Ranking the BCS Programs (2000-2011)

Since Jan. 1 of 2000, I have tracked statistical data of all 73 BCS basketball programs. This goes in line with the discussion we've been having the last couple days about programs we'd have among the top 15 in the country. When ranking the teams, I use seven criteria, with every program receiving a ranking for each category (I have some tiebreakers in place).

The criteria are: (1) average RPI rating; (2) record vs. NCAA qualifiers; (3) NCAA Tournament appearances; (4) NCAA Tournament winning percrentage; (5) Final 4 appearances; (6) national runners-up; and (7) national championships.

The first three criteria are geared mostly toward regular-season performance, while the other four are strictly about NCAA Tournament performance. So going back to the start of the "2000s", here's how I'd rank the BCS programs based solely on on-court productivity.

January 1, 2000 through 2010-11 Season
1. Duke (20)
2. Kansas (21)
3. Michigan State (31)
4. Florida (39)
5. North Carolina (45)
6. Connecticut (48)
7. Kentucky (55)
8. Arizona (65)
9. Texas (75.5)
10. Wisconsin (76.5)
11. Syracuse (78.5)
12. UCLA (80)
13. Illinois (85)
14. Maryland (94)
15. Pitt (103.5)
16. Ohio State (113)
17. Oklahoma (119)
18. Villanova (129)
19. Louisville (129)
20. Oklahoma State (148)
21. Tennessee (167)
22. West Virginia (170)
23. Purdue (173)
24. Georgetown (181.5)
25. Stanford (183)
26. Marquette (184.5)
27. Indiana (202)
28. Missouri (205)
29. Cincinnati (211)
30. Georgia Tech (214.5)
31. Washington (220.5)
32. Notre Dame (226)
33. Wake Forest (231)
34. Boston College (234)
35. LSU (241)
36. USC (249.5)
37. Alabama (267.5)
38. Mississippi State (274)
39. Oregon (279.5)
40. Texas A&M (279.5)
41. Vanderbilt (280)
42. NC State (283.5)
43. Kansas State (289.5)
44. Cal (304)
45. Iowa State (323)
46. Miami-Florida (330)
47. Seton Hall (341.5)
48. Arkansas (347)
49. Texas Tech (345.5)
50. Ole Miss (356.5)
51. Auburn (361)
52. Baylor (366)
53. Washington State (366)
54. Florida State (368.5)
55. Georgia (373.5)
56. Clemson (383.5)
57. Michigan (392.5)
58. Arizona State (392.5)
59. Iowa (396.5)
60. Virginia (405.5)
61. St. John’s (408.5)
62. Minnesota (418)
63. Penn State (418.5)
64. Virginia Tech (428)
65. South Carolina (443)
66. Providence (443)
67. DePaul (445.5)
68. Colorado (469.5)
69. Nebraska (478)
70. Rutgers (494)
71. Northwestern (495)
72. South Florida (499)
73. Oregon State (501)

Tiebreaker
1. Most National Titles
2. Most National Runners-Up
3. Most Final 4 Appearances
4. Best Average RPI Rating

Program(s) on the Rise: Florida State, Michigan, Kentucky & West Virginia (all +7)
Program on the Decline: Iowa (-9)
Gophers from Previous Season: -7

Notes
Best for Each Criteria-- Average RPI (Duke 4.33), record vs. NCAA qualifiers (Duke 147-53, 73.5%), NCAA appearances (Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, Texas & Wisconsin with 12), NCAA Tournament winning percentage (North Carolina 29-7, 80.6%), Final 4 appearances (Michigan State with 5), national runners-up (Arizona, Florida, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan State, Ohio State & UCLA with 1), national championships (Connecticut, Duke, Florida & North Carolina with 2).

Worst for Each Criteria -- Average RPI (Oregon State 175.58), record vs. NCAA qualifiers (Oregon State 16-106, 13.1%), NCAA appearances (Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon State, Rutgers & South Florida with 0), NCAA Tournament winning percentage/winless with most games played (Minnesota 0-3), Final 4 appearances (48 teams with 0), national runners-up (64 teams with 0), national championships (65 teams with 0).

**The Gophers were 6-10 vs. NCAA qualifiers in 2010-11, which is actually a pretty good winning percentage (37.5%) vs. quality teams had they been able to at least get to the bubble. Since 2000, the Gophers are 41-106 (27.9%) vs. NCAA qualifiers, including 20-35 (36.4%) under Tubby.

**The Gophers dropped 7 spots from #55 to #62, largely because several teams previously ranked behind them (Clemson, Florida State & Michigan) all advanced to and won games in the NCAA Tournament.

**Since 2000, the Gophers have played fewer NCAA Tournament games than every B1G team except for Northwestern. Ouch!

**Michigan State was the top dog through the 2009-10 season, but Sparty dropped two spots to #3 after a disappointing so-so 2010-11 season.

**The best program since 2000 not to reach the Final 4? Pitt at #15. Purdue (#22) and Tennessee (#23) are next.

**Congratulations to Oregon State, which hangs on to the "worst BCS program in America" award.

**There will be 10 programs with new coaches in 2011-12: Arkansas (Mike Anderson), Georgia Tech (Brian Gregory), Maryland (TBD), Miami (Jim Larranaga), Missouri (Frank Haith), NC State (Mark Gottfried), Oklahoma (Lon Kruger), Providence (Ed Cooley), Tennessee (Cuonzo Martin) & Texas Tech (Billy Gillispie).

This list (and the whole first decade of the 2000's) is far more of a punishment for Clem Haskins' sins than pretending a bunch of games never happened, IMO.

Cool that you do this! Is there a way that you could possibly give more weight to recent performance? Perhaps knock off 5% of a yearly total for each year that goes by? That way the 2010-2011 season would have twice as much weight as the 2000-2001 season, which sounds about right to me.

SelectionSunday said:

Since Jan. 1 of 2000, I have tracked statistical data of all 73 BCS basketball programs.

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Frank: "Wait... Wait, pull what out?" Animal Caretaker: "The dart man, you got a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#in' dart in your neck." Frank: "You're cra... You're crazy man. You're crazy. I like you but, you're crazy."

Impressive stats. Very curious what your profession is?

See, the Badgers are a top 15 program. Even Selection Sunday says so.

Your data is either:

A) seriously flawed or
B) there are a lot of people on this board that are very wrong but will never admit it.

I will go with B.

Thanks for putting this together.

GVBadger;
See, the Badgers are a top 15 program.

anonymous said:

I didn't put Wisconsin and Illinois as one of the 15 jobs better than Maryland.

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I get that. I consider Maryland above Michigan & Flordia. Wiscy & Ill shouldn't even be in the conversation as 'same class'.

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If you are reffering to my responce to anonymous, I stand by that. I have no problem admitting Wisconsin has been a top 20 program since 2000. When/if Bo leaves is it a top 15 job? No.

This list should really be kept on a rolling basis. Maryland should start dropping but it won't because it's great 2001 and 2002 teams are forever locked in. same with Florida.

royboy said:

This list should really be kept on a rolling basis.

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I'd rather see it go back 10-20 more years to look at best programs.

Maryland would still shine.

I agree that doing this using a rolling window (let's say last 10 years) would probably be more interesting, but I have only so much time to keep this updated. My intent is to rate the BCS programs since the turn of the century and forward, not to determine which one has been the best over the last 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc.