Exactly one week after the Texas Longhorns ascended to the top of the college basketball rankings for the first time in school history with an undefeated record in mid-January, they cracked under the pressure in an ugly loss to Kansas State.
They followed up the loss with another one to Connecticut.
What took the Longhorns 104 years to achieve only took one week to dismantle. And then there was one final unbeaten team left standing—Kentucky.
Kentucky held the only unblemished record at 19–0 and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time in seven years last Monday. Talks of a possible undefeated season had been surfacing.
After beating Arkansas, coach John Calipari said, “Those seven national titles are not a burden. They’re a badge of honor. No. 1 in the country is not a burden. It’s an honor. For us, we’ll see how we respond now.”
Last Tuesday, hours before a road game with South Carolina, President Barack Obama called to congratulate the team on their new No. 1 ranking and for the $1.3 million they had raised in the “Hoops for Haiti” fundraising efforts.
Obama called freshman phenom John Wall “All-Star.” Then, after finding out that South Carolina was the opponent, he said, “I think you should be all right but there is that tendency once you get to be No. 1 to start letting down a little bit, and it’s a tough place to play, so you guys stay focused.”
Obama’s words were a foreshadowing of the prophecy that would come true. Let’s just call it the “Obama Curse.”
That night, Calipari found out exactly how his team would respond. They came out flat and completely unprepared to work on maintaining their unbeaten status. He was “begging them every timeout to go block out” but in the end, the Wildcats were just “out-hustled and out-coached on all fronts.”
But, there’s a reason why championships aren’t won in January. If the Wildcats bounce back as expected, the loss to South Carolina will long be forgotten when March Madness comes around.
However, they still hold the distinction for being the last undefeated team in college basketball this year.
What Lies Ahead
While no team has gone undefeated throughout an entire season since the 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers, in the last decade, 11 teams had the opportunity to repeat what the Hoosiers did as the last remaining unbeaten team.
Each of those teams failed to not only repeat the Hoosiers’ glory, but only one—Florida—won a national championship (in 2006). Last year’s Wake Forest squad managed to win 16 games before falling. They didn’t even advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The hardest fall for the last unbeaten team was the 2006–07 Clemson team that blazed out to a 17–0 start, but imploded to finish 25–11 and failed to make the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers settled for an NIT bid.
Kentucky’s quest for perfection failed, but they have a bigger goal in mind—winning their eighth national championship. Calipari said earlier in the season, “I want them to dream big.”
So they won’t emulate the 1975–76 Indiana Hoosiers, but just winning the national championship would be a significant achievement based on how the past 11 last unbeaten teams have fared.
The table below shows the fate of college basketball’s last unbeaten team. Indicated is their first loss and their NCAA March Madness result:
1999–2000: Syracuse (lost to Seton Hall Feb. 7, 2000) - lost in Sweet 16
2000–2001: Stanford (lost to UCLA Feb. 3, 2001) - lost in Elite 8
2001–2002: Duke (lost to Florida St. Jan. 6, 2002) - lost in Sweet 16
2002–2003: Duke (lost to Maryland Jan. 18, 2003) - lost in Sweet 16
2003–2004: St. Joseph (lost in the 1st round of Atlantic-10 tourney)- lost in Elite 8
2004–2005: Illinois (lost to OSU Mar. 6, 2005)- Runner-up
2005–2006: Duke/Florida (loth lost on Jan. 21, 2006)- lost in Sweet 16 / Champion
2006–2007: Clemson (lost to Maryland Jan. 13, 2007)- NIT
2007–2008: Memphis (lost to Tennessee Feb. 23, 2008)- Runner-up
2008–2009: Wake Forest (lost to Virginia Tech Jan. 21, 2009)- lost in 1st round
