YouTube Gold: The Greatest Teams That Didn’t Win An NCAA Championshp

Limited to pre-1970’s teams

We are into the time of year now when people start making assumptions about the tournament. Everyone is going to say Duke is going to win the tournament, or Auburn or Houston. Take your pick.

It’s funny to watch because people develop elaborate theories and then watch it all blow up. Our take on the tournament has always been that the odds are against everyone. It’s pretty rare that a great team runs the table.

Duke did it in 1992, UCLA did it several times and Florida did it once. Look who hasn’t done it though.

Around here, Duke in 1999 and Michael Jordan and his Tar Heels failed twice. UNC also failed in 1977...and 1981...and 1987...and 1995...but we digress.

Around the country over the years, we’ve seen a lot of sure things fail. This video looks at some of the best teams to ever fail (limited to pre-1970 squads).

Among them: Bob Cousy’s Holy Cross, two Kentucky teams, Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas, Jerry West’s Virginia, Jerry Lucas’s Ohio State and others.

It just underscores our point: you can be great, but there are never any guarantees. Luck plays a huge role, as #1 Cincinnati found out when Kenyon Martin broke his leg just three minutes into Cincy’s first game in the 2000 C-USA Tournament. The Bearcats were a heavy favorite and that was that.

And then there’s the guy no one saw coming. Last spring it was Jack Gohlke from Oakland who, like the rest of his team, talked some serious smack to Kentucky - and then backed it up, hitting 10-20 from three point range.

In other words, there is no such thing as a sure thing.