Ranking the title teams from the 10s

[bballnut90]

Here would be my rankings:

1. 2014 UCONN, 40-0. Arguably the best starting 5 this past decade has seen with Dolson, Stewart, KML, Harley and Jefferson. The only somewhat challenging game was a cold shooting win at Baylor mid season. The team cruised in the NCAAs and blew out undefeated Notre Dame (who was without Achonwa) for a title.

2. 2016 UCONN, 38-0. The senior class of Tuck, Jefferson and Stewart finished with another title. Great crop of underclassmen too, even though none of them had come into their own yet. In terms of All-American honors, this squad had a whopping 14 players selected to one of the AP teams over the course of their careers.

3. 2012 Baylor, 40-0. First team to ever go 40-0, they dominated competition all season long, finishing with a blowout of Notre Dame for Griner's first (and only) championship. Really strong roster with Griner, Sims and a slew of reliable and very good support players including Hayden, Williams, Pope and Madden.

4. 2010 UCONN, 39-0. Back to back titles again for the Huskies led by Tina Charles and Maya Moore who split POY awards. Only significant challenge was Stanford in the title game, but the Huskies left little doubt who was the top team in 2010.

5. 2015 UCONN, 38-1. The fluke loss to Stanford is the lone reason why this squad isn't higher. They performed at an extremely high level and finished with their third straight title against a very good Notre Dame team who put up a good fight.

6. 2019 Baylor, 37-1. Had a bad loss to Stanford early in the year but didn't look back after that. Not as complete as the teams listed above, but their Twin Tower offense was a thing of beauty and they played excellent team basketball. Survived 2 close and very competitive games in the national semifinals.

7. 2013 UCONN, 35-4. Lost 3 winnable games vs. Notre Dame and also lost to the juggarnaut that was 2013 Baylor, but UCONN by the end of the season was performing at a ridiculously high level with Stewart in the mix. They dominated everyone in the NCAAs en route to Geno's 8th title.

8. 2018 Notre Dame, 35-3. Notre Dame had an up and down season by it's standards, getting absolutely slaughtered by Louisville and going down by 20+ to a pretty bad Tennessee team...but Muffet's squad regrouped and pulled off a heck of a run in the NCAAs that culminated in her 2nd title. The UCONN Final Four games was one of the best games in WCBB history and Arike's back to back buzzer beaters cemented her place in history. Really good team that knocked off two true goliaths to take the crown.

9. 2011 Texas A&M, 33-5. A title team that seemed to come out of nowhere, Texas A&M peaked at the right time and went on a huge tournament run to win Gary Blair's first championship. The team was built around a big physical forward and a slew of quick guards. They handily beat Baylor in the regionals after losing to them 3x earlier that year, then went on to stun arguably Tara's best team she's assembled, and then finished off another somewhat unexpected team in Notre Dame. Could swap places with SC for 10th, but I think A&M deserves the spot ahead for their brutal road to win it all.

10. 2017 South Carolina, 33-4. Very good squad that caught its stride at the right time entering the post season. A'ja Wilson went to work once Coates was out with injury and the team beat three solid squads to finish the year with Dawn's first title. Not trying to throw shade at the program by ranking them 10th, but their path to the title was significantly easier than Notre Dame's or A&M's, and they also had their ups and downs throughout the season. Both 2011 A&M and 2018 ND beat some true goliath's to win the title, where SC's path to the end was notably easier. Very good team though and I don't think there's a ton of differentiation between this team and 2011 A&M.


Other non-title teams that could be ranked pretty highly had they pulled off a title:
2011, 2017 and 2018 UCONN
2010 and 2011 Stanford
2011 and 2013 Baylor
2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019 Notre Dame (ironically I think all of these teams would rank higher than their 2018 squad)
2016 South Carolina
2018 Misssissippi State

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I can more or less get behind this list but I think 2016 Uconn was better than 2014. I could also see switching SC and A&M at 9 and 10. The 2011 tournament was one that I missed due to relocation and remember being absolutely shocked ND and A&M knocked off UConn and Stanford.

