TODAY’S SPORTSTAT: Spartans have championship pedigree

By JERRY TAPP

Does Michigan State become a three-time NCAA men’s basketball champion?

Or will it be a first-timer this year?

This year’s Final Four is set with Auburn, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Virginia vying for this year’s title.

Coach Tom Izzo’s Michigan State tean is the only one of the four schools that has won a title; the Spartans won in 1979 and 2000. Auburn, Texas Tech and Virginia have never won a championship.

Michigan State is also one of 35 different schools that won a men’s basketball title since 1939. They are one of 15 schools that won the tournament multiple times (20 schools have won only one title).

Of the 35 schools that have won the men’s basketball championship, Oregon has the longest drought: They won one title, that being in 1939. They have now gone 80 years since that first title.

There have been 11 different schools that have won the championship this century. Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Villanova. UConn, Duke and North Carolina have each won the championship three times this century, Florida has won it twice, the last school to win back-to-back titles.

Here is a look at the last time each of the 35 schools/champs won the title.

1939-Oregon

1941-Wisconsin, 1942-Stanford, 1943-Wyoming, 1944-Utah, 1946-Oklahoma State, 1947-Holy Cross

1950-CCNY, 1954-LaSalle, 1956-San Francisco, 1959-California

1960-Ohio State, 1962-Cincinnati, 1963-Loyola-Chicago, 1966-UTEP

1977-Marquette

1983-North Carolina State, 1984-Georgetown, 1987-Indiana, 1989-Michigan

1990-UNLV, 1994-Arkansas, 1995-UCLA, 1997-Arizona

2000-Michigan State, 2002-Maryland, 2003-Syracuse, 2007-Florida, 2008-Kansas, 2012-Kentucky, 2013-Louisville, 2014-Connecticut, 2015-Duke, 2017-North Carolina, 2018-Villanova

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