After March Madness annually wreaks havoc on everyone’s brackets, the final Coaches Poll serves as the post-mortem on the regular season and NCAA Tournament that was. Looking through years worth of these end-of-season rankings is a fantastic way to reflect on the most consistently successful programs of the sport.
To quantify the best college basketball programs of the 21st century, PointAfter looked at the final Coaches Poll rankings of the last 15 seasons, from the 2000-01 campaign to 2014-15. The team that ended the season ranked No. 1 in each final poll was awarded 25 points. The No. 2 team got 24 points, all the way down to the No. 25 team. Teams received no points for seasons in which they finished unranked.
Since 2000, 96 teams have appeared in the final Top 25 rankings, and nine different schools have claimed the No. 1 spot. The current iterations of the ACC, Big Ten and Big East all have five representatives in PointAfter’s Top 25 of the 2000s.
But who’s No. 1? Read on to find out.
Note: We used highest Coaches Poll finish during this 15-year span as a tiebreaker for total poll points.
#25. Xavier Musketeers
Total points: 70
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 8th (2008)
Sweet 16 appearances: 6
Final Four appearances: 0
National titles: 0
Xavier has only missed the NCAA Tournament twice since the 2000-01 season, a remarkable achievement for a non-Power Five school. The Musketeers advanced to the Elite 8 in 2004 and 2008 under Thad Matta and Sean Miller, respectively, who both leveraged their success in Cincinnati into jobs at schools in the top 15 of this list.
Note: The amount of national titles, Final Four appearances, etc. indicated in the text above refer to results since the 2000-2001 season.
#24. Georgetown Hoyas
Total points: 73
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 4th (2007)
Sweet 16 appearances: 3
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
Georgetown coach John Thompson III can hang his hat on a 2007 Final Four appearance that was the school’s first since 1985. However, the Hoyas have recently been victimized in several early March Madness upsets, and haven’t reached the Sweet 16 since their run to the semifinals nearly a decade ago.
#23. Marquette Golden Eagles
Total points: 75
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 6th (2003)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
In 2003, the Eagles shocked No. 1-seeded Kentucky to make the program’s first Final Four since winning the national title in 1977. They were crushed by Kansas in the semifinals, but that team set the foundation for Marquette to make eight consecutive NCAA tournaments between 2006-2013.
#22. Butler Bulldogs
Total points: 82
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2010, 2011)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Butler captured the nation’s hearts and minds when the Bulldogs surged to the national title game as a No. 5 seed in 2010 before falling valiantly to Duke in an instant classic. They topped themselves the next year, advancing to the championship as a No. 8 seed without former star Gordon Hayward. Coach Brad Stevens and the Dawgs lost again, this time to Connecticut, but established themselves as a legitimate annual contender and eventually grew out of the Horizon League into the Big East.
#21. Oklahoma Sooners
Total points: 86
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 4th (2002)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
The Sooners have one Final Four appearance this century, and it surprisingly did not come when Blake Griffin was in Norman. Oklahoma crashed out of the Elite Eight during Griffin’s sophomore year, his final season before entering the NBA.
#20. Maryland Terrapins
Total points: 86
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2002)
Sweet 16 appearances: 3
Final Four appearances: 2
National titles: 1
Maryland is the lowest-ranked team to win a national championship this millennium. The Terrapins secured their first two Final Fours in 2001 and 2002, but haven’t had a top-10 finish since 2003. The Terps are considered a favorite to return to the national semifinals this season, however.
#19. Memphis Tigers
Total points: 88
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2008)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
John Calipari coached Memphis for nine seasons, guiding the school to its second appearance in the NCAA championship with some help from Derrick Rose. Calipari bolted for Kentucky after his fourth straight Sweet 16 in 2009, and the Tigers haven’t advanced to the second weekend since despite qualifying for four of the last five tournaments.
#18. Illinois Fighting Illini
Total points: 96
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2005)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
Bruce Weber was wildly successful during his first two seasons in Champaign, capturing Illinois’ first outright conference title in 52 years in 2003-04. The following year, he led the Fighting Illini to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament, their best showing in history. They’ve yet to return to the Sweet 16 since that high mark, however, and Weber was fired in 2012.
