National College Basketball Writers Rank the Teams

You may remember that yesterday, ESPN came out with their rankings of the all-time college basketball programs. They came from Jeff Sagarin's computer model and were interesting in their conclusions. Most importantly from our perspective, they had the Cats first, followed by the UCLA Wizards of Westwood. This led to much internet debate and conversation as to the methodology and selections: ESPN Kentucky UCLA Kansas North Carolina Indiana Illinois Duke One early critic was Pat Forde of ESPN.comwho wrote a column in which he ranked them thusly: UCLA UNC Kentucky Indiana Kansas Duke Louisville Reading that list, I decided we needed more voices. Sagarin's computer-based model left a bit to be desired for me and Forde's piece was probably written by Tom Jurich, so I couldnt let that stand either. So I contacted all of the major college basketball voices on the national landscape (or at least the ones whose phone number I had) and asked for their conclusions. All non-ESPN folks returned my inquiry (the Worldwide Leader voices were mute). Here were their thoughts: Jeff Goodman --- Foxsports.com UCLA Kentucky UNC Indiana Kansas Duke Louisville Gregg Doyel --- CBSSportsline.com UCLA UNC Kentucky Kansas Duke Indiana Louisville Mike Decourcy --- Sporting News Kentucky UCLA UNC Indiana Kansas Duke Louisville Ohio State Greg Anthony --- CBS Sports Announcer: UCLA Kentucky UNC Indiana Kansas Duke Louisville Gary Parrish --- CBS Sportsline.com UCLA UNC Kentucky Duke Kansas Indiana Louisville Parrish then went on to justify his picks: I think we can all agree on the top six, and on the top three in some order. If you want to go strictly by the numbers, that's easy to do. But the numbers have Temple ranked sixth in wins and Penn ranked ninth, and I don't think anybody would have Temple or Penn anywhere close to the top 10 of all-time basketball programs, not even those stupid Sagarin rankings. So I'm more interested in using my own brain. And I put more emphasis on the modern era than I do stuff that happened before my father was born. With that, I'll tell you that I'd rank UCLA No. 1 based on its NCAA titles under John Wooden and the fact that it has been nationally relevant lately, too. The Bruins won the 1995 NCAA tournament; they've been to three of the past four Final Fours. So I'll put UCLA at the top, then put -- I'm bracing for the complaints -- North Carolina at No. 2. Simply put, UNC is the best program in the country now, and it's been that way for a while. The Tar Heels aren't far behind UK in all-time wins, and they've been consistently elite throughout the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s (otherwise known as the modern era). Again, I don't like Sagarin's overall rankings, but his decade-to-decade rankings aren't terrible. If you look at them, you'll find that the Tar Heels are the only team to rank among the top three in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. They won titles in 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009. In other words, they've won two titles since Kentucky last won one, been to three Final Fours since Kentucky last made one. So that's my rationale. (PS -- Make sure UK fans know I'll make up for this tomorrow, when I announce the CBSSports.com Preseason National Player of the Year.) So there you have it...the voices of the college basketball masses have spoken Collecting all seven lists, we see this progression: UCLA Kentucky UNC Indiana Kansas Duke Louisville There you go. A couple of interesting things to me...first, no writer picked the Heels as the #1 overall program, a surprising decision to me since I actually think the debate should be between UNC and UK. Second, there are definitely tiers to this analysis. UK, UNC and UCLA are the distinct top three...then IU is generally considered #4, just ahead of Kansas and Duke, who battle it out for fifth. Louisville's is everyone's #7. It goes to show just how much consensus exists in the sport and what truly are the best of the best. Thanks to all who participated and gave me their picks. You guys are great.