As you can see...WKU was in the Final Four in 1971.....



collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp...6&CID=789502

I think we tend to think that college basketball got going back East....and then spread throughout the country. (I know it was invented in Springfield, Mass.)
But I think it's easy to think that the ACC and SEC lead the way...to hoops becoming so popular.
Oddly enough though....if you look at that list....a lot of the Final Four teams (and champs)....back in the early days were schools from the Midwest, Southwest or West.

Interesting.

WKU also made the NIT Final Four 3 times in the 40's and 50's when it was arguably a bigger deal than the NCAA's. In the early years the NIT tended to grab the top independents and the NCAA's usually got conference champions. But there were alot of GREAT independents back in the day. It was sorta like the Bowls...there really wasn't 1 champion until the late 50's/early 60's.

One school(I'd have to get out my college hoops encyclopedia) won BOTH the NIT and the NCAA one year. Talk about an undisputed champion.

ANYWAYS - you could argue WKU has 4 Final Fours because of that.