NCAA Basketball: Ranking of 20 best college teams from last 20 years
By Joey Loose
8. 2021 Baylor
That Gonzaga team looked like the best team in decades, so it seems pretty fair that the team that trounced them in the title game gets higher billing. Coach Scott Drew’s hard work was finally rewarded nearly two decades after inheriting a program in utter ruin. A roster lacking in highly-touted recruits or household names simply played as a team and did the unthinkable.
A trio of guards led the way on offense, a backcourt that featured Jared Butler (16.7 ppg, 4.8 apg), MaCio Teague (15.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg), and Davion Mitchell (14.0 ppg, 5.5 apg). Fellow starters Mark Vital and Flo Thamba were important pieces of the frontcourt, while the Bears’ deep lineup included contributions from Adam Flagler, Matthew Mayer, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua off the bench.
This was a Baylor team that played hard, played together, and trounced previously unbeaten Gonzaga by 16 points in the title game, an impressive feat after already beating Wisconsin, Villanova, Arkansas, and Houston in the NCAA Tournament. On paper, it’s easy to say that this isn’t the most exciting lineup in the world, but this was a great offensive squad that knew how to win games and was as deep as any title team in recent memory.