Northwestern. Really... B1G membership, academics, and proximity to Chicago and you pop your NCAA cherry like 2 years ago and no return in sight? Pitiful.
Most Underachieving College Basketball Program Of All-Time?
- Thread starter gymman1031
- Start date
For sure. Yea, it's better than most probably realize. Much has been in the last 25 years but it's been a pretty good 25 years. Just need a recent title. 2015 will sting forever.
For sure. Yea, it's better than most probably realize. Much has been in the last 25 years but it's been a pretty good 25 years. Just need a recent title. 2015 will sting forever.
Preaching to the choir.You guys were lucky by losing earlier in the season.
I guess when we're contemplating "could have been" scenarios, I also have to counter with, "they could have also lost some games, too." The 2015 Kentucky team won back-to-back OT games. They had a memorable comeback against LSU. Were fortunate to beat Notre Dame, who was up by 5 with a few minutes left.
I might go with 91 UNLV team as the closest to having an undefeated season in the modern era. If they make that shot in the final seconds, they win the game, an advance to the title game.
IIRC UNLV was 34-1?
I'll be first in line to congratulate any team who wins 38 games in a season. I know first hand how hard it is. especially when you play OOC games against UL, champions classic, cbs sports classic, Big 12/SEC challenge etc.
Correct. 4 less games, but they also had a margin of victory of 26.7 points per game (including a 7 point road win at #2 Arkansas), whereas Kentucky's margin of victory was at 20.1 ppg.
How is that not underachieving? 1 NCAA bid for a P5 program that is close to a talent hotbed is about as underachieving as you can get.
In 30 years there’s gonna be another lurker in here talking about his team having gone 44-1 and how they’re the only team to ever do that. Somebody else will be like yeah Kentucky 38-1 and that lurker from the future is gonna say “ok?”
I was arguing that I think UNLV was closer to having an undefeated season than Kentucky. They only had two single-digit victories the whole season (7 points and 8 points). They could have won the Semifinals with the final shot. Kentucky easily could have lost 2-3 regular season games in addition to the Elite 8 game. JMO.
You should thank me, when else are you going to get to have this conversation with a fan who's team won 38 games?
BTW, I don't know if I mentioned it, but we won 38 games and title as well.
Trippy. Hopefully that lurker will be me.
Also, hopefully that team will win 44 games and a title like we did with our 38-2 national championship team. The title game we won against KU. I wasn't sure if your remembered it or repressed it.
Patiently waiting for the lurker vs. lurker late night wars.
last one. These 57 hour days get to me. I'm sure you all can read the loopiness. I've gone all day today thinking it was Friday. I spent 2300 this morning on car taxes, rent and car payment. I have another 1300 due tomorrow on other bills. Shit just never stops. I know that's not a lot of money for all the posters who post here as they're all highly successful at life,but for a nobody like me, that's a lot for two days .
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Wait, it is Friday?
last one. These 57 hour days get to me. I'm sure you all can read the loopiness. I've gone all day today thinking it was Friday. I spent 2300 this morning on car taxes, rent and car payment. I have another 1300 due tomorrow on other bills. Shit just never stops.
Correct?
My wife was snoring the other night. I only got 7 hours of sleep. I totally know how you feel now when it comes to operating on lack of sleep.
I mean, we just as easily could have beaten Wisconsin and Duke in the final four and championship games. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. 38 wins in a row says a lot about a team. 91 Rebs were great but 15 Kentucky has the highest kenpom rating ever. Not sure how far back that goes.
They have underachieved (one NCAAT appearance is pathetic no matter how you cut it), but let’s not pretend they’ve squandered all of these advantages ... anyone familiar with the conference and Chicago will agree that it’s one of the most challenging P5 jobs in the country. Incredibly tough academic standards even for athletes and proximity to talent can only take you so far. Disregarding for a second that a lot of our city’s best recruits go to a Blue Blood, those that do feel a need to include “the home team” in their top 10 or top 5 include Illinois. I saw somewhere that NU has fewer alumni in Chicagoland than every B1G school except for Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland and Minnesota or something like that. NU is physically closer than any Big Ten school by a lot, but in the minds of Chicago basketball recruits ... that’s quite irrelevant.
Throw on a lack of history, a tiny fan base (bad attendance) and an administration that just won’t prioritize athletics, and you have a tough job on your hands.
63/64 teams got the memo that the shot clock was being changed from 30 seconds to 32.2 seconds. Made us look like a bunch of idiots for not knowing that!congrats on your win. Probably one of the biggest in Wisconsin history.
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This is a tough question, because to be considered an underachiever there would have to be high expectations. If that's the case, I'll say Indiana, at least over the past 30+ years.
Fair enough then I change my vote to Rutgers. 40 years without being ranked, 28 year NCAAT drought, even though they likely snap both of those droughts this year it doesn’t change the narrative that they are a collassal failure for a program that has enjoyed the exposure of big conferences and proximity to talent while delivering mostly last place finishes in whatever league they are in. If it wasn’t for the Final Four in 76 then this would be a no brainer.
I live in Champaign. It takes 2 and a half hours to get to Chicago so looks like about the same distance
I Calipari would stop getting wins/final 4/title games vacated for cheating that would be nice too. And that’s at every place he has been. Don’t recall dean smith having to do soExactly, we should have gone 40-0 in one of, if not both 38 win seasons. I credit HOF Calipari for putting us in that position, to be the only team to pull that off, but damn those 38 wins, he'll be known for those 2 losses.....except for '12. He won a title that year.
Oh and to address the underline. He only has 1 title, 1 Runner up, 4 Final fours, and 7 Elite 8's in the last 10 years. He should have more. Everyone expects more from UK, and awesome there's been two better coaches than him this past decade.
...and speaking of talent. You're right, we should use his success against him. I like to do the same with Dean Smith.
In IL's defense, Chicago basketball is dirty as hell. You have to be willing to grease a recruits whole family, handler, coach, and preacher, to get them to your school.
So having Chi Town in your state isn't an advantage.
So having Chi Town in your state isn't an advantage.
Everybody knows that; everybody except the investigators.
Even the Sun-Times knew. That's like NY Post's little brother.Everybody knows that; everybody except the investigators.
They were like "f you, we're not redacting shit, we'll just bury it on our blog."
Greatest team(s) I ever saw were a few of the old UCLA teams. While Jabbar, Allen, and co. were humbling CBB, Players like Sidney Wicks and Henry Bibby had to play freshman ball since back in those days freshmen couldn’t play varsity. Ditto with Wicks, Rowe, Patterson, Bibby, etc... Walton, Wilkes, Lee, etc... couldn’t play as freshmen. Greatest collection of talent on one team ever.
Gotta be Auburn, right? A blueblood that never wins?
You know the college is a ways from Chicago and all the Big Ten schools and Notre Dame mine the city heavily?
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