if you go back and look at all of our NCAA tournament appearances in recent memory (ie going back to Gary's first NCAA trip Joe Smith's freshman year) it would seem to suggest there is something to playing to many games the week before in the conference tournament hurts our performance in the NCAA tournament.
-our national title run, our other final four run and all 7 of our sweet 16 runs took place in years where we played two games or less in the conference tournament.
-3 times we played more than 2 games in the conference tournament (3 games each time). We lost in the first weekend of the NCAAs all 3 years. the first was 2000 when we made it all the way to the ACC final, losing to Duke. The following weekend we handled 14 seed Iona the first game but in the 2nd round game got destroyed by 6 seed UCLA. The second time was 2004 when we won the ACC tournament. The following Weekend we had to play in the thin air of Denver where we held on to beat 13 seed UTEP with a miss at the buzzer, than loss with a missed shot of our own at the buzzer against 5 seed Syracuse in the 2nd round, a ugly game in which both teams played poorly at times (there was no offensive flow the 1st half). The 3rd time was 2009, when we loss to Duke in the semis of the ACC (but had to play on opening night that year). The following week we played well against 7 seed Cal in the first round, but got dominated in the 2nd round match up against 2 seed Memphis. Granted Memphis was a much better team and they were a awful match up, but that game was ugly from the tip.
Interesting to note in all 3 years we played 3 games in the conference tournament, it was the 2nd round game in the NCAAs (which is of course the 2nd game in 3 days in which fatigue would most be a factor) that we played poorly in. And the one year we had to play in the thin air of Denver, we struggled down the stretch in the first round game, we had built a double digit lead in the 2nd half over UTEP before they came storming back to tie the game late.
-our national title run, our other final four run and all 7 of our sweet 16 runs took place in years where we played two games or less in the conference tournament.
-3 times we played more than 2 games in the conference tournament (3 games each time). We lost in the first weekend of the NCAAs all 3 years. the first was 2000 when we made it all the way to the ACC final, losing to Duke. The following weekend we handled 14 seed Iona the first game but in the 2nd round game got destroyed by 6 seed UCLA. The second time was 2004 when we won the ACC tournament. The following Weekend we had to play in the thin air of Denver where we held on to beat 13 seed UTEP with a miss at the buzzer, than loss with a missed shot of our own at the buzzer against 5 seed Syracuse in the 2nd round, a ugly game in which both teams played poorly at times (there was no offensive flow the 1st half). The 3rd time was 2009, when we loss to Duke in the semis of the ACC (but had to play on opening night that year). The following week we played well against 7 seed Cal in the first round, but got dominated in the 2nd round match up against 2 seed Memphis. Granted Memphis was a much better team and they were a awful match up, but that game was ugly from the tip.
Interesting to note in all 3 years we played 3 games in the conference tournament, it was the 2nd round game in the NCAAs (which is of course the 2nd game in 3 days in which fatigue would most be a factor) that we played poorly in. And the one year we had to play in the thin air of Denver, we struggled down the stretch in the first round game, we had built a double digit lead in the 2nd half over UTEP before they came storming back to tie the game late.
