In my unceasing quest to finally break the code that is the NCAA Tournament bracket (which will never happen BTW) I did some research on what I believe are 6 of the most important factors in a team winning the national championship. I narrowed my investigation down to the 9 teams that I feel can win the title.
The 6 factors I isolated are Experience, Star caliber players, Coaching, Guard play, preseason ranking and balance. Some of this evaluation is of course subjective but I used analytics and facts where they were available.
Ranking every team 1-9 in all 6 categories gave me a composite “final score” as to who the most complete is. Maybe it will help you, maybe it won’t. But I feel it is interesting nonetheless!
Enjoy the madness!
A. Experience in starting 5
1. UNC- 3 Sr, 2 Jr,
2. Gonzaga 2Sr. 2Jr,
3. Kansas- 2 Sr, 2 Jr,
4. UCLA 2 Sr. 1 Jr
5. Oregon- 1 Sr, 2 Jr,
6. Nova 2 Sr. 3 Soph,
7. Duke 2 Sr.
8. Arizona 1Sr. 1Jr.
9. Kent- 1 Soph
B- Stars- How many NBAdraft.net players do you have in the next 2 mock NBA drafts? (projected selection in parenthesis)
1. Kentucky- 5 (5, 8, 19, 12, 41),
2. UCLA- 5 (2, 13, 15, 16, 43),
3. Duke 5 (7, 12, 24, 23, 30),
4. Kansas- 5 (3, 38, 26, 31, 53),
5. Arizona 4- (10, 40, 19, 32),
6. UNC-3 (25, 29, 47)
7. Gonzaga- 3 (14, 36, 8),
8. Villanova 3- (32, 35, 40)
9. Oregon 3-(42, 44, 45),
C. Coaching- How many NCAA tournament wins does your coach have?
1. Duke- 90
2. UNC- 70,
3. Kentucky-
4. Kansas- 40,
5. Gonzaga 21,
6. Villanova- 20,
7. Arizona-17,
8. Oregon- 9-
9. UCLA- 8
D- Guards- Bold indicates All Conference team. * indicates Wooden candidate
1. Kansas- Mason*, Graham, Jackson*
2. Villanova- Hart*, Brunson, Jenkins
3. Kentucky- Fox*, Monk*, Briscoe
4. Duke- Jackson, Jones, Kennard*
5. Oregon- Brooks*, Ennis, Dorsey
6. Gonzaga- Goss*, Matthews, Perkins
7. UCLA- Ball*, Alford
8. Ari- Trier, Allen
9. UNC- Berry*
5. Preseason ranking- AP
1. Duke,
2. Kansas,
3. Villanova,
4. Kentucky,
5. Oregon,
6. UNC,
11. Arizona,
13. Gonzaga,
20. UCLA,
6. Balance-KenPom ranking of (offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency)
1. Gonzaga 10, 2
2. Villanova 2, 12
3. Kentucky 14, 9
4. UNC- 4, 25
5. Kansas- 9, 30
6. Oregon 19, 22
7. Duke- 6, 39
8. Arizona- 20, 28
9. UCLA- 3, 78
Total- All rankings and total
1. Kansas- 3, 4, 4, 1, 2, 5= 19
2. Duke- 7, 3, 1, 4, 1, 7= 23
2. Kentucky- 9, 1, 3, 3, 4, 3= 23
4. Villanova- 6, 8, 6, 2, 3, 2= 27
5. UNC- 1, 6, 2, 9, 6, 4= 28
6. Gonzaga- 2, 7, 5, 6, 8, 1= 29
7. Oregon- 5, 9, 8, 5, 5, 6= 38
8. UCLA- 4, 2, 9, 7, 9, 9= 40
9. Arizona- 8, 5, 7, 8, 7, 8= 43