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

20. 1963-64 Loyola-Chicago

Prior to Loyola-Chicago’s miracle run to the Final Four as an 11-seed in 2018, few people likely realized that the Ramblers actually had a national title, cutting down the nets way back in 1963. Though star Jerry Harkness was gone, much of the talent returned the following season and the Ramblers were ranked atop the polls several months after their championship. As you may have expected, things did not go as smoothly for those Ramblers, though they still had plenty of firepower.

Four seniors did most of the damage for the Ramblers, led by future NBA center Les Hunter, who averaged 21.4 points and 15.3 rebounds a game that year. Ron Miller averaged just under 22 points a game while John Egan (18.5 points per game) and Vic Rouse (15.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game) also had excellent seasons. These four made quite the mark on this Loyola program, with sophomore Jim Coleman the only other player averaging more than 3 points a game that year.

The Ramblers would drop five regular season games, including a sweep to Wichita State, but would find themselves back in the NCAA Tournament again, back before the field was seeded. This team won with their high-powered offense, scoring at least 100 points ten times that season, including twice in the Big Dance. After powering past Murray State in the opening round, their bid to repeat fell short in their second game in a loss to Michigan. The Ramblers were outshot and outrebounded, falling to the same Wolverine program that would knock them out in the Final Four some 54 years later.