Andy Wittry | NCAA.com | April 7, 2021 Here's where Baylor ranks among the greatest men's basketball national champions ever Baylor defeats Gonzaga, 86-70 Share Entering the national championship game in the 2021 NCAA tournament, Gonzaga had the chance to etch its name in men's college basketball lore, as it pursued an undefeated, 32-0 season that culminated in a national championship. Baylor, however, had other plans. The Bears finished their 2021 campaign with a 28-2 record, which was their fewest losses ever in a season and tied for the second-most wins. While they didn't go undefeated, they have the resume and the record to stack up very favorably with some of the very best national champions of the past. Here's how Baylor compares to past national champions. Simple Rating System (SRS) While many popular advanced metrics, such as those on kenpom.com and barttorvik.com, didn't exist when many national champions were crowned, Sports Reference's Simple Rating System, which "takes into account average point differential and strength of schedule" dates back more than 70 years. Sports Reference has the SRS rating for every men's basketball national champion starting in the 1950 season. UCLA (1972): 33.79 UCLA (1968): 32.56 Duke (2001): 32.18 Kentucky (1996): 32.14 UCLA (1967): 29.39 North Carolina (1993): 29.04 North Carolina (2005): 28.42 UCLA (1973): 27.98 Michigan (1989): 27.63 Kansas (2008): 26.89 UCLA (1969): 26.69 Villanova (2018): 26.64 Indiana (1976): 26.53 Ohio State (1960): 25.88 Virginia (2019): 25.46 North Carolina (2009): 25.45 Duke (2010): 25.21 NC State (1974): 25.05 Michigan State (2000): 25.04 UCLA (1970): 25.02 Duke (2015): 24.97 Duke (1991): 24.90 North Carolina (2017): 24.84 Baylor (2021): 24.83 Louisville (2013)*: 24.81 UConn (1999): 24.74 Kentucky (2012): 24.73 Duke (1992): 24.68 UNLV (1990): 24.45 Villanova (2016): 24.08 Arkansas (1994): 23.88 Florida (2007): 23.82 UCLA (1995): 23.74 Maryland (2002): 23.50 Kentucky (1998): 22.95 Cincinnati (1962): 22.85 UConn (2004): 22.64 Michigan State (1979): 22.53 UCLA (1964): 22.51 Kentucky (1951): 22.24 Arizona (1997): 21.60 Loyola Chicago (1963): 21.43 UCLA (1965): 21.33 Indiana (1981): 21.18 Kentucky (1978): 21.11 UCLA (1975): 21.07 San Francisco (1955): 21.00 UCLA (1971): 20.91 Indiana (1987): 20.69 Louisville (1986): 20.64 Florida (2006): 20.21 North Carolina (1982): 20.17 Indiana (1953): 19.98 Syracuse (2003): 19.02 Cincinnati (1961): 18.80 Georgetown (1984): 18.75 San Francisco (1956): 18.03 UConn (2011): 17.95 UConn (2014): 17.23 Marquette (1977): 16.67 Kentucky (1958): 15.95 Kansas (1952): 15.83 Kansas (1988): 15.71 Louisville (1980): 15.57 NC State (1983): 15.22 California (1959): 14.77 CCNY (1950): 14.67 La Salle (1954): 14.72 North Carolina (1957): 14.70 UTEP (1966): 13.86 Villanova (1985): 12.03 *Louisville's championship was later vacated by the Committee on Infractions KenPom One of the most popular men's basketball advanced analytics websites is Ken Pomeroy's website kenpom.com, which provides tempo-free efficiency numbers that adjust for the quality of opponent and the pace of play. Pomeroy offers adjusted efficiency margin statistics, which indicate how many points a team would be expected to outscore an average opponent on a neutral floor per 100 possessions. For reference, there were roughly 68 possessions per game this season, according to KenPom, so multiply a team's adjusted efficiency margin by 0.68 and you'll get its expected margin of victory against an average opponent on a neutral floor. Pomeroy's database dates back to the 2001-02 season: Kansas (2008): +35.21 Virginia (2019): +34.22 Baylor (2021): +33.87 Villanova (2018): +33.76 Duke (2010): +33.29 Louisville (2013)*: +32.92 North Carolina (2005): +32.77 Kentucky (2012): +32.59 Duke (2015): +32.48 Villanova (2016): +32.01 North Carolina (2009): +31.14 Florida (2007): +30.81 Maryland (2002): +29.25 UConn (2004): +28.30 Florida (2006): +28.28 North Carolina (2017): +28.22 UConn (2011): +23.93 Syracuse (2003): +23.28 UConn (2014): +22.13 *Louisville's championship was later vacated by the Committee on Infractions Total margin of victory in the NCAA tournament Below are the combined margins of victory for every national champion since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985: Kentucky (1996): 129 points Villanova (2016): 124 points North Carolina (2009): 121 points UNLV (1990): 112 points Villanova (2018): 106 points Duke (2001): 100 points Louisville (2013)*: 97 points Florida (2006): 96 points North Carolina (1993): 94 points Duke (2015): 93 points Michigan State (2000), Baylor (2021): 92 points Duke (2010): 87 points UCLA (1995): 86 points Florida (2007), Kansas (2008): 85 points Duke (1991), Maryland (2002): 84 points North Carolina (2005): 83 points Kentucky (1998), UConn (2004): 80 points Duke (1992): 75 points Louisville (1986), UConn (1999), Kentucky (2012): 71 points Arkansas (1994), North Carolina (2017): 67 points Indiana (1987): 63 points UConn (2011): 62 points Michigan (1989): 59 points Syracuse (2003): 54 points Kansas (1988): 53 points UConn (2014): 47 points Virginia (2019): 45 points Arizona (1997): 32 points Villanova (1985): 30 points *Louisville's championship was later vacated by the Committee on Infractions Winning percentage While admittedly simplistic, win percentage is a basic way to measure just how good a team was in a given season. If Gonzaga had beaten Baylor to finish as a 32-0, undefeated national champion, then that would've meant something. So perhaps we can establish takeaways from Baylor's 28-2 record (.933) and how that compares to past national champions. T1. San Francisco (1956), North Carolina (1957), UCLA (1964), UCLA (1967), UCLA (1972), UCLA (1973), Indiana (1976): 1.000 8. NC State (1974): .968 T9. UCLA (1968), UCLA (1969), UCLA (1971): .967 T12. San Francisco (1955), UTEP (1966): .966 14. Kentucky (2012): .950 T15. Duke (1992), Kentucky (1996), UConn (1999): .944 T18. Kentucky (1949), Kentucky (1951), North Carolina (1982): .941 T21. Wyoming (1943), Oklahoma State (1946), UCLA (1995): .939 24. Kentucky (1978): .938 T25. Cincinnati (1962), Loyola Chicago (1963): .935 T27. UCLA (1965), UCLA (1970), Baylor (2021): .933 30. Kansas (2008): .925 31. Kentucky (1948): .923 32. Virginia (2019): .921 33. Georgetown (1984): .919 34. Louisville (1980): .917 35. Arkansas (1994): .912 T36. Kansas (1952), UCLA (1975): .903 T38. Holy Cross (1947), Cincinnati (1961), Villanova (2018): .900 T41. Kentucky (1998), Duke (2001), Duke (2015): .897 T44. North Carolina (1993), North Carolina (2009): .895 46. Ohio State (1960): .893 47. North Carolina (2005): .892 48. Maryland (2002): .889 49. Indiana (1953): .885 50. Indiana (1987): .882 T51. Stanford (1942), UNLV (1990), Florida (2007), Duke (2010), Louisville (2013)*, Villanova (2016): .875 57. Oklahoma State (1945): .871 T58. Indiana (1940), Wisconsin (1941): .870 60. La Salle (1954): .867 61. California (1959): .862 62. Syracuse (2003): .857 63. Oregon (1939): .853 T64. Utah (1944), UConn (2004), Florida (2006): .846 67. CCNY (1950): .828 68. North Carolina (2017): .825 T69. Louisville (1986), Duke (1991), Michigan State (2000): .821 72. Michigan State (1979): .813 73. Michigan (1989): .811 74. UConn (2014): .800 75. Kentucky (1958): .793 76. Marquette (1977): .781 77. UConn (2011): .780 78. Indiana (1981): .743 79. Arizona (1997): .735 80. NC State (1983): .722 81. Villanova (1985): .714 82. Kansas (1988): .711 *Louisville's championship was later vacated by the Committee on Infractions COMPLETE NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY (1939-present) 1939-49 Brackets: 1939 |1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 1950s: 1950 | 1951 |1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 1960s: 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 |1967 | 1968 | 1969 1970s: 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 1980s: 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 1990s: 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 2000s: 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 2010s: 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 Store: Shop latest college basketball gear Listen: March Madness 365 podcast | Latest video COVID-19 and college sports: Latest updates and schedules Gonzaga comes up short in quest for perfect season, first title In a title game between the undefeated Zags and two-loss Bears, Baylor was never in trouble. The Bears led for 39:27. The game was tied for 33 seconds. READ MORE How Baylor proved it's now a 'legit powerhouse' in college basketball Baylor spoiled Gonzaga's otherwise undefeated season to claim the national title. READ MORE Superlatives from the men's 2021 NCAA tournament: Best shot, best Cinderella and more Here are the best plays, players, teams and moments the 2021 NCAA men's basketball tournament had to offer. READ MORE