April 8, 2015
With its women’s basketball team advancing to the 2015 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship title game and its men’s squad playing in an NCAA regional championship contest, the University of Notre Dame finished the 2014-15 seasons with the most successful combined men’s and women’s basketball programs of any institution in the country.
That proved accurate whether the squads were compared by combined Associated Press rankings, combined victories, combined winning percentage or combined NCAA graduation rates. Notre Dame qualified as the only institution to have both its men’s and women’s programs advance to the 2015 NCAA Elite Eight.
The numbers were based on the 21 programs that earned selection to both the men’s and women’s brackets in the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships.
Notre Dame ranked atop the standings in four combined categories:
- Associated Press poll rankings (based on March 16 poll): Notre Dame women were #2, men were #8.
- Victories: 68 (Notre Dame women had 36, men had 32). That qualified as the all-time Irish combined record, topping the numbers from 2012-13 when the women finished 35-2 and the men ended up 25-10 (for a combined 60).
- Winning Percentage: .883, based on a combined 68-9 record for the two Notre Dame teams (women were 36-3, men were 32-6).
- Graduation Success Rate figures: Both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s programs featured perfect 100 figures in the combined four-year individual sport graduation rates released by the NCAA in October 2014.
There were only seven institutions that ranked in both the final regular-season Associated Press men’s and women’s basketball polls-and Notre Dame had the best combined rankings (four of the seven schools came from the Atlantic Coast Conference):
— Associated Press Poll Rankings
| School | Men’s Rank | Women’s Rank | Combined Rank |
| 1. Notre Dame | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| 2. Kentucky | 1 | 11 | 12 |
| 3. Maryland | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| 4. Duke | 4 | 16 | 20 |
| 5. Baylor | 16 | 5 | 21 |
| 6. Louisville | 17 | 8 | 25 |
| 7. North Carolina | 15 | 15 | 30 |
Italics indicate Atlantic Coast Conference schools.
Here’s how the 21 programs with teams in both the men’s and women’s NCAA brackets ranked in terms of final combined wins, with Notre Dame at the top:
Victories
| School | Men’s Wins | Women’s Wins | Combined Wins |
| 1. Notre Dame | 32 | 36 | 68 |
| 2. (tie) Kentucky | 38 | 24 | 62 |
| 2. (tie) Maryland | 28 | 34 | 62 |
| 4. Gonzaga | 35 | 26 | 61 |
| 5. Wichita State | 30 | 29 | 59 |
| 6. Duke | 35 | 23 | 58 |
| 7. Baylor | 24 | 33 | 57 |
| 8. Dayton | 27 | 28 | 55 |
| 9. Louisville | 27 | 27 | 54 |
| 10. North Carolina | 26 | 26 | 52 |
| 11. (tie) Iowa | 22 | 26 | 48 |
| 11. (tie) BYU | 25 | 23 | 48 |
| 11. (tie) Ohio State | 24 | 24 | 48 |
| 14. Boise State | 25 | 22 | 47 |
| 15. (tie) Arkansas | 27 | 18 | 45 |
| 15. (tie) Oklahoma | 24 | 21 | 45 |
| 15. (tie) New Mexico State | 23 | 22 | 45 |
| 18. Texas | 20 | 24 | 44 |
| 19. Iowa State | 25 | 18 | 43 |
| 20. LSU | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| 21. Oklahoma State | 18 | 20 | 38 |
Italics indicate Atlantic Coast Conference schools.
