This will be a relatively brief post, but for everyone’s knowledge and as the Blog resident historian, I wanted to review how “first-time” Elite 8 participants have done over the last several years. The perennial powerhouses normally fill up the Elite 8, but occasionally you will have a team make a surprise run. The Bloggers often discuss the “happy to be there” mentality that comes into play when you have a team in the Elite 8 for the first time playing against the big guns that do this year after year. As you’ll see below, I just want to point out that the odds are stacked against Chicago, as only one surprise Elite 8 participant out of 8 has won a match, with 4 of them not even getting a point. I’ve heard very often that an NCAA quarterfinal is treated as just another match, but judging by the results below, that is clearly not the case. If anyone has commentary, I would love to discuss.
2008
Mary Washington – l. Middlebury 5-0
Kenyon – l. Emory 5-1
2009
Amherst – w. Middlebury 5-3, w. Wash U 5-2, l. Cruz 5-0
2010
Carnegie Mellon – l. Wash U 5-0
NC Wesleyan – l. Middlebury 5-0
2012
Bowdoin – l. Williams 5-3
Johns Hopkins – l. Emory 5-4
2014
Case Western – l. Middlebury 5-0
2015
Chicago – ?
It’d be interesting to know where these teams were seeded. Were they part of the 1-8 or 2-7 matchup or were they favored in those matches?
I had to do some research on the older ones. Only 3 of 8 were 1/8 or 2/7. The “surprise” team has always been the lower seed.
14: 4/5
12: Emory-Hop was the 2/7 and Williams/Bowdoin was 3/6
10: Midd-NCW was 1/8 and Wash U-CMU was 4/5
09: 4/5
08: Emory-Kenyon was 1/8 and Midd-UMW was 4/5