The 25 Most Successful College Basketball Teams Since 2000

jayhawk 007

The 25 Most Successful College Basketball Teams Since 2000, Scored By NCAA Tournament Bracket Rules - written in 2013

Matt Lombardi

UCLA – 36 Points

Despite the Bruins’ recent struggles (which led to the firing of Ben Howland), the mid-2000s saw great success. UCLA reached three straight Final Fours, even reaching the title game once (losing to Florida). A few Sweet 16 appearances early in the 21st century round out the majority of the scoring for the Bruins, as the school has only produced two NCAA Tournament victories since its Final Four streak ended. UCLA is the only team in the top ten without a National Championship.

Syracuse – 38 Points

Despite a four-year period sans scoring (2005-2008), Syracuse finds itself checking in at No. 9. The 2003 National Championship definitely helped the Orange’s cause, as did the 2013 Final Four run. The Cuse has reached the Sweet 16 in seven of the 14 tournaments, but has only reached the Final Four on those two occurences. Four of those seven Sweet 16 appearances have come in the last five years, however.

Louisville – 42 Points

Louisville has registered more than half of its points (24) in the last two seasons – that’s what a Final Four run followed up by a National Championship will do. The Cardinals have produced a total of three Final Four appearances, the other coming back in 2005. The school has reached the Elite Eight in five of the past nine years.

Kentucky – 44 Points

Kentucky, like Syracuse, had a down period in the mid-2000s that cost it from being higher on the list. The school has produced two Final Four appearances, and similar to Louisville, they were in back-to-back seasons (2011 & 2012). Also, like the Cardinals, the Wildcats won the title in their second trip, knocking off Kansas in the title game. UK was a consistently mediocre tournament participant until Coach Cal arrived.

Connecticut – 52 Points

Yes, UConn gets a little screwed here considering it won the 1999 NCAA title, but hey, rules are rules. Still, the Huskies have won the tournament twice since, in both 2004 and 2011. UConn is sixth on the list despite not registering any NCAA victories in six of the 14 seasons this century. The school reached the Final Four on three occasions; the two mentioned above as well as 2009, when it lost to Michigan State in the national semifinal. The 25 Most Successful College Basketball Teams Since 2000, Scored By NCAA Tournament Bracket Rules

Matt Lombardi

Florida (tie) – 59 Points

We all remember the dominance of both the 2006 and 2007 teams that won their respective NCAA titles, but it’s also worth noting that the Gators reached the championship game in 2000, falling to Michigan State. Florida has also made three straight Elite Eight appearances, meaning that the Gators have won at least three games in the NCAA Tournament in six out of the past 14 years. Five seasons without an NCAA win cost Florida a chance at checking in even higher.

Duke (tie) – 59 Points

Like Florida, Duke has won two national championships in the 21st century – in 2001 and 2010. The Blue Devils have surprisingly only reached the Final Four one other year, 2004, when they were ousted by UConn in one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA Tournament history. Duke has reached the Sweet 16 in 11 seasons, but has advanced just four times to the Elite Eight. The Blue Devils are consistent, however, winning at least one NCAA game in 12 of the 14 years.

Michigan State – 63 Points

Tom Izzo is always mentioned as a great “March coach”, and the statistics completely back it up. Michigan State has reached the Final Four five times this century, winning it all in 2000 and finishing as the runner-up in 2009. Nine Sweet 16 trips in 14 years is another amazing accomplishment, as is the fact that the Spartans have never gone longer than five years in between Final Four appearances. For that theory to hold true, 2014 will need to be a big year in East Lansing.

North Carolina – 64 Points

Roy Williams returned the Tar Heels as an elite college basketball program in 2004 after leaving Kansas. He’s since won two national championships (2005 & 2009) at the school, along with notching another Final Four appearance (2008) and three more Elite Eight showings. Throw in the miracle Final Four run in 2000 under Bill Guthridge and you’ve got yourself a scoring machine (for our purposes, at least). But the real irony? It’s the school Williams left that checks in at No. 1.

Kansas – 68 Points

I’ll admit, I was even surprised. UNC, Duke, Florida and UConn have all won more championships this century than Kansas, so how could the Jayhawks come out on top? Consistency. Kansas has reached four Final Fours, winning the 2008 national title and finishing as the runner up in both 2003 and 2012. The Jayhawks also have three more Elite Eight appearances, making it seven years in which they’ve won at least three games. Like Duke, there are only two years (2005 & 2006) in which they didn’t win an NCAA Tournament game. When all the numbers were tallied, it was clear that Kansas is the team that has performed (statistically) the best in NCAA games since 2000. Rock Chalk.

DCHawker

@jayhawk-007 Interesting, but if this was written 2013 and hasn’t been updated, as appears to be case, then the results would certainly be different with '14 and '15 results included. Indeed, almost all on this list (except Florida, Syracuse and UCLA) would have picked up substantial additional points relatively to KU - esp. UConn with title last year, and UK with runner-up last year and at least an E8 this year, and MSU, with at least E8 the past two years. Not sure how the scoring works, but it seems possible that 5 schools would pass KU with the last two years added?

Lulufulu

@jayhawk-007 Yeah, thats cool but Im guessing the results would be much different if done again this year.

Stats, numbers, equations, they are all supposed to be flawless in their logic and yet they can be skewed and altered to say nearly anything, any way. So I dont really hold much stock in all that stuff.

What I do is the facts, and those are as follows.

Kansas University Mens Basketball total wins 2150 Final Fours 14 Elite Eights 21 Tournament Record 96-42 Championship Seasons 1952, 1988, 2008 ( Helms champs '22 '23 ) Tournament Appearances 43