Even unranked teams can find success in the NCAA tournament
Even unranked teams can find success in the NCAA tournament NCAA.com
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PRESENTED BY Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 — its modern format — only four of 35 national champions were unranked to start the season. That’s about one in every 9 years. But it does happen. The first may be most memorable. In 1985, Villanova — coming off of a 19-12 season that ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament — was left out of the preseason poll. The Wildcats responded strongly, starting the season 8-0, enough to get them in the AP Poll for six weeks. But Villanova finished its last nine games of the season 4-5, terrible momentum heading into postseason play. The Wildcats received an 8 seed, giving them one of the toughest paths to a Final Four, but it didn’t matter. They won five games in a row to secure a matchup with the Patrick Ewing-led, No. 1 seed Georgetown Hoyas, and beat the clear favorites in remarkable fashion to become the lowest-ever seed to win a national championship. MARCH MADNESS: In 2006, unranked Florida won 17 straight games to start the season and quickly found itself No. 2 in the AP Poll come January. The Gators then went 7-6 in their final 13 games of the regular season, sliding to No. 16 in the poll, before winning the SEC championship and securing a 3 seed. They would go on to beat UCLA 73-57 for the school’s first-ever national championship, and would even repeat as champs the following year. The most recent unranked team to win the title came in 2011. After 2010’s 18-16 campaign ended in the second round of the NIT, UConn failed to make the preseason top 25 in 2010-11. Then the Huskies started the year 17-2 and shot to No. 4 in the AP poll. A 4-7 record to finish the year left UConn with a No. 3 seed come tournament time, but the Huskies — powered by junior guard Kemba Walker — won six tournament games by an average of 10.3 points per game and defeated Butler 53-41 for the program’s third title. NCAA champions since 1985 Year Team Preseason AP rank Lowest AP rank Highest AP rank Final AP Rank Tournament seed Final record Runner-up 2021 Baylor 2 3 2 3 1 28-2 Gonzaga 2019 Virginia 5 6 2 2 1 35-3 Texas Tech 2018 Villanova 6 6 1 2 1 36-4 Michigan 2017 UNC 6 14 3 6 1 33-7 Gonzaga 2016 Villanova 11 17 1 6 2 35-5 UNC 2015 Duke 4 5 2 4 1 34-4 Wisconsin 2014 UConn 18 NR 9 18 7 32-8 Kentucky 2013 Louisville 2 12 1 2 1 35-5 Michigan 2012 Kentucky 2 3 1 1 1 38-2 Kansas 2011 UConn NR NR 4 9 3 32-9 Butler 2010 Duke 9 11 3 3 1 35-5 Butler 2009 UNC 1 5 1 2 1 34-4 Mich. St. 2008 Kansas 4 4 2 4 1 37-3 Memphis 2007 Florida 1 7 1 3 1 35-5 Ohio State 2006 Florida NR NR 2 11 3 33-6 UCLA 2005 UNC 4 11 2 2 1 33-4 Illinois 2004 UConn 1 9 1 7 2 33-6 Ga. Tech 2003 Syracuse NR NR 11 13 3 30-5 Kansas 2002 Maryland 2 8 2 4 1 32-4 Indiana 2001 Duke 2 4 1 1 1 35-4 Arizona 2000 Mich. St. 3 11 2 2 1 32-7 Florida 1999 UConn 2 4 1 3 1 34-2 Duke 1998 Kentucky 8 9 4 5 2 35-4 Utah 1997 Arizona 19 19 6 15 4 25-9 Kentucky 1996 Kentucky 1 5 1 2 1 34-2 Syracuse 1995 UCLA 6 7 1 1 1 31-2 Arkansas 1994 Arkansas 3 6 1 2 1 31-3 Duke 1993 UNC 7 8 1 4 1 34-4 Michigan 1992 Duke 1 1 1 1 1 34-2 Michigan 1991 Duke 6 14 5 6 2 32-7 Kansas 1990 UNLV 1 14 1 2 1 35-5 Duke 1989 Michigan 3 13 2 10 3 30-7 Seton Hall 1988 Kansas 7 NR 7 NR 6 27-11 Oklahoma 1987 Indiana 3 8 2 3 1 30-4 Syracuse 1986 Louisville 9 19 7 7 2 32-7 Duke 1985 Villanova NR 19 14 NR 8 25-10 Georgetown There is a flip side to this, of course. Just being ranked in the preseason does not guarantee success. Since 1985, approximately four teams ranked in the preseason poll fail to make the tournament every year. That includes 23 teams ranked in the top 10, and even a preseason No. 2 and No. 3. A year after going 32-7 and winning the program’s second national championship, Louisville entered the season ranked No. 2 in 1987. And then, disaster. Louisville lost three games to unranked foes to start the year and was 3-6 through its first nine games. The Cardinals were out of the rankings by the first regular season poll, failed to make the tournament, and finished 18-14. More recently, Kentucky was ranked No. 3 to start the 2013 season, but lost three of its first seven games, with two of those losses coming at the hands of unranked opponents, and was promptly out of the top 25. The Wildcats would make a brief appearance at No. 25 in February, but were out again the very next week. Kentucky would finish 21-12, losing to Robert Morris in the first game of the NIT. In the 2020-21 season, both Duke (No. 9) and Kentucky (No. 10) started the season ranked in the top 10 but missed the tournament. The Blue Devils finished 13-11 (9-9 ACC) and Kentucky plummeted to 9-16 (8-9 SEC).RANKINGS :
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