Undefeated teams in college basketball history: How Miami (Ohio) can join UCLA, others with perfect regular season

Undefeated teams in college basketball history: How Miami (Ohio) can join UCLA, others with perfect regular season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

JUMP TO: 

• How many undefeated teams in college basketball history?

• Undefeated college basketball national champions

• Undefeated college basketball regular seasons

• Teams who went undefeated but lost in March Madness

• Longest winning streak in college basketball history

As the college basketball regular season winds down, there is just one lone undefeated team remaining. That title goes to the Miami (OH) Redhawks, who have yet to lose a game all season, and are currently ranked No. 19 in the country.

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The RedHawks are the favorites to win the MAC, as well as finish the regular season undefeated. If Miami and head coach Travis Steele’s team pulls it off, it’ll mark the first time since the 2020-21 season to have a team go undefeated through the regular season.

Let’s take a look back at some of the previous undefeated teams in college basketball history, and how they fared in the NCAA Tournament.

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How many undefeated teams in college basketball history?

There have been a total of 20 teams to finish the regular season undefeated and enter the NCAA tournament unbeaten. The first one was the 1950-51 Columbia team, coached by Lou Rossini. The Lions finished a perfect 21-0, but fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament to No. 5 Illinois, 79-71.

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In the rest of the 1950s, we saw two more programs do it in the 1955-56 San Francisco team, and the 1957 North Carolina team, both of which won a national title. In the 1960s there were five teams that went undefeated, including Fred Taylor’s 1961 Ohio State team, and two of John Wooden’s UCLA teams in 1964 and 1967. Houston went unbeaten during the 1967-68 regular season, and Larry Weise’s  St. Bonaventure team went 22-0 the same year.

In the 1970s, we saw a whopping eight programs go undefeated, most notably including two consecutive UCLA and Indiana squads under legendary head coaches John Wooden and Bobby Knight.

There was a long drought in the 1980s, and we didn’t get a team finishing undefeated until Jerry Tarkanian’s 1990-91 UNLV squad. Since then, there have been just three teams to do it, in the 2014 Wichita State team, the 2015 Kentucky team and the 2021 Gonzaga squad.

Of all of these teams that finished undefeated during the regular season, just seven of them went on to win the national title.

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Undefeated college basketball national champions

It’s not easy to go undefeated and win it all. We haven’t seen it since Bobby Knight’s Indiana team did so in 1976, as the Hoosiers beat No. 9 Michigan 86-68 in the national title game.

John Wooden’s UCLA squads went back-to-back during the 1972-1973 seasons, as the Bruins beat Florida State the first year and Memphis for the second national title. Wooden’s UCLA teams also had a pair of titles during the 1964 and 1966 seasons.

North Carolina, under head coach Frank McGuire, finished 27-0 on the way to the Tar Heels’ first national title in 1957. The first-ever squad to do it was San Francisco, which won its first national championship in 1955 after going a perfect 25-0 under head coach Phil Woolpert.

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Undefeated college basketball regular seasons

The majority of teams that finished undefeated in the regular season ultimately lost in the March Madness tournament. While only one (1951 Columbia) lost in the first round, most teams fell either in the Final Four or regional rounds. Three teams lost in national championship.

Teams who went undefeated but lost in March Madness

Here’s a look at how each team did in the tournament after entering undefeated.

• 1951 Columbia: Lost in first round (79-71 to No. 1 Illinois)

• 1961 Ohio State: Lost national championship (71-59 to No. 2 Cincinnati)

• 1968 Houston: Lost in Final Four (89-85 to Ohio State)

• 1968 St. Bonaventure: Lost in regional semifinals (95-75 to No. 7 Columbia)

• 1971 Marquette: Lost in regional semifinals (77-72 to No. 11 Minnesota)

• 1971 Penn: Lost in regional finals (90-47 to Rutgers)

• 1975 Indiana: Lost in regional finals (86-68 to Michigan)

• 1976 Rutgers: Lost in Final Four (106-92 to No. 5 UCLA)

• 1979 Indiana State: Lost national championship (75-64 to No. 3 Michigan State)

• 1991 UNLV: Lost in Final Four (79-77 to No. 6 Duke)

• 2014 Wichita State: Lost in second round (78-76 to Kentucky)

• 2015 Kentucky: Lost in Final Four (71-64 to No. 3 Wisconsin)

• 2021 Gonzaga: Lost in national championship (86-70 to No. 3 Baylor)

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Last undefeated college basketball team

The last team in college basketball to finish the regular season undefeated was the 2020-21 Gonzaga Bulldogs. Under head coach Mark Few, the Bulldogs entered as the preseason No. 1 overall team in the country after finishing 31-2 the season prior. The team was led by stars like Drew Timme, Jalen Suggs, Anton Watson and Joel Ayayi.

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The Bulldogs won the WAC in dominating fashion, defeating BYU 88-78 to earn the No. 1 overall seed. In the early rounds, Gonzaga took down Norfolk State, Oklahoma, Creighton, USC all by double digits. The biggest scare came against UCLA in the Final Four, needing overtime to defeat the Bruins 93-90.

In the national championship game, the Bulldogs’ dream season came to an end at the hands of No. 3 Baylor, losing 86-70.  and UCLA in overtime

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Who has the longest winning streak in college basketball history?

The longest winning streak in college basketball history is UCLA, who had won 88 straight games from 1971-1974. That streak was broken by Notre Dame, which upset the Bruins 71-70 upset in South Bend. ND overcame a 12-point deficit to upset the Bruins and snap the historic win streak that has yet to be broken.  Led by coach Digger Phelps, the Fighting Irish overcame a 12-point deficit in the final minutes.

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Within that streak in 1971 and 1972, John Wooden’s teams went a perfect 60-0 over those two seasons, and won back-to-back national championships. The teams included the likes of Bill Walton, Greg Lee, Larry Hollyfield and Tommy Curtis.

John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty

As if Wooden leading the Bruins to four undefeated seasons wasn’t impressive enough, he built a dynasty at UCLA. Nicknamed “The Wizard of Westwood,” Wooden won 10 national titles between 1964-1975, including an NCAA record 10 straight Final Four appearances from 67-76.

His Bruins teams also had a 38-game NCAA Tournament winning streak, 134 weeks ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 Poll, an 88-game men’s regular season winning streak (1971–1974) and 13 straight conference championships.

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