-con (with wins over #15 Ohio State, Tennessee, Purdue, SMU, and Ohio) and won the Big 8 tournament title (however that was in an era before automatic bids). Their national ranking by week for the season was:
1 ---- Unranked
2 ---- 12
3 ---- 10
4 ---- 7
5 ---- 7
6 ---- 5
7 ---- 8
8 ---- 7
9 ---- 7
10 ---- 8
11 ---- 12
12 ---- 16
13 ---- 13
14 ---- 12
Final ---- 15
They finished 2nd in the Big 8 regular season to Kansas State, in an era where only conference regular season champs got an NCAA tourney bid.
So MU went to the NIT instead. That was a much better season than 2001-02. Just a different era with different parameters to judge success upon.