Who are the top 5 programs in order?

[JimboBBN]

I know UNC math is bad, but y’all still got two more to go. I keep forgetting head to head records matter more to them, though.

As of now, Kentucky is better historically than UNC. Everyone knows it except the Carolina blow hards.

 

[829305]

I know UNC math is bad, but y’all still got two more to go. I keep forgetting head to head records matter more to them, though.

As of now, Kentucky is better historically than UNC. Everyone knows it except the Carolina blow hards.

You’re a Robert Horry (7 titles) > MJ (6) kinda guy eh?

 

[JimboBBN]

You’re a Robert Horry (7 titles) > MJ (6) kinda guy eh?

Kentucky has UNC beat in everything but Final Fours. Not the best comparison. I’m not a UNC hater by any means. It is funny to see you guys attack Kentucky whenever you get the chance, though.

 

[AWilli6995]

You’re a Robert Horry (7 titles) > MJ (6) kinda guy eh?

And if we do catch them on titles they'll throw the winning % at us. It's all good because I like where we're at as a program.

 

[uncfan in ky]

I know UNC math is bad, but y’all still got two more to go. I keep forgetting head to head records matter more to them, though.

As of now, Kentucky is better historically than UNC. Everyone knows it except the Carolina blow hards.

Amazing how titles matter when it’s UK vs UNC but when it comes to UCLA vs UK, the excuses start flying.

 

[JimboBBN]

Amazing how titles matter when it’s UK vs UNC but when it comes to UCLA vs UK, the excuses start flying.

We have a title under five coaches. No one else has more than 3. The definition of consistency.

 

[uncfan in ky]

We have a title under five coaches. No one else has more than 3. The definition of consistency.

Or a high coaching turnover.

 

[KYtotheCore]

The thing that stands out is everyone has UCLA 5th. This tells me that this board is pretty sharp. While they have the most titles, 10 of their 11 titles were earned from 1964-1975. They have only 1 more over the next 43 years. I would agree with the above posters.

I just busted your "Like" cherry!

 

[JimboBBN]

Or a high coaching turnover.

Uh huh, sure. Like I said, everyone, even some of your own, agree we are number one all time, except some of you homers. I don’t get it either, second place is awesome in this sport.

 

[KStateFootball82]

Issue with me putting Duke at 3 is their dependency on one coach. They were still relevant before K, but not a top 5-10 program.

KU has went through 3 coaches since 1985 in the same time period which is more impressive given the fact that the brand has maintained so well. Even Kentucky and UNC has significant dips in coaching changes while KU maintained at the highest level.

When Coach K has to step down for a few games Duke crumbled last year. When he retires, I just don’t see them hanging up there like they have been. They could be Indiana

 

[schoonerwest]

We have a title under five coaches. No one else has more than 3. The definition of consistency.

I was just trying to come up with something KU has done that’s more impressive but I got nothing.

But, every KU coach since 1939, the year the tournament began, has made it to the Final Four. That’s pretty impressive even if it’s only 6 guys.

 

[JimboBBN]

I was just trying to come up with something KU has done that’s more impressive but I got nothing.

But, every KU coach since 1939, the year the tournament began, has made it to the Final Four. That’s pretty impressive even if it’s only 6 guys.

Kansas is unique in that you guys have ties to pretty much every great coach in the game. Its nuts. That stat is pretty cool, also.

 

[829305]

Kentucky has UNC beat in everything but Final Fours. Not the best comparison. I’m not a UNC hater by any means. It is funny to see you guys attack Kentucky whenever you get the chance, though.

You’re good in my book.
It’s Kentucky I take issue with.

 

[schoonerwest]

Kansas is unique in that you guys have ties to pretty much every great coach in the game. Its nuts. That stat is pretty cool, also.

Larry Brown is in San Antonio with the team this week. Good things happen when Larry Brown hangs out with Bill Self before a game.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

I mean Kentucky only has 3 titles in the last 40 years. Roy has that in the last 14 years. If old titles don’t count Kentucky should plummet, considering 4 of their titles are from 60+ years ago. I don’t even think people without light skin tones were allowed to play in those games. Lol. No wonder most UK fans loathe the Heels.

