Repeat Champs Who Were Better the Second Time

Winning a championship in any of level of sports is an extremely difficult thing to do, as it takes a lot of factors to secure a title, with good luck, great health and even better team chemistry maybe being the most critical components.

While getting one ring is awesome, athletes will tell you they're not satisfied just stopping there, as more than a few championships can leave a team and a player's legacy remembered forever.

And for those teams who were able to go back-to-back in winning titles, here are the ones who proved the first one was no fluke, as they were even better the second time around.

2004 USC Trojans Football

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I've got two words for you—Fight On!

The rallying cry for the USC Trojans was said a hell of a lot during the 2004 college football season, as the Trojans became just the second team during the old BCS era to go wire-to-wire as the No. 1-ranked team in the country—Florida State in 1999 was the other.

Led by two Heisman Trophy winners on offense, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, the Men of Troy steamrolled the competition following their 2003 national title, doing so in grand fashion with a 55-19 thrashing of the Oklahoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl.

I know that the NCAA stripped the Trojans of their title because of multiple infractions—which also led to Bush handing back his Heisman—but in the moment, these Trojans proved to have an even better second act than their first one when they split the national title in '03 with LSU.

2004 New England Patriots

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Sure, the records of the New England Patriots in both 2003 and 2004 may have been an identical 14-2—which, by the way, is an insane two-year record—but the 2004 version of the Pats seemed to be just a little bit more dominant than their '03 counterparts.

How so?

Well, first, just take a look at the offensive numbers, which saw New England go from 348 points to 437 points, an average of 21.8 points per game to 27.3, indicating that quarterback Tom Brady had solidified his spot as the focal point of the offense.

Actually, across the board, the Pats were ranked higher in each offensive category than the year prior, showing significant improvements—even if the defense dipped a couple of spots on that side's rankings.

While the 2003 team had some incredible moments—namely the 15-game winning streak to end its Super Bowl winning season—with a 177-point differential over its opponents, the 2004 squad was just a little bit more dominant.

What's even crazier is that today, 11 years later, the Pats just won another Super Bowl with Brady at the helm, proving their consistency over all of these years.

2012-13 Miami Heat

Over their four years together—which included an NBA Finals trip in each season—the Big Three of LeBron James, Dywane Wade and Chris Bosh proved that their decisions to join the Miami Heat in 2010 worked out a little bit better than they could have imagined.

While they got "only" two titles in those four trips, that doesn't mean they aren't the most dominant team the NBA has seen in the past five years, and the 2012-13 campaign was their best together.

After locking up a championship during the 2011-12 season by beating a talented, young and hungry Oklahoma City Thunder team, by beating the San Antonio Spurs in 2013—the league's model franchise—the Heat proved they had the guile to take down championship-experienced vets.

Oh, and that's not even looking at the Heat's impressive 66-16 record, which included a ridiculous 27-game winning streak that became the league's second-longest in history.

All in all, the 2013 Heat might have been the best team the NBA has seen since the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls team that won 72 games during the 1996-97 season.

1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers

When just strictly looking at the numbers, the 1974-75 Philadelphia Flyers basically had the exact same season they did when they captured the Stanley Cup title in 1973-74, which is eery.

However, what separated the '74-75 team apart was its tenacity and aggressiveness, proving there is such a thing as swagger in hockey—who knew?

Generally regarded as one of the league's most feared teams, the Flyers of '74-75 were the first team to really use intimidation as a tactic, having enforcers like Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Bob "Hound" Kelly, Don "Big Bird" Saleski and Andre "Moose" Dupont to form the Broad Street Bullies.

Incorporating this aspect into their game, the Flyers literally steamrolled through opponents, allowing skill players like that year's league MVP, Bobby Clarke, to do their thing.

It's no wonder this team is often talked about as a top-15 squad of all-time in NHL history by pundits.

2006-07 Florida Gators Men's Basketball

Another team on this list whose second championship was eerily similar to that of their first one, the Florida Gators men's hoops team in 2006-07 completed a two-year run that remains to be one of the most impressive in the game.

Going a combined 68-11 in their back-to-back title seasons, the Gators went from an unknown team in 2005-06 to the program of the decade by the time they were hoisting the NCAA Championship trophy in March of 2007.

