AP ranks all-time top 100 basketball teams based on weekly polls
That just makes me like the ranking even more.
I'd love to see an IU homer compile such a list. We probably would barely sniff the top 40. By their logic, if you have won a national title, you automatically finish ahead of any program that has not won one regardless of anything else (FF appearances, Elite Eights, Sweet Sixteens, Tourney appearances, conference championships, etc). On an IU homer's list, programs such as Holy Cross, San Francisco, and Loyola (IL) would be ranked ahead of us lol.
But then he might pick UK.
lol good point
Yes. They would also be in the top 5 regardless of where their program has been for the last 30 years. In their eyes they are the same elite program from the 70s. Everyone else is judged on their recent success but they judge themselves based on their past.
Good rivalries are part of what makes sports fun. Put two historically rich basketball states next to each other like Illinois and Indiana and you have the makings of one of the best. For fans of either program to deny the stature of the other is just being petty. We know the success and legacy of the Hoosiers. It may pain them to admit it, but the Illini also have a lengthy and rich history. It is the recent success part that the Illini need to get to work on. And Indiana has poached more top talent from Illini over the years than we have from them. It's also time to get cracking on that disparity.
You could argue that titles before 1975 shouldn't count. It was really a completely different tournament then, with only one school per conference, no seeding, and teams lumped together geographically. It wasn't evenly widely regarded as the top post-season tournament until he mid-50s.
I mean, I don't want to dump on the UCLA dynasty over much. They could only play the teams that were put in front of them, of course, but they did get essentially a free pass to the Elite 8, if not the FF, every year, while teams farther east had to run through a gauntlet. If they'd have had to play under the current format, it would have been far more likely that there'd have been a Sweet 16 upset scattered here or there during their run.