Top 10 basketball programs

Season Titles. Starting off the rankings are the Ohio State Buckeyes. Hailing from the Big Ten, Ohio State has been a consistent power in college basketball during the sport's long history.

The school made their first splash on the national scene by finishing as the National Runner-Up in the season and have not looked back since.

The Buckeyes have advanced to the national semifinal eleven times in its history, which ranks them sixth all-time in the NCAA record books. However, all of those Final Four appearances have only yielded one national championship trophy; Ohio State won it all during the season. Having only won one national championship is what prevents them from climbing up higher on the list.

With that being said, their overall consistency and success is what places them among the ten greatest basketball programs in history. Ohio State has won over 1, games and has won their conference regular season title 22 times, which is an especially impressive feat considering that they play in the tough Big Ten conference.

The school's two greatest runs came under head coaches Fred Taylor and Thad Matta. Taylor led the Buckeyes to three consecutive appearances in the National Final, which includes their first and only NCAA national championship in Taylor also led the school to a Final Four appearance later that decade.

As for Matta, he led the program to their eleventh appearance in the Final Four last season. He also reached the national final in with the team led by super freshmen Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr. School Accomplishments. The Connecticut Huskies are a relative newcomer to college basketball's group of elite programs, but they have certainly made their presence felt by taking home multiple national championships in the past 15 years.

Led by head coach Jim Calhoun, UConn has been one of the most successful basketball programs since he took over in the season. Their total of three NCAA national championships has them tied for sixth all-time in that category.

In fact, they are tied with the Kansas Jayhawks in national titles, which is impressive considering that Connecticut has played in fewer games and has appeared in 10 fewer Final Fours than Kansas. In other words, the Huskies have taken full advantage of their recent opportunities on the sport's biggest stage. In addition to their three championships, they have played in four Final Fours and have actually won 29 conference regular season titles.

It is this conference domination that helps boost them up this high on the list. Also, the school has posted an impressive. What holds Connecticut back on this list is the lack of any major accomplishments before Jim Calhoun took over. Before his tenure, the Huskies had never reached a Final Four or won a national title. In fact, their best tournament finish was the Elite Eight. They were also an inconsistent program in terms of NCAA tournament appearances.

However, they have performed fairly well over the years. In terms of winning percentage by decade , UConn finished as the eight-best program in the s, the fifth-best program in the s and the sixth-best program in the s decade. That success is likely to repeat itself once the s decade wraps itself up down the road.

Therefore, Connecticut is a difficult team to rank. In terms of national championships, winning percentage and conference championships you would think that they were an all-time college basketball blue-blood program. That is not the case, as they have only had one extremely successful coaching tenure in their program's history. With that being said, Jim Calhoun has had a career for the ages and has firmly placed the Connecticut Huskies among basketball's all-time elite programs.

The Big Ten makes another appearance on the top ten list as the Michigan State Spartans make their claim as one of college basketball's greatest programs. This institution has provided fans with plenty of historic basketball memories and is an annual challenger for the national title. Led by head coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have been one of the most dominant basketball teams of the past 20 years.

Izzo has led them to an incredible six Final Four appearances during his tenure, which includes the school's second national championship run in Speaking of national titles, the Spartans are one of a handful of schools that have won multiple NCAA championships.

In addition to Izzo's trophy in , the school also won one in That team was coached by Jud Heathcote and was led by the school's most famous alumni—Magic Johnson. The greatest point guard in NBA history squared off against Indiana State and Larry Bird in that final, which is still considered to be one of the most incredible title games in the history of the sport. Johnson will always be a key figure in the school's reputation and history, similar to Michael Jordan's long-lasting impact on the University of North Carolina.

Michigan State's most successful period is certainly its current era with coach Izzo. They have played on college basketball's final weekend in six of the previous fourteen seasons. He had an incredible three-year stretch from in which he took the Spartans to three consecutive Final Four appearances, with the national championship stuffed in the middle year of that run.

What elevates Michigan State's standing on this list is what they accomplished before Tom Izzo came to the university.

They were certainly no world beater, but Heathcote did win a national championship in his tenure. Also, head coach Forddy Anderson led the Spartans to their first Final Four appearance and a spot in the Elite Eight during the late s. Therefore, the program has been successful across multiple eras, produced one of basketball's most transcendent players in its history and features one of the great college coaches in the sport's history.

All in all, Michigan State is certainly one of college basketball's elite programs and are more than deserving of their placement on this list. The Louisville Cardinals returned to college basketball's biggest stage last season as they advanced to the Final Four for the second time under head coach Rick Pitino. The team also has a record of scholastic excellence that puts many bigger ones to shame, producing eight Academic All-Americans , which is the sixth most in history.

The LSU Tigers are another one of those college basketball programs that have earned a spot among the all-time greats despite never winning a championship. The team has reached four Final Fours since and were constantly making deep runs from the late s through the s.

Their 12 SEC regular season championships are tied at second in conference history, and their four Hall of Famers are a testament to the tradition of the program.

The Badgers have made the Final Four three times since and have missed the tournament only once since They constantly seem to be in the running to win the Big Ten conference, which is one of the most competitive leagues in the sport every season, and have won the regular season title five times since The state of Indiana is steeped in college basketball tradition, and Purdue has done its part to add to that lore.

