Well, one Final Four came out in this year of no more games played.

Personally, I hate those online polls that make you start from the highest and click “NEXT” to get all the way down to who you want to know is the prettiest actress of all time or the best American sports car or, in this case, the greatest college basketball program.

So, knowing the Final Four would be Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina, I was anxious to start clicking for the result of this top 25 as selected by a site called Sports Drop. But a few surprising picks had me questioning whether it would be those Bluebloods at the end. Such as:

Gonzaga at No. 22, even though the Bulldogs might have missed their best chance to finally win a national championship in 2020. They still have been so consistently good over the years, I thought 22 was way too low for them.

Like seven spots above No. 15 N.C. State, whose two national championships came in the early 1970s and early 1980s and have been mostly God-awful for the last 35 years?

Villanova, at No. 10 surprised me, with tradition and three national championships from 1985 to 2018. I get it that UConn was No. 9 with its three natties coming more recently since 1999. Louisville was No. 8 even though one of the Cards’ three crowns was vacated.

Michigan State was ranked No. 7 with two national championships but the ninth-best NCAA tournament record of all time. And Big 10 brethren Indiana surprisingly came in at No. 6, despite doing little since its most recent of three titles was in 1987.

Of course, UCLA is still No. 5 even though its last title was 25 years ago in 1995 and the 10 under John Wooden ended 20 years earlier in 1975.

So we’ve come down to the Final Four you have all been waiting for. Kansas at No. 4, although the Jayhawks might have won this season’s defunct tourney and moved up. Gleefully, Duke was No. 3, largely because the Blue Devils’ last three titles span 20 years.

The two-est and bluest bloods are one and two, given their longevity going back to a Baron named Rupp and an Irishman named McGuire. UNC is second with six NCAA titles but with three in 2005, ’09 and 2017. Kentucky was listed No. 1 with eight NCAA banners, the first in 1948 and last in 2012. I guess I’ll take that… for now.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›