1957 National champs.

 

[schoonerwest]

1957 National champs.

Fify

 

[KU4LIFE]

I didn’t realize we were ranking the past fifteen years

Well, he specifically asked for “present day relevancy”. So yeah the last 15-years would make up a good chunk of present day relevancy.

 

[denniden]

Kansas is unique in that you guys have ties to pretty much every great coach in the game. Its nuts. That stat is pretty cool, also.

Amazing Coach K was able to have any success given that every begins and ends with KU. ; )

Frankly I think it’s fun to read the mental gymnastics of fans to “prove” their program is better and than other programs. All the while nobody using the same criteria to judge it in that conversation.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Fify

 

[JimboBBN]

You’re good in my book.
It’s Kentucky I take issue with.

Yup, you're good with me too, man. And I personally have no reason to root against Carolina other than I don't want them catching us in titles. I have to reserve my hate for Louisville and sometimes Indiana.

 

[829305]

1957 National champs.

That’s not half our titles. Lol. But I’m happy to throw that one out if you toss 4 out. Deal?

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Amazing Coach K was able to have any success given that every begins and ends with KU. ; )

Frankly I think it’s fun to read the mental gymnastics of fans to “prove” their program is better and than other programs. All the while nobody using the same criteria to judge it in that conversation.

Kansas fans will find a way to claim the successes of all other coaches/programs. Winking

 

[JimboBBN]

Amazing Coach K was able to have any success given that every begins and ends with KU. ; )

Frankly I think it’s fun to read the mental gymnastics of fans to “prove” their program is better and than other programs. All the while nobody using the same criteria to judge it in that conversation.

Its a college basketball board filled with crazy passionate basketball fans. Its bound to happen at least a few times each season

 

[Kevin Bryan]

That’s not half our titles. Lol. But I’m happy to throw that one out if you toss 4 out. Deal?

They still happened, unlike a certain 2013 national championship.

 

[KStateFootball82]

I was just trying to come up with something KU has done that’s more impressive but I got nothing.

But, every KU coach since 1939, the year the tournament began, has made it to the Final Four. That’s pretty impressive even if it’s only 6 guys.

Kansas is unique in that you guys have ties to pretty much every great coach in the game. Its nuts. That stat is pretty cool, also.

Plus the rules of the game are displayed in Allen Fieldhouse.

KU used to be “the England (in soccer) of b-ball” in my eyes. But not there anymore due to their now 3 natties and tourney and conference records they’ve broken.

England is where soccer was created and always carries a ton of hype, talent, and a blue blood brand, yet their only World Cup is 1966, while Brazil has 5, Germany and Italy 4. Before Larry Brown they absolutely were the England. With Self’s title and his two records he broke, they’re well out of that hole. If they win it all Monday, they’re 100% in the 3 spot here. I still think they are as is tho, given dependency on Coach K.

 

[829305]

They still happened, unlike a certain 2013 national championship.

Ha. Don’t bring your little sister into this.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Ha. Don’t bring your little sister into this.

RollLaugh

 

[cooljeff]

always a fun topic and it depends on the objective and subjective criteria that each analyst uses and how they value those criteria.

If it is all about championships...then UCLA trumps all but it can't just be about championships as that makes for a short and boring discussion and most of us agree the tourney, while a blast, is kind of a horrible way to pick a champion. I think you need to look at different criteria and I also believe that more recent results should get weighted more heavily, at least i none or two categories. I attempted to compile a list, I think in 2006 and the categories I used were somewhat dependent on information I could fine somewhat easily on the internet. As I recall they were something like this: all time wins, all time win %, win % since 1990 (gave some recency bias and someone had compiled the data), Final Fours, National Championships (in the ff & NC categories I double weighted each that occurred after expansion to 64). I also had ave. ncaa seed since 1985 to try to reward what others thought were great regular seasons and that really dinged teams that had missed the tourney. I did not want to use conference titles as I thought that would be a KU bias.

