General question for the masses:
Has any Division I team ever declined an invitation to the Big Dance?
Marquette turned one down in 1970. Kentucky also turned one down in the 1950s because the NCAA ruled its starters ineligible and Adolph Rupp (may God damn his soul) wouldn’t let his team play.
(Sorry for the diversion, but my mother taught me that Adolph Rupp was Satan.)
OK, calming down now.
In the early years of the NCAA tournament, teams would turn down invitations simply because they didn’t have the money to make the trip or they just didn’t want to play any more games.
Utah won its only championship in 1944 and it only went to the NCAA tournament because another team (Arkansas I believe) had to turn down a bid because some of its players were injured in an auto accident. (Sorry, I’m sketchy on the exact details). Utah was playing in the NIT and had been eliminated. The NCAA tournament that year was also in New York, so the Utes were still around town and were able to fill in. They beat Dartmouth 42-40 in overtime.
There were only eight teams in the tournament that year: Dartmouth, Catholic, Ohio State, Temple, Iowa State, Pepperdine, Utah, and Missouri.
The NIT used to be considered more prestigious than the NCAA tourney – way, waay back – so I can’t imagine it would have been unusual in those days to decline an NCAA bid.
1954 was the year Kentucky turned down a bid to the NCAA tournament. Three of Kentucky’s starters were declared ineligible because they were in grad school, which wasn’t allowed at the time. So Adolph Rupp told the NCAA to stick it. La Salle won that year, with the rest of the Final Four being Penn State, USC, and Bradley.
I’m pretty sure Marquette’s 1970 squad was the last major power to decline an NCAA bid. They finished 22-3 that year but were placed outside their home regional. Coach Al McGuire was offended enough to refuse the invitation and instead took his team to the NIT, which they won.
I’m pretty sure that back in those days, playing in your “home regional” meant playing on your home court, like the Women’s tournament early rounds are still set up today.