 

[bballnut90]

I can more or less get behind this list but I think 2016 Uconn was better than 2014. I could also see switching SC and A&M at 9 and 10. The 2011 tournament was one that I missed due to relocation and remember being absolutely shocked ND and A&M knocked off UConn and Stanford.

A&M also beat Baylor who many people thought was going to win it all that year, and ND beat Tennessee when Pat had a very very good 34-2 team. Those two knocked off all 4 #1 seeds which was pretty stunning, especially since ND had been irrelevant for the previous decade and A&M was always competitive in big games but lacked signature wins that year. Finally turned on the jets at the right moment.

2016 vs. 2014 UCONN could be a toss up, both very outstanding. I thought 2014 was stronger 1-5 than 2016 which is why I gave them the edge but it could go either way IMO.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I had forgotten ND beat UT. It was the last game where the public thought Summitt was healthy. That was the spring I changed jobs and moved from Greensboro NC to Atlanta and I had no TV or internet service at my new place so I missed the entire FF. One of my then coworkers grew up in Knoxville and was a big LVs fan. I remember her telling me that summer that she was curious if something was wrong with Pat because she just didn't seem to have any fire in her. Of course a few months later the diagnosis was made public and some of her words made sense.

 

[bballnut90]

I had forgotten ND beat UT. It was the last game where the public thought Summitt was healthy. That was the spring I changed jobs and moved from Greensboro NC to Atlanta and I had no TV or internet service at my new place so I missed the entire FF. One of my then coworkers grew up in Knoxville and was a big LVs fan. I remember her telling me that summer that she was curious if something was wrong with Pat because she just didn't seem to have any fire in her. Of course a few months later the diagnosis was made public and some of her words made sense.

Fun fact--that ND team was the only squad to beat both Connecticut and Tennessee in the same NCAAs.

 

[DefenseBB]

Fun fact--that ND team was the only squad to beat both Connecticut and Tennessee in the same NCAAs.

On this board, is that really a “Fun fact”? Come on bballnut know your audience!

 

[DallasBUFan]

I could almost tie Baylor 40-0 with No.2 team from UConn....other than that I would have written my list the same way.

 

[Plebe]

I could almost tie Baylor 40-0 with No.2 team from UConn....other than that I would have written my list the same way.

No way. The 2012 Baylor team had multiple games where they won by less than 10 points. Not as consistently dominant as the two UConn teams listed.

 

[DallasBUFan]

No way. The 2012 Baylor team had multiple games where they won by less than 10 points. Not as consistently dominant as the two UConn teams listed.

Well it's my opinion and I am entitled to it. Still think so!

Baylor beat 18 schools that were either ranked or were receiving votes. UConn's schedule that year was not as impressive in comparison to Baylors. Beating USF, SMU twice etc in conference is not as impressive. Most B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference.
Baylor beat UConn #2, ND twice top 4 rank both times , Tenn twice top 10 rank both times, Stanford top 10, Georgia tech who was ranked, UCLA top 25.

In Conference Half the conference was ranked both times they played them. Sorry just don't see how you can even use the scores as part of it when half the teams UConn played were cupcakes.

 

[Plebe]

Well it's my opinion and I am entitled to it. Still think so!

Baylor beat 18 schools that were either ranked or were receiving votes. UConn's schedule that year was not as impressive in comparison to Baylors. Beating USF, SMU twice etc in conference is not as impressive. Most B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference.
Baylor beat UConn #2, ND twice top 4 rank both times , Tenn twice top 10 rank both times, Stanford top 10, Georgia tech who was ranked, UCLA top 25.

In Conference Half the conference was ranked both times they played them. Sorry just don't see how you can even use the scores as part of it when half the teams UConn played were cupcakes.

Well, you're certainly entitled to your incorrect opinion.

Baylor 2011-12 played 13 games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of game.
(I liked how you tried to stack the argument with the "receiving votes", a totally meaningless stat for this analysis.)

UConn 2015-16 played 13 games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of game.

Baylor 2011-12 played 6 games against top 10 teams.
UConn 2015-16 played 6 games against top 10 teams.

 

[Bayloralum]

Well, you're certainly entitled to your incorrect opinion.

Baylor 2011-12 played 12 games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of game.
(I liked how you tried to stack the argument with the "receiving votes", a totally meaningless stat for this analysis.)

