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NCAA Basketball Program Rankings in the Modern Era
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:42 pm
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:42 pm
College Basketball is one of the hardest sports to produce an all-time ranking for. Unlike College Football which has the AP Poll to go off of back to 1936, College Basketball didn't have a great way to produce a National Champion until the 1970s.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the NIT Tournament was just as prestigious or even more so compared to the NCAA Tournament. And up until 1975, each conference only got to send one team to the NCAA Tournament. This particularly penalized conferences that had one dominant program such as the SEC with Kentucky. Theoretically the SEC could have had the 2nd best team in the country yet not send them on to the NCAA Tournament.
So because of these issues, I choose 1975 as the year to define college basketball's "Modern Era".
Here is the point system to score NCAA Tournament success for the past 45 seasons:
Round 33-68 Finish: 1 point
Round 17-32 Finish: 2 points
Sweet 16 Finish: 4 points
Elite 8 Finish: 6 points
Final 4 Finish: 10 points
National Runner-up: 11 points
National Champion: 15 points
Here are where the programs rank during the Modern Era:
1. North Carolina- 267
2. Duke- 244
3. Kentucky- 239
4. Kansas- 200
5. Syracuse- 168
6. Michigan St.- 164
7. UCLA- 149
8. Indiana- 146
9. Louisville- 141
10. Arizona- 133
11. UConn- 128
12. Villanova- 125
13. Georgetown- 115
14. Florida- 104
15. Arkansas- 103
16. Michigan- 98
17. Maryland- 93
18. Oklahoma- 92
19. Virginia- 89
20. Purdue- 86
21. UNLV- 85
22. Wisconsin- 80
23. Illinois- 76
24. Notre Dame- 75
25. Gonzaga- 73
The Rest of the SEC:
28. LSU- 69
41. Missouri- 55
42. Tennessee- 53
45. Alabama- 50
56. Auburn- 37
67. Texas A&M- 27
68. Mississippi St.- 26
70. Vanderbilt- 26
75. Georgia- 23
86. South Carolina- 17
95. Ole Miss- 14
**Ties are broken by which team has finished the furthest in the Tournament during the Modern Era. So for example, the fact that State has a Final 4 and Vandy does not, gives State the tie-breaker.
Here is the movement for each team after this past tournament:
Kentucky: Stayed put at #3
Florida: Moved up 1 space, from #15 to #14, passing Arkansas.
Arkansas: Moved down 1 space, from #14 to #15... jumped by Florida
LSU: Moved up 3 spots, from #31 to #28... jumping Xavier, Utah, and Marquette
Missouri: Stayed put at #41
Tennessee: Moved up 3 spots, from #45 to #42... jumping Alabama, Butler, and Wake Forest
Alabama: Moved down 1 spot, from #44 to #45... jumped by Tennessee
Auburn: Moved up 9 spots, from #65 to #56... jumping Western Kentucky, UAB, Penn, Providence, Washington, Tulsa, VCU, DePaul, Wichita St., and BYU.... but being jumped by Texas Tech
Texas A&M: Moved down 1 spot, from #66 to #67... jumped by Texas Tech
Mississippi State: Moved up 1 spot, from #69 to #68... jumping Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt: Moved down 2 spots, from #68 to #70... jumped by Mississippi State and Baylor
Georgia: Stayed put at #75
South Carolina: Stayed put at #86
Ole Miss: Moved up 4 spots, from #99 to #95... jumping past San Francisco, Miami (OH), George Washington, and LaSalle
In the 1940s and 1950s, the NIT Tournament was just as prestigious or even more so compared to the NCAA Tournament. And up until 1975, each conference only got to send one team to the NCAA Tournament. This particularly penalized conferences that had one dominant program such as the SEC with Kentucky. Theoretically the SEC could have had the 2nd best team in the country yet not send them on to the NCAA Tournament.
So because of these issues, I choose 1975 as the year to define college basketball's "Modern Era".
