RebKell's Junkie Boards

[fancy_daniel]

Okay, so I did an extraordinarily non-scientific top-10 of WCBB for this last decade, 1998-2007. I figured since ESPN was doing their own, then Rebkellian can manage and discuss this themselves as well (not to mention that it gives us something to talk about).

I only really looked at the results of the last 10 NCAA tourneys and looked at the teams performance (I didn't want to work yesterday) and assigned values from the Sweet Sixteen to the Championship. I weighed the championship very heavily, however, some teams run ahead of others simply because of their consistency over the course of the decade. Hence, a Duke would be ahead of Purdue because while Purdue won a championship in that span, Duke has been the overall more consistent team with more Elite Eight, Final Four, etc., appearances.

Here is my wholy unscientific and subjective (althought not too subjective -- it is after all based on something) list of top 10 teams of the last decade.

1. Connecticut
2. Tennessee
3. Duke
4. Purdue
5. LSU
6. Notre Dame
7. Rutgers
T7. Baylor
8. North Carolina
9. Maryland
10. La. Tech
Honrable Mention (in order of NCAA tourney performance): Georgia, Oklahoma, Penn State, Texas Tech, Stanford, Michigan State, NC State, Vanderbilt

[Stephen Shirley]

Good looking list. The one thing that jumps out: LaTech

My gosh they've fallen off the face of the earth.

[bballfan2005]

[bullsky]

Baylor? Really?

_________________
"Don't do something until you get it right, do it until you can't do it wrong."
- Geno Auriemma

[fancy_daniel]

[bballfan2005]

[ucbart]

[bballfan2005]

[ucbart]

[bballfan2005]

[beknighted]

I'd be interested in knowing the weighting, but I'd be inclined to give a school a lot of credit for a national championship, and certainly significantly more than for making the Final Four.

Part of it depends on your goals in creating the list. If you're looking for the most consistently good programs, then you'd tend to give less weight to getting further. If you're looking for the programs that produce the best teams, then you'd want to give more weight to better results.

My two cents are that 1 and 2 are obvious, and 3 isn't far behind in terms of obviousness. After that, it gets harder. I've personally always thought that Bayor and Carolina underachieved on average, but I'm not sure that means they don't belong on the list. Maryland's results are mostly in the last three years, which makes it a little trickier.

[fancy_daniel]

Well, the whole point of this thread is to be dissected. I expect everyone to definitely give their opinion.

I did have the championship weighed much lower but then I noticed that some teams like Uconn would fall behind Tennessee, because despite all the championships, Tenn. has been more consistent in getting to the final four.

Strangely enough, of the list I made, only the top-three teams have made at least the sweet sixteen in all ten years.

Some teams move up because they started the decade strongly and fell off (La. Tech) or some team's accomplishments have come more recently (Maryland).

[BUfan]

How in the world would someone think Baylor has underachieved? From no where seven years ago to a national championship and several NCAA appearances including a couple sweet 16's.

[Jerrybear]

the list looks about right to me, with #1 and 2 being no-brainers and more or less interchangeable. i might put the Vols ahead of the Huskies, or maybe even have them tied for first.

unfortunately, if we were to do a bottom ten, my beloved Michigan Wolverines would more than likely be part of it.

Oh well, at least the Michigan softball team would be in the top ten!!!

[fancy_daniel]

[fancy_daniel]

Okay, just to dispel some of the critics, I went back and took into account conference and conf. tourney championships and this is what I got:

1. Connecticut
2. Tennessee
3. Duke
4. Purdue
5. La. Tech
T6. UNC
T6. LSU
8. Old Dominion
T10. Rutgers
T10. Notre Dame

HM: Baylor, Oklahoma, Maryland, Stanford, Georgia

That moves La. Tech way up and adds Old Dominion into the mix as they tended to dominate their conferences.

I'm still waiting for the disagreements.

[barryi22]

[CamrnCrz1974]

In the last ten years, UConn is 4-0 against Tennessee in the Final Four, including 3-0 in championship games.

[beknighted]

[beknighted]

[fancy_daniel]

[CamrnCrz1974]

If you are considering conference titles, then you have to consider UCSB, for example.

Conference titles are great, but it depends on the conference...and to be honest, there is no greater equalizer than postseason performance (at least in theory).

[fancy_daniel]

[Stephen Shirley]

Lots of people have "complained" about the rankings. But does anyone offer a list significantly different?

I might flip-flop LSU and Purdue, but that's probably just my anti-Boilermaker bias.

I think it is a great list. Like others, I think the 10 (and next could be broken into tiers.

Top: UConn and UT are head and shoulders above the rest.

Consistent: Duke, Purdue and LSU are models of consistency, even without many championships

Inconsistent: ND, Rutgers, Baylor and UNC have years of great success interspersed with complete washouts.

Streaky: Maryland and LaTech bookend the 10 year span. LaTech began the timeframe with great success before disappearing while Maryland reemerged on the scene after having been missing for a time.

[Koopster]