There is nothing better in college basketball than watching a program make their first NCAA Tournament. Of the 355 men’s basketball programs eligible to be selected by the NCAA Tournament committee this season, 38 of them are members of the Never Made the Tournament Club (NMTC).
The 38 come in all shapes and sizes. Public and private institutions. Small and large enrollment. Programs eligible since the first NCAA Tournament and programs in their first year of eligibility this season. In an effort to entertain our loyal readers commenters, I’ll be publishing the history of one of our NMTC members each Friday from now until the start of conference tournaments. Should any NMTC members make it to their conference tournament final, they will probably receive similar attention (things get busy around then).
Not all NMTC members have suffered equally. While many of them have made poor choices and others have never committed to putting together a solid basketball program, several NMTC members have experienced torment and heartbreak that could be considered a violation of the Eighth Amendment*. Today’s article will focus on the history of perhaps the most snake bitten NMTC member: the William & Mary Tribe.
*Probably the second most important Amendment after the Third
When the Big Ten’s Northwestern Wildcats finally graduated out of the NMTC club in 2017, they left behind 4 other founding NMTC members that had also been Division I programs for the entirety of the NCAA tournament era. In 2023, four became three when beloved NMTC member Saint Francis Brooklyn ceased their participation in intercollegiate athletics without ever making the tournament.
The tournament is fun, right Northwestern fans? Offer not valid to Nebrasketball. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The other two founding members of the NMTC are military academies. They have extra hurdles that prevent them from easily competing for an automatic bid – let alone an at large bid. William & Mary however has been close many times. This is their story.
The trials of William & Mary began in 1958. That season, the Tribe advanced to the Southern Conference championship game by upsetting both 2 seed Virginia Tech and 3 seed George Washington. Unfortunately for William & Mary, they then faced 1 seed West Virginia. The Mountaineers had a 25-1 record, were ranked #1 in the AP poll, and had a PG named Jerry West. Although the Mountaineers would be upset that postseason, that upset wasn’t until the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Manhattan and they defeated the Tribe 74-58.
William & Mary had to play The Logo Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
Three years later, Jerry West was off in the NBA and the Tribe defeated the 1 seed West Virginia in order to advance to the championship game. Their opponent was the 7 seed George Washington Colonials coached by former Oregon Ducks head coach William Reinhart. During the regular season, the Tribe had swept GW 61-57 and 85-80. Sadly, they lost the third matchup by a score of 82-93.
You see, it’s not just that William & Mary is one of three teams to never make the NCAA tournament despite being eligible every season since 1939. William & Mary have lost NINE conference tournament championship games with an automatic bid on the line. For reference, Maryland – a program with a national title and widely considered the best basketball program never to be ranked #1 in the AP poll – has played in just nine conference championship games. Little William & Mary has made it to the final game of the conference tournament as often as the Terrapins, despite Maryland belonging in a conference with an end of season tournament for longer than the Tribe.
In 1965, the 6 seeded Tribe made their third appearance in the Southern championship game once again facing off against West Virginia. This version of the Mountaineers was coached by George King (King would later lead Purdue to their first national championship game appearance in 1969) and were the 4 seed who had narrowly defeated AP #6 Davidson in OT during the semifinals. The Tribe fell in double overtime 67-70.
Ten years later, William & Mary made their fourth and final Southern Conference championship appearance where they lost to 1 seed Furman. The Paladins went undefeated in Southern play that season.
No other NMTC member has made 9 conference championship games. In fact, if you combine any other two NMTC members, the most conference championship appearances you will get is 8. William & Mary is extraordinarily unlucky.
After the 1977 season, William & Mary became a Division I independent. The conference they had once shared with Virginia, Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and others had seen a steady stream of defections over the past 40 years following the birth of the ACC.
William & Mary would eventually join the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) – South region. ECAC started out as a loose collection of Division I independents that organized postseason basketball tournaments for member schools in the northeastern US from 1975 to 1981. These tournaments were for the purposes of handing out automatic NCAA tournament bids to Division I independents.
After the 1981 season, ECAC South members would follow the trend of three other ECAC regions (ECAC Metro, New England, and Upstate region members formed the Big East, Eastern Collegiate Basketball League – forerunner of the Atlantic 10 –, MAAC, and NEC). They became an actual conference taking the creative name of the ECAC South Conference. ECACS would later be renamed the Colonial Athletic Conference in 1985 and more recently the Coastal Athletic Association.
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
As an ECAC South/Colonial Athletic/Coastal Athletic member, William & Mary has had their share of down seasons. It hasn’t been all bad though. Unlike other NMTC members who are perennial cellar dwellers, the Tribe have had the occasional good season. We aren’t talking about a program like Chicago State or New Hampshire. The Tribe have three regular season championships to their name since joining their current conference and three NIT appearances. The Iowa Hawkeyes have zero Big Ten regular season championships during the same period.
William & Mary’s first ECACS/CAA conference championship came in 1983 following a 9-0 conference record. They lost to fellow Virginia Commonwealth member James Madison 37-40 in the conference tournament championship game. After 1983, it would be many years before William & Mary once again seriously competed for their first NCAA Tournament bid.
In 2003, Tony Shaver became the head coach of William & Mary – a position he would hold until the conclusion of the 2019 season. Shaver came agonizingly close to breaking the Tribe’s bad luck on multiple occasions. In 2008, the Tribe defeated 1 seeded VCU in the semifinals before falling to George Mason in the final. In 2010, they lost to 1 seeded Old Dominion by 7 in the final game. Neither of those defeats however compare to the 2014 championship game.
In 2014, William & Mary faced the 1 seed in the final (this time the Delaware Blue Hens). The Tribe took a 66-65 lead with 4:19 to play. With 81 seconds to play, the Tribe’s Marcus Thornton made a three pointer to extend the lead to six! The Tribe stood on the precipice of graduating out of the NMTC. It was going to be The Year!
Unfortunately, after that Thornton three the Tribe didn’t score again. A missed front end of a 1-and-1 and a couple of fouls that resulted in points for Delaware with the clock stopped both contributed to the Blue Hens being in position to make the go-ahead layup with 10 seconds remaining. Marcus Thornton’s potential game winning jumper at the buzzer bounced off the iron and the Tribe were once again on the outside of the NCAA tournament field watching.
The moment the Tribe lost the lead. I’ve been unable to confirm if there was an uncalled charge or push off. Evan Habeeb-Imagn Images
The following season, the Tribe bounced back to win a share of the Colonial regular season title and earn the 1 seed. They narrowly defeated Hofstra in the semifinals (double overtime) to advance to the championship game for their ninth time. Awaiting them was Northeastern. The Huskies blitzed the Tribe 72-61 behind a 60% three-point shooting performance. College basketball can be cruel.
William & Mary parted ways with Tony Shaver after 16 seasons without a NCAA tournament appearance. They have spent the five year tenure of his replacement as an after thought in the CAA.
A new hope for college basketball fans hoping to see William & Mary break through has emerged this season. First year head coach Brian Earl is quickly returning the Tribe to respectability. Earl spent 7 seasons at Cornell where he turned the Big Red from a last place program into a consistent Ivy League tournament team. William & Mary won’t be the betting favorite entering in the CAA tournament this year – Towson, Charleston, or Wilmington are more likely to have that title. But as we enter the first Friday in February, the Tribe sit at 8-2 in CAA play and tied for second place. It’s not impossible to imagine them stealing the automatic bid this year.
If the Tribe don’t get it done this year, Earl should soon have them competing at the very top of the CAA year after year. Here’s hoping he’s the one to at long last be able to lead William & Mary to their spot in America’s best sporting event.