Records vs. Top 5 Winningest NCAA Tournament Teams

Before Kansas came back to defeat Texas today, someone on Twitter commented that Texas could possibly defeat both North Carolina and Texas and not make the tournament.  Although they still will play Kansas again this year, the chances of that happening are probably slim.

However, it made me wonder how teams have done against the top all-time tournament teams in a single year and all-time.

There are five schools that have won more than 90 tournament games all-time.

• Kentucky 113
• North Carolina 108
• UCLA 100
• Duke 96
• Kansas 93

14 schools have at least 5 wins all-time vs. the "Top 5" schools led by Indiana

• Indiana 9
• Marquette, UCLA 8
• Duke, Kentucky 7
• Kansas, Ohio State 6
• Arizona, Florida, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, Syracuse, Villanova 5

The schools that has the most victories vs. the "Top 5" without a defeat is Texas El-Paso (formerly Texas Western) with 3.

• Defeated Kansas 81-80 in 1966 Elite Eight
• Defeated Kentucky 72-65 in 1966 National Championship
• Defeated Kansas 66-60 in 1992 Round of 32

Arizona is the only team to ever defeat 3 of the "Top 5" in a single tournament in 1997.

• Defeated Kansas 85-82 in Sweet Sixteen
• Defeated North Carolina 66-58 in National Semifinals
• Defeated Kentucky 84-79 (OT) in National Championship

11 other teams have defeated 2 of the "Top 5" twice in a single tournament. Teams in Bold won National Championship

• Texas El-Paso - 1966 (Kansas, Kentucky)
• Houston - 1967 (Kansas, North Carolina)
• Western Kentucky - 1971 (Kentucky, Kansas)
• Florida State - 1972 (Kentucky, North Carolina)
• Louisville - 1986 (North Carolina, Duke)
• Michigan - 1993 (UCLA, Kentucky)
• Kentucky - 1998 (UCLA, Duke)
• Florida - 2000 (Duke, North Carolina)
• Maryland - 2002 (Kentucky, Kansas)
• Michigan State - 2005 (Duke, Kentucky)
• Villanova - 2009 (UCLA, Duke)

Five of the above teams ended up losing to one of the "Top 5" also.  They were Houston, 1967; Florida State, 1971; Michigan, 1993; Michigan State, 2005 and Villanova, 2009.

The combination of schools that have never been beaten in a single tournament among the "Top 5" are:

• UCLA and North Carolina
• UCLA and Kansas
• Duke and Kansas

Here are the times where a school defeated one team, but lost when they had the opportunity to defeat the other:

• UCLA and North Carolina - 1967 Dayton, 1969 Purdue, 1972 Florida State, 1993 Michigan, 1995 Arkansas, 2009 Villanova
• UCLA and Kansas - 1952 Santa Clara, 1967 Houston, 2008 Memphis
• Duke and Kansas - 1990 UCLA, 1993 California, 1994 Purdue

 27 schools have at least 7 losses all-time vs. the "Top 5" led by Kansas

• Kansas 12
• Louisville 11
• Michigan, Michigan State, Villanova  10
• Utah 9
• Illinois, Indiana 8
• Iowa State, Marquette, Notre Dame, Purdue  7
• Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, New Mexico St, Ohio State, San Francisco, Syracuse, Temple  6
• Arizona St, Connecticut, Houston, Miami (OH), North Carolina, Princeton, Xavier 5

Louisville in 1972 was the only team to ever lose to two "Top 5" teams in a single tournament when they lost to UCLA in the National Semifinals and North Carolina in the National Third Place game.  Of course with today's format, no team can lose more than one game in a single tournament.

The most wins and losses all-time vs. each of the "Top 5" are:

• Kentucky - Marquette - 6 wins; Utah - 6 losses
• North Carolina - Kansas - 3 wins; Michigan State - 5 losses
• UCLA - Florida - 3 wins; San Francisco and Kansas - 5 losses
• Duke - Kentucky - 3 wins; Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan and St. Joseph's - 3 losses
• Kansas - UCLA - 5 wins; North Carolina - 3 losses