The 10 schools with the best combined basketball and football seasons

Even when including the many selectors once involved in deciding college football’s national champion – believe it or not, that was once an extremely messy enterprise – there’s only a short list of schools to win national championship in both men’s basketball and major-college football in their history.

Let’s go back to 1960. How many schools have achieved this double-dip in the last five-plus decades? Try four: Ohio State, Arkansas, Michigan and Florida.

The Buckeyes won in basketball in 1960 and in football either four or five times since, depending on how much validity you give the championship awarded by the National Football Foundation in 1970. (Answer: not much.) Arkansas’ basketball title came in 1993, and the Razorbacks’ football crown via the Football Writers Association of America in 1964.

The list grows even smaller if we cut the timeline to the past three decades, for example. Then we’re at two, the Wolverines and the Gators. So to put it lightly: It’s possible to win a title in basketball and possible to do the same in football, but very hard – if nearly impossible – to do both.

In recognition of the upcoming Final Four, this week’s top 10 list takes a look at the best individual football-and-basketball seasons of the past year. Let’s define this time period as beginning in the fall and continuing through the spring – from the start of football in September through March Madness.

(All rankings are via the Amway Coaches Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Basketball rankings are via the most recent update from March 13.)

1. Wisconsin

Football: 11-3 (No. 9), won Cotton Bowl

Basketball: 27-10 (No. 22), reached Sweet 16

The Badgers own one of the most impressive active streaks in sports: Wisconsin has reached a bowl game and the NCAA tournament in each of the past 15 years, absolutely dwarfing the next-longest active stretch in college sports. This year was no different, as the football team won a New Year’s Six bowl and the basketball squad reached the Sweet 16 before being knocked off by Florida.

2. Florida

Football: 9-4 (No. 13), won Outback Bowl

Basketball: 27-9 (No. 17), reached Elite Eight

While Jim McElwain’s second season was a slight disappointment, the Gators nonetheless won another SEC East Division title and had a convincing bowl win against Iowa. Florida’s basketball team, which finished in sole possession of second place in the SEC during the regular season, reached the Elite Eight before falling to South Carolina on Sunday.

3. Florida State

Football: 10-3 (No. 8), won Orange Bowl

Basketball: 26-9 (No. 18), reached second round

FSU quietly finished inside the top 10 of the Amway Coaches Poll despite losing conference games to Louisville, North Carolina and Clemson. Not bad for a rebuilding season. The Seminoles’ basketball team spent the year under the radar despite its 26 wins and No. 3 seed entering in the tournament … though FSU looked undeserving of that high seed after being dismantled by Xavier in the second round.

4. Michigan

Football: 10-3 (No. 10), lost Orange Bowl

Basketball: 26-12 (unranked), reached Sweet 16

Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines started 9-0 before losing three of their last four by a combined five points – to Iowa (14-13), Ohio State (30-27 in double overtime) and Florida State (33-32). With a bounce here or there in November, Michigan is headed to the College Football Playoff. In basketball, the Wolverines closed on a tear, winning the Big Ten conference tournament and reaching the Sweet 16 before being edged out by Oregon.

5. South Carolina

Football: 6-7 (unranked), lost Birmingham Bowl

Basketball: 26-10 (unranked), reached Final Four

Everything is relative. Expectations were extremely low entering Will Muschamp’s first season, so a trip to the Birmingham Bowl made his debut a very solid one – even if the Gamecocks capped their regular season with an ugly loss to rival Clemson. But what about basketball? Frank Martin and his team are a surprise entrant in the Final Four, making this the most successful season in school history.

6. North Carolina

Football: 8-5 (unranked), lost Sun Bowl

Basketball: 31-7 (No. 8), reached Final Four

The Tar Heels are the favorites in this year’s Final Four, for what it’s worth, after making their way past Butler and Kentucky in the South Regional. Meanwhile, that the eight-win finish during the fall was somewhat underwhelming speaks to the football program’s growing standard for success under Larry Fedora. That quarterback Mitch Trubisky may end up going within the top five picks in the upcoming NFL draft nets UNC some bonus points.

7. Kentucky

Football: 7-6 (unranked), lost Tax Slayer Bowl

Basketball: 32-6 (No. 5), reached Elite Eight

This was a rare occurrence: Kentucky tasted football success – relatively speaking – in addition to its normal basketball excellence in the same academic year. In football, Mark Stoops and the Wildcats got over the hump and into bowl play after a horrendous start. On the hardwood, UK missed out on a return trip to the Final Four in a memorable Elite Eight matchup against North Carolina.

8. Southern California

Football: 10-3 (No. 5), won Rose Bowl

Basketball: 26-10 (unranked), reached second round

Let’s give the basketball team credit for two NCAA tournament wins: one against Providence in a First Four game and the second against SMU in the round of 64. But football carries this season for the Trojans, as it often does. USC rebounded from a 1-3 start to win out the rest of the way, capping its year with a for-the-ages Rose Bowl victory against Penn State.

9. Louisville

Football: 9-4 (No. 20), lost Citrus Bowl

Basketball: 25-9 (No. 10), reached second round

Rick Pitino and the Cardinals had another strong regular season, earning a top-10 national ranking heading into the tournament and the No.  2 seed in the Midwest Regional, but bowed out to Michigan in the second round. While the Cardinals’ football season ended poorly – once a borderline College Football Playoff hopeful, they dropped three in a row to end the year – it did include the program’s first Heisman Trophy winner in then-sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson.

10. West Virginia

Football: 10-3 (No. 17), lost Russell Athletic Bowl

Basketball: 28-9 (No. 12), reached Sweet 16

The football team was the bigger surprise – the Mountaineers were one of the great risers on the Power Five ranks, spending much of the season in the Amway Coaches Poll – while the basketball team had the unfortunate assignment of meeting Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. (And even then came up just three points short of an eventual Final Four team.)

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