Best Team to Never To Win a Championship

Tony Barnhart tweeted the question “Who is the best team never to win a championship?” He mentions the 1983 UH team. Thoughts?

https://x.com/mrcfb/status/1774604798739755013?s=46&t=ZflAtQu28mE4aUWNMrJBpQ

The ‘83 Cougars, end of story.

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If NC State beats UConn, is that like them beating us in 1983?

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They may just do it. There the hottest team in MBB right now. Playing with a lot of confidence as is UConm. That big boy they got at center really got a soft touch for shooting and some game

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If NC State plays UConn they will be a bigger underdog than the 83 NC State team was against UH. But if NC State beat this years UConn it would not be the same IMO. Even though the 83 NC State team had some solid pros, the UH team had 2 top 50 NBA players.

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What about 2005 Illinois, 2015 Kentucky, or 2021 Gonzaga ?

I was listening to Sports Radio 610 this morning and they were doing the “confessions” segment. B Scott said the Coogs are starting to give him Buffalo Bills vibes. I think Houston Oilers would be more accurate. The Bills at least got to the big game. The Oilers were good enough to get to the playoffs, but we know what they did after that. They also said this may have been UH’s best opportunity. I disagree with this too. Injuries prevented that from being the case. I do believe they had a final 4 team with a full roster.

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Many of you weren’t around for the 1974 Maryland team but judging from the names on the team, that team was stacked.

https://x.com/mrcfb/status/1774613673597706590?s=46&t=ZflAtQu28mE4aUWNMrJBpQ

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The problem in 1983 was with seeding having the 1 and 2 seed in the same bracket !!

The real championship game that year was 2 days before when UH played Louisville.

NC State was no slouch and not having a 30 second clock played into their hands.

Such is life !!

Our 1983 Final Four games are on YouTube.

Recently watched the Louisville game. Cougars won 94-81.

Both teams had players taking oxygen while on the bench. The TV announcers mentioned how the altitude was having an effect on both teams. Several times. It was noticeable.

There was no 3 point shot then. Our Cougars scored 58 second half points on 2 point shots and FT’s. 58 !

With over 13 minutes remaining Larry Micheaux fouled out. Already had not been much of a factor in the game.

By the by Guy Lewis used 10 players in that game. The subs were: Giles, Williams, Gettys, Rose, and Anders. Benny Anders was lights out and literally turned the game around.

Many still consider this to have been the greatest game of our greatest team

Phi Slama Jama vs The Doctors of Dunk. :basketball:

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I contend (albeit with a lot of bias) that it was the best college basketball game of all time

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Some of the dunks, and dunking on people, and alley-pop dunks in the 2nd half of the 1983 Louisville game were nuts. UH was so far ahead of its’ time. I do not remember who was involved but there was an alley-oop dunk passed from half court. It was an amazing display.

Dunking was outlawed in high school and college from 1967-1976. Amazing to think that the 1983 Louisville vs UH game was only 7 years after the NCAA removed the rule against dunking.

A last second shot by an unlikely team to even be in the elite eight makes our 83 Coogs the poster child of the “Best Team to never win a championship”
Now let me ask you the following questions:
“How many remembers Phi Slama Jama?”
“How many remembers National Champions?”
That’s right our Phi Slama Jama are forever remembered for making history by the way we played. Do you remember other “losers” or ask around the country the same question? Phi Slama Jama made history.

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When you watch them you get a real appreciation of the talent we had from 1982-1984.

Could any Sampson team beat the 1983 team? No. And no knock on any Sampson team. None. Those guys won 27 in a row. Just an amazing collection of talent and team play.

And, no, am not watching the NC State game.

I have 2 rules: Do not watch that game and do not watch the 01/01/1979 Cotton Bowl. Been there seen that in both cases. :basketball::football:

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This is not a subject of debate on this board.

It is almost offensive.

The only reason that acceptable to even ask that question is being a young person. I understand it was four decades ago.

Today’s student’s Parents were not even alive at that time.

'91 UNLV has to be in contention. Undefeated in regular season and won 45 games in a row. 4 NBA players and another drafted but did not make it

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Since I’ve been watching 2015 Kentucky by a mile.

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One was an extremely raw talent during that particular season . . . . . IOW, not ready for the show . . . . .

This is why I didn’t like Drake around our team a few weeks ago.

IMG_7248

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