The 10 Most Talented College Basketball Teams (That Did Not Win the NCAA Title)

Future NBA Talent Only Goes So Far…

Throughout college basketball history, future NBA talent hasn’t always translated to national championships. Sure, many of the greatest teams of all-time double as the most talented, i.e., 1968–69 UCLA (Lew Alcindor, Sidney Wickes, & Lucius Allen), 1973–74 UCLA (Bill Walton, Kevin Wilkes, & Marques Johnson), 1981–82 North Carolina (Michael Jordan, James Worthy & Sam Perkins), and 1989–90 UNLV (Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, & Greg Anthony); quite often though, teams loaded with multiple lottery picks have come up short in the NCAA Tournament.

These teams, although not necessarily the best teams that never won a title, are the most talented, and thus, occupy a special place in college basketball lore. To be considered for the top ten, two requirements must be met:

• The core players cannot have won a national title, ever. For example, while 1985 Georgetown, 1991 UNLV, and 2002 Duke are three of the most talented teams that fell short of a championship, all three schools, comprised of the same cast of characters, won the year before.
• The team must feature at least two players who were either named to an NBA All-Star team or taken as a top-five pick in an NBA draft. This forces us…