The Boilermakers have been playing hoops since and have amassed more than 1, wins as a program and 24 Big Ten regular season championships , which are the most in the history of that great conference.

The team has been a mainstay in the NCAA Tournament in the past four decades, making 29 bids since The Cougars reached the Final Four in three consecutive seasons from , which makes them one of only seven programs to reach that plateau at least that many times in a row. Few programs in the nation have had an entire season where they were ranked atop the AP Poll from start to finish, but UNLV did just that in , when they completed one of the few undefeated regular seasons in modern hoops history.

The NC State team that stunned the sports world by winning the national championship under beloved head coach Jim Valvano ranks among the most iconic squads in the history of college hoops. That Cinderella team, which included no Hall of Famers, marked the second title team for the program, which won its first in The Wolfpack ranks in the top 25 for all-time wins as a program, having earned more than 1, of them so far. While St. They still have quite a bit of work to do in order to make this year's dance, though.

On the plus side, a neutral-site win over Illinois back in November figures to be a gift that'll keep on giving. The Illini have since won 10 of 11 games and may well be the best team in the Big Ten, so that's a major feather in the Bearcats' cap.

The problem is the subsequent home losses to Monmouth and Tulane. Neither is currently a Quadrant 4 loss, but they are bad enough to effectively undo that marquee win over the Illini. And that means Cincinnati is going to need to find some quality wins and avoid more bad losses in the process in a conference that doesn't have many to offer. If the schedule holds, Cincinnati will play consecutive home games against Memphis and Houston in early February.

Win at least one of those games and maybe there's a realistic shot at a bid. In their five losses, the Seminoles have averaged In their recent point blowout loss at Wake Forest, they shot just But prior to Saturday's win over Louisville, Florida State was vs. Quadrant 1, had not yet played a game against Quadrant 2 and had a pair of Quadrant 3 losses. Pretty ugly stuff from a preseason Top 25 team which had made it to the Sweet 16 in each of the past three NCAA tournaments.

Plain and simple, Florida State isn't as dominant in the post as we're used to seeing. The 'Noles lead the nation in average height , but they aren't doing anything with it, ranking outside the top 80 in the country in both offensive rebound percentage and two-point field-goal percentage.

And unless they can find enough offense to steal at least one win against Duke, there might not be a path to this year's NCAA tournament. Here's an interesting factoid about Maryland's frustrating season: In each of their losses to Iowa, Illinois and Louisville, the Terrapins led by the exact score of at some point in the second half. They also led Virginia Tech with eight minutes remaining in the second half and held a lead with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation against Wisconsin before letting both of those games slip away.

If they had been able to hold onto even one of those five leads, they would have a legitimate at-large pulse. Additionally, if they had been able to hold onto all five of those leads, they would be a borderline AP Top 10 team right now. Instead, they blew all of those games, sinking like a lead balloon since opening the year at No.

Maryland's shooting has been a colossal disappointment compared to recent years, especially from the perimeter. In , the Terps averaged 8. This year, those numbers have dropped to 6. And it's certainly not because they've been dominating in the paint instead. Rather, their team two-point percentage has also dropped from The Lou Carnesecca era alone is enough to make St.

The Red Storm rarely missed the NCAA Tournament during that time while also helping to form one of the greatest conferences in college basketball history. The years before and after Carnesecca coached St. The Red Storm aren't what they used to be, but historically, St.

If nothing else, the Razorbacks can hang their hat on the National Championship, but Arkansas has done so much more than that. The Hogs started playing basketball in and won their first conference title in , which turned out to be the first of five in a row. Under Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson, the Razorbacks also became a dominant program during the latter part of the 20th century, becoming a force in the Southwest Conference and the SEC, as well as a national brand.

That being said, Georgetown deserves plenty of credit for being a national powerhouse for much of the 80s, including their national title in Winning the National Championship did a lot to lift Maryland over some comparable programs. Maryland ranks this high because of their consistency over the years. The Terps have had just six head coaches since and ever since Lefty Driesell made them a national power in the 70s, Maryland has been present in the national spotlight.

With three Final Four appearances and two national championships, there should be little doubt that NC State is one of the better college basketball programs. Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, a couple of their in-state rivals hog the spotlight. From Everett Case to Norm Sloan to Jim Valvano, NC State has had a long line of great coaches dating back to the 40s, helping make the Wolfpack a quality program for well over half a century.

Outside of black hole in the late 60s and 70s, Illinois has been one of the most consistent college basketball programs over the last century. The Fighting Illini had a great run during the first half of the 20th century, especially in the 40s and early 50s. Hall of Famer Lou Henson got Illinois back on track in the 80s and the program has been in good shape ever since, save for the last decade or so.

Remember, Illinois began the 21st century by winning four Big Ten regular-season titles in a five-year span, culminating in reaching the national title game in With eight Final With four title game appearances and one National Championship, Michigan basketball is a lot closer to the top 10 programs of all time than most people realize. There have been two great eras of Cincinnati basketball. First, there was the late 50s and 60s when the Bearcats were arguably the best program in the country while reaching five consecutive Final Fours and winning back-to-back championships in and Of course, Cincy fell off the map for a little while.

But the Bearcats came back in a big way under Bobby Huggins in the 90s and have been a fixture on the national stage for the last three decades.