Top 10 best college basketball teams of all time Ft. UCLA Bruins, Indiana Hoosiers and more
Which criteria are used to rank the best college basketball teams of all time? Winning pedigree or consistency over the years?
Some fans consider the number of greats produced by various programs or the sheer number of wins over time. We attempt to coalesce all of these factors into a system ranking the ten best college basketball teams of all time.
#10. UConn Huskies
The reigning national champions might climb higher on this list with time as coach Dan Hurley's project looks promising. They have won three titles in the past 12 years and the Huskies are a program on the rise.
UConn didn't have much of a winning pedigree before coach Jim Calhoun which mostly accounts for their placement on this list of best college basketball teams of all time.
#9. Villanova Wildcats
Although the Wildcats have won three national championships, two of them have come in the last seven years under coach Jay Wright with their first win coming in 1985.
Their 1985 win still holds a special record. They're the first eighth seed to have won the national championship in history and still the lowest seed to have achieved that feat.
They also have 13 Big East regular season titles to go with their three national championships.
#8. Cincinnati Bearcats
The Bearcats have two national championships in their history and have produced 39 top-60 NBA draft picks in their history.
They were one basket away from a three-peat after winning the 1961 and 1962 national championships under Ed Jucker. They beat the dominant Ohio Buckeyes in consecutive title games to win their only titles.
#7. Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinals were the No. 1 archrivals to the Indiana Hoosiers in the 1980s during their period of dominance and they stole a few wins from Bob Knight's legendary team under Denny Crum.
The Cardinals have won the national championship twice in their history and merit their place among the best college basketball teams of all time.
#6. Indiana Hoosiers
The Hoosiers under coach Bob Knight were the dominant power after the vacuum left by John Wooden's UCLA in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They have five title wins in their storied history.
#5. Kansas Jayhawks
The Jayhawks have 9 national title game appearances in their history but a measly conversion of four title wins which both highlights their continued pedigree but also counts against them.
They have produced some notable NBA players with the latest being Christian Braun of the Denver Nuggets who went on to win an NBA title immediately after leaving.
#4. Duke Blue Devils
Duke has five national championships and was among the most feared teams under Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski winning two titles in a row in 1991 and 1992.
The Blue Devils won further titles in 2001, 2010 and 2015 to spread out their periods of success.
#3. North Carolina Tar Heels
The Tar Heels have a proud pedigree of winning national championships, accumulating six in their impressive history. They will always be known as the program that produced perhaps the greatest-ever NBA player.
Michael Jordan helped them to their second national title in 1982 and since then, they have been sporadically successful, adding four more.
#2. UCLA Bruins
John Wooden is considered the greatest college basketball coach of all time and it's mostly due to his 10 national championships won with UCLA. The dominant period ranged from 1964-1975.
The squeezed order of the Bruins' championships counts against them as they have only won one title since that period in 1995.
#1. Kentucky Wildcats tops the list of best college basketball teams
Kentucky has the second-most national championships won with eight, 3 short of UCLA's. Their titles are spread over a longer period of time with their first title coming in 1948 while their latest came in 2012.
They have won 2,320 games which is the most among all basketball programs. The Wildcats also hold the distinction of producing the most NBA players (102) accounting for their place at the top of the list of best college basketball teams ever.
All the teams on this list of best college basketball teams of all time have a few things in common but the most important is a winning pedigree and historical titles to back up their right to be ranked.