NCAA Basketball: Ranking of 20 best college teams from last 20 years

By Joey Loose | Jun 25, 2022

Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Frank Kaminsky (44) looses control of the ball between Kentucky Wildcats forward Trey Lyles (41) and Karl-Anthony Towns (12) in the second half of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Championship semi-final game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /

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Chris Duhon Duke NCAA Basketball Craig Jones/Getty Images /

10. 2002 Duke

With the focus on the last twenty years, Coach K’s third title team from 2001 just misses the cut, but we can’t deny that the following year’s roster was still pretty incredible. This is another team that didn’t quite get the job done in the NCAA Tournament but was still a super talented team that kept trucking people in the regular season.

There was just a slew of NBA talent on this roster, with three juniors leading the charge. Jay Williams (21.3 ppg, 5.3 apg), Carlos Boozer (18.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg), and Mike Dunleavy (17.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg) were not only high-impact players and scorers but starred in the NBA as well. This was a rotation that also included Dahntay Jones and Chris Duhon, who both had great seasons and NBA tastes as well.

Failing to defend their title was rough for the top team in the NCAA Tournament field, but being upset by Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen was almost unthinkable at the time. This team averaged nearly 89 points per game and was one of Duke’s deepest and most talented lineups since the turn of the century. Coach K couldn’t get his second back-to-back, but he did put quite the roster together; and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time he got numerous NBA prospects on campus at Durham.

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