Now a LOT has happened since mid season 2006 and UNC in particular would move up but this was the top 15 using those criteria at that time:

Kentucky
Duke
Kansas
North Carolina
UCLA
Syracuse
Indiana
Arizona
Cinci
Illinois
utah
louisville
uconn
arkansas
temple


My current all time list would be:

Kentucky
UNC
Kansas
Duke (really coin flip with KU, KU got the homer nod)
UCLA
Indiana


If listing who I think the top/biggest programs are right now...kind of a more subjective, who has the juice from the public, media, recruits I would probably go:

Duke
UNC
Kentucky
Kansas

 

[829305]

The real question is when do we boot Indiana from the blue blood club? Jokers.

 

[WojoRising]

The real question is when do we boot Indiana from the blue blood club? Jokers.

Do most consider them a blue blood?

 

[Kevin Bryan]

The real question is when do we boot Indiana from the blue blood club? Jokers.

I was just going to mention that. I found it interesting that they weren't mentioned earlier in this thread. Then I realized most people that post here probably don't remember the last time they were consistently relevant, because it was over 3 decades ago. They do have 5 titles, which is what most people seem to forget.

 

[Bert Higginbotha]

Obviously historically, otherwise UCLA has no business on that list.

Last year when UK went to UCLA they said that was the first sell out in years.

So as far as programs go UCLA is not in the top five. Here again I will go off the rails and state that the third or fourth historical best program has to be Indiana. They are better than Duke based on following and history.

 

[ThePhog08]

It's very KU fan of me but I don't think how many titles should be the main or only factor.

KU is #1 in conference titles
KU is #2 in all time wins
15 final fours
Has 3 hall of fame coaches.
Has the longest NCAA tournament streak.
Has at least 2 final fours in 4 or 5 straight decades.

 

[coryfly]

I was just going to mention that. I found it interesting that they weren't mentioned earlier in this thread. Then I realized most people that post here probably don't remember the last time they were consistently relevant, because it was over 3 decades ago. They do have 5 titles, which is what most people seem to forget.

I immediately thought of them when I read the first post. I thought maybe the OP was just doing 5 to keep it to a simple number. I would add IU and go 6 if we were truly doing all of the 'blue bloods'.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Last year when UK went to UCLA they said that was the first sell out in years.

So as far as programs go UCLA is not in the top five. Here again I will go off the rails and state that the third or fourth historical best program has to be Indiana. They are better than Duke based on following and history.

Oh yeah, UCLA has no fan base. Pauley doesn't even hold 13K and they can't even get it halfway to capacity with a metro population of 13 million. Laughing Last year was their highest attendance season in 20 years and it was still more than 2K under capacity.

 

[ThePhog08]

With all that above plus Naismith, Phog, Dean Smith and Adolph as players I want to put KU #1 however I will put them #3... I'm torn on UNC/UK for #1...

#1 UNC (Jordan won out)
#2 UK
#3 KU
#4 UCLA
#5 Duke

 

[829305]

I was just going to mention that. I found it interesting that they weren't mentioned earlier in this thread. Then I realized most people that post here probably don't remember the last time they were consistently relevant, because it was over 3 decades ago. They do have 5 titles, which is what most people seem to forget.

Yeah, I would have never guessed 5 titles, had I not known. But man, 1 FF in the past 25 years and just 2 E8s in same quarter century. Pretty brutal. Thank god for that Mike Davis run.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

5 coaches have won national titles at UK. No other school has more than 3. Just sayin'.

 

[829305]

It's very KU fan of me but I don't think how many titles should be the main or only factor.

KU is #1 in conference titles
KU is #2 in all time wins
15 final fours
Has 3 hall of fame coaches.
Has the longest NCAA tournament streak.
Has at least 2 final fours in 4 or 5 straight decades.

As a fan of a team that shares a conference w a blue blood, I can’t count conference titles as being too meaningful. The rest is too legit to quit tho. I’d put you #3, but that’s partly cause Duke goes 4.

In all honesty tho, what K has done is unfvcking real considering it’s been tougher to win since he’s been in business than before. I also am fine w UK 1 and Carolina 2, but that’s probably cause I’m white.

 

[Kevin Bryan]

Yeah, I would have never guessed 5 titles, had I not known. But man, 1 FF in the past 25 years and just 2 E8s in same quarter century. Pretty brutal. Thank god for that Mike Davis run.

That's why you get rings at IU for making the Sweet 16. Laughing