NCAA Basketball: North Carolina the worst preseason No. 1 team of all time

17. 1997-98 Arizona

Lute Olson had a Hall of Fame coaching career with the Wildcats and two other college programs, but it’s his work in the late 90’s that really stands out. He put together a number of fantastic rosters at Arizona, with his 1997 squad winning the program’s first national championship. Every significant piece from that championship team was back the following season, making it no surprise that they were top-ranked in the preseason, with many expecting them to repeat.

Their top five were all future NBA players who averaged double-digits in this season. Michael Dickerson surpasses 18 points a game while guards Mike Bibby (a longtime NBA point guard) and Miles Simon both averaged 17.2 points a game. Jason Terry, another longtime NBA weapon, was an invaluable part of this squad as a junior while the starting five’s final piece was center A. J. Bramlett, who at 6’10 was their leading rebounder. Unsurprisingly, this was one of the top offensive teams in college basketball that season.

Somewhat surprisingly, Arizona dropped three games early in the season, though they came against tough nonconference competition. The Wildcats were nearly perfect in the Pac-10 and earned a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. They manhandled 16-seed Nicholls State and 9-seed Illinois State and survived against 4-seed Maryland.

Their dreams came completely undone in the Elite Eight, with the Wildcats suffering a stunning 25-point loss to 3-seed Utah. The Wildcats shot just 28% from the field and saw Andre Miller have a triple-double as their hopes for a second title came to a swift end two games early.