Twice Wasn't Enough: Louisville Joins St. John's in Beating Titlist Three Times

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. Louisville, which defeated NCAA champion Connecticut three times this season by a total of 55 points, joined St. John's '85 with the distinction of being the only schools to beat a team three times in a campaign when the opponent wound up capturing the national crown. The shoe was on the other foot in 2002-03 when UConn twice whipped NCAA champion-to-be Syracuse.

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.

Incredibly, St. John's also upended Villanova three times in 1985-86 when the Wildcats were the defending national champion. Following is a list of the 12 titlists losing at least twice in their title season against a total of 19 different opponents: