18) 2006 Florida Gators
Record: 33-6, 10-6 in SEC
Another core group that won multiple national championships, this Florida Gators team won the first of back-to-back titles, an achievement that boosts them up these rankings a bit.
Led by Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer, the Gators won their final 11 games of the season. Only one of their tournament games was decided by fewer than 12 points. Simply put, they were dominant and left little doubt that they’d be the team cutting down the nets.
Accompanying that 11-0 finish was a stellar 17-0 start to the season, the kind of start that made everyone take notice of this team that was unranked in the preseason. However, it took them a bit to get used to becoming the hunted.
This is where they met that little bit of doubt. The Gators went 5-6 in an 11-game stretch in the SEC from late January until the end of February, raising questions about just how good this group was.
Well, we all know what happened next. They righted the ship and dominated their way to head coach Billy Donovan’s first national title.
Many will say that Florida benefitted from a weak draw in the NCAA Tournament, and they did. The Gators faced four teams seeded No. 7 or lower, including two No. 11 seeds and a No. 14 seed. One of those No. 11 seeds was the George Mason Patriots, who Florida beat in the Final Four.
Still, as we said before, you can only beat who’s in front of you. The Gators certainly did that. You’ll be seeing that 2007 team much higher on this list.