NCAA Basketball: Ranking of 20 best college teams from last 20 years
By Joey Loose
7. 2008 Kansas
For the first time in twenty years, Kansas cut down the nets, giving coach Bill Self his first national championship. That 2008 team had plenty of NBA talent and simply was the best team in the country that year; and they played like it. After some truly talented Jayhawks, teams had taken the court, what made this one so special?
A slew of highly-touted recruits all hit, led by guards Brandon Rush (13.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Mario Chalmers (12.8 ppg, 4.3 apg). The frontcourt did their job, led by starters Darrell Arthur (12.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and Darnell Jackson (11.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg), while names like Sherron Collins and Sasha Kaun were solid contributors off the bench. This team didn’t win 37 games from a fluke; these were great players who played well together.
The Jayhawks battered a very good North Carolina team in the Final Four before ending the hopes and dreams of a Memphis team we’ve already covered in the title game. Kansas secured their third national title, and ensured that the people in Lawrence would never forget about players like Chalmers and Rush. This was a team that played elite offense and defense and regularly were blowing people out, with Stephen Curry and 10-seed Davidson the only team to play them within 5 points in the NCAA Tournament that year.