Which team do you think was the best to not win the national championship game?


Off the top of my head in no particular order, here's the teams that I would nominate for consideration:

- 1999 Duke Blue Devils (were ranked #1 in the nation entering the tournament and had a 37-1 record entering the championship game; if they win against UConn they would have set the NCAA record for most wins in a single season)

- 1957 Kansas Jayhawks (featured Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain, whose team was upset in triple overtime by an undefeated North Carolina team that had no one close to Chamberlain's size, and was a virtual home game for Kansas since it was held in Kansas City, Missouri)

- 1979 Indiana State Sycamores (the Larry Bird and Carl Nicks led Sycamores entered the tournament unbeaten with a 33-0 record proving all the doubters and Billy Packers of the world wrong by making it to the championship game, only to be stopped by a team with a lot of determination and a little "Magic")

- 2005 Illinois Fighting Illini (the Illini entered the tournament with one loss which was to Ohio State in their final regular season game, which proved to pay huge dividends in recruiting for OSU coach Thad Matta, and were the #1 ranked team in the nation for much of the year; they were stopped by a North Carolina team bursting with talent and a 2nd year coach whom we all know very well)

- 1997 Kentucky Wildcats (the Defending National Champs made it all the way to the national championship game only to lose in overtime 84-79 to another team of Wildcats that went on to be the only team ever to beat three #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and beat them in ; they would later go on to reclaim the national championship a year later)

- 1993 Michigan Wolverines (the Fab Five were one of the most talented and remembered teams ever, and if not for a dumb timeout by Chris Webber that resulted in a technical foul, we may have had a different national champion)

- 1977 North Carolina Tar Heels (led by 3 time consensus All-American and 1978 Wooden Award winner, Eastman College Player of the Year, and USBWA College Player of the Year (now known as the Oscar Robertson Trophy) Phil Ford, the Tar Heels were actually leading with under two minutes left and went into their patented Four Corners Offense to hold the ball and drain the clock; one of their reserve players was in and one of their starters was waiting at the scorers table to check in; a North Carolina assistant asked Dean Smith if he should take a timeout and get him in, but Dean refused saying something to the effect of it may embarass the reserve player; that reserve player went on to go in for a seemingly open layup that was blocked, while the other player would have probably dunked it; Marquette gets the ball scores and goes on to win 67-59 with North Carolina needing to foul them to try and make the game shorter)

- 1982 Georgetown Hoyas (led by a freshman center that would go on to be one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, his 5 goaltending calls led to 10 North Carolina points in fact Carolina didn't even put the ball in the hoop to get it's first 6 points; a freshman by the name of Mike Jordan shot a baseline jumper to take the lead with 15 seconds left; Fred Brown looking for Gastonia, North Carolina native Sleepy Floyd who was smothered by defenders ended up inadvertantly passing it to Floyd's fellow Gastonia native James Worthy to pretty much hand the game to the Tar Heels)

- 1985 Georgetown Hoyas (the defending national champs made it back to the national championship game despite losing PG Fred Brown to graduation; despite being an amazing team, seemingly overmatched Villanova had to play a perfect game, and set a NCAA FG % record, just to beat the Hoyas by two points 66-64)

- 1983 Houston Cougars (led by two of NBA's 50 Greatest Players, Phi Slamma Jamma, the nation's tallest fraternity, and the Cougars were a 9 point favorite over the Cinderella Wolfpack; Houston went on a 17-2 run off of Olajuwon's insatiable play, but the Cougars and Olajuwon needed to rest and the Wolfpack came back to tie it up; Houston's Young and Franklin could not hit the front-end of 1-1's and left the door open; a timeout was taken with 44 seconds left, a good omen for the Wolfpack who last won a national championship 9 years ago with seemingly the greatest basketball player ever and one of the most beloved Wolfpack players ever and had his #44 jersey retired by the school; State holding the ball for a final shot attempt nearly had the ball stolen two times, 1st with Terry Gannon and 2nd with Derreck Whittenburg; with the ball nearly stolen and time running down Whittenburg heaved up the best "alley oop" shot to Lorenzo Charles who stuffed the ball in the basket and cemented the Cardiac Pack and Jim Valvano's place in history)

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:51 PM. Reason : ]

3/29/2007 9:51:05 PM

1974 UCLA?

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:52 PM. Reason : oh...IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME..duh]

3/29/2007 9:51:39 PM

83 houston cougars

or the michigan team in 1993

3/29/2007 9:52:39 PM

1974 UCLA lost in the semifinals to State. this pertains to the best teams that made it to the national championship game. of course 1974 UCLA could beat most of the teams on here though.

