The 25 best college basketball teams of the past 25 years | The Boneyard

The 25 best college basketball teams of the past 25 years

I hate to beat a dead horse, but ... well, here goes: If the '99 team is the best team of the last 25 years, how can the Duke team that lost to them in the final be the fifth biggest dud of the last 25 years? I fail to see the logic.
 
lonsharkin51 said:
I hate to beat a dead horse, but ... well, here goes: If the '99 team is the best team of the last 25 years, how can the Duke team that lost to them in the final be the fifth biggest dud of the last 25 years? I fail to see the logic.
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I guess it depends on what you consider a dud. Is losing in the title game against the best team of the past 25 years a bigger dud than starting the season ranked #1 and failing to make the tournament? If that Duke team - which is arguably K's best team ever - had lost in the first weekend, then that is a much bigger dud than losing in the title game.
 
Nothing like getting basic facts wrong.

"... only two losses. In one of those (a 59-42 defeat vs. Syracuse), Richard "Rip" Hamilton (21.5 PPG) -- Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four that season -- played while injured..."

He and Jake both sat out.
 
lonsharkin51 said:
I hate to beat a dead horse, but ... well, here goes: If the '99 team is the best team of the last 25 years, how can the Duke team that lost to them in the final be the fifth biggest dud of the last 25 years? I fail to see the logic.
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Medcalf has them as the #4 best team in the last 25 years. They're the only team in his top 10 that didn't win the National Championship. So I guess that's the thinking. If UConn lost that game then I bet he doesn't have them anywhere near #1.
 
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I guess it is fair not to include last year's 22-23 UConn team b/c of having UConn #1 and having UConn #6 and mostly b/c it wasn't the best 25 NCAA tournament teams/performances so last year's regular season factors in.
 
Dogdeacon said:
I guess it is fair not to include last year's 22-23 UConn team b/c of having UConn #1 and having UConn #6 and mostly b/c it wasn't the best 25 NCAA tournament teams/performances so last year's regular season factors in.
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Not winning conference or conference tournament and having 8 losses is going to keep that team off a lot of these lists, despite the dominant tournament.
 
I think if it wasn't for the January slump and the #4 seed in the tourney the '23 huskies would be in conversation for best modern NCAA team, where was the weakness with us when we were clicking?
 
SportsFan88 said:
I think if it wasn't for the January slump and the #4 seed in the tourney the '23 huskies would be in conversation for best modern NCAA team, where was the weakness with us when we were clicking?
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It's hard to get too worked up about these lists but I agree last year's team should have been on here, especially when he's got a 6 or 7 loss MSU team ranked pretty highly.
 
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lonsharkin51 said:
I hate to beat a dead horse, but ... well, here goes: If the '99 team is the best team of the last 25 years, how can the Duke team that lost to them in the final be the fifth biggest dud of the last 25 years? I fail to see the logic.
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meh . take it as a compliment . That one loss Duke team in 99 would be called the greatest team in College Hoops history if it wasnt for us.
 
auror said:
Not winning conference or conference tournament and having 8 losses is going to keep that team off a lot of these lists, despite the dominant tournament.
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"Were so lucky" Im going to ride that mantra all the way until title ten.
 
I don't get too worked up about these type of lists either, but it is nice to see UConn teams getting their credit that is overdue. That 1999 team was really good and they triple crowned the season winning the BE regular season, BE tournament, and the National Championship. I do think the UConn 2023 will go down as one of the better teams of all time and I see some teams on this list they are definitely better than, but I think Medcalf is looking at the seasons as well. The Villanova 2018 team is underrated IMO by a lot and should be a top 10 team.

The UConn 2023 did get screwed over with the BE officiating and I hate saying that as I very rarely talk about officiating. I am good at separating my UConn bias out of these kind of takes, but you don't have to believe me. The Marquette website agrees with this take, too.

www.anonymouseagle.com

2023-24 Big East Men’s Basketball Summer Check-In: Connecticut Huskies

Where do the reigning national champions go from here?
www.anonymouseagle.com www.anonymouseagle.com
 
Pleasantly surprised to see 99 and 04 ranked highly by a site that has tons of Cuse grads, expected less of ESPN, but got more than expected. Could 22-23 been ranked towards the end of the TOP 25? Sure, but that was a pretty serious slump, not so sure any of the top 25 teams have quite that long of a slump in their seasons. I think if 22-23 had, perhaps, 2 fewer losses in January, let's say SHall, Xavier, perhaps that last game vs Creighton.
 
Travelman32 said:
Pleasantly surprised to see 99 and 04 ranked highly by a site that has tons of Cuse grads, expected less of ESPN, but got more than expected. Could 22-23 been ranked towards the end of the TOP 25? Sure, but that was a pretty serious slump, not so sure any of the top 25 teams have quite that long of a slump in their seasons. I think if 22-23 had, perhaps, 2 fewer losses in January, let's say SHall, Xavier, perhaps that last game vs Creighton.
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...win 2 or 3 of those, easily top 25.
 
