5 Biggest College Basketball Programs Right Now

[BigSoonerFan]

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I'm sorry...I just simply don't see Indiana as being that close. Kelvin Sampson goes to Indiana...no one really cared. The Kentucky job opens everyone cares, and it's a job that could "seemingly" draw just about any coach it wanted. To me the top 5 are clear...

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That has everything to do with money nothing to do with historical basketball prominence. Also, lets be sure to revisit this when Billy Donovan turns down Kentucky in a couple weeks.

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It's both money and prominence. As for Billy Donovan, the fact that it is a possibility shows how powerful the Kentucky program is. Is there any doubt that if BD wasn't the coach right now at Florida, that he would choose Kentucky over Florida?

[TheNoodleMan]

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I'm sorry...I just simply don't see Indiana as being that close. Kelvin Sampson goes to Indiana...no one really cared. The Kentucky job opens everyone cares, and it's a job that could "seemingly" draw just about any coach it wanted. To me the top 5 are clear...

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That has everything to do with money nothing to do with historical basketball prominence. Also, lets be sure to revisit this when Billy Donovan turns down Kentucky in a couple weeks.

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It's both money and prominence. As for Billy Donovan, the fact that it is a possibility shows how powerful the Kentucky program is. Is there any doubt that if BD wasn't the coach right now at Florida, that he would choose Kentucky over Florida?

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That proves nothing. IU could have easily had Pittino but they choose to be cheap and promote Davis. I can assure you that no matter how prominent the program may be, no established coach is going to take a substantial pay cut to come there. Every big name that you will hear in the Kentucky search was interested in the Indiana job right up until they heard the dollar figures.

[LesJ]

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Duke went to the Final Four in 64, 65, and 66 without Coach K. They are, what, 4th or 5th in total wins? Certainly the Coach K era has been phenomenal, but Duke basketball is certainly not just Coach K, for cripes' sake.


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Duke also lost championship games to Kentucky in 1978 and Louisville in 1986 under coach Bill Foster, I believe. Alot of folks forget about the past acheivements of the Duke program. They obviously were not the perpetual powerhouse that they are now, but were nearly always competitive.

Les

[Assani Fisher]

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The fact that people voted for Florida as one of the current top 5 bball programs right now is ridiculous. Have they had the best team in the country the last couple of years? Absolutely. Are they currently a top 5 program? Not even close.

Florida is a football school! They sold out what, 2 home games this year for men's bball? And this is your guys' definition of a top 5 program? Absolutely hillarious. You could actually make a good case that the only school UF is ahead of on that list is Texas.

I guess if USC, Notre Dame, or Nebraska suddenly produces back-to-back men's bball national championships, they too will be considered a top 5 bball program.

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I agree with this. We're overrating Florida simply because they currently have a great team.

Now that great team(and exposure) could lead them to become a bigger basketball power, but I'd hold off on putting them too highly just yet.

[Assani Fisher]

Random question: Who is the best player to come out of Florida in teh past 20 years(including current players)?

I think JWill, Miller, and a few of the current bunch all have a legit claim and I'm probably forgetting about someone else too.

[KUJustin]

For the record I think fan support is only marginally important in saying the CURRENT biggest basketball programs. A lack of fan support will manifest itself on the court in the long run, as will a strong fan base (e.g. Nebraska football will never stay down for long because of the rabid fanbase).

I've got to second the fairly clear cut top 6. I think arguments can be made for: Kentucky, UCLA, Kansas, or UNC as the best program of all-time (comes down to what criteria you want to use basically), and Duke and Indiana are right there behind them.

[barryc83]

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Random question: Who is the best player to come out of Florida in teh past 20 years(including current players)?

I think JWill, Miller, and a few of the current bunch all have a legit claim and I'm probably forgetting about someone else too.

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I'd prob go with Mike Miller, but I really like Horford. He's got that big ass frame and already has some moves on offense unlike other college big men.

[NozeCandy]

Are we discounting any final fours (like OSU, Michigan) that are not officially on the record books anymore?

[BigSoonerFan]

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I'm sorry...I just simply don't see Indiana as being that close. Kelvin Sampson goes to Indiana...no one really cared. The Kentucky job opens everyone cares, and it's a job that could "seemingly" draw just about any coach it wanted. To me the top 5 are clear...

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That has everything to do with money nothing to do with historical basketball prominence. Also, lets be sure to revisit this when Billy Donovan turns down Kentucky in a couple weeks.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's both money and prominence. As for Billy Donovan, the fact that it is a possibility shows how powerful the Kentucky program is. Is there any doubt that if BD wasn't the coach right now at Florida, that he would choose Kentucky over Florida?

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That proves nothing. IU could have easily had Pittino but they choose to be cheap and promote Davis. I can assure you that no matter how prominent the program may be, no established coach is going to take a substantial pay cut to come there. Every big name that you will hear in the Kentucky search was interested in the Indiana job right up until they heard the dollar figures.

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That proves nothing? What? You are sadly mistaken. Most of the top coaches did not want to have anything to do with IU considering how Knight was treated and how the administration and athletic department was acting.

[damaniac]

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Are we discounting any final fours (like OSU, Michigan) that are not officially on the record books anymore?

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If you want to. Since we're trying to figure out who is a top program, you would want to exclude "illegitimate" accomplishments. One way of doing that would be to just drop all forfeited honors. However, as a Michigan fan, I do need to stand up for our program a bit. Since the violations were not recruiting violations (no one was paid to come here or stay on the team or whatever) and further since the main act of culpability was (willful?) ignorance (Marten was a booster based on the loose NCAA definition), I'd argue that counting the Fab Five Final Four's makes sense. Anyway, the forfeits were a decision made by UM, not mandated by the NCAA, if that means anything. But I'm not going to make a big thing of it. As it is, we have a strong history, but not quite Top Ten. Only 1 title and the horrid, horrid ten year run help keep us down. But we did have several excellent teams and Final Four runs in the 60's and 70's.