A tell-tale sign: Worst losses by NCAA Champ

Published Jan. 16, 2012 2:26 p.m. ET

foxsports

If North Carolina is to win the NCAA championship in men's basketball this season, it will have to buck history. No NCAA Tournament champion since 1980 has lost by more than 26 points in a regular-season game (UNC, 1993). The Tar Heels lost by 33 on Saturday at Florida State.

Year -- NCAA champion; largest margins of defeat in regular season
2011 – Connecticut: by 15 at Pitt; by 17 at St. John’s,
2010 – Duke: by 14 at N.C. State; by 12 at Georgetown
2009 – UNC: by 7 to vs. Boston College
2008 – Kansas: by 9 at Kansas State
2007 – Florida: by 10 at LSU and at Tennessee
2006 – Florida: by 6 at South Carolina
2005 – UNC: by 13 at Wake Forest
2004 – Connecticut: by 9 at Syracuse
2003 – Syracuse: by 14 at UConn; by 13 (Big East tourney)
2002 – Maryland: by 21 at Duke; by 16 at Oklahoma
2001 – Duke: by 2 at UNC; by 2 at Virginia
2000 – Michigan State: by 11 at Ohio State
1999 – Connecticut: by 17 to Syracuse
1998 – Kentucky: by 15 vs. Arizona
1997 – Arizona: by 13 at Southern Cal
1996 – Kentucky: by 10 vs. Massachusetts
1995 – UCLA: by 10 at Oregon
1994 – Arkansas: by 12 vs. Kentucky (SEC tourney)
1993 – North Carolina: by 26 at Wake Forest; by 14 at Duke
1992 – Duke: by 4 at Wake Forest
1991 – Duke: by 22 vs. UNC (ACC Tny); by 17 at Virginia
1990 – UNLV: by 8 at UCSB
1989 – Michigan: by 16 to Illinois; by 12 at Illinois
1988 – Kansas: by 19 vs. Iowa; by 15 vs. Kansas State (Big 8 tourney); by 14 at St. John’s;
1987 – Indiana: by 13 at Iowa
1986 – Louisville: by 12 at N.C. State
1985 – Villanova: by 23 at Pitt; by 15 vs. St. John’s (Big East tourney)
1984 – Georgetown: by 4 to St. John’s
1983 – N.C. State: by 19 at UNC; by 18 at Wake Forest
1982 – UNC: by 16 at Virginia
1981 – Indiana: by 9 at UNC
1980 – Louisville: by 17 at Iona; by 13 vs. Illinois