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NCAA Basketball: Ranking the top 25 programs of all time

By Brian Rauf

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils grabs a rebound against the kentucky Wildcats during the State Farm Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils grabs a rebound against the kentucky Wildcats during the State Farm Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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CHAPEL HILL, NC – FEBRUARY 08: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots over Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on February 8, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC – FEBRUARY 08: Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots over Luke Maye #32 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during their game at Dean Smith Center on February 8, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

Which NCAA Basketball programs hold bragging rights over the rest? Find out as we rank the 25 greatest college hoops programs of all time.

Every NCAA basketball program likes to claim that they’re No. 1 – all you have to do is go to any arena in the country and you’ll see countless index fingers pointed to the heavens signifying that notion.

Of course, this is meant as a rallying cry for fans rather than any substantive claim, but there’s no denying the role program prestige has on fans and viewers across the country. The coveted term “blue blood” is thrown around much to differentiate those programs that are among the sport’s traditional elite, yet the real power players on the court seem to change on an annual basis.

When the preseason AP poll for the 2019-20 season comes out in a few short weeks, many of the normal names – Michigan State, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, etc. – will be at the top. They will be accompanied by the latest in a constantly changing class of short-term contenders – Memphis, Texas Tech, and Seton Hall fit the bill this season.

The teams in that second class have not had the kind of consistent traditional success that contender, with each looking to take their respective program to new heights.

But which programs have already seen those heights and have built up the kind of prestige that puts them in the top-tier of college basketball? We decided to do our own top 25, ranking the 25 best programs throughout the sport’s history.

Simple metrics like wins, weeks ranked, conference championships, NCAA tournament appearances, and national championships were used to determine these rankings with varying weight given to each category, the most of which being towards a national title. That’s what the sport’s all about, right? The only national titles counted were ones won since the start of the NCAA Tournament in 1939, as championships before that were somewhat subjective.

So, without further ado, here are the top 25 programs in college basketball history:

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