After surviving one of the great games in NCAA Tournament history, Gonzaga is 40 minutes from immortality. Jalen Suggs' 35-foot buzzer-beater to beat UCLA in overtime propels the Bulldogs into the national championship game, where they will take on Baylor in a game that will feature the obvious two best teams in the sport from the start of the season.
The Zags will enter at 31-0, becoming the tenth men's team in NCAA history to enter the national title game undefeated, and the first in over four decades. Seven of the previous nine won it all -- will Gonzaga join them and become the first men's team since 1976 to cap a perfect season?
Here's the list they're joining when they tip at 9:20 on Monday:
1979 Indiana State: Speaking of great games in college basketball history, Larry Bird and the 33-0 Sycamores took on Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the famous '79 title game. Indiana State is one of two teams in NCAA history to have its first loss of the year come in the championship, as Johnson scored 24 points in leading the Spartans to a 75-64 victory that helped push the NCAA Tournament to another level in terms of national interest.
1976 Indiana: We haven't had an undefeated national champion on the men's side in 45 years. Not since Bob Knight led the Hoosiers to a 32-0 record and a national title, a year after nearly doing the same thing (IU's only loss in 1974-75 came in the Elite 8 against Kentucky).
The season began with a 20-point win over No. 2 UCLA, continued with close wins against ranked Notre Dame and Kentucky teams and carried into the NCAA Tournament. There, a five-point Sweet 16 win against Alabama and a nine-point victory in the Elite 8 over Marquette were the only tests, as Indiana cruised past UCLA and Michigan to win the title.
1972 & 1973 UCLA: In the height of the Bruins' dominance, they went 30-0 in back-to-back years to win the final pair of what was seven consecutive championships and made up the bulk of the record 88-game win streak. In 1972, sophomore Bill Walton made his collegiate debut by sweeping Player of the Year honors as the Bruins won 27 of 30 games by double-digits.
It was a similar story in '73: a romp through the regular season that extended into the postseason, where the Bruins had four wins by an average of 16 points, including a 21-point rout of Memphis State in the title game. Walton again won every award imaginable in his junior season, and finished with his historic 44-point championship game performance on 21-of-22 shooting.
1967 UCLA: The stretch in '72-73 finished the stretch of seven straight titles that began in 1966-67 with the other legendary UCLA big man in Lew Alcindor. The sophomore debuted by winning Player of the Year honors and breaking just about every single-season school record imaginable offensively. In the 30-0 campaign only two games were decided by single-digits, and a pair of 15-point wins over Houston and Dayton in the Final Four and title game finished off one of the great seasons in NCAA history.
1964 UCLA: One more Bruins team, and it was John Wooden's first championship team. After 15 years, Wooden was convinced to move to a zone press, changing the future of the program forever. Led by Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich, UCLA survived a couple of regular season scares to enter the NCAA Tournament at 26-0. Unlike future Bruins teams, it wasn't a two-week party, as they eeked out a five-point win against Seattle in the first game and a four-point victory against San Francisco to advance to the Final Four.
There, UCLA beat Kansas State by six before cruising in the national championship against Duke 98-83 behind 53 combined points from Hazzard and Kenny Washington.
1961 Ohio State: The Buckeyes join the '79 Indiana State team as undefeated teams to lose in the national title game. The reigning national champions boasted a lineup including John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas and player Bob Knight. OSU went wire-to-wire as the nation's top-ranked team in the regular season, survived a regional semifinal upset scare against Louisville (56-55) and advanced to the national title game from there, where Cincinnati stood in the way.
The Bearcats won 70-65 in overtime to stun the Buckeyes, end their bid at a repeat and a perfect season, and snap their 31-game win streak.
1957 North Carolina: No undefeated national champion in NCAA history had to endure closer calls than the '57 Tar Heels. Entering the Final Four at 27-0, the Tar Heels met Michigan State in the national semifinal. Three overtimes later, UNC survived 74-70 to advance to the championship game the next day (no days off in these days!) against Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas... where history repeated itself.
For the second time in two days the Heels went to triple overtime, and again came out on top in a 54-53 classic for the program's first championship. Both teams scored two points in the first OT, neither scored in the second, and UNC took the third OT 6-5.
1956 San Francisco: North Carolina made it a second straight year with an undefeated national champion, after Bill Russell and the Dons went 29-0 the year prior. The champions in 1955, Russell and KC Jones were rarely threatened the following season. Just two games all year were decided by single-digits, neither of which came in the NCAA Tournament. USF beat UCLA by 11, Utah by 15, SMU by 18 and Iowa by 12 to cap a perfect season.