March 3, 2003

By Mike Douchant

Only six schools have won as many as five conference tournament titles in a row. Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga and Winthrop, boasting four straight league tourney championships, each have a chance to join this exclusive club in 2003.

Legendary Adolph Rupp's seven consecutive SEC Tournament titles is not a huge surprise. But among the most overlooked coaching achievements in history are Don Corbett's seven straight MEAC championships with North Carolina A&T in the 1980s, Valparaiso's Homer Drew claiming six in a row from 1995 through 2000, Fred Schaus winning Southern Conference Tournament titles all six years of his stint with West Virginia from 1955 through 1960, Everett Case capturing Southern Conference Tournament titles each of his first six seasons as North Carolina State's head coach from 1947 through 1952 and Pete Gillen winning Midwestern Collegiate crowns his first four campaigns with Xavier the last part of the 1980s.

Here are the consecutive conference tournament championships of at least four years in the same league:

Conference/School (Years) Coach

Mid-Eastern Athletic
N.C. A&T (7; 1982-88)       Don Corbett

Southeastern
Kentucky (7; 1944-50)       Adolph Rupp

Mid-Continent
Valparaiso (6; 1995-2000)   Homer Drew

Southern
N.C. State (6; 1947-52)     Everett Case
Southern
West Virginia (6; 1955-60)  Fred Schaus

Atlantic 10
Massachusetts (5; 1992-96)  John Calipari

Atlantic Coast
Duke (4; 1999-2002)         Mike Krzyzewski

Big South
Winthrop (4; 1999-2002)     Gregg Marshall

ECAC North Atlantic
Northeastern (4; 1984-87)   Jim Calhoun (3)/Karl Fogel (1)

Great Midwest
Cincinnati (4; 1992-95)     Bob Huggins*

Midwestern Collegiate
Xavier (4; 1986-89)         Pete Gillen

Pacific-10
Arizona (4; 1988-90 and 2002) Lute Olson

Southeastern
Kentucky (4; 1992-95)       Rick Pitino

Southern
East Tenn. State (4; 1989-92) Les Robinson (2)/Alan LeForce (2)

Southland
NE Louisiana (4; 1990-93)   Mike Vining

West Coast
Gonzaga (4; 1999-2002)      Dan Monson (1)/Mark Few (3)

*Huggins won his fifth league tourney in a row in 1996 in the C-USA's
inaugural campaign.