Ranking the Best Basketball Programs of All-Time

#1

All4TN

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#1
The Greatest College Basketball Programs Ever: Ranking the top teams of all time, Nos. 50-26

39. Tennessee
Record since 1938-39: 1,394-874 | Regular-season titles: 9
NCAA Tournaments: 22 | Final Fours: 0
Weeks ranked: 281 | Top-60 NBA picks: 30
POINTS: 514.1
That makes for three straight SEC schools. Rick Barnes is proving to be a very nice hire for Tennessee -- his run of success the past few seasons helped create a little separation in these rankings, in terms of total points, vs. Florida and Bama. Bruce Pearl brought Tennessee to a level of national prominence it had not experienced prior to the end of the 2000s, but this is a program with some decent history beyond that. Guys like Dale Ellis, Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld (the Ernie and Bernie Show!) and Allan Houston registered as first-round NBA material. King and Ellis were consensus All-Americans.
The best team in school history is a pick 'em: The '07-08 squad earned a No. 1 ranking during the season and was a No. 2 seed that made the Sweet 16 with Chris Lofton, J.P. Prince and Wayne Chism. The 2018-19 team had its season end in the Sweet at the hands of Purdue and featured Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams and Jordan Bone. Each team set a school record for most wins in a season (31). The best player in school history is King, who won SEC Player of the Year all three seasons in Knoxville. He averaged 25.8 points and 13.2 rebounds, which are career numbers that are almost impossible to duplicate in the modern era for any three- or four-year player in a power conference. Best coach in school history is still Ray Mears, who went 278-112 (.713) from 1962-77. Pearl would have had a chance to eclipse if not for NCAA violations. Barnes, 66, has a chance if he wants to coach Tennessee for eight-or-so more seasons.
 
#4
#4
Something that I have always contended is confirmed in these rankings: Tennessee has an all-time better program than Florida in basketball.
 
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#6
#6
not based on numbers, but if you told me that Zaga, Maryland, UNLV, Houston, UVA, Marquette, Memphis aren't top 29 programs, I'd really want to see the top 30
 
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#7
#7
Except they have titles and we don’t. That’s the kicker

Yeah... I love Tennessee and think that the program has a lot of potential going forward to edge its way into perennial Top 15 status by the close of the decade, but I have to question the methodology of any ranking that slots Tennessee ahead of Florida as valuing 110 extra wins/two more SEC titles/five more NBA draft picks over Final Fours and NCAA titles strikes me as absolutely insane.

On the other hand, Princeton and BYU being ahead of Tennessee seems even more absurd all things considered.
 
#8
#8
Tennessee also leads the all-time series with Florida in basketball by a margin of 20 games and Florida's all-time record in the SEC is near .500. Those kinds of numbers show just how impotent Florida was as a basketball school until the late 1980's. Tennessee has been second tier in the SEC-all time behind only Kentucky.
 
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#9
#9
not based on numbers, but if you told me that Zaga, Maryland, UNLV, Houston, UVA, Marquette, Memphis aren't top 29 programs, I'd really want to see the top 30
UNLV and Houston are extinct. Not many NCAA titles with the remaining.
 
#10
#10
That “0” Final Fours is mind boggling to me. I have a feeling that’s going to change in the next few years

It’s mind boggling that we haven’t been able to sneak in. Unfortunately I doubt that changes
 
#11
#11
It’s mind boggling that we haven’t been able to sneak in. Unfortunately I doubt that changes
You doubt that changes, ever? Why? You’d figure eventually we’d have a run. South Carolina got in a few years ago. All sorts of lesser programs than ours have made it. I see no reason why we wouldn’t eventually, and the way recruiting is going there should be several opportunities over the next couple of years
 
#12
#12
You doubt that changes, ever? Why? You’d figure eventually we’d have a run. South Carolina got in a few years ago. All sorts of lesser programs than ours have made it. I see no reason why we wouldn’t eventually, and the way recruiting is going there should be several opportunities over the next couple of years

I don’t think the current coach is capable of a Final Four run.
 
#13
#13
I don’t think the current coach is capable of a Final Four run.
Ok I may have misinterpreted, you may have meant you doubt that changes "in the next few years." I disagree about Barnes being incapable of a Final Four run (one reason being, he has coached a Final Four team), but that's a more defensible position
 

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