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gsmooth said:
The UConn 2023 did get screwed over with the BE officiating and I hate saying that as I very rarely talk about officiating. I am good at separating my UConn bias out of these kind of takes, but you don't have to believe me. The Marquette website agrees with this take, too.

www.anonymouseagle.com

2023-24 Big East Men’s Basketball Summer Check-In: Connecticut Huskies

Where do the reigning national champions go from here?
www.anonymouseagle.com www.anonymouseagle.com
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Great review. We did get screwed by the refs. And that speaks very poorly of the Big East as everyone knew what was going on. The league tolerated unprofessional behavior. Period. If refs don't want to be criticized, pick another profession. They acted like babies. How about this - Do your job and officiate the game fairly!

That said, when you win the NC, everything that happened in the regular season played a part. So wouldn't change a thing.
 
Palatine said:
Great review. We did get screwed by the refs. And that speaks very poorly of the Big East as everyone knew what was going on. The league tolerated unprofessional behavior. Period. If refs don't want to be criticized, pick another profession. They acted like babies. How about this - Do your job and officiate the game fairly!

That said, when you win the NC, everything that happened in the regular season played a part. So wouldn't change a thing.
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Hard not to think last years team not on there. How 'bout "top 25 March Madness teams" =#1
 
AllHusky said:
Hard not to think last years team not on there. How 'bout "top 25 March Madness teams" =#1
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That would be an interesting exercise because they are all undefeated. Criteria could be point margin, level of opponent, exceeding expectations, individual player awards and draft position...
 
All that counts is who was left standing in 5 of those 25 years
 
How does the 2011 team get overlooked?
Won every game outside the conference, including the Maui Classic (Wichita St, MSU, and total blow out of Kentucky), so does that mean their losses in the conference outweighed their dominance of the rest of the country?
 
Palatine said:
Great review. We did get screwed by the refs. And that speaks very poorly of the Big East as everyone knew what was going on. The league tolerated unprofessional behavior. Period. If refs don't want to be criticized, pick another profession. They acted like babies. How about this - Do your job and officiate the game fairly!

That said, when you win the NC, everything that happened in the regular season played a part. So wouldn't change a thing.
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Dan Hurley did not help the cause the first 3/4 of the games last year. He acted like the baby with his unprofessional behavior until someone got in his ear and told him to cut the crap (do your job and coach the players not the refs). His performance the last 1/4 of the year was a breath of fresh air. The attitude of the team in general changed at that point.
 
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Scrutiner said:
How does the 2011 team get overlooked?
Won every game outside the conference, including the Maui Classic (Wichita St, MSU, and total blow out of Kentucky), so does that mean their losses in the conference outweighed their dominance of the rest of the country?
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They went 9-9 in conference and finished in 9th place. They were excellent out of conference all season and it was a great 11 game run to end the season, but that team would never make a list like this.
 
Last year's team belongs on this list. The reality was that the midseason losses were an anomaly that was corrected. We were the best team before that and after, despite a very close loss to Marquette.

I think the 2003-04 team would beat the 1998-99 team, but that's really not what is being measured. I think it is greatness compared to the peers.
 
It's ridiculous the 2017-2018 Villanova team is ranked 15th on this list. They should be top 3, they steamrolled everyone in the tournament blowing out four top 15 teams. It's also arguably the most talented team.
 
gsmooth said:
I don't get too worked up about these type of lists either, but it is nice to see UConn teams getting their credit that is overdue. That 1999 team was really good and they triple crowned the season winning the BE regular season, BE tournament, and the National Championship. I do think the UConn 2023 will go down as one of the better teams of all time and I see some teams on this list they are definitely better than, but I think Medcalf is looking at the seasons as well. The Villanova 2018 team is underrated IMO by a lot and should be a top 10 team.

The UConn 2023 did get screwed over with the BE officiating and I hate saying that as I very rarely talk about officiating. I am good at separating my UConn bias out of these kind of takes, but you don't have to believe me. The Marquette website agrees with this take, too.

www.anonymouseagle.com

2023-24 Big East Men’s Basketball Summer Check-In: Connecticut Huskies

Where do the reigning national champions go from here?
www.anonymouseagle.com www.anonymouseagle.com
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Great write up but no mention of Samson Johnson. Hoping he comes out of nowhere to surprise a lot of people.
 
They were well beyond 25 years, but just wanted to mention Nevada Las-Vegas in 1990. Beat Duke in the final by 20 points and had three 30pt wins in the tournament.
 
AllHusky said:
Hard not to think last years team not on there. How 'bout "top 25 March Madness teams" =#1
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They would not be, nor would they deserve to be. But they would be Top 5, I'd expect.

In terms of just NCAAs it's hard to jump past that 2018 Nova team or 2009 UNC (though I wish we could have played them).
 
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