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.
 
#11      
Fighter of the Nightman
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...
Someone liked my post today, and the notification got me thinking about this again ... so sorry for the shameless bump! :ROFLMAO: However, I think this list (and again, I am not presenting this as some great methodology ... you could call the order coincidence for all I care!) really does organize itself into what I subconsciously saw as the all-time tier lists as a young fan ... so circa the mid-2000s.

1) BLUE BLOODS - 200+ Points
1. Kentucky - 243
2. North Carolina - 241
3. Duke - 229
4. Kansas - 222
5. UCLA - 221

UCLA is nearly 50 points above the next school on the list ... this seems like such a natural cutoff for the all-time "Blue Bloods" category to me. You can certainly make an argument that Indiana is a Blue Blood all-time, but then I think you open it up to Louisville (their combo seems a lot like ours and Purdue as far as all-time history ... see below), and you certainly have to start talking about UConn with all of its titles ... it's probably cleaner just to keep it at these five, IMO.

2) ELITE BUT NOT BLUE BLOODS - 170+ Points
6. Indiana - 173
7. Louisville - 170

To me as a kid, these programs were always in such a unique spot as being so uniquely close to Blue Bloods but decidedly below the top 5 when looking at the full picture. This has of course become a lot "murkier" over the last two decades with UConn and Villanova winning multiple titles and Michigan State making several Final Fours, but I still think this feels right. If I were being honest, I would have to slide at least UConn and Villanova into here, and almost certainly Michigan State, though.

3) NEARLY ELITE PROGRAMS - 100+ Points
----> 3A) 150+ Points
8. Syracuse - 166
9. Villanova - 165
10. UConn - 165
11. Michigan State - 162
12. Arizona - 159

----> 3B) 100+ Points
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

This is a broad category, but I think it works that way (again, almost certainly moving UConn and maybe Villanova up a tier). All of these programs have had elite stretches mixed with subpar stretches, and (with the exception of UConn) none of them has reached the "top of the mountain" for a sustained period of time ... yet. Their fans can all rightfully be extremely proud of their histories while still also being frustrated that they've never taken that next step. The main thing I would say gets a team into 3A rather than 3B is either (1) a bit better luck in March Madness (e.g., MSU over Illinois when our regular season stats are better than theirs all-time) or (2) an exceptional track record of sustained success over many decades (e.g., Arizona being above Florida despite Florida's two national titles and more Final Fours).

4) GOOD PROGRAMS - ... Let's Call it 89+ Points :ROFLMAO:
21. Oklahoma State - 96
22. Houston - 96
23. Marquette - 94
24. Oklahoma - 91
25. UNLV - 89

These programs all have something to be proud about, but they're also all missing way too much to slide into that next tier. Oklahoma State has two (rather ancient) national championships, but they've been pretty inconsistent. If we expanded beyond the teams that made my top 25, this would probably go down to about 60+ points? Anything below that gets into Illini Football territory, where even if you have an impressive history, it has to have mixed with a ton of crap to get that bad of consistency metrics. :ROFLMAO:
 
#12      
Calvin
The title of the thread is "all time", but I wonder what it would look like to have a generational decay factored in. So for example, every year in the past drops a percent down to a minimum of like 5%. Florida, for example, should look better due to their all time success being mostly recent, and I think that matches perceptions better as well. It's tough to come up with a really good metric since there have been different eras.
 
#13      
Fighter of the Nightman
Calvin said:
The title of the thread is "all time", but I wonder what it would look like to have a generational decay factored in. So for example, every year in the past drops a percent down to a minimum of like 5%. Florida, for example, should look better due to their all time success being mostly recent, and I think that matches perceptions better as well. It's tough to come up with a really good metric since there have been different eras.
Click to expand...
I have tinkered around with this idea in the past, as I do think it has value ... however, it is sort of a tricky thing to both (A) avoid TOTAL recency bias and (B) not treat some "National Championship" from the 1940s as materially more meaningful than a Final Four in 2026. I think that is why these lists tend to be better as an art rather than a science.

With that said, I think I would prefer a discount by "era" rather than a scale that makes every succeeding year inherently more valuable. For example, I think results achieved after the 3-pointer was introduced and the NCAA Tournament expanded to its current format are definitely more relevant to an all-time ranking than things that happened in the 1930s, but I also don't think a National Championship in 2026 should be magnitudes more valuable than a championship in 1986. I'm not sure what "weights" I would assign, but I would probably divide each team's "era" up something like this, with each newer era carrying more weight.

1) 1938 and Before ... Sorry to lump so much of hoops history into one category, as it sort of feels disrespectful to the coaches, athletes and fans that were apart of these years. However, you have to make the cutoff somewhere, and this is a good spot ... because things are about to change a lot.

2) 1939 to 1974 ... This is a long era where the beginning is very, very different from the end, but it was full of baby steps toward the modern game. The first NCAA Tournament was in 1939, the AP Poll was introduced shortly after in 1941. Fast forward to 1953, and the NCAA Tournament is nearly three times as large with 22 teams. Fast forward to the late 1960s, and you finally have many prominent programs (e.g., Kentucky) finally allowing Black players to participate. This can be thought of as the first "NCAA Tournament-focused era," but so much about our modern college hoops was just not there yet.

3) 1973 to 1984 ... I know this is a comparatively small era, but it seems unique as a bridge between #2 and #4. Freshmen were first allowed to play in 1973, and the NCAA Tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1975, making a HUGE stride toward its modern format (especially because this was the first year a Big Ten team did not have to win the conference to make it!). The seeding system was added shortly after in 1978. The Tournament further expanded to 40 teams in 1979, 48 teams in 1980 and 52 teams in 1983. At least IMO, this stretch of time had its own unique feel as a short-but-rapidly-changing era of college hoops.

4) 1985 to Present ... This is a pretty good cutoff for the "modern" era, IMO, as it is the year that the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams. Then the shot clock was added in 1986, and the 3-pointer was added in 1987. Sure, things have changed a ton in the last 40 years, but I think the 1989, 2005 and 2026 teams more or less achieved the same thing by reaching the Final Four, and thus those results shouldn't be super different when accounting for our "all-time success."

To put into some perspective, here is a comparison of Final Fours by era compared to some Big Ten programs in our all-time neighborhood.

Final Fours
Illinois
1)
2) 1949 - 1951 - 1952
3)
4) 1989 - 2005 - 2026

Michigan
1)
2) 1964 - 1965
3) 1976
4) 1989 - 2013 - 2018 - 2026

Purdue
1)
2) 1969
3) 1980
4) 2024

Ohio State
1)
2) 1939 - 1944 - 1945 - 1946 - 1960 - 1961 - 1962 - 1968
3)
4) 2007 - 2012

So part of the reason some might think of Illinois as higher in the all-time rankings than Ohio State despite them having 10 Final Fours to our 6 is that actually have more in what most would consider the "modern era" or whatever, and the 80% of OSU's Final Fours occurred before 1970.
 
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