The Real Prestige Rankings: Part V

Utah’s best tournament showing by far came in 1998 when they made the NCAA Championship game.  They lost to No. 2 seeded Kentucky as a No. 3 seed in the final game after defeating two No. 1 seeds in the Elite Eight (Arizona) and Final Four (Duke).

27) UNLV Runnin’ Rebels – Total Points:  453

• 1 NCAA Championship, 2 Final Four Appearances, 1 Elite Eight Appearances, 2 Sweet Sixteen Appearances, 13 Missed Tournaments
• ESPN Rank: 8

UNLV was clearly one of the dominant basketball programs of the 1980’s and very early 1990’s.  However, they have way too many missed tournaments in the last 24 seasons to crack the top 25 teams in my rankings.

UNLV has only been in only four NCAA tournaments since 1991, and never won a tournament game from 1991 through 2006.  A Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2007 and a first round victory this past year gives Rebel fans slight hope that the program might return back to elite status.

That being said, the tournament success that UNLV had from 1985 to 1991 was simply spectacular.  They never lost a first round game and made it to at least the Sweet Sixteen in all but two of those seven years.  In 1990 they won the National Championship as a No. 1 seed by defeating Duke by 30 points in the championship game.  They also made the Final Four in 1987 and 1991, the Elite Eight in 1989, and the Sweet Sixteen in 1986.

26) Memphis Tigers – Total Points:  460

• 1 NCAA Championship Game Appearance, 1 Final Four Appearance, 3 Elite Eight Appearances, 1 Sweet Sixteen Appearance, 11 Missed Tournaments
• ESPN Rank:  T-14

Memphis just missed out on being one of the top 25 most prestigious programs since 1985 mainly because of their drought between 1996 and 2005.  They only had one tournament win during that time in only three tournament appearances. 

Memphis has also had a difficult time moving past the Elite Eight in this time period.  Three Elite Eight Appearances is the most for any team outside of the top 20 in the rankings.

A lot of Memphis’ tournament success has come in the past three seasons.  Their success is impressive considering their conference has become a lot weaker since most of the better teams left for the Big East.  With two Elite Eight appearances in 2006 and 2007 and then a heartbreaking loss in overtime to Kansas in the National Championship game in 2008, Memphis is certainly doing their part to maintain the reputation of Conference USA.

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