Every NCAA Champion and Runner-Up's Worst Loss

Kentucky is still considered a national title contender in college basketball this season, despite an ugly 34-point loss to the Duke Blue Devils in the season opener. But many question whether or not a team can go on to win a championship after suffering such a lopsided defeat in the same year. Going back almost four decades to 1980, the 2013-14 UConn team had the worst loss among all college basketball national champions. That team lost at 11th-ranked Louisville, 48-81, in the final game of the regular season. The Huskies went on to lose to Louisville again in the AAC title game before running the table in the NCAA tournament and beating Kentucky, coincidentally, in the championship game. The 1992-93 North Carolina team had the next largest defeat with its 26-point loss at Wake Forest in January of its national championship season. Those are the only two losses of 25 points or more, although there are six national champions with a loss of 20 points or more. So if Kentucky were to figure it all out and win the title next April, it would have the widest loss on its resume among all champions. However, it's worth noting the loss came in the very first game of the season, on November 6 (the earliest of any of the champions' big losses), and against the new No. 1 team in the country. Given UK's inexperience, the date of the game and the opponent, it's not as bad as it seems against these other losses. [table id=187 /] Now let's take it one step further and look at the worst loss of each NCAA runner-up in that span. Michigan State had the worst with its 35-point loss to No. 1 North Carolina in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Spartans would go on to lose to North Carolina again in the title game that same year, 72-89. Seven of the NCAA tournament's second-place teams had losses of 20+ points before reaching the final game. [table id=188 /] To quote John Calipari from the day before the loss to Duke: "We don’t want to be playing in November like it’s January or February. We don’t want to be that team. We want to just continue the gradual climb in what we’re doing.” Go Cats.