Worst Team to Win a Championship

I wish I could say that the '87 Hoosiers sucked. Man did I hate that team. Being a Wisconsin fan in an Indiana high school in the late 80s was no fun.

 

That team was really a great example of the sum being greater than the individual parts. It was the first year of the 3-point shot, and most schools hadn't developed the "get to the rim and kick for a dunk or chuck the 3" offense that Rick Pitino had employed (and Providence was also in the Final Four that year). In fact, a lot of teams didn't have a great outside shooting game because the game before the 3-point shot emphasized post-ups and mid-range jumpers.

Indiana had Steve Alford, one of the great spot shooters in college basketball but someone who was also 5" too short to be a prototypical NBA 2-guard. Keith Smart also complemented him pretty well at the point, and could also hit the outside shot. Getting Dean Garrett -- a solid center who had a cup of coffee in the NBA -- was the key to that team. Talent-wise, there were better Indiana teams that didn't sniff the Final Four. But no team was built for its era, and had a group of players who fit clearly-defined roles, better than that one. It was, in a way, the poster team for Bob Knight's coaching style.

And they did go 30-4 during the regular season, won the Big Ten and got a No. 1 seed, and beat a really good UNLV team (by playing UNLV's game) in the semis.

 

Any team (Baltimore) that goes five weeks without scoring an offensive TD and still wins the majority of those games has one hell of a defense. We have opposite views of those two teams. I tend to think Baltimore was a little bit better. Their defense was better (quite substantially as far as stats go) and they did have Jamal Lewis and one of the best returners in the game.

There are lots of other SB champions I would rate as worse than both of those teams.

 

Let's extend this to golf, for fun's sake ... worst five major-championship winners.

5. Trevor Immelman -- His only other PGA victory came in 2006 at the Western Open. Injuries wrecked him after the Masters win, and he's simply fallen off the face of the earth in terms of competing.

4. Wayne Grady -- 1990 PGA champion. One other career victory. Barely competitive in majors other than that one victory. Plus, I just wanted to type, "Is Wayne Grady gonna have to choke a bitch?"

3. Rich Beem -- Showed great moxie in winning the 2002 PGA but hasn't sniffed competing in a major since. Hasn't won on the PGA Tour since either. At least he got a book out of the deal.

2. Shaun Micheel -- The '03 PGA was his only career PGA Tour victory. The man only won two other times in his career, once on the Nike Tour and once in Asia.

1. Michael Campbell -- Needed to qualify sectionally for the 2005 U.S. Open that he won, and he only won that because everyone around him at Pinehurst posted numbers in the 80s. Has only made four cuts in a major since and has finished no better than T35.

 

There was definitely a certain amount of luck that got them in (DeSean Jackson) but I don't think they even scratch the surface on this topic. The following season showed just how good they actually were, even given the turd they dropped in the playoffs. They were also extremely unlucky in many of the games they lost during the season. Their 10-6 record was kind of an anomaly given their PF/PA split. They were (are) immensely talented on offense, and they actually had a pass rush that year as well. I think they were more of a very good team that turned it on at the right time just like NYG last year.

 

I largely remember a team that was plodding along against the Angels until Pierzynski got away with cheating and that seemed to turn momentum. That moment is up there with the Marty McSorley stick measurement in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final as singular moments that turned a series.

The 2005 Astros might go down in the "worst runners-up" category, too.

 

That team won 99 games, then went 11-1 in the playoffs. They may not have been one of the more memorable champions, but they weren't within a hundred miles of the worst.

 

1981 49ers were an underwhelming champion of then-unknown quantities, journeymen and spare parts. Not nearly as star-studded as people would think. That team started three rookies in the secondary and averaged 3.5 yards per rush (leading rusher -- Ricky Patton, 543 yards).

 

Golf, particularly the PGA Championship, throws up some real oddball winners.

Tennis is less prone to that. If I were interested in tennis, I'd do fluky tennis major winners, but I'm not. Yannick Noah and Pat Cash do jump immediately to mind though.

 

Everybody knew their role, and played it to the hilt. They staggered to the regular-season wire after opening up a long lead, but made it through, stuffed and mounted the Red Sox, got past their most difficult postseason foe in LAAAAAAAA, then showed all the heart you could want against the country-bumpkin Stro pitching staff. They were home-free, once they got past the Angels. Just wish they could have faced the Yanks, then LaRussa, which would have stopped all the sniping, forevermore. Plenty-good work, on something far below an infinite budget.

 

The fact there were no "stars" makes what the team did even more impressive.

 

Todd Hamilton, the 2004 Open champ, probably gets an honorable mention on the list ... though he at least did win 11 times in Japan. Just hasn't done anything of note since the '04 British. Total ham-and-egger.