Top 10 College B-Ball Teams

Top 10 Best College
Basketball Teams Of All
Time
By: Ben Petru

Letter To The Reader
Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing this magazine to read.
In case you didn’t know, the soul purpose
behind this magazine is to inform the reader
about who these teams were and why they are
on this list.
From, Ben Petru

Table Of Contents
Pg 3 & 10: North Carolina Tar Heels
Pg 4: UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
Pg 5: Indiana Hoosiers
Pg 6, 11 & 12: UCLA Bruins
Pg 7: Duke Blue Devils
Pg 8: Kentucky Wildcats
Pg 9: San Francisco Dons

#10 : North Carolina Tar Heels (1986 - 87)
In 2018, it’s not hard to see why a college basketball
program coached by Dean Smith and featuring James
Worthy, Sam Perkins, and a freshman Michael Jordan
as its leading scorers would have a lot of success.
However, it wasn’t that cut-and-dry back then. Many
had no idea how good MJ would be during that
season (13.5 points on 53% shooting). In fact, all five
starters that season were phenomenal shooting the
ball. Each shot 51% or higher from the field.

#9: UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (1989 - 90)
This team beat Duke in the 1990 National
Championship game by 30 points. THIRTY. POINTS.
Under head coach Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV went 35-5
and was seventh in the nation in points per game.
Featuring Larry Johnson (who averaged a 20-point,
11-rebound double-double), Greg Anthony, and Stacey
Augmon, the Runnin’ Rebels ran teams out of the gym
all season long.

#8: Indiana Hoosiers (1975 - 76)
If your team goes undefeated in the regular season,
including 18-0 in the Big Ten, it’s expected to win
the National Championship. The 1975-76 Hoosiers,
under head coach Bob Knight, met those
expectations. At 32-0, Indiana rolled through the
Tourney, wrapping up its season with an 86-68 win
over Michigan in the title game. Featuring a starting
lineup that included Scott May, Kent Benson, and
Quinn Buckner, this Indiana team was unstoppable.

#7: UCLA Bruins (1963 - 64)
John Wooden’s storied career with the UCLA Bruins
put him in the history books as one of the greatest
to ever coach the game. One of his best, most
widely remembered seasons was 1963-64, when
the Bruins went 30-0, beating Duke in the National
Final by 15 points. This was Wooden’s first National
Championship and his star player, Gail Goodrich,
went on to a Hall-of-Fame NBA career.

#6: Duke Blue Devils (1990 - 91)
It’s pretty remarkable that, after such a humiliating
defeat to UNLV in the 1990 title game, the Duke
Blue Devils would go on to win two straight national
titles. The 1990-91 Blue Devils shook off that
30-point loss to the Runnin’ Rebels and had a
phenomenal season, posting a record of 32-7.
Under the tutelage of Coach K, Grant Hill, Christian
Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill, and Bill
McCaffrey (all who averaged 11-plus points per
game) took the team all the way to the National
Championship, defeating #3 Kansas by 13 points.

#5: Kentucky Wildcats (1995 - 96)
During his pre-scandal coaching days, Rick Pitino
led some fantastic, tough Wildcat teams. None were
more dominant than the 1995-96 squad, which went
34-2 and was undefeated in the SEC East. The
team averaged 91.4 points per game – 2nd in the
nation in scoring – and was led by the duo of senior
Tony Delk and sophomore Antoine Walker. Kentucky
had little trouble in the Tourney, defeating Syracuse
76-67 to secure a National Championship.

#4: San Francisco Dons (1955 - 56)
If you know your NCAA men’s basketball history,
you know about the ’55-56 San Francisco Dons.
Coached by Phil Woolpert, the Dons went
undefeated – 29-and-0 – on the season and
defeated Iowa to win a second straight title. Much of
the success was due to the brilliant play of Bill
Russell, who averaged 20.6 points and 21 rebounds
per game. Yeah, a 20-20 double-double for the year.
Amazing stuff.

#3: North Carolina Tar Heels (1956 - 57)
With such a long tradition of winning, it shouldn’t
surprise you that there are multiple UNC teams on this
list. In ’56-57, it was head coach Frank McGuire who
led the Heels to a 32-0 record, including 14 ACC wins,
and a national championship. Small forward Lennie
Rosenbluth led the team to success all season long,
putting up 28 points and nine rebounds per game in
his final collegiate season that culminated in ACC
Player-of-the-Year honors. The Heels capped off the
1957 NCAA Tournament with a nail-biting 54-53 win
over Kansas, securing the title.

#2: UCLA Bruins (1971 - 72)
We’re doing single season teams here, but this could
easily be a discussion about the 1971-1973 Bruins.
Both teams recorded 30-0 records, taking home the
National Championship. The ’71-72 team was a
scoring monster, averaging the nation’s third best
points-per-game at 94.6. It’s not hard to see why when
you look at the starting lineup which featured center
Bill Walton (21.1 points, 15.5 rebounds), guard Henry
Bibby (15.7 points) and forward Jamaal Wilkes (13.5
points). In what ended up being yet another
undefeated, title-winning season for coach Wooden,
the Bruins defeated Florida State in the National
Championship game 81-76.

#1: UCLA Bruins (1966 - 67)
Much like ’71-73, this could easily be about the ’66-68
squads that lost a total of one game in two years.
However, it was the undefeated 1966-67 season that
tops our list. Center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was
unstoppable all season, averaging 29 points and 15.5
rebounds per game. Guards Lucius Allen and Mike
Warren were no joke either, combining for 28 points
per game. The Bruins never even came close to losing
during the 1967 NCAA Tournament, winning all four
games by 15 or more points (including a 49-point
victory over Wyoming). UCLA grabbed the title after a
79-64 win over Dayton in the final.