Who do you think are the top 10 basketball programs

[SoBeCuse]

Anybody claiming Arizona is a top 10 program needs to have their heads checked. They're were nearly dead and buried until Sean Miller seems to have righted the ship. However, they haven't made a Final Four in the past 15 years.

Indiana is another program that I find difficult to include in the top ten, but they do have a better history and pedigree than Zona. They're hanging on by a thread and have spent most of their credit accumulated during the Knight era, where they were clearly a top 5 program.

I don't agree with your Arizona assessment at all. It's late and I don't time to go into all the reasons but while SU has one more F4 they have two more E8. They also have had the better pro players if you line up guys like Bibby, Jefferson, Arenas, Damon Stoudamire, etc. It is a worthy debate and the two schools are virtually interchangeable with where they rank in this discussion, imo.

 

[Rage4CUSE]

Anybody claiming Arizona is a top 10 program needs to have their heads checked. They're were nearly dead and buried until Sean Miller seems to have righted the ship. However, they haven't made a Final Four in the past 15 years.

Indiana is another program that I find difficult to include in the top ten, but they do have a better history and pedigree than Zona. They're hanging on by a thread and have spent most of their credit accumulated during the Knight era, where they were clearly a top 5 program.

Who would you replace Arizona and Indiana with in your top 10?

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Who would you replace Arizona and Indiana with in your top 10?

1) UK
2) Duke
3) UNC
4) Kansas
5) UCLA
6) UConn
7) Louisville
8) Syracuse
9) Michigan St
10) Indiana (barely) - being pushed by Florida, Nova and a couple others

 

[OrlandoCuse]

I don't agree with your Arizona assessment at all. It's late and I don't time to go into all the reasons but while SU has one more F4 they have two more E8. They also have had the better pro players if you line up guys like Bibby, Jefferson, Arenas, Damon Stoudamire, etc. It is a worthy debate and the two schools are virtually interchangeable with where they rank in this discussion, imo.

What do pro player results have to do with it?

No doubt that Arizona was a great program under Lute Olsen, but so was Gtown under Big John and St John's under Louie. I don't see anyone making an argument to include them in the top 10.

 

[Dave85]

in the country?

We need 1 or 2 more NCs before we will be considered elite.

 

[721Comstock]

1) UK
2) Duke
3) UNC
4) Kansas
5) UCLA
6) UConn
7) Louisville
8) Syracuse
9) Michigan St
10) Indiana (barely) - being pushed by Florida, Nova and a couple others

The whole "don't rank UCLA higher, because it's all 'just' the Wooden Era" is bunk.
The won another NC in '95, and were runner-up in '06.
So, it's not 'just' historical relevance/dominance, they've been good in the modern era too.
Your top 3 are some combo of UCLA, UK, and Duke, in whatever order you like.
I'd probably put it UK, UCLA, Duke - UK has the historical and current excellence, UCLA more of the former, Duke is all the latter.

UNC is 4th - they have 5 NC's, many other FF appearances, and historical and current success.
Indiana has the 5 NC's, but none since '87 (Keith ^%$#g Smart), and haven't had the current level of success - but, you can't pretend they don't have 5 NC's either, and have been around since forever.
Kansas, UConn, and Llvll are your next 3 - UConn has the 4 NC's, but no historical relevance.
Sparty HAS to be ranked ahead of Syracuse - they have 2 NC's, and a zillion FF appearances under Izzo.
There is no metric - other than SU homerism - that would put SU ahead of Mich St.
Then it's Syracuse, Arizona, and Florida.

Florida has 2 NC's, but no history, and it remains to be seen if they will be a 2-win flash in the pan, like:
NC State, Cincinatti, San Francisco, and Ok State.
None of those programs have had the long-term, consistent success to rank higher, in spite of the 2 NC's.

Then it's a bunch of other teams, like Michigan, tOSU, Nova, G-town, UNLV, Arkansas, whatever.

 

[Eric15]

They're were nearly dead and buried until Sean Miller seems to have righted the ship. However, they haven't made a Final Four in the past 15 years.

Winning seasons but not making the tourney in 2010 and 2012 constitutes "nearly dead and buried?"

 

[Eric15]

We need 1 or 2 more NCs before we will be considered elite.

We are the Michigan football of college basketball. We are a national brand, we play in a huge stadium, and we are extraordinarily consistent, but we simply haven't sealed the deal enough times in the postseason. Their national title in 1997 is their only one in the past 60+ years.

 

[HOFCeluck]

1 Kentucky
2 North Carolina
3 Duke
4 Kansas
5 UCLA
6 Louisville
7 Indiana
8 Connecticut
9 Michigan State
10 Syracuse

11 Arizona

 

[HOFCeluck]

There is literally no way you can put us ahead of MSU except if you put a TON of weight behind Boeheims 4-1 record over Tom Izzo.

 

[jncuse]

What do pro player results have to do with it?

No doubt that Arizona was a great program under Lute Olsen, but so was Gtown under Big John and St John's under Louie. I don't see anyone making an argument to include them in the top 10.

Georgetown and St. John's never had the extended consistency that Arizona had in recent times.

Between 1988 and 2005, Arizona had 18 consecutive top 25 seasons. That is unmatched. Better yet, 17 of 18 seasons they finished top 15, and 12 of 18 seasons they finished top 10. Now they only made it to the sweet 16, 11 times over that period... so they had some first and second round difficulties.

They did have a four year dead period from the top 25 after that, but Sean Miller has got them back to the top 25, 5 of the last 7 years.

They are similar to UConn, in that they were largely irrlevant before 1987. UConn has less consistency but the 4 national titles puts them clearly ahead if you ignore how a program is positioned going forward.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

There is literally no way you can put us ahead of MSU except if you put a TON of weight behind Boeheims 4-1 record over Tom Izzo.

All-time wins: SU is 5th, MSU is 30th

I place a lot of weight in that category.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Winning seasons but not making the tourney in 2010 and 2012 constitutes "nearly dead and buried?"

Under that criteria, what's the difference between Arizona and a bunch of other schools like Gonzaga and Pitt?

 

[HOFCeluck]

All-time wins: SU is 5th, MSU is 30th

I place a lot of weight in that category.

Fair enough...but that top ten contains Temple, St John's , and Notre Dame.

I would have to imagine that most people measure greatness by what you do in the postseason.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Fair enough...but that top ten contains Temple, St John's , and Notre Dame.

I would have to imagine that most people measure greatness by what you do in the postseason.

Definitely a combination of both. Also the reason why those teams aren't in anybody's top 10.

 

[Rage4CUSE]

Definitely a combination of both. Also the reason why those teams aren't in anybody's top 10.

And that is what SU has. Consistency and actually pulling through in the post season. We only have 1 NC but we have 3 appearances there. And at least 4 appearances in the FF.

That's something programs like St. John's and Nova don't have

 

[orange79]

And that is what SU has. Consistency and actually pulling through in the post season. We only have 1 NC but we have 3 appearances there. And at least 4 appearances in the FF.

That's something programs like St. John's and Nova don't have

We actually have 5. JB has 4, Roy Danforth as 1 (the 74-75 team that was honored at halftime of the Ga Tech game).