#17. Villanova Wildcats
Total points: 99
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 4th (2009)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
The Wildcats have gone dancing in 10 of the last 11 seasons and are two-time Big East defending champs, but haven’t advanced to the second weekend of the Big Dance since achieving the program’s fourth Final Four in 2009.
#16. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Total points: 104
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 6th (2015)
Sweet 16 appearances: 4
Final Four appearances: 0
National titles: 0
Gonzaga is fittingly the highest-ranked mid-major on this list. The Bulldogs came out of nowhere to advance to the Elite 8 as a No. 10 seed in 1999, and haven’t missed the NCAA Tournament since. It took them 16 years to reach another Elite Eight, though.
#15. Texas Longhorns
Total points: 107
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 3rd (2003)
Sweet 16 appearances: 5
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
Like their Red River rivals, the Longhorns squandered their chance to make a Final Four on the back of the National Player of the Year (Kevin Durant) in 2007. Texas lost to USC in the second round that season, leaving the 2003 squad led by T.J. Ford as the most successful Longhorns squad of the century. Longtime coach Rick Barnes was fired earlier this year after years of underachieving in Austin.
#14. UCLA Bruins
Total points: 108
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2006)
Sweet 16 appearances: 7
Final Four appearances: 3
National titles: 0
UCLA boasts perhaps the most storied college basketball program in the country, but the Bruins have fallen on relatively tough times recently. They made three straight Final Fours between 2006-08, including a runner-up finish in the first year of that run, but never broke through the championship glass ceiling under Ben Howland.
#13. Ohio State Buckeyes
Total points: 125
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2007)
Sweet 16 appearances: 5
Final Four appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Ohio State has grown into a consistently strong program over the last decade, ever since freshmen phenoms Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. carried the Buckeyes to their first title game since the 1960s in 2007. The school finished in the top six of the final Coaches Poll each year between 2011-2013. Ohio State also featured the No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft last year in D’Angelo Russell, but only advanced to the round of 32 in March Madness.
#12. Pittsburgh Panthers
Total points: 126
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 6th (2009)
Sweet 16 appearances: 5
Final Four appearances: 0
National titles: 0
Pittsburgh claimed four regular season Big East titles between 2002-2011, but has consistently disappointed during March under coach Jamie Dixon. Most memorably, the top-seeded Panthers were upset by No. 8 seed Butler in the second round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Panthers missed the field entirely last season, and haven’t been ranked in the final Coaches Poll since 2011.
#11. Syracuse Orange
Total points: 138
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2003)
Sweet 16 appearances: 6
Final Four appearances: 2
National titles: 1
Carmelo Anthony inadvertently became the “one and done” poster child after leading Syracuse to its lone national title in 2003, then promptly bolting for the NBA. The Orange were awarded a No. 5 seed or better in each of its nine tourney berths since then, but have just five more Sweet 16 appearances and a national semifinal loss to show for it. Those aren’t bad results in a vacuum, but Cuse fans have expected more since Anthony raised expectations for the program.
#10. Wisconsin Badgers
Total points: 147
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2015)
Sweet 16 appearances: 7
Final Four appearances: 2
National titles: 0
Fresh off consecutive Final Fours and a massive upset against undefeated Kentucky in last season’s semifinal, Bo Ryan and the Badgers have improved their national profile quite a bit in recent times. Wisconsin had just seven NCAA Tournament appearances to its name before Ryan’s first season in 2001-02, but they’ve gone dancing in each of Ryan’s 14 years at the helm.
#9. Florida Gators
Total points: 151
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2006, 2007)
Sweet 16 appearances: 6
Final Four appearances: 3
National titles: 2
When Billy Donovan came to Florida in 1996, it was undoubtedly a football school, even after the Gators’ 1994 Final Four berth. The Gainesville faithful will probably always flock to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in the fall over the 12,000-seat O’Connell Center, but Donovan established Florida as a modern basketball power. The Gators won consecutive titles in 2006-07 behind the vaunted triumvirate of Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer, then made four straight Elite Eights between 2011-14, once again breaking through to the semifinals in 2014.