UConn 2015-16 played 13 games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the time of game.

Lol so because he’s a Baylor fan and think Baylor was the better team to your UConn, his opinion is wrong? Lol The same can be said of your opinion!

 

[Plebe]

Lol so because he’s a Baylor fan and think Baylor was the better team to your UConn, his opinion is wrong? Lol The same can be said of your opinion!

No, not because he's a Baylor fan. But yes, his reasoning was faulty, claiming that UConn 2016 hadn't faced as much high-level competition as Baylor 2012. If you're gonna claim the earth is flat and then use faulty reasoning to back it up, the claim is still wrong.

Baylor 2012 and UConn 2016 played the same number of top 25 opponents (13) and the same number of top 10 opponents (6).

Avg. margin of victory vs. top 25
Baylor 2011-12: 16.8 points
UConn 2015-16: 25.2 points

Avg. margin of victory vs. top 10
Baylor 2011-12: 12.8 points
UConn 2015-16: 21.0 points

 

[mbr33ct]

Well it's my opinion and I am entitled to it. Still think so!

Baylor beat 18 schools that were either ranked or were receiving votes. UConn's schedule that year was not as impressive in comparison to Baylors. Beating USF, SMU twice etc in conference is not as impressive. Most B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference.
Baylor beat UConn #2, ND twice top 4 rank both times , Tenn twice top 10 rank both times, Stanford top 10, Georgia tech who was ranked, UCLA top 25.

In Conference Half the conference was ranked both times they played them. Sorry just don't see how you can even use the scores as part of it when half the teams UConn played were cupcakes.

Excuse me for interrupting this thread, are you talking of the 2011-12 year where Baylor went 40-0? Not sure what schedule/year you looked up for UConn. They did beat USF (but once) since both teams were still in the BigEast at that time. SMU came later when the AAC was formed. I agree the AAC as a conference is not as impressive...but I do disagree with your statement that most of the B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference, surely you're talking about the AAC here, but not the BigEast.

 

[DaBball]

Excuse me for interrupting this thread, are you talking of the 2011-12 year where Baylor went 40-0? Not sure what schedule/year you looked up for UConn. They did beat USF (but once) since both teams were still in the BigEast at that time. SMU came later when the AAC was formed. I agree the AAC as a conference is not as impressive...but I do disagree with your statement that most of the B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference, surely you're talking about the AAC here, but not the BigEast.

They were comparing Baylor 11-12 to UConn 15-16 I believe.

 

[Lorcan]

This is a fun exercise. I wonder if we ranked the Finalists and Final Four Teams, what it would look like.

 

[DallasBUFan]

Still think Baylor...

2011-12 Women's Basketball Schedule - Baylor

The official 2011-12 Women's Basketball schedule for the Baylor Bears

baylorbears.com

2015-16 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2015-16 Women's Basketball schedule for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

 

[Plebe]

Still think Baylor...

2011-12 Women's Basketball Schedule - Baylor

The official 2011-12 Women's Basketball schedule for the Baylor Bears

baylorbears.com

2015-16 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2015-16 Women's Basketball schedule for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

I repeat:

Baylor 2012 and UConn 2016 played the same number of top 25 opponents (13) and the same number of top 10 opponents (6).

Avg. margin of victory vs. top 25
Baylor 2011-12: 16.8 points
UConn 2015-16: 25.2 points

Avg. margin of victory vs. top 10
Baylor 2011-12: 12.8 points
UConn 2015-16: 21.0 points

 

[Alydar]

Excuse me for interrupting this thread, are you talking of the 2011-12 year where Baylor went 40-0? Not sure what schedule/year you looked up for UConn. They did beat USF (but once) since both teams were still in the BigEast at that time. SMU came later when the AAC was formed. I agree the AAC as a conference is not as impressive...but I do disagree with your statement that most of the B12 teams would have beaten anyone in that conference, surely you're talking about the AAC here, but not the BigEast.

And in UConn's last year in the BE there were 3 BE teams in the FF. How was the B12 a tougher conference that year?

 

[DallasBUFan]

Not talking about that year...