Here’s how the 21 schools with representatives in both NCAA brackets ranked in terms of final combined winning percentage, with Notre Dame again at the top:
— Winning Percentage Victories
| School | Men’s Record | Women’s Record | Combined Win % |
| 1. Notre Dame | 32-6 | 36-3 | .883 (68-9) |
| 2. Maryland | 28-7 | 34-2 | .861 (62-10) |
| 3. Wichita State | 30-5 | 29-5 | .855 (59-10) |
| 4.Kentucky | 38-1 | 24-10 | .849 (62-11) |
| 5. Gonzaga | 35-3 | 26-8 | .847 (61-11) |
| 6. Baylor | 24-10 | 33-4 | .802 (57-14) |
| 7. Duke | 35-4 | 23-11 | .794 (58-15) |
| 8. Dayton | 27-9 | 28-7 | .774 (55-16) |
| 9. Louisville | 27-9 | 27-7 | .771 (54-16) |
| 10. North Carolina | 26-12 | 26-9 | .722 (52-21) |
| 11. (tie) Iowa | 22-12 | 26-8 | .705 (48-20) |
| 11. (tie) BYU | 25-10 | 23-10 | .705 (48-20) |
| 13. New Mexico State | 23-11 | 22-8 | .703 (45-19) |
| 14. Boise State | 25-9 | 22-11 | .701 (47-20) |
| 15. Ohio State | 24-11 | 24-11 | .685 (48-22) |
| 16. (tie) Oklahoma | 24-11 | 21-12 | .6617 (45-23) |
| 16. (tie) Arkansas | 27-9 | 18-14 | .6617 (45-23) |
| 18. Iowa State | 25-9 | 18-13 | .6615 (43-22) |
| 19. Texas | 20-14 | 24-11 | .637 (44-25) |
| 20. LSU | 22-11 | 17-14 | .609 (39-25) |
| 21. Oklahoma State | 18-14 | 20-12 | .593 (38-26) |
Italics indicate Atlantic Coast Conference schools.
Here’s how the 21 schools with teams in both NCAA brackets rank in terms of combined GSR, with Notre Dame again at the top:
Graduation Success Rate
| School | Men’s GSR | Women’s GSR | Combined GSR |
| 1. (tie) Notre Dame | 100 | 100 | 200 |
| 1. (tie) Duke | 100 | 100 | 200 |
| 1. (tie) Dayton | 100 | 100 | 200 |
| 4. (tie) Iowa | 100 | 92 | 192 |
| 4. (tie) Maryland | 100 | 92 | 192 |
| 6. Texas | 100 | 90 | 190 |
| 7. Kentucky | 89 | 100 | 189 |
| 8. Gonzaga | 91 | 92 | 183 |
| 9. Oklahoma | 77 | 100 | 177 |
| 10. Baylor | 92 | 80 | 172 |
| 11. BYU | 82 | 86 | 168 |
| 12. Iowa State | 64 | 100 | 164 |
| 13. (tie) North Carolina | 88 | 69 | 157 |
| 13. (tie) Wichita State | 64 | 93 | 157 |
| 15. Boise State | 69 | 79 | 148 |
| 16. Louisville | 58 | 89 | 147 |
| 17. Ohio State | 53 | 92 | 145 |
| 18. LSU | 50 | 92 | 142 |
| 19. Arkansas | 55 | 75 | 130 |
| 20. Oklahoma State | 22 | 63 | 85 |
| 21. New Mexico State | 13 | 63 | 76 |
Italics indicate Atlantic Coast Conference schools. The 2014 GSR numbers cover grant-in-aid student-athletes who enrolled between 2004 and 2007 at all Division I institutions.
The Notre Dame men’s basketball team established a modern record for victories in a season with 32. The previous high was a 27-7 mark in 2010-11. (The all-time record came in the 1908-09 season at 33-7.)
The Irish women’s team now has won at least 30 games in five straight seasons-and has won at least 35 games in four straight seasons–including 31-8 in 2010-11, 35-4 in 2011-12, 35-2 in 2012-13 and 37-1 in 2013-14.
Both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball teams won their respective 2015 ACC Championship titles in Greensboro, North Carolina. That marked the 13th time in ACC history that the same institution claimed both basketball championships in the same year–and the first time since 2011 when Duke did it. The only four ACC schools to accomplish that feat are Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
The Notre Dame women’s team won both the ACC regular-season title and the ACC Championship crown in both 2014 and 2015.
In terms of NCAA seeding, the Irish women in 2015 received a #1 seed, while the men earned a #3 seed. That’s the best combined seeding at Notre Dame since 2011 when the women were #2 and the men were #2.
The only schools whose men’s and women’s teams both made it to the 2015 NCAA Sweet 16 bracket were Notre Dame, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Gonzaga-with four of the five coming from the ACC.
The ACC had five men’s teams (Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and North Carolina State) and five women’s teams (Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Florida State) in the NCAA Sweet 16.
The Notre Dame, Duke and Louisville men’s teams advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, while the Notre Dame and Florida State women’s team advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight.
In their respective NCAA Final Fours, Notre Dame ended up the runner-up in the women’s bracket and Duke won the title in the men’s bracket.
Notre Dame also ranked as the only program to produce 2015 John R. Wooden All-America selections in both men’s and women’s basketball in Jerian Grant and Jewell Loyd.
— by John Heisler, senior associate athletics director