Twice Wasn't Enough: Notre Dame Joins List of Foes Twice Beating Titlist

Herewith is ample evidence for those arguments dealing with whether a school winning an NCAA Tournament title was indeed the nation's premier team over the course of an entire campaign. How close did Notre Dame come to winning its first-ever Final Four game after the Irish lost by two points against Kentucky in the Midwest Regional final following two victories over new ACC rival and eventual NCAA champion Duke? The Fighting Irish have significantly more triumphs than any school over eventual NCAA kingpins (total of 14 after five in the last five years).

The first 38 NCAA titlists, from Oregon (29-5 record in 1938-39) through Indiana (the last unbeaten team with a 32-0 mark in 1975-76), averaged barely over two setbacks per season. No kingpin sustained more than six reversals until Marquette's Al McGuire-coached squad was 25-7 in 1976-77. However, McGuire's swan song was a sign of things to come as six of the 11 championship clubs from 1981 through 1991 finished with at least seven losses. Two of the six - Villanova '85 and Kansas '88 - entered the playoffs unranked in a wire-service final Top 20 since the AP and UPI both were conducting polls in 1951.

Feeling like a sixth-grader trying to collect $20G from ESPN after Bracket Boy tied for winning NCAA tourney contest, following is a list of the 13 titlists losing at least twice in their title season against a total of 20 different opponents: