NCAA Tournament: Ranking the unlikeliest Final Four runs since 2000

By Joey Loose | Mar 29, 2023

Mar 25, 2023; New York, NY, USA; Florida Atlantic Owls head coach Dusty May hoists the East Regional Champion trophy following their 79-76 victory against the Kansas State Wildcats in an NCAA tournament East Regional final at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

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NCAA Tournament Wichita State Shockers Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

5. 2013 Wichita State (9-seed)

These last few seasons have been rough for Wichita State but it wasn’t too long ago that this was one of college basketball’s better programs, seeming to fall off a bit after they left the MVC for the AAC back in 2017. Hired in 2007, new head coach Gregg Marshall had a vision for this Shockers program and that vision partly came true five years later, taking the Shockers back to the Big Dance with a 5-seed, but that was only the beginning for Wichita State.

The Shockers won their first 9 games of the following season and got impressive play from freshmen Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet all season long. The Shockers had a few tough losses in conference play and finished 2nd in the MVC. Wichita State did not even win the MVC Tournament, falling to a Creighton team that would leave the conference just a few months later. The Shockers were still awarded a 9-seed for their great season, but was this actually a step backwards after a worse seed this season?

Wichita State showed up for the Big Dance, getting an 18-point win over 8-seed Pittsburgh in what’s technically a first-round upset. What they need next was far more impressive, knocking out #1 Gonzaga in the second round in a much more massive upset. Malcolm Armstead had a great run in the NCAA Tournament, and that continued in their Sweet Sixteen victory against 13-seed La Salle. They faced another significant challenge in the Elite Eight and passed their next big test, holding on to oust 2-seed Ohio State and get to the program’s first Final Four in 48 years.

Wichita State was one of the best programs of the 2010’s, with their undefeated run into the Tournament the following season, but this program was not in that prime shape in 2013. They lost six games in the MVC; doing that won’t get anyone a 9-seed these days. While they didn’t have a very tough opponent in the Sweet Sixteen because of other upsets, their wins over Gonzaga and Ohio State punctuate the impressive nature of this program’s run and rise, a wild achievement for an MVC squad that didn’t win the regular season or tournament titles.

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