(12-27-2012 01:54 PM)CollegeCard Wrote: (12-26-2012 10:48 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote: (12-26-2012 10:31 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote: (12-26-2012 08:26 PM)Melky Cabrera Wrote: (12-26-2012 05:45 PM)CincyBro Wrote: I can agree with this.
Top 25 in the Last 25 Years or so:
1. Duke
2. Kentucky
3. North Carolina
4. Kansas
5. Connecticut
6. Florida
7. Michigan State
8. Arizona
9. UCLA
10. Arkansas
11. Michigan
12. Indiana
13. Louisville
14. Syracuse
15. UNLV
16. Georgetown
17. Maryland
18. Villanova
19. Ohio State
20. Oklahoma
21. Butler
22. Georgia Tech
23. Oklahoma State
24. Memphis
25. LSU
Nova, LSU Gtech and no UC....lol sure
Yeah, I stretched the 25 years a little for Nova and Georgetown because the original post I was reacting to said "25 years or so." So, since 1984 (29 years):
As an aside, if you are taking it back to 1984 then UofL has a title in your timeframe, and I see no rational way of having schools such as Arkansas and Michigan ahead of Louisville. At that point what advantage would those other schools have over UofL? None that I can see.
I saw Arkansas, Michigan, Indiana, and Louisville all pretty tightly bunched. I listed Arkansas and Michigan ahead of Louisville specifically becuas they established their bona fides during the 25 year time frame and Louisville after them because I had to stretch back beyond that to get to their best accomplishment.
Here's how those 3 schools compare when matched up side by side since 1984:
Louisville - 22 tournaments, 12 Sweet 16's, 6 Elite 8's, 3 FInal Fours, 1 NC
Arkansas - 18 tournaments, 6 Sweet 16's, 4 Elite 8's, 3 Final Fours, 1 NC
Michigan - 15 tournaments, 5 Sweet 16's, 4 Elite 8's, 3 Final Fours, 1 NC
You're absolutely right. When we look at the full 29 years, Louisville was easily the better program. When we look only at the 25 year time frame, all 3 programs lose 2 tournament appearances apiece, but Arkansas and Michigan lose nothing else. Louisville loses 2 Sweet 16's and 1 from each of the other categories, so their record now looks like this:
Louisville - 20 tournaments, 10 Sweet 16's, 5 Elite 8's, 2 Final Fours, 0 NC's
Significantly more tournament appearances and Sweet 16's and 1 more Elite 8, but one less FF and no championship. Louisville was the more consistent program, but the other 2 reached greater heights with the extra FF and NC. Both put together a lot of very good seasons if not as many as Louisville, so they weren't one year wonders a few times. Obviously my emphasis went in the direction of those who had reached the greater heights.
I admit that my priorities in the ranking of those 3 was fairly arbitrary, so I would have no argument with rearranging them. I saw them all as fairly close. Simply put, I thought that all 3 belonged somewhere in the 10-15 range in whatever order anyone wants to put them and clearly were not at the same level as the schools ahead of them.
Thanks for forcing me to rebook at them. You make a good point. If I were looking at them on a different day, I might have gone with a different order.