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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1749780, member: 289"] Let’s look at the schools that have won championships at other levels, (this includes only those who have made it to the DI NCAA torunament): Cal-Bakersfield 0-1 The Roadrunners won NCAA DII championships in 1993, 1994 and 1997 then joined DI in 2007. College of Charleston 1-4 The Cougars won the 1983 NAIA championship. They joined NCAA DI in 1992. Evansville 1-5 The Purple Aces won the NCAA DII title in 1959, '60, '64, '65, and '71, then joined D1 in 1977. Indiana State 5-4 The Sycamores won the 1950 NAIA Title. They joined the NCAA in 1965 and went to Division I in 1972. played for the title in 1979, led by Larry Bird. They went 4-1 that year in the tournament and are 1-3 since then Lebanon Valley 1-2 The Flying Dutchmen were in the 1953 DI tournament and knocked off Fordham before losing to LSU and Wake Forest in the consy. Four decades later they won the 1994 NCAA DIII title. Louisville 72-41 The Cardinals are the outlier here. They won the 1948 NAIA, (then called the NAIB) title and then jumped to NCAA DI the next year. They’ve been a national power since the mid-50’s, winning the NIT, (when it mattered) in 1956 and going to the first of their ten Final Fours in 1959. They’ve won the 1980, 1986 and 2013 national championships. Loyola Marymount 5-5 As Loyola of Los Angeles they won the 1945 NAIA (NAIB) title. They joined NCAA DI a decade alter. Eons later, they became the toast of college basketball as its highest ever scoring team in 1988-90, (122.4 per game the latter years). They were 3-3 in the tournament that period, 2-2 in all the other years. Marshall 0-5 The Thundering Herd won the 1947 NAIB title. The joined NCDAA DI in 1953 and have never won a game in the championship tournament since. Missouri State 3-6 As Southwest Missouri State the Bears won the NAIA title in 1952-53. They joined NCAA DI in 1982. They made it to the Sweet 16 in 1999. Morgan State 0-2 These Bears won the NCAA DII title in 1974, jumped to NCAA DI the next year and haven’t been heard from since. Mount St. Mary’s 1-4 The Mountaineers won the 1962 NCAA DII title and lost the title game in 1981. In 1989 they moved to DI and managed to win a play-in game 20 years later. No. Carolina Central 0-1 The Eagles won the 1989 DII title. They moved to DI in 2011. Oklahoma City 8-13 The Stars were a DI team through 1986. (You might remember when Abe Lemons was coaching there.) They moved down to the NAIA in 1987 and became a power there, winning national titles in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008. I don’t think they regret the move. Old Dominion 3-11 The Monarchs ruled DII in 1975, then joined DI the next season. They’ve never made it out of the first weekend since. Prairie View A&M 0-1 The Panthers are one of those historically black schools that had NBA talent in the days of segregation but who have struggled since integration. They won the NAIA in 1962. The entire conference, (SWAC) moved to DI in 1977. San Diego State 6-11 The Aztecs lost the third NAIB championship game in 1939 and the fourth the next year before winning the title in 1941. They joined NCAA DII in 1956 and DI in 1970. They didn’t get pas the first round until 2011. They are 6-5 since then. So. Dakota State 0-2 The Jackrabbits won DII in 1963 and made a couple other Final Fours. The moved to DI in 2004. Southern Illinois 6-10 The Salukis won the NAIB in 1946 and lost the DII final in both 1965 and 1966. The next eayr they jumped to DI and had a remarkable year, upsetting defending champions Texas Western and #2 ranked Louisville and then blow out Al McGuire’s Marquette team in the NIT final, led by Walt Frazier. They made it to the Sweet 16 in 1977, 2002 and 2007. Texas Southern 0-6 Another SWAC team, the Tigers had just won the 1977 NAIA title when the jump was made. It’s bene a belly-flop. Texas State 0-2 As Southwest Texas State, the Bobcats reached three NAIA final fours and won it in 1960. They went DI in 1984. Williams 0-1 The Ephs (Ephs?) were 17-1 in 1955 when they were invited to the NCAA Tournament and lost 60-73 to Canisius. The next year the DII tournament started and they were in it, going to the Final Four. In 1961 they decided, along with the rest of the New England conference, not to participate in post season play. That ban was relaxed in 1993 and Williams won the DIII title in 2003. Wright State 0-2 The school is named for the Wright Brothers. Their basketball program got off the ground in 1970 and won the DII title in 1983. They went to DI in 1987 with limited success. Observations: Louisville is the obvious out-lier here, the only school that won a title at a lower level and became a legitimate DI power. Southern Illinois and Sand Diego State have had respectable programs. Indiana State was special when they had Larry Bird and Loyola Marymount when they reinvented the game. Oklahoma City and Williams found success when they dropped down from DI. The other schools went from national title contenders at the lower levels to 10-54 in the Big Dance. I know it’s fun to pretend you are big-time but are the players at most of these schools really better off in a division where they will be spectators for the national championship game or in a division where they could have realistic hopes of winning it? [/QUOTE]

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