Top 10 men's basketball teams that had the most dominant single season runs in NCAA history ft. 1976 Indiana

It's been almost 50 years since a men's basketball team completed an undefeated season with an NCAA title. Bob Knight's 1976 Indiana Hoosiers are the last team to complete a perfect season. That said, great college basketball teams continue to be built and thrive. Here's a rundown on the ten most dominant college basketball teams in the era of the NCAA Tournament.

Top 10 men's basketball dominant single seasons in NCAA history

NBA legend Bill Russell led a dominant 1956 San Francisco title team. (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

10. 1956 San Francisco

It's hard to imagine a small, local school putting together an NCAA powerhouse, but San Francisco did it. They won back-to-back titles, in part off of pairing Bill Russell inside and K.C. Jones outside. This team won a game in December against DePaul by just seven points, but that was the closest they came to defeat. There aren't blocked shot stats, but Russell probably accumulated a ton of them.

9. 1979 Indiana State

Another small school, but this time aided by the great Larry Bird, Indiana State was a title game loss to Magic Johnson and Michigan State from a perfect season. Unlike most of the teams on this list, they played a fair number of close games, but Bird and Carl Nicks seemed to always have the answer, all the way to the NCAA championship battle.

8. 1991 UNLV

Arguably the last dominant mid-major team, UNLV won the national title in 1990 and went into the FInal Four undefeated in 1991. The Running Rebels fell to a brilliant Duke team, but their epic season should not be forgotten. Led by No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Larry Johnson and defensive star Stacey Augmon, UNLV was run-and-gun glory.

7. 1957 North Carolina

The Tar Heels completed an undefeated season led by All-American Lennie Rosenbluth. The Tar Heels outlasted Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in the title game. North Carolina has a proud college basketball tradition, but this 1957 squad might have been the best.

6. 1992 Duke

The year after taking down UNLV, Duke has a dominant repeat championship squad. The Blue Devils lost two league games by a total of six points and were otherwise undefeated. Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley and a roster full of superstars made this team Coach K's best.

5. 2015 Kentucky

The closest team in a regular season (unlike Gonzaga in the shortened COVID season) to pulling off an undefeated year, Kentucky made the Final Four before a stunning loss to Wisconsin. How good was this team? Devin Booker came off the bench for the Wildcats.

4. 1984 Georgetown

The days of having a college basketball player like Patrick Ewing for four seasons are long-gone. Some regard Georgetown as a disappointment for only winning one title. This Georgetown team lost three games, but those came by a combined eight points. Ewing was the star (16 ppg, 10 rpg), but there were other stars like Reggie Williams and David Wingate who played dominant defense.

3. 1967 UCLA

John Wooden went on an astonishing run in the late 1960s and early 1970s that won't be recreated because of modern NBA eligibility issues. Nobody could keep Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) or Bill Walton for four years now. This was big Lew's team and they outscored opponents by 25.9 points per game in an undefeated season.

2. 1972 UCLA

This was Walton's team, running the table by an astonishing 30.2 points per game. John Wooden owned college basketball and his run from 1964 to 1975 is so amazing that it can be difficult to separate one ridiculously dominant team from another.

1. 1976 Indiana

Indiana remains the last team to pull off an undefeated season and a fifty-year run atop the sport is something special. Bob Knight's Hoosiers won their Final Four games by 32 total points. Kent Benson and Scott May remain Indiana legends for their starring roles on what was arguably the last truly great college basketball team.