Top 25: 64 Team NCAA Tournament Era(1985-present)

Like I said in a previous thread, the argument for "all-time" is bogus.  The number of D-I schools has drastically changed, some schools have not been in existence as long as others, the NCAA tournament was much smaller and only accepted conference winners, the NIT used to be the main basketball tournament etc... Most of these schools aren't on a level playing field with Kansas or Kentucky because their history doesn't go back as far. 

So let's see a Top 25 from the modern 64 team field.

If that is the criteria, I would put Duke as #1 on my list.  I don't know about an entire top 25, but Duke would definitely top it in the 64 team field era.

I'm just looking through the conferences and pulling out some teams that I think deserve some consideration:

• UMass
• UNC
• Duke
• Maryland
• Boston College
• Southern Illinois
• UNLV
• Kansas
• Texas
• OK
• Ok St.
• G-Town
• Louisville
• Uconn
• Pittsburgh
• Syracuse
• Cincinnati
• St. John's
• UCLA
• Stanford
• Arizona
• Indiana
• Michigan
• Michigan St.
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Florida
• Arkansas
• Miss St.
• Gonzaga

I've got 30 there, so I'll have to cut 5 and rank them

I think in ranking them you come up with some sort of formula that would weight these six categories in this order:

1. National titles (40%)
2. Final Four appearances (22%)
3. Total NCAA tourney appearances (18%)
4. Wins/Winning percentage (10%)
5. Regular season conference titles (7%)
6. Conference tourney titles (3%)

I think this would give you your best criteria in ranking them

I would suggest 20% each for

• NCs
• wins in NCAA tourney
• appearances " "
• wins overall(15%), extra credit for beating NCAA entries (5%)
• conf champs (regular + tourney)

If it helps any maybe others can make the case for each of their teams during this time so that everybody can see the results and maybe make a Top 25.

I'll try making a case for Arkansas:

517 overall wins at 66% winning percentage. 5 regular season conference titles. 4 conference tourney titles.

17 NCAA tourney appearances. 28 NCAA wins. 6 sweet sixteens, 4 Elite Eights, 3 Final Fours, 2 National Title Games, 1 National Championship.

Not too bad. Ark was one of the winningest teams in the 90's...so they have a strong case I think to be ranked fairly high.

I know you don't have Memphis on the list but I think it would be tough to find 25 teams from your list that have a better record than the Tigers. I know they play in CUSA, but for the majority of the time since 1985 they were in the same conference as Louisville, Cincinnatti, DePaul and Marquette.

543 wins overall at 69%, 7 RS conference titles, 5 conference tourney titles.

13 NCAA appearances, 22 wins, 6 sweet sixteens, 5 elite eights, 2 final fours, one national title game.

Tourney comparisons with others on your list:

Gonzaga - 11 tourneys, 12 wins, 4 ss, 1 ee.

Miss St - 8 tourneys, 10 wins, 2 ss, 1 ee.

St. Johns - 12 tourneys, 15 wins, 3 ss, 3 ee, 1 ff.

SIU - 9 tourneys, 5 wins, 2 ss.

Okla St. - 13 tourneys, 22 wins, 6 ss, 3 ee, 2 ff.

Bost. Col. - 10 tourneys, 12 wins, 3 ss, 2 ee.

You say you will add Wisco - 12 tourneys, 15 wins, 4 ss, 2 ee, 1 ff.