http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?i...ht&lid=tab5pos1 1. 2007 Florida Gators 2. 2005 North Carolina Tar Heels 3. 1999 Connecticut Huskies 4. 2004 Connecticut Huskies 5. 2001 Duke Blue Devils 6. 2000 Michigan State Spartans 7. 1999 Duke Blue Devils 8. 2003 Maryland Terrapins 9. 2005 Illinois Fighting Illini 10. 2003 Syracuse Orangemen Honorable Mention: 2006 Florida Gators, 1998 North Carolina Tar Heels, 2004 St. Joseph, 2000 Cincinnati Bearcats I know Voodoo disagrees with this list big time. Having Gators #1 and Michigan State at #6.
Of all the top ten lists that ESPN has made in the last few days, this is the most subjective and hard to argue. Who's to say that a team in 1998 would have beaten a team from 2007? If you want to base this on objective statistics though, like wins, losses, and things like that, then I think 2005's Fighting Illini have to be #1. They went undefeated until the last game of the season, winning both the Big Ten regular and postseason title and beating teams like Georgetown, Cincinnati, Gonzaga, and then-#1 Wake Forest with Chris Paul. Sure, they didn't win the title, but that's one game out of 39 the Illini played that season. Why would you penalize them so much to losing to a team like the '05 Tar Heels that you'd rank them as low as #9? Forget that Florida, North Carolina, Connecticut, and the rest all won titles, because none of them had the entire body of work on the season that the Illini had. If I had to rank these teams, it'd look something like this - 1) 2005 Illinois Fighting Illini 2) 1999 Duke Blue Devils 3) 2005 North Carolina Tar Heels 4) 2001 Duke Blue Devils 5) 2002 Maryland Terrapins 6) 2000 Michigan State Spartans 7) 2007 Florida Gators 8) 2004 UConn Huskies 9) 1999 UConn Huskies 10) 2004 St. Joe's Hawks
I'd love to have the Fighting Illini team again! It was a great season with a disappointing ending, especially after the exciting game against Arizona and then beating Louisville in the final 4.
