All-Time College Basketball Program Rankings

#1      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
Random, semi-OT post on a very slow Friday for me! The idea of Illinois being a "top 25" or "top 15" program all-time comes up quite a bit. So, I had the idea to do what they do with the AP Poll (i.e., a first place vote is worth 25 points, a second place vote is worth 24 points, etc. all the way down to a #25 vote being worth one point) using multiple different all-time categories that were conveniently available in a super clean table in Wikipedia! So, copy/paste into Excel, assign a point value to a ranking and sum up the categories ... boom! Here are the categories I used:

1) All-Time Winning Percentage
2) National Championships
3) Championship Game Appearances
4) Final Fours
5) Elite Eights
6) Sweet Sixteens
7) NCAA Tournament Appearances
8) Total Weeks in the AP Poll
9) AP Top 25 Finishes
10) #1 Seeds

I would love to add other things like NCAA Tournament wins, top 4 seeds, 20-win seasons, etc., but I just didn't have those organized in a top 25 list anywhere to do quickly. Also, just in case I explained that poorly, here is an abbreviated example using Kansas.

1) #3 in All-Time Winning Percentage = 23 points
2) #5 in National Championships = 21 points
...
9) #4 in AP Top 25 Finishes = 22 points
10) #3 in #1 Seeds = 23 points
---> Total of 222 points across all 10 categories, which puts them at #4 among all programs.

Anyway, it's just a fun exercise, but here is the list it spat out!

1. Kentucky - 243
2. North Carolina - 241
3. Duke - 229
4. Kansas - 222
5. UCLA - 221
6. Indiana - 173
7. Louisville - 170
8. Syracuse - 166
9. Villanova - 165
10. UConn - 165
11. Michigan State - 162
12. Arizona - 159
13. Michigan - 148
14. Ohio State - 132
15. Illinois - 127
16. Cincinnati - 123
17. Purdue - 122
18. Georgetown - 112
19. Florida - 108
20. Arkansas - 100
21. Oklahoma State - 96
22. Houston - 96
23. Marquette - 94
24. Oklahoma - 91
25. UNLV - 89

Some notable programs people might be interested in that fell in the "receiving votes" category, lol...

29. Maryland - 74
30. Kansas State - 73
32. Wisconsin - 69
37. Iowa - 62
50. Missouri - 28

Anyway, just for fun! This method has super obvious flaws (e.g., not giving more weight to being among the best nationally in Final Four appearances vs. getting a #1 seed) and it's obviously grading strictly on a "curve" rather than rewarding the pure metrics ... but that list came out looking a lot like one I might make, with some obvious adjustments (e.g., moving 5-time-National-Champion-UConn way up).

If anyone wanted to take a stab at what they thought fair "points" values for each category would be, I could try to rework it to calculate the all-time list that way!

Go Illini!
 
#2      
Goillinikobd
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Random, semi-OT post on a very slow Friday for me! The idea of Illinois being a "top 25" or "top 15" program all-time comes up quite a bit. So, I had the idea to do what they do with the AP Poll (i.e., a first place vote is worth 25 points, a second place vote is worth 24 points, etc. all the way down to a #25 vote being worth one point) using multiple different all-time categories that were conveniently available in a super clean table in Wikipedia! So, copy/paste into Excel, assign a point value to a ranking and sum up the categories ... boom! Here are the categories I used:

1) All-Time Winning Percentage
2) National Championships
3) Championship Game Appearances
4) Final Fours
5) Elite Eights
6) Sweet Sixteens
7) NCAA Tournament Appearances
8) Total Weeks in the AP Poll
9) AP Top 25 Finishes
10) #1 Seeds

I would love to add other things like NCAA Tournament wins, top 4 seeds, 20-win seasons, etc., but I just didn't have those organized in a top 25 list anywhere to do quickly. Also, just in case I explained that poorly, here is an abbreviated example using Kansas.

1) #3 in All-Time Winning Percentage = 23 points
2) #5 in National Championships = 21 points
...
9) #4 in AP Top 25 Finishes = 22 points
10) #3 in #1 Seeds = 23 points
---> Total of 222 points across all 10 categories, which puts them at #4 among all programs.

Anyway, it's just a fun exercise, but here is the list it spat out!

