NCAA basketball: Ranking every national champion this century: Is Baylor the best?

18. Florida Gators, 2006

Final Record: 33-6 | Def. UCLA 73-57

Under the watch of head coach Billy Donovan, the Florida Gators enjoyed a fantastic season in the 2005-06 campaign with a strong core famously headlined by Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer. They were able to cobble together a solid regular season that resulted in an SEC Tournament win and a 27-6 overall record that earned them a No. 3 seed in March Madness.

However, Florida was far from the talk of the NCAA Tournament entering the First Round as the favorites were teams like Duke. But when the Blue Devils were knocked out in the Sweet 16 and with George Mason going on their historic Final Four run, in addition to the Gators knocking off the 1-seed, Villanova, in their own region, the door opened in a big way.

Florida was able to handle George Mason in the Final Four with a 73-58 win that set up a title-game matchup with UCLA, a No. 2-seed from the other side of the bracket. And once again, it really seemed like a less than stellar matchup in favor of the Gators.

Donovan’s team dominated to win the title as they put up a 73-57 win and cut down the nets to claim Florida’s first men’s basketball national championship in program history. However, why it ranks this low is not only because they were a bit of a dark-horse team but also that they were even better the following year.