NCAA Basketball: Revisiting the Dream Seasons of 2020; Four Years Later

Still Having Some Restless Nights

Gonzaga
2020 Season: 31-2; #1 seed
Dream Outcome: National Champions
Best Season Since: 2021; National Runner-Up

After Gonzaga finally broke through to the Final Four in 2017, the expectations for the program began to take on a title-or-bust mentality. In 2020, the Bulldogs were certainly equipped for a run, thanks to the nation's best offense per Kenpom and an unfathomable six different players averaging double-digit scoring. Even the back end of the rotation was fantastic, with a pair of freshmen rounding it out in future National Player of the Year Drew Timme and thousand-point scorer Anton Watson.

Until Gonzaga finally breaks through, every lost opportunity will leave them feeling snakebitten, not much different than the other almosts of this era, like the current iterations of the Celtics, Bills and Phillies. That being said, the Bulldogs best team and best chance came in 2021, when Timme and a trio of future NBA rotation players, Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs and Andrew Nembhard, spent the entire season ranked #1, protected their undefeated year on one the greatest shots ever (Suggs in the Final Four) and proceeded to get trounced by Baylor in the National Championship game. And in the two seasons that followed, Gonzaga was sent home in the second weekend both times.

Penn State
2020 Season: 21-10; #6 seed
Dream Outcome: Sweet Sixteen
Best Season Since: 2023; 2nd Round

Led by Lamar Stevens, who became one of the five Nittany Lions to ever be named to the coaches and media All-Big Ten First Team, Penn St clearly had their best team of the 21st century and according to many fans up in Happy Valley, their best team ever. In mid-February, Penn St sat at 20-5 and #9 in the AP Poll, fresh off a win at Purdue, which was one of their four wins over ranked opponents. The Nittany Lions seemed poised for their second-ever Sweet Sixteen trip since the '50s (2001), although maybe disappointment was coming anyway, as they lost five of the final six games.

Stevens graduated after the season and it really got bleak. Pat Chambers resigned following allegations of inappropriate conduct less than a month before the 2021 season, the first of back-to-back losing season for Penn St. In mid-February of 2023, the Nittany Lions were 5-9 in the Big Ten, headed for more disappointment, before an 8-1 run capitalized by a Big Ten semifinal win where Jalen Pickett slashed through Indiana for twenty-eight points. A week later, Penn St beat Texas A&M for the program's fourth NCAA Tournament win in sixty-seven years.

Honorable Mention: Kentucky; The Wildcats closed the regular season 17-3 to throw themselves up to a #2 seed and were a no doubt title contender. But Kentucky doesn't qualify for a dream season, since starting at preseason #1 and nearly falling out of the top 25 before Christmas qualifies as a disappointment in Big Blue Nation.
Creighton; The co-Big East regular season champions were headed for the first #2 seed in school history and may have been the best Bluejays team ever. But Creighton bounced back to it's first Sweet Sixteen the next year and an Elite Eight in 2023. They've been an NCAA Tournament team seven out of ten years in the Big East and the success has officially become sustained.

"Shoot. That Was My Last Quarter"

Some fanbases spend a whole era believing the greatest of dream seasons is about to happen, but sometimes that hope abruptly comes to an end, and you realized it may have never been as great as it had seemed.

Florida State
2020 Season: 26-5; #2 seed
Dream Outcome: Final Four
Best Season Since: 2021; Sweet Sixteen

Fresh off of back-to-back appearances in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament and equipped with a roster featuring six future NBA players, Leonard Hamilton's strategy of building entire rosters based off length and athleticism looked like it may pay off with the Seminoles' second Final Four trip (1972). In the lead up, Florida St nudged out Duke, Louisville and defending National Champions Virginia by a game to win the ACC regular season outright, their first regular season championship (shared or outright) since the 1989 Metro Conference.

A step back was inevitable in 2021 after losing All-ACC second teamers Devin Vassell and Trent Forrest, plus Sixth Man of the Year Patrick Williams, but they quickly reloaded around RaiQuan Gray and freshman Scottie Barnes, en route to another Sweet Sixteen appearance, where the Seminoles lost to Michigan. Then the collapse came. A six-game losing streak in February 2022 kept Florida St out of the Tournament that year, and that was followed by a 9-23 season in 2023. With another empty Selection Sunday on its way in 2024, the hopes of a Final Four under Hamilton may have disappeared.

Seton Hall
2020 Season: 21-9; #3 seed
Dream Outcome: Sweet Sixteen
Best Season Since: 2022; First Round

Sitting at 13-3 with two games to go, Seton Hall was one win away from an outright Big East regular season championship (The Pirates lost to both of their eventual co-champs, Villanova and Creighton to close the season), serving as a reminder of the Pirates' 21st century March woes. But regardless of the close to the season, Seton Hall was set up for a seeding that would have had All-American Myles Powell and company favored to make the program's first Sweet Sixteen since 2000.

Over the next two years, Seton Hall missed the 2021 NCAA Tournament, were blown out by TCU in the First Round in 2022 and then Kevin Willard left to coach Maryland. In hindsight, the Willard Era was not as successful as many remember it to be, with the Pirates missing the NCAA Tournameant six times in his tenure and winning just one total game (vs NC State in 2018). 2020 was probably the best chance Willard had to finally bring Seton Hall back to it's early 90s glory. Although maybe their fans can start to dream again.

Honorable Mention: Robert Morris; After an eight year period from 2008-2015 saw the Colonials make seven postseason appearances (three NCAA, three NIT and one CIT), RMU took a bit of a dip that was halted with a second place NEC finish in 2020 behind postseason ineligible Merrimack, giving them the #1 seed. They picked up three home wins to close out their time in the NEC and get back to the NCAA Tournament, but since jumping to the Horizon League in the ensuing summer, Robert Morris is headed for its fourth straight losing season.