In the last decade (arbitrary, and makes us miss our 2004 title):
Titles
UConn: 2 (2011, 2014)
UNC: 2 (2005, 2009)
Florida: 2 (2006, 2007)
Louisville: 1 (2013)
Kentucky: 1 (2012)
Duke: 1 (2010)
Kansas: 1 (2008)
That's your top 7 right there, in some order, I'd suggest.
Looking deeper.
Final Fours
UConn: 3 (2009, 2011, 2014)
Florida: 3 (2006, 2007, 2014)
Kentucky: 3 (2011, 2012, 2014)
Louisville: 3 (2005, 2012, 2013)
Michigan State: 3 (2005, 2009, 2010)
UNC: 3 (2005, 2008, 2009)
UCLA: 3 (2006, 2007, 2008)
Kansas: 2 (2008, 2012)
Ohio State: 2 (2007, 2012)
Butler: 2 (2010, 2011)
Duke: 1 (2010)
Okay...of your teams that have one a title, one of these teams is not like the others...Duke falls to last among title winners. At least it seems so far. Michigan State, UCLA, Ohio State, and Butler all have multiple Final Fours in the last decade. With more titles and equal Final Fours, UNC, UConn, and Florida distinguish themselves from UK and Louisville...although, since our country values recency, I'd probably put UK above UNC since they've done more in the last 5 years. And I'd consider putting UK above Florida as well, since Florida's title's are now 7 years old.
But, what about E8s?
Florida: 6 (2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
UNC: 6 (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012)
Kentucky: 5 (2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014)
Louisville: 5 (2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013)
UConn: 4 (2006, 2009, 2011, 2014)
Michigan State: 4 (2005, 2009, 2010, 2014)
Kansas: 4 (2007, 2008, 2011, 2012)
Ohio State: 3 (2007, 2012, 2013)
UCLA: 3 (2006, 2007, 2008)
Duke: 2 (2010, 2013)
Butler: 2 (2010, 2011)
So, what does all this tell us? Any discussion of best team of the last decade can't take place without UConn, Florida, UK, UNC, and Louisville. Those are the Top 5. But there's a certain arbitrariness to it: if we expand the window 1 year, UConn has 3 to Florida and UK's 2. If we shrink the window 1 year, UNC falls out of that first tier of teams with multiple titles. It all depends on how far we want to go back.
Ultimately, taking recency and titles primarily into consideration, I go:
UConn
UK
Florida
Louisville
UNC
Kansas
Duke
Michigan State
Ohio State
And, probably pick a team not on this list (Arizona? Syracuse? Michigan?) to serve as the 10th team.
- Butler's lack of success beyond that 2-year window makes them not really worthy to be 10
- UCLA's absence from title contention for the last 6 years or so (since the Westbrook-Love team) means I can't really put them in there comfortably either.
- But, while we all expect great things from Arizona soon, they have to win something, or make the Final Four for the first time since 2001.
- Michigan could have made this list if they guarded the 3 point shooter or took out Louisville.
- Syracuse could have made this list were it not for injuries in 2010 or suspensions in 2012 (two years they may have had the best team).