Undefeated College Basketball Teams: Legends of the Court
Perfection is hard to achieve in any aspect of life. It can happen occasionally, including in college basketball, where a few programs have gone through an entire season with a perfect record. Putting money on a team to go undefeated for a season hasn’t happened often, so you do not usually want to do any NCAAB betting on that.
In men’s college basketball, just four programs have finished undefeated in the NCAA Tournament era, with the most recent coming in the mid-1970s. In women’s college basketball, five programs have finished a season with an undefeated record, with the most recent coming in 2023-24.
There have also been several near-misses by teams that fell in the NCAA Tournament for their first loss of the season.
Let’s look at the undefeated college basketball teams and some of the more notorious near-misses.
Has Any Team Ever Gone Undefeated In College Basketball?
As stated earlier, four men’s programs have finished with perfect records in the NCAA Tournament era, with the Indiana Hoosiers being the most recent with a 32-0 record in 1975-76. The last undefeated college basketball team for the men was coached by Bob Knight and featured leading scorer Scott May (23.5 points, 7.7 rebounds per game) and the No. 1 pick of the 1977 NBA Draft, Kent Benson (17.3 points, 8.8 rebounds).
The Hoosiers were No. 1 the entire season and finished their perfect campaign by defeating the No. 2 UCLA Bruins by 20 points in the championship game.
Speaking of UCLA, the Bruins had four perfect campaigns during their ten national titles in 12 seasons from 1964 to 1975. Legendary coach John Wooden led the Bruins to perfect records in 1963-64, 1966-67, 1971-72 and 1972-73.
Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) led the 1966-67 squad, while Bill Walton was the centerpiece of the latter two perfect campaigns, which were part of an NCAA-record 88-game regular-season winning streak.
There were two other undefeated men’s college basketball teams, and they came in back-to-back seasons. San Francisco, led by Bill Russell, went 29-0 in 1955-56 to become the first-ever NCAA Tournament champion to record a perfect season. North Carolina followed that with a 32-0 mark in 1956-57.
What Are The Women’s Teams That Have Gone Undefeated?
You don’t have to go back too far for the last undefeated college basketball team, as the South Carolina Gamecocks completed a perfect season in 2023-24, defeating Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the NCAA Tournament title game.
Coach Dawn Staley’s squad went 38-0 behind the play of senior center Kamila Cardoso, avenging a loss to the Hawkeyes in the 2023 national semifinals that spoiled their bid for a perfect season.
The team with the most perfect seasons of being one of the undefeated women’s college basketball teams is the UConn Huskies, who have finished with an undefeated record six times. UConn’s first perfect season came in 1994-95, with the most recent coming in 2015-16, with all of them coached by Geno Auriemma.
Rebecca Lobo was the star of UConn’s first perfect campaign. The 2001-02 Huskies were 39-0 and featured stars like Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, and Swin Cash. They established an NCAA record for the average winning margin for a single season (35.4 points).
UConn had back-to-back perfect seasons in 2008-09 and 2009-10, going 39-0 in both campaigns. The 2013-14 and 2015-16 Huskies were also perfect as part of a string of four straight national titles.
The first undefeated women’s college basketball team was the 1985-86 Texas Longhorns, who went 34-0 on their way to the national title. Head coach Jody Conradt had four players average at least 10 points per game for that national championship squad.
Another one-time perfect team was the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, who went unbeaten in 1997-98 under Pat Summit’s coaching and the play of Tamika Catchings and Chamique Holdsclaw.
Kim Mulkey coached the Baylor Bears when they went undefeated in 2011-12. The 40-0 Bears, led by Brittney Griner and Odyssey Sims, defeated a No. 2 seed and two No. 1 seeds on their way to the NCAA Tournament crown.
What About Teams That Were Near-Misses To Perfection?
Thanks to March Madness, a few great teams were denied the chance to join the other undefeated men’s college basketball teams. In the NCAA Tournament era, 13 men’s teams had a perfect record entering the tournament but failed to win the title. The NCAA Tournament is usually played in some of the largest college basketball arenas, so the pressure can sometimes get to even the best teams.
The most recent occurred in 2020-21, when Gonzaga lost to Baylor in the national title game, spoiling the Bulldogs’ chance at a first national title and perfection. Gonzaga needed a last-second 3-point heave by freshman Jalen Suggs to advance to the title game, but the Bears blew them out in the national championship game.
The Indiana State Sycamores don’t usually contend for national titles, but they were undefeated in 1978-79 heading into the national championship game, thanks to the play of forward Larry Bird. Unfortunately for the Sycamores, they ran into the Michigan State Spartans, led by Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who beat Indiana State for the national title in one of the most famous NCAA title games.
The 1960-61 Ohio State Buckeyes, which featured all-time greats like John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas, reached the national championship game with a perfect record. But the Buckeyes couldn’t close the deal, falling to Cincinnati in the title tilt.
One of the most famous teams that reached the Final Four with a perfect record was the 1990-91 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, with All-Americans Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon. The Rebels, coached by Jerry Tarkanian, dominated the competition and were the defending national champions. Still, they were upset in the national semifinals by Christian Laettner and the Duke Blue Devils, who went on to win their first national title to start their dynasty under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Other undefeated teams that have fallen in the Final Four were the 1967-68 Houston Cougars, 1975-76 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats. Rutgers was an interesting case in that the Scarlet Knights missed out on taking on undefeated Indiana in the national title game when they fell to Michigan in the national semifinals. The Knights finished with two losses that season because the NCAA Tournament still had a third-place game, which Rutgers lost to UCLA.
Too many undefeated women’s teams have lost in the NCAA Tournament to list. Still, one of the most prominent in recent memory was South Carolina in 2022-23, which lost in the national semifinals to Caitlin Clark and Iowa. Of course, the Gamecocks avenged that loss with a win over the Hawkeyes in the national title game to cap their perfect season in 2023-24.
Notre Dame won the national title in 2018-19 behind the play of guard Arike Ogunbowale, who hit a pair of buzzer-beating game-winners in the Final Four. The first was in the national semifinals against UConn, which came into the game with a 35-0 mark but in overtime to the Irish.
How soon the list of undefeated college basketball teams will be added to is anyone’s guess. As we’ve shown, it can all come crashing down in just one game, making the feat so difficult to achieve.
