NCAA: Winners who missed Minneapolis

The Final Four is the holy grail of college basketball. Make it, and you're legitimately a legend--just ask Mike Krzyzewski. Fail to make it, and you understandably take the heat--just ask Gary Williams about his life before and after his West Regional championship.

There's no getting around the fact that college basketball success, in the common perception, is directly linked to the Final Four and a team's performance in the NCAA Tournament. Such a standard, as in the case of almost every other American sport, is absurdly high and markedly unfair.

With that in mind, simply consider what every major upset victim in the NCAA Tournament accomplished. You might be surprised at the staggering achievements compiled by teams who didn't last long in the Big Dance.

Stanford only won the most games in a season in school history--that's all.

Illinois won its first Big Ten regular-season title since 1989, and re-established itself as a major player on the college basketball stage.

Iowa State, despite a first-round loss to Hampton, won the Big XII championship and confounded the country by winning consistently without 2000 Player of the Year Marcus Fizer.

North Carolina surpassed expectations, as first-year head coach Matt Doherty made a big impact in Chapel Hill, had the Heels at 11-0 in the ACC, and helped guide his club to a share of the ACC regular-season crown.

Boston College represented the comeback story of the year, and a shining example for young players who think they're in a dead-end situation. The Eagles, rather than loading up on star-studded freshmen, featured a number of veterans who endured two or three tough seasons. These college graybeards came together and used old-fashioned elbow grease to emerge under the guidance of head coach Al Skinner.

Florida overcame numerous injuries to key players and a 1-3 SEC start, scrambling to share the overall league crown with Kentucky. Billy Donovan overcame his own family tragedy (his wife Christine lost a child during pregnancy) to perform the second-best coaching job in the country behind Skinner.

Kentucky, for its part, gelled in March under Tubby Smith and, along with a regular-season league title, added the SEC Tournament title as well. After a disappointing 2000 season, the Wildcats reclaimed much of their prestige and swagger.

Indiana, the team bumped from the Dance as a 4 seed in the first round, rallied around coach Mike Davis and gave Bob Knight's successor a safe place in the Hoosier program. The passion and precision with which Indiana played in the Big Ten Tournament gave profound pleasure to many basketball observers.

Ohio State, a 5 seed who lost in round one, put together a season no one expected after the loss of Scoonie Penn, Michael Redd and George Reese. To get a 5 seed represents an enormous accomplishment for the undersized Buckeyes and their coaching staff.

Virginia, another 5 seed that lost--to Gonzaga--can rest with the knowledge that it played a stellar game against the Zags, only to get nipped at the wire.

And for all the teams seeded 6 or lower who didn't make the run they were looking for, losing in the NCAA Tournament is a nice problem to have. Ask Eddie Sutton, who somehow kept his Oklahoma State Cowboys together after the tragedy that took the lives of 10 people associated with OSU basketball. Just making it into the Big Show gave him more than enough pleasure to last a full off-season.

And aside of all these stories, there are also the stories of teams who made unexpectedly bold runs but still didn't get to Minneapolis: Temple, USC, Gonzaga, Penn State, Ole Miss, Cincinnati, and Georgetown. All of those programs took great strides forward with their Tournament performances, USC most of all, given its exposure in the Los Angeles market.

Amidst the shouting of a Dickie V, the phraseology of a Digger Phelps, or the insistent tones of a Billy Packer, college basketball seasons easily get wrapped up in cliches. Yet, cliches are cliches because they've proven to be true over a long period of time--these and all other non-Final Four teams should be quite proud of what they accomplished.

It's now up to our sporting culture to change this hoop nation's perception of the 61 teams who aren't playing on the last weekend of the season. So much achievement and growth exist in these shorter but equally meaningful postseason journeys, and it's that body of work--not wins and losses--which is supposed to be prized above all else in scholastic athletics.