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New ESPN college basketball encyclopedia no fan of Pitt basketball

Written by Paul Zeise on .

 ESPN is selling a new college basketball encyclopedia for $49.95. If you're a Pitt fan and plan to shell out the big bucks for the book you'll be disappointed. Despite Pitt's great successes this decade the Panthers are not among the top 10 teams of the 2000s era. The rankings were computed exclusively for ESPN by Jeff Sagarin, who does rankings for other sports, including college football.

Scroll down to view the Sagarain rankings decade by decade. The first is the top 25 programs of all-time followed by the decade rankings. I'm not sure how Sagarain computed the rankings, but he has Duke ranked ahead of North Carolina in the 200s Era. I'm sure Pitt was penalized for not winning a national championship or making a Final Four, but the Panthers are among the top five teams in the country over the past eight years in terms of winning percentage. They are 220-56 with one Elite Eight, five Sweet 16s, five Big East championships (regular-season and tournament titles) and eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

Take a gander for yourselves. Should Pitt be ranked as one of the top 10 teams of the 2000s? Your thoughts?

 
  1. Kentucky
  2. UCLA
  3. Kansas
  4. North Carolina
  5. Indiana
  6. Illinois
  7. Duke
  8. Purdue
  9. Ohio State
  10. Iowa
  11. Louisville
  12. Notre Dame
  13. Michigan
  14. Minnesota
  15. Michigan State
  16. St. John’s
  17. Cincinnati
  18. Oklahoma State
  19. Utah
  20. Oklahoma
  21. Villanova
  22. NC State
  23. Syracuse
  24. Marquette
  25. Southern California
    26.
 
 
The Top 40 Programs of Each Decade
The 1940s (1937-38 through ’48-49)
 
  1. Oklahoma State
  2. Kentucky
  3. Illinois
  4. Notre Dame
  5. Indiana
  6. DePaul
  7. Purdue
  8. Ohio State
  9. Long Island
  10. Michigan
 
The 1950s
 
  1. Kentucky
  2. Illinois
  3. Kansas State
  4. Kansas
  5. Indiana
  6. UCLA
  7. Dayton
  8. Iowa
  9. Louisville
  10. Cincinnati
 
The 1960s
 
  1. UCLA
  2. Cincinnati
  3. Duke
  4. Ohio State
  5. Kentucky
  6. North Carolina
  7. Dayton
  8. Bradley
  9. Kansas
  10. Villanova
 
The 1970s
 
  1. UCLA
  2. North Carolina
  3. Marquette
  4. Kentucky
  5. Indiana
  6. NC State
  7. Maryland
  8. Notre Dame
  9. Louisville
  10. Purdue
    11.
 
The 1980s
 
  1. North Carolina
  2. Georgetown
  3. Indiana
  4. Illinois
  5. Kentucky
  6. Louisville
  7. Syracuse
  8. Iowa
  9. Virginia
  10. Purdue
 
The 1990s
 
  1. Kentucky
  2. Duke
  3. North Carolina
  4. Kansas
  5. Arizona
  6. Connecticut
  7. Indiana
  8. Arkansas
  9. Cincinnati
  10. UCLA
    11.
 
 
The 2000s
 
  1. Michigan State
  2. Illinois
  3. Arizona
  4. Texas
  5. Connecticut
  6. Kentucky
  7. Duke
  8. Kansas
  9. North Carolina
  10. Florida

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