College Basketball Rankings - Final

Kentucky just became only the second team to win the tournament after being named the top seed beforehand, so there isn't much debate as to which team belongs at #1. But where do all the other teams fit? There were a lot of teams that lost earlier than expected (Missouri), and several that went deeper than we thought (Louisville), so ranking the teams is a little difficult, but I'll let you know where each team stands after every game for the entire season is taken into account. I've included each team's overall record, final season result, and pre-tournament ranking, and also put gaps between groups of teams to show different levels of performance.

TW. Team (Overall) Rating (Final Result) (PTR)
1. Kentucky (37-2) -20.09 (Champion) (2)

2. Ohio State (31-8) -18.58 (Final Four) (1)

3. North Carolina (32-6) -17.27 (Elite Eight) (3)

4. Kansas (32-6) -16.68 (Championship Game) (5)
5. Michigan State (29-8) -16.55 (Sweet 16) (4)

6. Syracuse (34-3) -15.98 (Elite Eight) (6)

7. Wichita State (27-6) -14.76 (Round of 64) (8)
8. Missouri (30-5) -14.68 (Round of 64) (7)
9. Memphis (26-9) -14.62 (Round of 64) (9)
10. Wisconsin (26-10) -14.59 (Sweet 16) (10)

11. Florida (26-11) -13.86 (Elite Eight) (12)

12. Louisville (30-10) -13.08 (Final Four) (21)
13. Vanderbilt (25-11) -12.66 (Round of 32) (16)
14. Georgetown (24-9) -12.64 (Round of 32) (14)
15. Indiana (27-9) -12.504 (Sweet 16) (19)
16. Marquette (27-8) -12.502 (Sweet 16) (13)
17. Duke (27-7) -12.23 (Round of 64) (11)
18. Baylor (30-8) -12.05 (Elite Eight) (18)
19. New Mexico (28-7) -11.92 (Round of 32) (17)
20. Saint Louis (26-8) -11.87 (Round of 32) (22)
21. Belmont (27-8) -11.70 (Round of 64) (15)

22. Florida State (25-10) -10.66 (Round of 32) (20)

23. Gonzaga (26-7) -10.05 (Round of 32) (NR)
24. Kansas State (22-11) -9.98 (Round of 32) (23)
25. Cincinnati (26-11) -9.80 (Sweet 16) (NR)

Dropping Out

Alabama (21-12) -9.49 (Round of 64) (25)
Creighton (29-6) -8.77 (Round of 32) (24)

Ranked Teams by Conference

Big East - 5
Big 10 - 4
Big 12 - 4
SEC - 3
ACC - 3
MVC - 1
CUSA - 1
MWC - 1
Atl 10 - 1
Atl Sun - 1
WCC - 1

Louisville nearly pulled off the same feat as Connecticut did last season, winning the Big East tournament despite being seeded pretty low, then making a run to the Final Four as a #4 seed. They didn't win the entire thing, but they did put on an impressive show over the past month, and two of the teams they beat are ranked in the top 11 today.

Gonzaga entered the top 25 for the first time all season, even though they only won one tournament game. That game was a blowout of West Virginia, and they followed it up with a very strong showing against Ohio State, my pre-tourney #1, so the Bulldogs have earned a spot in the final rankings of the season, which gave the West Coast Conference its only representative.

The other team that jumped into the final top 25 was Cincinnati, another team that lost to Ohio State. The Bearcats allowed the Big East to gain its fifth ranked team, putting them ahead of all other conferences for yet another season. Their only losses during the last month were to Louisville in the Big East title game and to Ohio State in the Sweet 16, with wins over Georgetown, Florida State, and Syracuse mixed in.

Duke ended up losing three of their final four games, including their loss to North Carolina in the season finale, their loss to Florida State in the ACC Tournament, and their loss to 15th-seed Lehigh in the NCAA Tournament. Even sadder is that the last loss took place in Duke's backyard, and another good regular season ended in disappointment.

Prediction Results

College Basketball: 50-17 (.746) 603-165 overall (.785)
Upsets: 5-2 (.714) 59-41 overall (.590)