In 2021, the Baylor Bears won the National Championship. That officially moved Baylor off the “never won a championship” list and moved them to the exclusive club of National Champions. While both lists are unofficial, those in the “never won a championship” side envy those in the National Champions club and want to be like them.
Winning a National Title means everything to programs and it is something that can never be taken away, even if the NCAA tries to pretend like the game never happened, looking at you 2013 Louisville.
The race for a championship means everything. It is the reason so many coaches are hired and fired, it is the reason that so many fans donate their hard earned dollars to a university to go watch a team play, it is why NIL dollars are spent, and most importantly it is why we as fans love the sport so much. We are hoping that one day our teams can have the lead at the final buzzer and be the team that gets the confetti and the one shining moment.
The Bears were the last team to win their first championship. In the last three seasons, there have been two champions. Kansas won it for the sixth time, and the UConn Huskies won back-to-back titles for their 5th and 6th championships of all time. Heading into the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament there are 8 teams who are part of the unofficial “never won a championship” club who are hoping to join the illustrious National Champions club.
Simple math would say that means there are eight teams participating in the Sweet 16 who have won a title before. Those teams are all hoping to get their second one but let’s focus on those teams who are part of the “never won a championship” club and which ones have the best chance to join the National Champions club in 2025.
8. Ole Miss Rebels
The Rebels are the remaining team with the least history. The Rebels have never won a regular season conference title, much less a National Title. Ole Miss has only ever made the NCAA Tournament 10 times and, in those appearances, made one Sweet 16 back in 2001. If they get past Michigan State, it will be the furthest the program has ever advanced in March.
I say, why stop there? I might as well go right ahead and make a Final Four and win the first national championship in basketball. The Rebels will have to pull off some upsets against some tournament favorites to do it, but they beat Iowa State to get here, and not many expected that either. It doesn’t hurt Ole Miss that head coach Chris Beard guided Texas Tech to a National Runner Up in 2019. He knows how to get his guys to win in March.
7. Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilermakers are the team with the most history still left in the field “never won a championship” club. Purdue had everything going for it last year. They had the National Player of the Year in Zach Edey, they were ranked No. 1 for most of the season and made the Finals. The only problem was they ran into the buzzsaw that was the UConn Huskies.
Purdue finished as the runner-up last year, and while there is no award for also-rans, it was a huge monkey off the backs of the Purdue program and head coach Matt Painter. The Boilers had struggled to make it past the first weekend in many tournaments and had a historic loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in the round of 64 in 2023. The Boilers are back again with a chance to win their first national title. This team isn’t as good as last year's but still capable of winning it all.
6. BYU Cougars
Fans know that BYU makes the tournament a lot and usually loses in the first round. At least, that is the way that it seems. Given that the Cougars have not been in this position since the 2010-2011 season when BYU was in the Mountain West.
The truth is that BYU has made the tournament 32 times has never played in a Final Four, and certainly has never played in a National Championship game. So, everyone’s perceptions of this program are real. These Cougars are built differently and have already won a ton of huge games this season.
They are going to have to be nearly perfect the rest of the way to get it done. There is always a first time for everything. Excitement has never been higher in Provo for the basketball program. A National Championship would make the city of Provo explode.
5. Texas Tech Red Raiders
This is the part of the list where it wouldn’t surprise anyone if any of the next five teams won the title this year to remove themselves from the “never won a championship” list. Texas Tech has been so close as I mentioned previously.
The Red Raiders, under the direction of current Ole Miss coach Chris Beard, played for the National Championship in 2019 before losing to Virginia. It is the only Final Four in school history. In fact, the Red Raiders have only made it past the first weekend five times total since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.
This is the best Red Raiders team to come to the NCAA Tournament since the National Runner-Up appearance in 2019. Are they the team to remove themselves from the “club” this season? Will current head coach Grant McCasland be able to do what coach Beard could not?
4. Alabama Crimson Tide
Alabama has been flirting with their first National Championship for a few years now. Head coach Nate Oats has built this program into one of the nation's best, especially on the offensive end.
The Crimson Tide currently lead the country in scoring but are very porous defensively, and that is what will hold them back. Alabama was the closest they have ever been to a National Championship last season when they made their first Final Four in program history.
The Tide were a preseason pick by a lot of media to win the National Championship. The SEC has teams prepared for this moment, and with the way Alabama can score, they can make a run. The Tide are going to have to play a whole lot better as the tournament goes on to have their confetti party.
3. Tennessee Volunteers
The Volunteers are another program playing in the Sweet 16 that didn’t have much history until the last 20 years but are still looking for their first Final Four. Tennessee has had two legendary coaches in that span of time, starting with Bruce Pearl, who is now the coach at Auburn.
The firing of Pearl led to Tennessee hiring current legendary coach Rick Barnes, who has taken the Volunteers to heights they previously had only heard about. Tennessee has made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament each of the last two seasons and was an Elite Eight team last year before losing.
That is the closest they have ever been. Yet another SEC team is looking for its first championship in basketball. Tennessee was number 1 for a good portion of this season and was one of the first teams out of the 1-seed running but ended up as a strong 2-seed. No time like the present for the Volunteers to make some history and paint the town orange.
2. Houston Cougars
Houston has been here before; the last 5 years have seen the Cougars make the second weekend, and they do have a Final Four in there. It has been Houston's best basketball stretch since the Phi Slamma Jama teams in the early '80s.
Those Houston teams of the early ’80s saw a Final Four in 1982 and two National Runner-Ups in 1983 and 1984. That is the closest that Houston would get to the promised land until the 2021 NCAA Tournament, when current head coach Kelvin Sampson guided them to a Final Four.
Since that point, the Cougars have been one of the most dominant teams in the country and are always a threat to win the title. This is arguably the best team that Houston has had since the 80’s and they are very popular pick to cut down the nets, if they can get over the hump this weekend, they will start to feel it in Houston.
1. Auburn Tigers
Welcome to the end of the list you made, the team that I have picked to win the National Championship this season. It would be a first for the Tigers and it would remove them from the “never won a championship” list and add them to the illustrious list of National Champions.
Auburn has only been in this position one other time. That was in the 1999 Tournament when they received their only other number 1 seed. That team made it to the Sweet 16, and no one was picking that team to win it. This Auburn team is navigating some uncharted waters for their program. It was already one of the best seasons in school history, and the Tigers are one of the best teams ever.
Guess what? No one cares about the best regular-season team ever if you can’t finish the job. The pressure is on Auburn to get it done. It would also be the first championship for head coach Bruce Pearl. Outside of the one season in 2019 that ended in a Final Four run, the Tigers have never advanced this far under coach Pearl. Auburn won’t have a team like this again for a long time. The Tigers need to finish the job.
These are the 8 teams in the Sweet 16 who are a currently part of the “never won a championship” club, I will be watching intently to see if we can now officially add one of these teams to the National Champions club that so many want to join. Auburn is the most popular Championship pick among the masses who have filled out brackets.