Here is the point system to score NCAA Tournament success for the past 45 seasons:
Round 33-68 Finish: 1 point
Round 17-32 Finish: 2 points
Sweet 16 Finish: 4 points
Elite 8 Finish: 6 points
Final 4 Finish: 10 points
National Runner-up: 11 points
National Champion: 15 points
Here are where the programs rank during the Modern Era:
1. North Carolina- 267
2. Duke- 244
3. Kentucky- 239
4. Kansas- 200
5. Syracuse- 168
6. Michigan St.- 164
7. UCLA- 149
8. Indiana- 146
9. Louisville- 141
10. Arizona- 133
11. UConn- 128
12. Villanova- 125
13. Georgetown- 115
14. Florida- 104
15. Arkansas- 103
16. Michigan- 98
17. Maryland- 93
18. Oklahoma- 92
19. Virginia- 89
20. Purdue- 86
21. UNLV- 85
22. Wisconsin- 80
23. Illinois- 76
24. Notre Dame- 75
25. Gonzaga- 73
The Rest of the SEC:
28. LSU- 69
41. Missouri- 55
42. Tennessee- 53
45. Alabama- 50
56. Auburn- 37
67. Texas A&M- 27
68. Mississippi St.- 26
70. Vanderbilt- 26
75. Georgia- 23
86. South Carolina- 17
95. Ole Miss- 14
**Ties are broken by which team has finished the furthest in the Tournament during the Modern Era. So for example, the fact that State has a Final 4 and Vandy does not, gives State the tie-breaker.
Here is the movement for each team after this past tournament:
Kentucky: Stayed put at #3
Florida: Moved up 1 space, from #15 to #14, passing Arkansas.
Arkansas: Moved down 1 space, from #14 to #15... jumped by Florida
LSU: Moved up 3 spots, from #31 to #28... jumping Xavier, Utah, and Marquette
Missouri: Stayed put at #41
Tennessee: Moved up 3 spots, from #45 to #42... jumping Alabama, Butler, and Wake Forest
Alabama: Moved down 1 spot, from #44 to #45... jumped by Tennessee
Auburn: Moved up 9 spots, from #65 to #56... jumping Western Kentucky, UAB, Penn, Providence, Washington, Tulsa, VCU, DePaul, Wichita St., and BYU.... but being jumped by Texas Tech
Texas A&M: Moved down 1 spot, from #66 to #67... jumped by Texas Tech
Mississippi State: Moved up 1 spot, from #69 to #68... jumping Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt: Moved down 2 spots, from #68 to #70... jumped by Mississippi State and Baylor
Georgia: Stayed put at #75
South Carolina: Stayed put at #86
Ole Miss: Moved up 4 spots, from #99 to #95... jumping past San Francisco, Miami (OH), George Washington, and LaSalle
This post was edited on 4/9/19 at 2:55 pm
11
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:45 pm to BHMKyle
Thank you!
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:46 pm to BHMKyle
quote:
1. North Carolina- 267
2. Duke- 244
3. Kentucky- 239
4. Kansas- 300
200 instead of 300 for Kansas?
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:47 pm to BHMKyle
Great report, thanks!
Did you mean 200 instead of 300 for Kansas?
Did you mean 200 instead of 300 for Kansas?
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:49 pm to BHMKyle
Good stuff as always Kyle.
Love to see a football one since integration, whenever you deem that date to be.
Love to see a football one since integration, whenever you deem that date to be.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:54 pm to thunderbird1100
Yeah that's a typo. Will fix
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:57 pm to BHMKyle
Small complaint, but I would give more credit for winning a Final Four 4 game.
You get 2 more points for a R.32 win
You get 2 more points for a S16 win
You get 4 more points for a E8 win
You get...1 more point for a F4 win?
I would do maybe something like:
Round 33-68 Finish: 1 point
Round 17-32 Finish: 2 points
Sweet 16 Finish: 4 points
Elite 8 Finish: 6 points
Final 4 Finish: 10 points
National Runner-up: 15 points
National Champion: 20 points
Really prop up that top tier, it's like right now you get really very little extra credit for winning a F4 game vs. just getting there. I think this also would probably separate the blue bloods even a bit more in your rankings.
