NCAA Basketball: Top 10 historical rivalries up through 2018-19

Honorable Mentions

Syracuse vs. Pitt

Syracuse and Pittsburgh were rivals back in the old Big East, and that has continued since moving to the ACC together. Most of the old Big East rivalries have either lessened or fallen apart altogether, but Syracuse and Pittsburgh are still going strong in the ACC. Over the years, Boeheim’s 2-3 zone vs. Dixon’s man-to-man air tight defense created great low scoring affairs that featured some of the best finishes in the Big East.

Iowa vs. Iowa State

This is the first of many in-state matchups that will be featured on this list. It’s not the strongest of rivalries solely because the two teams are in different conferences. Both Iowa and Iowa State have good basketball programs and are close in proximity to one another, but since they’re not in the same conference I couldn’t include it in my top 10. More of often than not this is an annual game between two teams that are fighting for bragging rights.

Marquette vs. Wisconsin

This game is annually a great contest between the two best teams in Wisconsin, that often have NCAA tournament implications. Each team usually has a star player, and that’s once again how it  is this season. Marquette beat Wisconsin 74-69 behind 27 points and 4 assists from Markus Howard, but Ethan Happ poured in 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists as well. That game was just another 40 minutes in the Marquette-Wisconsin rivalry.

Villanova vs. Temple

The “Big 5” has so any good rivalries that over the years I could’ve really picked any combination of the teams in the Big 5. In more recent years, however, Villanova has dominated Big 5 play, and Temple has been their biggest competitor. When Villanova played Temple in 1988, many revered the game as the greatest basketball game in Philadelphia history. The Daily News titled the game as a masterpiece. In what is seeming like Villanova’s slow slide back down to reality from the heavens, Temple is right there at the bottom of the slide waiting to finally win the Big 5.

Kansas-Missouri

This is an interesting rivalry, because obviously these schools are in different states and are also currently in different conferences ever since Missouri moved to the SEC. KU-Mizzou has a heated rivalry in the old Big 8 due to many factors. Above all else, they were two of the best teams in the Big 8 as well as the entire country. Missouri’s old coach Norm Stewart didn’t stop to get gas in the state of Kansas, because he claimed the tax dollars would help the Jayhawks basketball team. That’s how serious this rivalry was.