Team of the Decade

I’m a little late to the game when it comes to those end of the decade lists but I wanted to look back at who were the best champions of the past decade. I started with the 2009-10 season and end with last years Virginia team. I was going to use KenPom Adjusted Efficiency Margin, but instead used the total between a teams adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency. Later, I’ll do the ten best teams not to win a title this past decade. Let’s start.

10. UConn, 2014, AdjEm 15th, AdjO 39, AdjD 10
I doubt it’s a surprise a team that made March as a 7-seed is the worst champion of the decade. 2014 was a mess as we recall, Kentucky was their opponent and they were an 8-seed. Louisville was the number 1 KenPom team at the end of the year but Arizona or Florida were probably the nest teams that year.

9. UConn, 2011, AdjEm 10th, AdjO 18, AdjD 15
We remember the 2011 tournament for the awful title game between Butler and UConn. UConn had probably the greatest single post-season of the decade, running the Big East gauntlet and then through the NCAA Tournament, lead by Kenna Walker. The top 4 teams of that year according to KenPom were Ohio State, Duke, Kansas and Pitt. Of those 4, only Kansas reached a regional final.

8. North Carolina, 2017, AdjEm 3rd, AdjO 9, AdjD 11th
The Tar Heels team won a title over Gonzaga in a pretty non-memorable game. Gonzaga was the number 1 KenPom team this year. Can you name more than one starter on this team? Of all of Roy Williams title teams, this is the most nondescript.

7. Duke, 2015, AdjEm 3rd, AdjO 3, AdjD 11th
This team holds a special place in the heart of all Americans with a soul but is K’s weakest champ.

6. Villanova, 2018, AdjEm 1, AdjO 1, AdjD 11
One of the great offensive teams of the decade, if we went just by AdjustedEm, this is the 2nd best title team of the decade. This Nova squad won every tournament game by double-digits and blew out Kansas and Michigan in the Final 4. This feels low and if someone told me this was the best team of the decade, I’d listen.

5. Kentucky, 2012, AdjEm 1st, AdjO 2nd, AdjD 7th
This feels low, too. It’s probably skewed by the memories of Anthony Davis dominating his solo year in college. Davis had a good team around him but he was a singular force, the best of the decade.

4. Villanova, 2016, AdjEm 1st, AdjO 3rd, AdjD 5th
Higher than the ‘18 squad, this team epitomized they Villanova culture under Jay Wright. They blew out Oklahoma in the Final 4 semifinals and then outlasted a favored UNC in the final.

3. Louisville, 2013, AdjEm 1st, AdjO 7th, AdjD 1st
Save your bible thumping for politics. This Louisville team won 16 in a row to close out the season and 19 of their last 20 with the only loss coming on the road in 5 overtimes to Notre Dame. They can get knocked for getting Wichita State in the National semifinals instead of Gonzaga or Ohio State.

2. Virginia, 2019, AdjEm 1st, AdjO 2nd, AdjD 5th
I don’t like it anymore than you guys but this is the way it is. They had an incredible amount of luck winning in March but champions don’t apologize after cutting down the nets. Plus, they were loaded with NBA players. It wasn’t fun but it was a great team.

1. Duke, 2010, AdjEm 1st, AdjO 1st, AdjD 5th
This was the least talented Duke title team. It was. Look at the roster but it was a great basketball team. Deadly efficient if somewhat boring. They also had a great draw in March.

My eye test rankings would look a lot different. I’d probably put Villanova 2018 number one and Kentucky 2012 number two. The bottom 3 would remain. That 2017 UNC team really isn’t memorable for non-Tar Heels.