You get 2 more points for a R.32 win
You get 2 more points for a S16 win
You get 4 more points for a E8 win
You get...1 more point for a F4 win?
I would do maybe something like:
Round 33-68 Finish: 1 point
Round 17-32 Finish: 2 points
Sweet 16 Finish: 4 points
Elite 8 Finish: 6 points
Final 4 Finish: 10 points
National Runner-up: 15 points
National Champion: 20 points
Really prop up that top tier, it's like right now you get really very little extra credit for winning a F4 game vs. just getting there. I think this also would probably separate the blue bloods even a bit more in your rankings.
This post was edited on 4/9/19 at 3:00 pm
Posted on 4/9/19 at 2:59 pm to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
LoVe tO sEe A fOoTbAlL oNe sInCe iNtEgRaTiOn, wHeNeVeR yOu dEeM tHaT dAtE tO Be.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:03 pm to WilliamTaylor21
Don't lash out Willy. The sandbox is over there.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:04 pm to BHMKyle
So LSU is top four in the SEC? I'll take it.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:04 pm to BHMKyle
quote:
Unlike College Football which has the AP Poll to go off of back to 1936, College Basketball didn't have a great way to produce a National Champion until the 1970s.
I hear everything you're saying but would add:
College football didn't have a great way to produce a national champion until the 90s and some would argue not until the CFP came into being. It wasn't that long ago that you had an undefeated SEC Champion that got left out in the cold because 3 teams couldn't fit in a 2 team "playoff".
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:20 pm to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
Love to see a football one since integration, whenever you deem that date to be.
Yeah that would be a good one. So much changed in CFB so fast in the late '60s / early '70s with integration. At the same time, I think the initiation of scholarship limitations in 1973 also played a big part.
I guess I might would use 1973 for that reason. The last teams to integrate did so in 1972 (Ole Miss, LSU and BYU were the last holdouts)
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:22 pm to BrerTiger
Yea sounds like 1973 kills 2 birds with 1 stone
This post was edited on 4/9/19 at 3:22 pm
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:22 pm to thunderbird1100
quote:
Small complaint, but I would give more credit for winning a Final Four 4 game.
To me, just making it to the Final 4 is big accomplishment. Getting one game further ought to be worth something, but really losing in the National Championship Game is not a whole lot better than losing in the National Semifinals. The goal of all teams is to make it to the Final 4.... at that point, the goal is to win the National Title.
Being National Runner-up is good, but I don't think it should be worth much more than getting to the Final 4.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:23 pm to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
Love to see a football one since integration, whenever you deem that date to be.
1970 seems like a nice clean break to me. The first black players on many SEC teams took the field around that time. Auburn's James Owens in 1970. 1971 for Bama. 1972 for LSU and Ole Miss. 1969 at Miss State and Florida.
But you could certainly argue there wasn't much integration until the latter part of the 70s. It had barely started by 1970.
As Bear dominated the 70s, I'm pretty sure I know which date you'd prefer.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:24 pm to BrerTiger
Haha - I think the scholarship/integration date of 73 makes sense.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:25 pm to BHMKyle
quote:
The last teams to integrate did so in 1972 (Ole Miss, LSU and BYU were the last holdouts)
BYU kinda surprised me.
I did not know that.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:26 pm to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
Don't lash out Willy. The sandbox is over there.
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:28 pm to BrerTiger
quote:
BYU kinda surprised me.
I did not know that.
I didn't either but it makes sense considering the Mormon Church didn't give full membership/priesthood/marriage rights to blacks until 1978
This post was edited on 4/9/19 at 3:29 pm
Posted on 4/9/19 at 3:37 pm to BrerTiger
quote:
College football didn't have a great way to produce a national champion until the 90s and some would argue not until the CFP came into being. It wasn't that long ago that you had an undefeated SEC Champion that got left out in the cold because 3 teams couldn't fit in a 2 team "playoff".
You are correct. Distinguishing #1 from #2 or even #3 didn't really get worked out until recently I'd say. However, figuring out which programs were good and which ones weren't is pretty easy using the AP Poll as a major data point.
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