3/29/2007 9:52:54 PM

^ Yeah, just re-read the topic.

Thought it was 'best not to win the championship'

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:54 PM. Reason : Edit...and I was going to recommend Illinois 2 years ago, but I see you did ]

Another in this category would have been the 74 Maryland Terrapins..but not the point of the thread

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:57 PM. Reason : ]

3/29/2007 9:53:18 PM

Quote :

"1993 Michigan Wolverines (the Fab Five were one of the most talented and remembered teams ever, and if not for a dumb timeout by Chris Webber that resulted in a technical foul, we may have had a different national champion)"

you do realize UNC was up two when this happened? So if Webber hadn't called the T.O. Michigan would have been awarded 3 points for the win?

However, the 1999 Duke team wins easily followed closely by the 97 Kentucky team, but I mean they won in 96 and 98 so they got theirs

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 9:58 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2007 9:55:41 PM

no

that's why he say we may have had a different champion

durrrrr

3/29/2007 9:56:38 PM

99 duke team

3/29/2007 9:58:40 PM

Then that is dumb. If they had scored more points, they may have won, saying they could have/should have all means the same thing. I just get tired of people acting like it cost them the game. If Michigan had been up by two, and Williams had hit the Technical free throws to tie it, and then UNC scored on the ensuing possession, then yes, it would have cost them the game, however, it did not

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:00 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2007 9:59:05 PM

2007 ACCT NC State Wolfpack

3/29/2007 10:00:44 PM

All I meant in regards to 1993 Chris Webber and the timeout was that with a team like theirs, who had the ball in what looked like the final possession of the game, they could have tied it up and forced overtime or got a three to win. I know that UNC was up at that time. One still wonders how that game would have ended had that timeout not been called. And don't bring up the missed traveling call. Blown calls are unavoidable. Calling a timeout when you have none left is. UNC was up by one in 82 as well, but it would have been very easy for the Hoyas to have just thrown it down low to Patrick Ewing to take to the goal and more than likely score. That guy was nearly unstoppable when he got the ball in the post. The fact that UNC was up doesn't keep people from thinking how it all would have played out if Brown hadn't thrown the ball away.

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:11 PM. Reason : ]

3/29/2007 10:09:55 PM

The '99 Duke team was very, very good but remember a few things. UConn was ranked #1 longer than Duke was that year, they both finished the year with only 2 losses, and UConn's only 2 losses came with Richard Hamilton out for both games. I still maintain that wasn't even an upset in the title game. That UConn team would beat that Duke team 5 out of 10 on a neutral floor.

My vote for the best team not to win (not necessarily the thread but still) goes to the Runnin' Rebels team that Duke beat in the Final 4. They were undefeated at the time and had a SICK team with Augman, Anthony, LJ, etc... (Ackles was a nasty 6th man even)

3/29/2007 10:14:44 PM

Yeah Larry Johnson was a McDonald's All-American, the best Junior College player out there when he went to UNLV and was like a man amongst boys babies out there. He was one of my favorite Charlotte Hornets player ever. I remember my brother and I had a poster of him and a Charlotte Observer drawing of him posted up in our room. That gold tooth was playalistic, haha.

3/29/2007 10:23:31 PM

Quote :

". Blown calls are unavoidable. Calling a timeout when you have none left is."

right blown calls are unavoidable. stupid shit is avoidable.

a coach is part of a team and that team obviously wasnt well coached

3/29/2007 10:27:03 PM

To have Wilt Chamberlain in that era and not win a title has to hurt.

3/29/2007 10:28:45 PM

^^^^Nobody in this thread said it was an upset.

STFU about UConn and how they got no respect. We've heard you say it before, we don't need to read it from you again.


[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:36 PM. Reason : 2]

3/29/2007 10:30:00 PM

Quote :

"UConn was ranked #1 longer than Duke was that year"

This is not true...I have no facts to back this up but Duke lost in the great alaska shootout that year and then to UCONN in the finals, there is no way they weren't ranked #1 less than UCONN

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:36 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2007 10:33:50 PM

Duke was on something like a 32 game winning streak before losing in the finals.

