Breaking Down the 6 Remaining Unbeaten Teams in Men's College Basketball

By this point in a men's college basketball season, we are usually down to, at most, two undefeated teams.

When last year's Jan. 6 Associated Press Top 25 was released, Auburn and San Diego State were the pair left standing. The year before that, Houston, Michigan and Virginia made it to Jan. 7, but each had suffered its first loss by Jan. 19. In 2017-18, not one team made it to even Jan. 1.

This season, though, thanks to a late start and a whole bunch of postponed and canceled games, we entered play Wednesday with half a dozen teams that have played at least four games without suffering a loss.

Let's take some time to celebrate them individually, in descending order of NET ranking.

Gonzaga Bulldogs (10-0, NET: 1)

With neutral-site wins over Iowa, Kansas, West Virginia, Virginia and Auburn already on their list of accomplishments, the Zags are almost the unanimous No. 1 team in the Top 25. Only one voter (Scott Wolf) is sticking by their preseason belief that Baylor is the best team in the country. Everyone else has crowned this former Cinderella king.

Gonzaga has plenty of star power. Freshman guard Jalen Suggs is very much in the mix to be selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA draft. Senior wing Corey Kispert has been one of the purest shooters in the nation, averaging 21.6 points per game with a 77.9 true shooting percentage. And sophomore big man Drew Timme might be the most valuable player on the roster. (Timme averaged 22.8 points and 7.2 rebounds in those five games mentioned above.)

But Gonzaga is so dominant because there's no drop in production until you get to the backups' backups.

Each of the 10 Bulldogs who has logged at least 20 minutes is shooting 50 percent from inside the arc. Five of them are making better than 70 percent of their two-point attempts. And they all run the floor relentlessly for a team that, incredibly, ranks in the top three in adjusted offensive efficiency and average length of possession. It's not fair to be this fast and this efficient.

Gonzaga should enter the NCAA tournament with a zero in the loss column.

Baylor Bears (9-0, NET: 2)

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Gonzaga and Baylor shouldn't both be undefeated, as they were supposed to face each other Dec. 5.

With any luck, though, these two best teams in the country will be able to "reschedule" that game for the national championship.

Remember back in the 2014-18 timeframe when "Press Virginia" was consistently one of the top teams in steal percentage and offensive rebounding percentage? Did you ever wonder how unstoppable those Mountaineers would have been if they were a respectable three-point shooting team and if they didn't commit so many fouls while getting all those steals?

If so, this Bears team is your answer.

Entering play Wednesday, Baylor ranked fifth in offensive rebounding percentage, fifth in defensive turnover percentage and second in three-point percentage, per KenPom.com. All nine of its wins have come by double figures, and it's not hard to see why. When you make better than 40 percent of your three-point attempts, get back more than 40 percent of your misses and force turnovers on more than 25 percent of your opponents' possessions, you're going to be almost impossible to beat.

In fairness, those numbers are a little inflated by the general lack of competition. But change them to 35, 35 and 22, respectively, and that's what Baylor did during a 2019-20 campaign that included a 23-game winning streak. The Bears have six great shooters, four lethal defenders and three excellent offensive rebounders. This is what they were built to do.

The loaded Big 12 will grind them up and spit out a couple of losses. Playing West Virginia, Texas Tech and Kansas in the span of seven days (Jan. 12-18) is bound to be trouble. But that experience should better prepare this title contender for the tournament.

Michigan Wolverines (9-0, NET: 4)

We've spent quite a bit of time talking about undefeated Michigan in the past decade.

The Wolverines opened the 2012-13 season with 16 consecutive victories en route to the national championship game. Two years ago, they started 17-0, but they bricked just about every shot they took in a Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech.

Elite and efficient perimeter play has typically been Michigan's biggest strength, but in both of those seasons, the sudden emergence of a force in the paint—Mitch McGary in 2012-13, Jon Teske in 2018-19—made this team even tougher to beat.

This year, 7'1" freshman Hunter Dickinson has been the heart and soul of the Wolverines.

The big man wasn't even a starter until the sixth game of the season, but he is averaging 16.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, leading the team in all three categories while logging just 25.7 minutes per game. Michigan is shooting 61.7 percent on two-point attempts while allowing just 39.2 percent to their opponents, and Dickinson is the primary reason.

Columbia transfer Mike Smith has also been a revelation.

He was Mr. Everything for the hapless Lions last year. He averaged 22.8 points, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals, but the most ridiculous figure was his 19.3 field-goal attempts per game. That's how much Markus Howard shot for Marquette last year, and how often Trae Young shot for Oklahoma in 2017-18. How that type of ball-dominant lead guard would work in the Michigan system was somewhere on the spectrum between "unclear" and "concerning."