Led by future NBA first-rounders Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer—who led five Gators in total drafted in the 2007 NBA Draft, with all three chosen in the top-10—the Gators chomped down their opponents and went wire-to-wire as the nation's No. 1-ranked team, with a 17-game win streak during the meat of their schedule.

Surrounded by loads of talent and experience, it's no surprise the team impressively repeated in 2007.

1989 San Francisco 49ers

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After going 10-6 and winning the Super Bowl during the 1988 campaign, the San Francisco 49ers came out and showed they had a second gear that couldn't be matched by opponents during the '89 campaign.

Finishing with a 14-2 record that season, the Niners were, without a doubt, the best team in the NFL, scoring the most points in the league and having a defense that could shut down any opponent.

What really separated San Fran, though, was that offense, which was led by Joe Montana and featured two wide receivers, Jerry Rice and John Taylor, who both surpassed 60-plus catches and more than 1,000 yards receiving. Add in the running game, which boasted a 1,000-yard rusher in Roger Craig, and this team was a defensive coordinator's nightmare.

Often tossed into the "Best Ever" conversation, the '89 Niners capped their remarkable season with a snoozer in the Super Bowl, humiliating the Denver Broncos 55-10 for back-to-back titles.

2010-11 UConn Huskies Women's Basketball

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78-0. That's the record the UConn Huskies women's basketball team had during its two-year run in 2009 and 2010, putting them in the record books as two of the best teams in women's hoops history.

So what makes the 2010-11 team inch ahead of the previous year's title-winning campaign? How about the fact that they followed up an undefeated season with another unblemished record. That's nearly impossible to even fathom.

And while the 89-game win streak didn't begin with this specific team, it was the squad that earned the record for the most consecutive victories in NCAA DI basketball history, overtaking the previous record held by the UCLA Bruins.

As the only back-to-back champs to finish with undefeated records in both title campaigns, the UConn women had their way with anyone who took the floor against them.

1991-92 Chicago Bulls

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Winning six more games than they did during their first-ever NBA title season in 1990-91, the Chicago Bulls' second-straight title in '91-92 was a little bit more impressive for a number of reasons.

While the offensive numbers were just about the same, with both teams scoring at least 110 points per game, it was the improved defense that separated this team, allowing nearly two points less in '91-92.

That may not seem like much, but with games often coming down to one or two possessions, it can make the world of a difference.

In addition to the rankings, the 1991-92 Bulls were ranked as the sixth-best team in NBA history according to FiveThirtyEight.com, which used a way too scientific formula to determine some of the league's top teams.

Sure, the Bulls teams in the middle of the '90s were way more impressive overall, but before they were expected to win, they had to prove they could earn top billing. And the '91-92 team was the team that did that.

1976-77 Montreal Canadiens

To be completely frank, the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens are often looked at as the best team the NHL has ever seen—at least according to TheHockeyNews.com—and with good reason.

With a collection of talent on the roster that included nine future Hall of Famers, that Habs team was just impossible to even game plan for, let alone actually try to defeat—which didn't happen often, as they went 60-8-12 during the regular season and 12-2 in the postseason.

The '76-77 team was made up of some of the best players during that era in the NHL, and thanks to the majority of them being drafted and/or developed by the franchise, they helped guide the team to four straight Cup wins during this period.

1971 and 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers Football

If you're old enough to remember watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the early-'70s and mid-'90s, then the memories are some of the best in your entire life because the program was top in the country.

With both the 1970 and 1994 teams winning a national title—though the '70 team shared it with both Texas and Ohio State—the '71 and '95 teams left little doubt as to who was the best in the country.

First, the 1971 Huskers are, according to one ESPN article, the best college football team ever assembled, as they averaged more than 39 points per fame and allowed a ridiculous 8.2 points to their opponents.

Going through a difficult schedule that included a showdown with the then No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the "Game of the Century," this Nebraska team won the national title in style by defeating Alabama 38-6.

As for the '95 team, the Tommie Frazier-led offense ran up the score on teams, blistering opponents with more than 50 points per game on its way to the national title.

Beating four top-10 teams by no less than 23 points—which all came in the team's final six games—the Huskers went on to have an encore national title-winning season by demolishing the Florida Gators in the Fiesta Bowl 62-24.

Things in Lincoln haven't been quite as great in recent years, but on two separate occasions, the school proved to be two of the best ever—and they both came to capture back-to-back national championships.