bballnut90
LV Adherent. Topic Crafter
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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
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