Thus far, though, Smith has been the perfect fit at point guard, averaging nearly as many assists (5.2) as field-goal attempts (5.9). And when he does shoot, he has been much more efficient. Turns out it's a lot easier to run an offense when you're not the only one who can score.

Much like Baylor's path through the Big 12, though, the Big Ten is going to ensure Michigan does not run the table. In fact, as of Wednesday morning, KenPom gave the Wolverines a 0.02 percent chance of entering the conference tournament without any losses. After they started 17-0 in 2018-19, they lost six of their next 17 games—and this iteration of the Big Ten figures to be even more of a chore than it was then.

Drake Bulldogs (13-0, NET: 13)

Last year, Liam Robbins averaged 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. He led Drake in all three categories during a 20-14 season.

Over the summer, Robbins transferred to Minnesota, and now Drake has three more wins than any other team in the country.

That makes sense.

In Robbins' place, incoming transfers Darnell Brodie and ShanQuan "Tank" Hemphill have become indispensable starters. Brodie had scored just 10 points over the previous two seasons with Seton Hall, and Hemphill played only 11 minutes last season at Green Bay because of a knee injury. Suffice it to say, not many had that duo penciled in for 20.6 points and 11.7 rebounds per game for an undefeated team.

They've been great in the post, though, and the perimeter shooting around them has been phenomenal. Led by D.J. Wilkins (35-of-66), Drake is shooting 43.0 percent from distance and has won 12 of its 13 games by double digits. The lone exception came on a rare off night for the Bulldogs. They shot 25.0 percent from distance while Indiana State drained 54.5 percent of its attempts—and Drake still won by seven.

There haven't been many must-watch games in the Missouri Valley Conference since Wichita State left four years ago, but you're going to want to make time for the Loyola of Chicago-Drake games Sunday and Monday nights. Both of those teams have NCAA tournament potential.

Winthrop Eagles (9-0, NET: 38)

Nell Redmond/Associated Press

If you think Gonzaga plays fast, do yourself a favor and watch Winthrop.

The Eagles have typically been an up-tempo team under Pat Kelsey. They ranked in the top 50 in adjusted tempo in each of the previous five seasons and did so with an impressive amount of success, going 110-50.

This year, though, they've kicked things up a notch and lead the nation in adjusted tempo.

They're also much more aggressive on defense than usual. Last year, the Eagles forced 14.6 turnovers per game, which was their highest mark in a decade. Through nine games this year, that rate has spiked to 17.7.

Commit the name Chandler Vaudrin to memory. Winthrop has never had a player make the NBA, but Vaudrin has a chance. The 6'7" redshirt senior is averaging 11.4 points, 8.6 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game after he put up 9.3, 5.8 and 5.8 in 2019-20. He already has two triple-doubles.

File this in the "I'm not saying, I'm just saying" folder: Ja Morant averaged 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists as a freshman before blowing up the following year. He's nowhere near the unbelievable athlete Morant is, but if Vaudrin can keep this up while getting more national attention the longer Winthrop stays unbeaten, maybe he'll start getting some love from the NBA draft community.

As far as unbeaten potential is concerned, it's possible. Neither NET nor KenPom has any other team from the Big South ranked in the top 200. This weekend's two road games against Gardner-Webb might be the stiffest tests Winthrop faces before the NCAA tournament, and the Eagles should win both.

The Citadel Bulldogs (7-0, NET: 149)

Did I propose this topic just so I could write about the unlikeliest undefeated team ever?

Maybe.

It has been 11 years since The Citadel won more than 40 percent of its games. In fact, at 7-0, the Bulldogs already have more wins than they did last season (6-24).

But ever since Duggar Baucom became the coach in 2015, this team has been ridiculously fun to watch.

In each of his first three seasons at the helm, The Citadel ranked in the top five in the nation in adjusted tempo and three-point attempt rate. Thanks to atrocious defense and poor rebounding, though, that run-and-gun formula hasn't translated to many wins. In 2016-17, the Bulldogs led the nation in scoring with 89.8 points per game but also allowed way more points (94.6) than anyone else during a 12-21 campaign.

So far this year, all the numbers look nice. The Citadel has made at least 11 triples in each of its seven contests, is shooting 42.7 percent from distance and has a scoring margin of plus-25.6 points per game.

Now for the bad news: Only three of those seven games were against Division I programs, and all three were against teams ranked outside the KenPom Top 300. NET shows the Bulldogs are average, but KenPom still has them ranked No. 318 and projected to lose each and every one of their remaining games.

If they continue hitting threes at a respectable clip, they'll probably pick up a couple of more wins over the next two months. But The Citadel should soak up this limelight for however many more hours it lasts.

All statistics and records current through the start of play on Wednesday, Jan. 6.

Kerry Miller covers college football and men's college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.