2. Kansas: 717-175 (2008, 2022)
3. Connecticut: 590-262 (2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024)
4. N. Carolina: 639-251 (2005, 2009, 2017)
5. Michigan St.: 617-254
6. Kentucky: 651-222 (2012)
7. Florida: 608-258 (2006, 2007, 2025)
8. Villanova: 594-258 (2016, 2018)
9. Syracuse: 579-278 (2003)
10. Gonzaga: 716-143
11. Louisville: 559-283 (2013)
12. Maryland: 545-293 (2002)
13. Virginia: 527-278 (2019)
14. Baylor: 513-301 (2021)
15. Houston: 528-296
16. Memphis St: 621-236
17. Arizona: 624-234
18. Wisconsin: 595-258
19. Purdue: 544-294
20. U.C.L.A.: 559-284
21. Ohio St: 574-277
22. San Diego St: 579-254
23. Va. Commonwealth: 587-249
24. Illinois: 550-302
25. Creighton: 578-269
I would rearrange the top 10 as follows:
1. UConn
2. Duke
3. Kansas
4. UNC
5. Florida
6. Kentucky
7. Villanova
8. Michigan St.
9. Syracuse
10. Gonzaga
I think I would also rank UVA ahead of Maryland, and I would put Arizona and Wisconsin ahead of Memphis. But the rest of the list looks pretty good to me.
Duke, Kansas, and Gonzaga are the only schools with more wins than UK in this century.
ReplyDeleteKentucky by decade (according to Jon Scott):
ReplyDelete1930's: 162-37 (.814)
1940's: 249-41 (.859) (1948, 1949)
1950's: 217-35 (.861) (1951, 1958)
1960's: 205-64 (.762)
1970's: 226-73 (.756) (1978)
1980's: 216-93 (.699)
1990's: 291-59 (.831) (1996, 1998)
2000's: 252-90 (.737)
2010's: 295-74 (.799) (2012)
2020's: 104-58 (.642)
Kentucky by coach (according to Wikipedia):
ReplyDelete1930-1972: Adolph Rupp: 876-190 (.823) (1948, 49, 51, 58)
1972-1985: Joe B. Hall: 297-100 (.748) (1978)
1985-1989: Eddie Sutton: 88-39 (.693)
1989-1997: Rick Pitino: 219-50 (.814) (1996)
1997-2007: Tubby Smith: 268-83 (.760) (1998)
2007-2009: Billy Gillispie: 40-27 (.597)
2009-2024: John Calipari: 410-122 (.774) (2012)
2024-Present: Mark Pope: 24-12 (.667)
It's interesting that my felt sense of these coaches matches exactly with their ranking by winning percentage. Rupp feels like the greatest coach in the history of the program, and Gillisipie feels like the worst. Pitino feels like the second-best; Cal, Tubby and Joe B. are all clumped together in the next wad of feels. Pope felt better than what I expected for his first season, but so did Sutton--and now we'll see.
ReplyDeleteI believe that fans are extremely good at sensing small differences in performance. For example, almost every serious MLB fan can tell the difference between someone who gets a hit 30 percent of the time and someone who gets a hit 25 percent of the time. We can feel the difference.
DeleteAt Kentucky, to make the fans really happy, you need to win 80 percent of the time. If you win 75 percent of the time, like Joe B. Hall or Tubby Smith, they can tell the difference.
DeleteThe regular season is 31 games long. So you need to go 25-6 to win over 80 percent of your games. UK fans are amazingly sensitive to the difference between a 25-6 season and a 23-8 season -- especially as that is often the difference between winning the SEC outright and not winning it at all.
Delete