Fansided

10 best Final Four teams that didn’t win the national championship

By Mike Phillips

02 APR 2005: Guard Luther Head (4) of Illinois drives the to the basket past Louisville's Taquan Dean (5) during the Division I Men's Final Four semi final game held the the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. The University of Illinois went on to defeat Louisville 72-57 to advance to the championship game. Photo: Ryan McKee/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
02 APR 2005: Guard Luther Head (4) of Illinois drives the to the basket past Louisville's Taquan Dean (5) during the Division I Men's Final Four semi final game held the the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. The University of Illinois went on to defeat Louisville 72-57 to advance to the championship game. Photo: Ryan McKee/NCAA Photos via Getty Images /
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31 MAR 1975: UCLA coach John Wooden during the NCAA Men’s National Basketball Final Four championship game against Kentucky held at the Sports Arena in San Diego, CA. UCLA defeated Kentucky 92-85 for the title. Rich Clarkson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
31 MAR 1975: UCLA coach John Wooden during the NCAA Men’s National Basketball Final Four championship game against Kentucky held at the Sports Arena in San Diego, CA. UCLA defeated Kentucky 92-85 for the title. Rich Clarkson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images /

10. 1974 UCLA Bruins

The most dominant college basketball run in history came back in the late 1960s and early 1970s when John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins lorded over the sport. The Bruins had put together a run of seven straight national championships entering the 1973-1974 season, including a massive winning streak.

That streak hit 88 games before it was snapped by Notre Dame during the season, but it didn’t stop the Bruins from going on another deep March run. Led by senior Bill Walton, who averaged 19.3 points per game and 14.7 rebounds per night, UCLA won the Pac-8 conference to earn another appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

At first, it looked like the Bruins would take care of business and win an eighth straight championship, ousting Dayton in triple-overtime and blowing out San Francisco in the regional final to return to the Final Four again. UCLA was staring at a date with North Carolina State to get back to the championship game, but the Wolfpack pulled off an 80-77 upset to end the Bruins’ streak of titles at seven.

The game was extremely close as N.C. State needed double-overtime to pull off the victory, and UCLA took out their anger from the loss on Kansas, pummeling the Jayhawks 78-61 in the consolation game (yes, that was a thing back then). Even though Walton and fellow senior Keith Wilkes went off to the NBA after this game, UCLA won the national title again in 1975 but wouldn’t win another for 20 years.

One loss against North Carolina State is all that separated the Bruins from potentially having a shot at nine straight national championships. Even though the Bruins’ current streak of seven in a row will never be approached, this loss in 1974 was a sign that the UCLA dynasty was coming to an end.

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