Much is being made of the unbeaten teams now. After Indiana's loss to Michigan State and Louisville's loss to Georgetown, there are only four left -- Syracuse, Baylor, Missouri and Murray State. That's right -- Murray State! It has been 36 year since Indiana went undefeated during the 1976 season. That year Indiana won all 32 games they played -- having Kent Benson, Tom Abernethy and Scott May selected to the all tournament team. May averaged 22.6 points per game that season and Bobby Knight won his first national championship.
What follows is a list of the last team to lose and it's record to open the season:
Year Team__________Opening Record________Notes_______________________________
1949 Western Kentucky 14-0
1950 Holy Cross 24-0
1951 Columbia 22-0 Columbia 1st loss in 1st Rd. of NCAA Tourney vs Ill
1952 Duquense 17-0 Texas State opened 24-0, but not considered a major
1953 Seton Hall 26-0
1954 Kentucky 26-0 Rupp wins playoff against LSU declines NCAA
Tournament Invitation as their three top players are
ineligible
1955 Kentucky 7-0
1956 San Francisco 29-0 USF is first team to go undefeated and win NCAA's
1957 North Carolina 32-0 UNC finishes undefeated beats Kanasas in Triple OT
1958 West Virginia 14-0
1959 Auburn 18-0
1960 Cincinnati 12-0
1961 Ohio State 27-0 Ohio State first loss in NCAA Final vs. Cinncinati
1962 Ohio State 21-0
1963 Loyola (Chicago) 20-0
1964 UCLA 30-0 Won NCAA Tournament
1965 Providence 19-0
1966 Texas Western 23-0 Haskins knocks out UK NCAA Final, Texas Western's
Kentucky 23-0 first and only loss was against Seattle U.
1967 UCLA 30-0 Won NCAA Tournament
1968 Houston 32-0 Houston's first loss in National Seminfinal vs. UCLA
St. Bonaventure 23-0 Bonnies finish regular season undefeated lose in NCAA
2nd round against North Carolina
1969 UCLA 25-0 UCLA first loss against USC in final game of regular season is
Bruins first loss ever at Pauley Pavilion
1970 UCLA 20-0
1971 Marquette 28-0 First loss in NCAA Tournament vs. Ohio State
Penn 29-0 First loss in NCAA Tournament vs. Villanova
1972 UCLA 30-0 Wins NCAA Tournament
1973 UCLA 30-0 Wins NCAA Tournament
NC State 27-0 Also undefeated in ineligible for NCAA Tournament
1974 Maryland Eastern Shore 19-0
1975 Indiana 30-0
1976 Indiana 32-0 Undefeated wins NCAA Tournament
Rutgers 32-0 First loss in NCAA Semifinal against Michigan
1977 San Francisco 29-0
1978 Kentucky 14-0
1979 Indiana State 34-0 First loss in NCAA final against Michigan State
1980 DePaul 25-0
1981 Oregon State 25-0
1982 Missouri 18-0
1983 UNLV 24-0
1984 North Carolina 24-0
1985 Georgetown 17-0
1986 North Carolina 21-0
1987 Iowa, Clemson 16-0
1988 BYU 15-0
1989 Illinois 17-0
1990 Kansas 18-0
1991 UNLV 34-0 First loss in NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke
1992 Oklahoma State 20-0
1993 Virginia 11-0
1994 UCLA 13-0
1995 UConn 14-0
1996 UMass 25-0
1997 Kansas 22-0
1998 Stanford 18-0
1999 UConn 19-0
2000 Syracuse 19-0
2001 Stanford 19-0
2002 Miami (FL), Butler 13-0
2003 Duke 11-0
2004 St. Joseph's 27-0 Rose to #1 in Rankings
2005 Illinois 28-0
2006 Duke, Florida 16-0
2007 UCLA 13-0
2008 Memphis 25-0
2009 Wake Forest 16-0
2010 Kentucky 19-0
2011 Ohio State 24-0
A couple of caveats. First I only have research available for when a poll is released accordingly, if a team opened the season 21-0 and was ranked and then was 22-1 the next week I can't tell if they lost before the 22nd victory. Accordingly, a couple of times I have included two undefeated teams, not knowing which lost first. See Miami (FL) and Butler in 2002. Also, if a team was undefeated and not ranked they are not included as the rankings are the source of the information. This was probably more so true when the small colleges were separated into a separate division. See Texas State in 1952 (although Texas State did get ranked, there may be numerous times these schools were not ranked).
Other interesting notes. Everyone will talk about Indiana's 1976 team, but Rutgers was also undefeated during the regular season that year -- losing in the National Semifinal to Michigan. In 1954, Kentucky actually finished undefeated, not losing all season, but three players were ruled ineligible and Rupp chose not to participate in the NCAA tournament. Similarly, in 1973 NC State finished undefeated, but the NCAA ruled that the Wolfpack was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to a recruiting violation involving David Thompson.
Murray State's run this season is notable because we really have not seen a midmajor or below the "Red Line" school put together an undefeated start exceeding the Racer's start since St. Joseph's 27-0 run to start the 2004 season.
Hopefully, I have not missed something.
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