Now that Donovan is coaching the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, first-year coach Mike White has big shoes to fill in Gainesville.
#8. Arizona Wildcats
Total points: 155
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2001)
Sweet 16 appearances: 9
Final Four appearances: 1
National titles: 0
Former coach Lute Olson put Arizona on the map with a title in 1997, but the school has struggled to win the big one since then despite fielding numerous talented teams. With two top-four finishes in the Coaches Poll in the last two seasons, are the Wildcats ready to recapture their former glory under Sean Miller?
#7. Louisville Cardinals
Total points: 161
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2013)
Sweet 16 appearances: 7
Final Four appearances: 3
National titles: 1
Rick Pitino has coached Louisville for the exact 15-year period this article spans. With one championship, two Final Fours and three Elite Eights in the last four years, he’s certainly living up to his pedigree as one of the best college coaches ever.
#6. Connecticut Huskies
Total points: 163
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2004, 2011, 2014)
Sweet 16 appearances: 7
Final Four appearances: 4
National titles: 3
UConn hasn’t missed a beat in the transition from longtime coach Jim Calhoun to current overseer Kevin Ollie. The Huskies miss out on the Big Dance more often than most blue-blood programs — they’ve been on the outside looking in three of the past six years — but when they make it past the selection committee, they’re amazingly adept at constructing deep March Madness runs.
#5. Michigan State Spartans
Total points: 181
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 2nd (2009)
Sweet 16 appearances: 10
Final Four appearances: 5
National titles: 0
The Spartans are the highest-ranked team to not win a national championship since the 2000-01 season, the time span covered in this article. That means their 2000 championship just missed the cutoff, so they could arguably be one spot higher.
No matter the exact placement, it’s clear Tom Izzo and Michigan State have a well-oiled basketball machine that’s shown no signs of slowing down. With a nation-best five Final Fours in the last 15 years, the Spartans are perennial contenders to win it all, no matter their tournament seed.
#4. North Carolina Tar Heels
Total points: 183
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2005, 2009)
Sweet 16 appearances: 7
Final Four appearances: 3
National titles: 2
The Tar Heels were held back by the disastrous Matt Doherty years between 2000-03. Within two seasons of Roy Williams coming to Chapel Hill, UNC won a title to break its 12-year drought and give Williams his first championship. The Heels added another in 2009, but haven’t been back to the Final Four since after losing in regional finals in both 2011 and 2012.
#3. Kentucky Wildcats
Total points: 208
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2012)
Sweet 16 appearances: 9
Final Four appearances: 4
National titles: 1
Tubby Smith’s tenure (1997-2007) started out like gangbusters with a national title, but the Wildcats never again reached the semifinals under Smith. Kentucky has caught up in a hurry with the rest of the sport’s blue bloods since John Calipari took over, appearing in four of the last five Final Fours (often with an entirely different roster core) and winning the 2012 championship.
#2. Duke Blue Devils
Total points: 262
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2001, 2010, 2015)
Sweet 16 appearances: 11
Final Four appearances: 4
National titles: 3
Duke leads all schools with 11 regional semifinal berths in the last 15 years and is tied for the most championships over that span. The Blue Devils have only finished outside of the Coaches Poll once, in 2007. Over the last 35 years, coach Mike Krzyzewski has shown he knows how to build a program from the ground up to the college basketball heavens.
#1. Kansas Jayhawks
Total points: 265
Highest Coaches’ Poll Finish: 1st (2008)
Sweet 16 appearances: 10
Final Four appearances: 4
National titles: 1
Kansas edges out Duke as having the most Coaches Poll points by our end-of-season scoring system over the last 15 years. The Jayhawks are the only team included in every single final ranking, including five top-five finishes and Bill Self’s only championship in 2008. If not the most decorated program, Kansas can at least lay claim to being the most consistently great team of the 21st century.