1. Kentucky - 243
2. North Carolina - 241
3. Duke - 229
4. Kansas - 222
5. UCLA - 221
6. Indiana - 173
7. Louisville - 170
8. Syracuse - 166
9. Villanova - 165
10. UConn - 165
11. Michigan State - 162
12. Arizona - 159
13. Michigan - 148
14. Ohio State - 132
15. Illinois - 127
16. Cincinnati - 123
17. Purdue - 122
18. Georgetown - 112
19. Florida - 108
20. Arkansas - 100
21. Oklahoma State - 96
22. Houston - 96
23. Marquette - 94
24. Oklahoma - 91
25. UNLV - 89

Some notable programs people might be interested in that fell in the "receiving votes" category, lol...

29. Maryland - 74
30. Kansas State - 73
32. Wisconsin - 69
37. Iowa - 62
50. Missouri - 28

Anyway, just for fun! This method has super obvious flaws (e.g., not giving more weight to being among the best nationally in Final Four appearances vs. getting a #1 seed) and it's obviously grading strictly on a "curve" rather than rewarding the pure metrics ... but that list came out looking a lot like one I might make, with some obvious adjustments (e.g., moving 5-time-National-Champion-UConn way up).

If anyone wanted to take a stab at what they thought fair "points" values for each category would be, I could try to rework it to calculate the all-time list that way!

Go Illini!
Click to expand...
Nice, the two that surprised me at first glance are THE Ohio State University and Cincinnati, the two that bracket us.
 
#3      
Fighter of the Nightman
^ Yeah, Cincinnati really fell on hard times in recent eras, but they have a good history (including 2 National Championships!). OSU Basketball is just weird. It seems they are a totally "feast or famine" program, stringing together a bunch of great accomplishments and then just being a non-factor in between.
 
#4      
RollChief
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Random, semi-OT post on a very slow Friday for me! The idea of Illinois being a "top 25" or "top 15" program all-time comes up quite a bit. So, I had the idea to do what they do with the AP Poll (i.e., a first place vote is worth 25 points, a second place vote is worth 24 points, etc. all the way down to a #25 vote being worth one point) using multiple different all-time categories that were conveniently available in a super clean table in Wikipedia! So, copy/paste into Excel, assign a point value to a ranking and sum up the categories ... boom! Here are the categories I used:

1) All-Time Winning Percentage
2) National Championships
3) Championship Game Appearances
4) Final Fours
5) Elite Eights
6) Sweet Sixteens
7) NCAA Tournament Appearances
8) Total Weeks in the AP Poll
9) AP Top 25 Finishes
10) #1 Seeds

I would love to add other things like NCAA Tournament wins, top 4 seeds, 20-win seasons, etc., but I just didn't have those organized in a top 25 list anywhere to do quickly. Also, just in case I explained that poorly, here is an abbreviated example using Kansas.

1) #3 in All-Time Winning Percentage = 23 points
2) #5 in National Championships = 21 points
...
9) #4 in AP Top 25 Finishes = 22 points
10) #3 in #1 Seeds = 23 points
---> Total of 222 points across all 10 categories, which puts them at #4 among all programs.

Anyway, it's just a fun exercise, but here is the list it spat out!

1. Kentucky - 243
2. North Carolina - 241
3. Duke - 229
4. Kansas - 222
5. UCLA - 221
6. Indiana - 173
7. Louisville - 170
8. Syracuse - 166
9. Villanova - 165
10. UConn - 165
11. Michigan State - 162
12. Arizona - 159
13. Michigan - 148
14. Ohio State - 132
15. Illinois - 127
16. Cincinnati - 123
17. Purdue - 122
18. Georgetown - 112
19. Florida - 108
20. Arkansas - 100
21. Oklahoma State - 96
22. Houston - 96
23. Marquette - 94
24. Oklahoma - 91
25. UNLV - 89

Some notable programs people might be interested in that fell in the "receiving votes" category, lol...

29. Maryland - 74
30. Kansas State - 73
32. Wisconsin - 69
37. Iowa - 62
50. Missouri - 28

Anyway, just for fun! This method has super obvious flaws (e.g., not giving more weight to being among the best nationally in Final Four appearances vs. getting a #1 seed) and it's obviously grading strictly on a "curve" rather than rewarding the pure metrics ... but that list came out looking a lot like one I might make, with some obvious adjustments (e.g., moving 5-time-National-Champion-UConn way up).

If anyone wanted to take a stab at what they thought fair "points" values for each category would be, I could try to rework it to calculate the all-time list that way!

