24. 1962-1963 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
It takes a lot for a mid-major to win the national championship, so Loyola-Chicago has a relatively storied basketball tradition. The Ramblers made memorable Final Four runs in 1985 and 2018 but the school did have a championship team in 1963.
That squad was led by Jerry Harkness, a consensus First Team All-American and went 24-2 during the regular season. Loyola-Chicago was not affiliated with a conference at that point but played a representative schedule, attracting the attention of the selection committee.
The NCAA Tournament saw the Ramblers start out in the Mideast Region where they routed Tennessee Tech 111-42 to advance. That 69-point margin of victory remains the biggest in NCAA Tournament history.
Wins over Mississippi State and Illinois helped Loyola-Chicago advance to the Final Four, where they faced a brutal pair of matchups. First up was a date with Duke who Loyola-Chicago easily dispatched to earn a date with the top-ranked team in the country, Cincinnati.
The Bearcats were coming off consecutive national championships but fell to the Ramblers by a bucket in overtime. That kind of historic effort is extremely impressive and warrants inclusion in the countdown of the 25 best college basketball teams of all time.