Every college basketball team’s goal is to make the NCAA Tournament. For many programs, the only way to do that is to win the conference tournament.
The Tulane Green Wave fell short of that goal, falling narrowly to the Memphis Tigers in the American Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals. The Tigers went on to win the AAC tournament title and claimed the league’s only March Madness berth.
For the Green Wave (19-14) it was a bitter loss. Their streak of not making the NCAA Tournament stretched to 30 years.
But, on Monday, Tulane received a reprieve. It’s not the NCAA Tournament, but the new College Basketball Crown offers the Green Wave a chance to keep playing.
Tulane will play USC on April 1 in the 16-team, single-elimination event.
It will be the fifth different postseason tournament the program has played in since 1982.
The Green Wave were passed over for the National Invitation Tournament, but Tulane first played in that event in 1982.
In 1996, Tulane made its longest run in the event, getting all the way to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals. That run ended with a 12-point loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Green Wave did win the third-place game, defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Tulane’s last appearance in the NIT was in 2000, which was a first-round exit.
In 2013, the Green Wave were invited to the Collegeinsider.com postseason tournament, or the CIT. Tulane won its first game, but fell in the second round.
The following year, Tulane was invited to the College Basketball Invitational, which saw the Green Wave lose in the first round.
Tulane’s three NCAA Tournament appearances came in a four-year period, from 1992-95. These appearances came after the program was disbanded for three years after a point-shaving scandal.
In 1992, the Green Wave made its first appearance in the tournament, as they were named a No. 10 seed and won their first game over St. John’s. Tulane was eliminated in the next round by No. 2 seed Oklahoma State.
The Green Wave returned in 1993 as a No. 11 seed and beat Kansas State by two points before they fell in the second round to No. 3 seed Florida State.
After a one-year absence, Tulane achieved its highest seed in the NCAA Tournament, installed as a No. 9 seed. The Green Wave defeated BYU in the first round, but loss to top seed Kentucky in the second round.
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