3/29/2007 10:37:49 PM

^^ You know your shit more than almost anyone on here but I'm right... I looked it up before I posted it even to make sure. That Duke team was good but I think their overall record was inflated with a weak ACC that year. Remember Michigan State gave them all they could handle in the semifinal that year too..

http://www.sportsstats.com/AP/Ranking/1998-99.html

Quote :

"Nobody in this thread said it was an upset. STFU about UConn and how they got no respect. We've heard you say it before, we don't need to read it from you again. "

download the plugin, put me on ignore, and don't bitch.. it's quite simple.

Plus, it was quite relevant because in my mind all those teams that were supposedly the best who lost the game were the best teams that year. Duke wasn't and the weak '98-'99 ACC blew up their greatness. That's my opinion. If you don't like it, give reasons why or fuck off.

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:52 PM. Reason : one more thought..]

3/29/2007 10:43:08 PM

1996 Atlanta Braves

3/29/2007 10:48:53 PM

^^ Wow, Uconn didn't lose until february... I just assumed since Duke had one early loss they would have been #1 by January-end of season, course the who's #1 longest is really timing of losses.... I don't remember much about the 99 regular season other than Duke crushing teams left and right (with Elton brand committing 9 fouls a game and only getting called for 2), I really can't remember Dicky/Digger/or John Saunders riding anyone other than Duke that year, UCONN really got the shaft as far as exposure. I thought UCONN was at least 7 point dogs, but I guess that game was mroe evenly matched than I remember

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 10:59 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2007 10:54:38 PM

That 99 game was on ESPN Classic today. I watched it, and Richard Hamilton scored 21 points in that game. He was unreal. Tropicana Field seemed like it had a lot of promise back then, and they had a great shot from above with the top of the dome all lit up orange. Looked kinda neat. It'd be pretty sweet to light up the RBC Center red.

3/29/2007 11:09:05 PM

The Indianapolis Colts future Lucas Oil Stadium is slated to be the 2010 site for the Final Four, and will be the permanent back-up site of the Final Four. If they go with the setup pictured above, that's gonna really suck for the people in the nosebleeds, even moreso than the more common basketball setups seen in the current domes patterened after the Carrier Dome.

Other future sites include:

2008 - Alamodome
2009 - Ford Field
2011 - Reliant Stadium

3/29/2007 11:29:35 PM

91 Kansas

3/29/2007 11:29:43 PM

The 1998-19999 Duke team was ranked #1 for 21 weeks out of the possible 39 weeks of the season, that's more than half, meaning that it would be impossible for UConn to be ranked #1 for more weeks than Duke. Correct me if I'm wrong but their average margin of victory during the season was 26.1 points per game. In ACC play their average margin of victory was 29 points a game. I don't care if you play in the Pac-10 that's still impressive. The ACC was still the ACC that year and it's not like Duke played every other ACC opponent during one of their down years. They beat their arch-rival by 12, 20, and 23 during their three meetings. These games are supposed to be close no matter what the rankings are because of the intensity of the rivalry. The final meeting was during the ACC tournament Finals. They had one of the best out of conference schedules that year playing #15 Cincinnati (before Kenyon Martin broke his leg), #9 Michigan State, #3 Kentucky, #4 Maryland, #8 St. Johns, #10 UNC, #14 UNC, and #15 UNC. They also met Michigan State again in the the Final Four that year. During the 98-99 season it wasn't a question of "Would Duke win against _____?" it was a question of by how much. The title game came down to a final play. Trajan Langdon couldn't get off a good enough shot to tie the game (most Duke fans still say he was fouled on the play because there was a decent amount of contact, if not a trip, by a UConn player during the final seconds of the game as Duke had the ball). They are by far the best team to lose in a National Championship game. If Duke was as gay as UNC they would hang a banner for that title just like the one from the 1920's (the one that was "voted" on (maybe 1926)) that UNC hangs in the Smith Center. See the following for any information on this season

http://goduke.statsgeek.com/basketball-m/seasons/schedule.php?season=1998-99

3/29/2007 11:33:33 PM

wtf? there aren't even 21 weeks in a whole regular season, let alone 39. that isn't even possible.

Brass, that setup looks cool but you're right... the upper deck seats are so ridiculously far from the court at all points.. people will fill it up still though no doubt.

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 11:39 PM. Reason : jesus kid, those are GAMES not weeks..]

3/29/2007 11:35:58 PM

Quote :

"91 Kansas"

91 Kansas? They were only a 3 seed in the tournament. I don't even remember who was on that team. The only memorable thing about them was that was Roy's first team that he took to the National Championship game, and he had to beat Dean Smith, his mentor, in the semifinal. When recounting great teams, no one outside of Kansas fans would probably ever mention them.

