NCAA Basketball: North Carolina the worst preseason No. 1 team of all time
By Joey Loose
No matter the achievements, awards, buzzer-beaters, and other memorable moments, only one team can cut down the nets and win the NCAA Tournament each year. Winning the Big Dance is the dream; the biggest goal for NCAA basketball players. For some, not cutting down those nets can make a season a failure, but there are thousands of incredible basketball players who never won the title during their collegiate careers.
Another important thing to remember is that the national champion earns their title by winning six NCAA Tournament games. There will never be a champion crowned before the season begins. That being said, the offseason is typically filled with all kinds of predictions and speculations based on offseason changes that these college basketball programs undertake. One of the most anticipated parts of the late offseason is the initial preseason Top 25 poll, and we’re going to be focusing on this particular poll today.
The reason for that focus is the play of North Carolina this season. The Tar Heels were the #1 team in the preseason poll this season after returning much of their talent from a national title game run in 2022. However, this season has been a disaster in Chapel Hill, with the Tar Heels falling out of the poll in December and really struggling the last few months. And after losing to Virginia in the ACC Tournament, they’re set to miss out on the NCAA Tournament.
With North Carolina’s struggles in mind, we’re going to take a deep dive into previous teams that were ranked atop the preseason polls, especially the AP rankings that have existed since 1949. In these last seven decades, 14 of those preseason favorites won the national championship (with 6 of those being UCLA more than five decades ago), while a great number made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament.
Our focus today will be on the Top 25 most disappointing seasons made by these preseason favorites. Some of these teams had rough performances in the regular season while others were disappointed in the postseason. We’ll start with a couple of honorable mentions; teams that didn’t really deserve to be part of this list of twenty-five.