Not only do the Bulldogs have the chance to be the national champions on Monday night after beating South Carolina in the Final Four, they’ve got a shot to be a special champion as well.
Gonzaga could have the fewest losses of any national champion since 1976
It’s been awhile since a record was this clean.
Every year in college basketball we do the thing where we track the last undefeated team. Indiana went unblemished in 1976, winning a national championship at 32-0. It’s been the pursuit of perfection for many teams ever since.
Recent threats to the throne included 2004 St. Joseph’s, 2014 Wichita State and 2015 Kentucky, which each got to the postseason undefeated. This year, Gonzaga was our final undefeated standing, making it almost all the way to the regular season’s final day before losing to BYU to become 29-1.
The Zags would be only the second team to also have 32 wins in a college basketball season joining, Kentucky to achieve the feat. There have been five two-loss national champions since Indiana finished unblemished.
You can say what you want about the West Coast Conference, and perhaps a weaker Final Four matchup compared to what’s on the other side of the bracket, but the object of the game is to win every time they roll the ball out. The Bulldogs have done that all but once this season.
Now they’ve got one more chance.
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