ESPN 50 in 50-Top college programs in the last 50

[Harnett Co. HEEL]

ESPN just released a ranking system for the top 50 college basketball programs over the last 50 years. CAROLINA took the #1 spot, with Duke at #4 behind UCLA and Kentucky. The only other ACC teams ranked in the top 50 were Maryland (#27), NC State (#43), and Boston College (#50). After looking over these rankings it's kind of disappointing to see how the national media views the ACC. If these rankings would have been done in the 90's, I think there would have been more ACC schools included. Anyways, it's a pretty neat system. Teams were awarded points for certain criteria and then ranked. There is a short write up for each team, and they also pick an all time starting five (and 3 bench players) for each school, which is pretty cool.

Check it out: espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/tag/_/name/50-in-50-series/count/1

[Ken D]

I'd say this was a little quirky. I wonder why, since they ranked teams for each "decade" they didn't make all the decades ten years each. Instead, the first one has 8 years and the last one has 12.

One reason there may not be many ACC schools is that Duke and Carolina have dominated the conference championships which play a significant role in their point system. Likewise, high NBA draft picks and All-America selections count for points, even if they don't play four years. Not sure why that's a criterion in ranking teams.

UCLA seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the scoring system, with most of their points coming from the Wooden era. They benefited greatly from the relatively easy route they had through the NCAA tourney in the days when tourney fields were small and they only had to play western teams in the regional rounds. Their performance over the past 30 years has been little better than mediocre.

[mattncsu02]

The ranking system may be a little strange, but it's cool to see three teams from our state in the top 50.

[Harnett Co. HEEL]

The reason one decade started in 1962 is because these ranking were over the last 50 years. My guess is they made the last decade 12 years because they wanted to include the 2000's as one decade. Either way, I thought it was a pretty cool system

Like matt said, its nice to have several teams from our state in the top 50 (There are actually 4 - Davidson was ranked #44).

As a Heels fan, I gotta say Carolina's hypothetical all-time starting 5 is just ridiculous!!!
Phil Ford, MJ, Antawn Jamison, James Worthy, and Psycho T....Damn, that's just sick!!