3/29/2007 11:40:19 PM

I read that wrong, that was their ranking for each game, not each week. Someone find a link to that.

3/29/2007 11:40:42 PM

^^^ yeah they'll fill it up, just like in 1968 when 52,629 fans filled the Astrodome to watch #2 Houston take on #1 UCLA. they placed the court smack dab in the middle of the dome. I think the closest seat was still a good 40-50 feet from the court. no one had a good seat for that game.

3/29/2007 11:44:14 PM

New cowboys stadium would be a nice place for the FF

If you can't see the action from where you are sitting, catch it on the 60 yard HD screen hanging over the court.

3/29/2007 11:44:15 PM

haha, by 2016 i'm sure they'll have it in there, and the year before they will have had it in the Cardinals' University of Phoenix Stadium.



[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 11:51 PM. Reason : ]

3/29/2007 11:48:39 PM

without a doubt, UNLV 1991. there is no way to argue this - they were undefeated, no one had even come CLOSE to beating them. earlier that season they went into fayetteville and whooped #2 arkanses, and hadn't lost a game in over a year. they returned a complete starting 5 from the year before that had won the national title, by the largest margin of victory ever. they had 3 lottery picks that year, including the #1 overall in LJ.

granted dook in '99 was loaded, but UNLV in '91 had dominated college basketball for nearly 2 seasons up until that title game.

3/30/2007 12:26:24 AM

i dont see how this is even a discussion. michigan ftw 2 years in a row.

3/30/2007 12:59:46 AM

uh michigan in 93-94

3/30/2007 1:02:54 AM

that houston team lost two championship games as well. and another final four game.

3/30/2007 1:14:18 AM

maybe in 2010, they will give out incredible sun glasses with zoom that will make watching a basketball game in a fucking stadium tolerable

3/30/2007 1:16:06 AM

them georgetown teams in the 80's were real good

i say them

3/30/2007 1:20:50 AM

I still think that the michigan team vrs unc was a big one. However! It would not have mattered anyways as all banners and such were taken down and it's like the fab five never was really there...even though we and everyone else knows they were. Watched a great thing about them on sportscenter about this.

3/30/2007 1:21:11 AM

i knew they were there

3/30/2007 1:26:35 AM

phi slamma jamma's...

3/30/2007 1:46:03 AM

fab five

3/30/2007 4:54:16 AM

1982 Georgetown Hoyas

3/30/2007 7:04:13 AM

Quote :

"91 Kansas? They were only a 3 seed in the tournament. I don't even remember who was on that team. "

Agreed they weren't a particularly good team but... you don't remember Mark Randall and Adonis Jordan?

What about that goofy white guy with the bad back? I guess I watched the tape of this game and the "Duke is King" videos about 30 times when i was a kid but i mean damn. How do you forget about a 6'10 guy with a mullet who was a first round pick by the Chicago Bulls. MARK RANDALL!!!

3/30/2007 7:44:58 AM

2006-2007 NC State Basketball

3/30/2007 8:13:18 AM

MARK RANDALL!??!?! This was '89 so it doesn't look like his mullet is 100% grown out yet

[Edited on March 30, 2007 at 8:16 AM. Reason : a]

3/30/2007 8:16:02 AM

seriously, 91 UNLV. how could this even be questioned? I'd say 99 duke is close, but UNLV was fucking undefeated that year and blew everyone out. Granted, they probably threw that game, but still...

3/30/2007 8:50:52 AM

Granted, they probably don't fit the criteria of this thread, but still...

3/30/2007 8:57:13 AM

howabout the year that State went undefeated....i know we weren't in the playoffs but....

3/30/2007 10:53:49 AM

Well the basis of the topic was best team that lost in the final game, not the best team of a certain year that just didn't win it. Many people forget that the 1991 UNLV vs. Duke matchup was in the semifinals, not the finals. That's why I didn't include the 91 UNLV team in my nominations. The reason I didn't include 1984 Houston, was b/c Clyde Drexler went pro after 1983, so if he comes back I see them winning the 1984 championship instead of Georgetown.

So how would you guys rank them?

3/30/2007 11:05:11 AM

^^^Granted, you're an idiot seeing as how they're the best team EVER to not win it, semi-finals or not. who cares if they choked in the first round or the final game?

[Edited on March 30, 2007 at 11:12 AM. Reason : .]

3/30/2007 11:11:34 AM