3) 2007 Florida Gators
Record: 35-5, 13-3 in SEC
Let’s just be honest. This Florida Gators team is the last to win back-to-back national titles and is one of only two programs to accomplish that feat since John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins dynasty, with the Duke Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992 being the other program. That feat alone puts the Gators in the top-three.
Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford combined to form one of the best cores in college basketball history. They were surrounded by a group of role players that complemented them and each other perfectly. One of those role players was Marreese Speights, who spent many years in the NBA.
Despite that fact that Noah, Brewer and Horford have all had outstanding NBA careers, head coach Billy Donovan repeatedly said this team wasn’t the most talented in the country, opting instead to praise what they were able to accomplish as a team.
And that team did accomplish incredible things. Three of their losses came during the final five games of the regular season, as the Gators were clearly just waiting for tournament time. They certainly turned it on once that time came. Their average margin of victory during the Big Dance was 15 points per game.
The Gators also put forth a tremendous performance in the title team, handling an Ohio State Buckeyes team that was headlined by Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr.
Even though fatigue has been blamed for that rough stretch in February (Noah has said the team wasn’t having fun at that time), the top-two teams managed to avoid stretches like that, which is why this historic Florida team sits at No. 3