Go Illini!
Click to expand...
Brother you're going to be dangerous on here now that you've discovered ChatGPT
 
#6      
TX Illiniwek
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Random, semi-OT post on a very slow Friday for me! The idea of Illinois being a "top 25" or "top 15" program all-time comes up quite a bit. So, I had the idea to do what they do with the AP Poll (i.e., a first place vote is worth 25 points, a second place vote is worth 24 points, etc. all the way down to a #25 vote being worth one point) using multiple different all-time categories that were conveniently available in a super clean table in Wikipedia! So, copy/paste into Excel, assign a point value to a ranking and sum up the categories ... boom! Here are the categories I used:

1) All-Time Winning Percentage
2) National Championships
3) Championship Game Appearances
4) Final Fours
5) Elite Eights
6) Sweet Sixteens
7) NCAA Tournament Appearances
8) Total Weeks in the AP Poll
9) AP Top 25 Finishes
10) #1 Seeds

I would love to add other things like NCAA Tournament wins, top 4 seeds, 20-win seasons, etc., but I just didn't have those organized in a top 25 list anywhere to do quickly. Also, just in case I explained that poorly, here is an abbreviated example using Kansas.

1) #3 in All-Time Winning Percentage = 23 points
2) #5 in National Championships = 21 points
...
9) #4 in AP Top 25 Finishes = 22 points
10) #3 in #1 Seeds = 23 points
---> Total of 222 points across all 10 categories, which puts them at #4 among all programs.

Anyway, it's just a fun exercise, but here is the list it spat out!

1. Kentucky - 243
2. North Carolina - 241
3. Duke - 229
4. Kansas - 222
5. UCLA - 221
6. Indiana - 173
7. Louisville - 170
8. Syracuse - 166
9. Villanova - 165
10. UConn - 165
11. Michigan State - 162
12. Arizona - 159
13. Michigan - 148
14. Ohio State - 132
15. Illinois - 127
16. Cincinnati - 123
17. Purdue - 122
18. Georgetown - 112
19. Florida - 108
20. Arkansas - 100
21. Oklahoma State - 96
22. Houston - 96
23. Marquette - 94
24. Oklahoma - 91
25. UNLV - 89

Some notable programs people might be interested in that fell in the "receiving votes" category, lol...

29. Maryland - 74
30. Kansas State - 73
32. Wisconsin - 69
37. Iowa - 62
50. Missouri - 28

Anyway, just for fun! This method has super obvious flaws (e.g., not giving more weight to being among the best nationally in Final Four appearances vs. getting a #1 seed) and it's obviously grading strictly on a "curve" rather than rewarding the pure metrics ... but that list came out looking a lot like one I might make, with some obvious adjustments (e.g., moving 5-time-National-Champion-UConn way up).

If anyone wanted to take a stab at what they thought fair "points" values for each category would be, I could try to rework it to calculate the all-time list that way!

Go Illini!
Click to expand...
This is great...thanks for putting it together. I've heard Illinois called "the best program that has never won a National Title." This supports that claim...everyone ahead of us has won a Natty. Ohio State's was back in 1960, but they have one.
 
#8      
Fighter of the Nightman
TX Illiniwek said:
This is great...thanks for putting it together. I've heard Illinois called "the best program that has never won a National Title." This supports that claim...everyone ahead of us has won a Natty. Ohio State's was back in 1960, but they have one.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it is pretty interesting if you just took that overall top 25 from above and kept the rankings but then displayed how many National Championships each team has.

1. Kentucky - 8
2. North Carolina - 6
3. Duke - 5
4. Kansas - 4
5. UCLA - 11
6. Indiana - 5
7. Louisville - 3
8. Syracuse - 1
9. Villanova - 3
10. UConn - 5
11. Michigan State - 2
12. Arizona - 1
13. Michigan - 2
14. Ohio State - 1
15. Illinois - 0
16. Cincinnati - 2
17. Purdue - 0
18. Georgetown - 1
19. Florida - 3
20. Arkansas - 1
21. Oklahoma State - 2
22. Houston - 0
23. Marquette - 1
24. Oklahoma - 0
25. UNLV - 1

So it sort of shows how comparatively poorly programs like UCLA, UConn and Florida rank in other categories, whereas programs like Syracuse, Arizona, Illinois, Purdue, etc. are sort of the opposite.
 
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