In the early days of Men's college basketball, the talent gap was enormous, much like these early days of Women's college basketball.
In the 20 years between 1956 and 1976, men's college basketball saw seven undefeated champions. Since that 1976 Indiana team, there have been ZERO undefeated seasons. 7 in 20 years, followed by zero in 45 years. Gonzaga falling short of that goal means the drought continues.
It is common across many other sports and leagues when they first start to see unprecedented dominance at the very top.
- For example, the Boston Celtics won 11 NBA championships in 13 years between 1957 and 1969 as the NBA was starting to surge in popularity.
- All four of the NFL's undefeated seasons were in the 1920s.
- The 17 winningest regular seasons in MLB history were all before 1954.
What this shows is that as a sport grows in popularity, it gets more competitive.