[MJ FOR LIFE 23Participant]

It will be interesting to see what you guys think on who the best champion team is over the past 10 seasons. I have listed them down below and arrange them in the order you think is best from 1-10. All teams are very formidable hence why they are champions.

2001-02 – Maryland – starting 5 – Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Chris Wilcox, Byron Mouton, Lonny Baxter

2002-03 – Syracuse – starting 5 – Carmelo Anthony, Hakim Warrick, Gerry McNamara, Craig Forth

2003-04 – Connecticut – starting 5 – Emeka Okafor, Josh Boone, Denham Brown, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva

2004-05 – North Carolina – starting 5 – Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, Marvin Williams, Sean May, Jawad Williams

2005-06 – Florida – starting 5 – Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey, Taurean Green

2006-07 – Florida – starting 5 – Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey, Taurean Green

2007-08 – Kansas – starting 5 – Mario Chalmers, Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson,  Sasha Kaun

2008-09 – North Carolina – starting 5 – Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Wayne Ellington, Deon Thompson

2009-10 – Duke – starting 5 – Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, Brian Zoubek, Lance Thomas

2010-2011 – Connecticut – starting 5 – Kemba Walker, Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander

[MJ FOR LIFE 23Participant]

woops forgot to add Kueth Duany for Syracuse

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Besides Melo and Horford ,there arent any other guys that have become all stars from these teams..Even though Noah might be an all star soon…

[providencefriars1Participant]

Olander was not the regular starter for Uconn. They used Niels Giffey most of the time and Jamaal Coombs-McDaniels for a few games here and there. I believe Charles Okwandu started the first few games as well.

[MJ FOR LIFE 23Participant]

@providencefriars1 Sorry about that I just based the starting 5 during the tournament

[ultrablue123Participant]

 Well I don’t want to be biased and say Syracuse, but I might have to haha.  That team was awesome.  They went undefeated at the Dome that year if I remember correctly.  Melo and Gmac were such a food freshmen duo.

I guess the Florida team was pretty good though, just because they were able to win ‘chips in a row.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Its Funny that the Main Things All these Teams have in Common is that they all had

1.Veteran guard play

2.Outstanding Shooters

3.Very good Post players(Zoubek was a godsend for Duke)

4.Great Coaches

5.Played great together

6.Nice Depth

7.Outstanding Role players

[ChewyParticipant]

is the textbook make up of a team. 1. Superstar scorer 2. PG who takes care of the ball and shoots well from distance 3. Freak athlete to help defend post and wing 4. Big 7 footer who is willing to bang inside and willing to set screens and rebound 5. Swing man who can slash.

That is almost every coaches dream line up.

[PulseGlazerParticipant]

I’ll take the Florida squad.  They have the dominance inside to be really rough to take out, most teams have great wings to be shut down by Brewer, and they played great to their system.  There’s a reason they’re the only team to repeat.  Only UConn (the Okafor Gordon squad), I think, could really hang with them.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

By NBA success or how good these guys were in college? Well, either way, here are the TEAMS (in college) I feel were best from 1-10:

1. 2006-07 Florida: Hard to rank them above 2004-05 NC, but their size was amazing. The front court starters were all 6’9 and over (Brewer was damn close), plus the back court knew how to get things done. The real kicker? The bench had Chris Richard, Walter Hodge and Marreese Speights. Speights was only a freshman, but he could score like crazy (5.7 mpg, 4.1 ppg).

2. 2004-05 North Carolina: I do realize that this team had 4 lottery picks and the 2nd pick in the draft coming off of their bench. But, did any of them really live up to their billing? Nonetheless, this team was a major force, Sean May was an absolute tank and the guards were much more prolific than Florida’s. Still, if their were a match-up between the two, I think Florida’s length was far superior. Like them over the first championship team, but the second time around, Florida was an absolute monster.

3. 2003-04 UCONN: This was a team that was a pre-season favorite that lived up to expectations. Okafor and Gordon went 2-3 in the draft, plus they had Charlie Villaneuva coming off of the bench. I loved Rashad Anderson, and while Taliek Brown was very inconsistent, they were pretty beastly up front and had the necessary shooting as well. Hilton Armstrong and Josh Boone were both big bodies as well.

4. 2007-08 Kansas: The winner of the first all #1 Final Four deserves a lot of props. I am sure I will get flack for letting 2008-09 UNC keep slipping, but these guys beat an incredibly similar version of that team by 18 points to get to the Championship game. The NCAA Finals was, I have to say, probably the best in the last 10 years. They had a lot of NBA level talent, played great defense and had monster athleticism. Just a very solid all-around team, no real superstars, but Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur all have been role players. Darnell Jackson and Russell Robinson played awesome defense, Sherron Collins was a ball of excitement, plus they had a couple beastly bigs in Sasha Kaun and Cole Aldrich. Aldrich did not play much as a freshman, but I think many will remember he played a nice match-up against UNC in the Final 4, stifling Psycho T with his length.

5. 2008-09 North Carolinsa: This was a great team as well, seeming destined to win a championship with one of the more prolific college players in the last decade at the helm in Tyler Hansbrough. Like him or not, the guy put together an incredibly solid 4 year career, and did not disappoint as a senior. Though he finished behind Blake Griffin for NCAA POY, he was still his usual dominant self and was an All-American and lead a team with amazing guard play and the experience to win it all. Ty Lawson had blazing speed in the open court, Wayne Ellington got his shot to fall. They had another tough senior leader in Danny Green, rugged Deon Thompson next to Psycho T and Ed Davis providing off of the bench. The rest of their depth was shaky, especially given that Tyler Zeller was hurt early on, but they were a force of a team.

6. 2001-02 Maryland: This was not the most glamorous Maryland team, but they got the job done. They had experience, a local superstar in Juan Dixon and some big bodies in Chris Wilcox and Lonny Baxter. Steve Blake’s PG play was steady and his defense was incredibly solid. Baxter versus Sean May would have been a great match-up to watch, and Wilcox was an athletic beast. Mouton was a solid wing, Drew Nicholas was a great spark off of the bench and they had another huge body in Tahj Holden. I did not expect this team to win, but they really had all of the ingredients you want in a champion, great team coached by Gary Williams.

7. 2005-06 Florida: Yes, I know that it seems silly to rank a team first and a similar team seventh, but that is how this list worked out. Florida had the same starting line-up and many of the same contributors, minus Marreese Speights, in 2005-06. Still, the 2005-06 NCAA Tournament was CRAZY. You had George Mason playing them in the Final Four and they killed UCLA in the Finals. Nonetheless, I feel that many of these teams ahead of them peaked at the right time, and while Florida did that in 2005-06, had they played some of the teams ranked ahead of them, I think they might have had a tougher match-up than the teams they ended up meeting in that years tournament. If that makes any sense. A year can make a huge difference, luckily Florida had everyone back to show that it was not just luck.

8. 2002-03 Syracuse: I have no vendetta against Carmelo Anthony and Jim Boeheim! Melo is by far the best player amongst all of these teams, and that is saying something. His individual dominance of college basketball, as a freshman, was incredibly impressive. This team was not heralded pre-season, even with Melo as a huge recruit, they were predicted by some not to even make the tournament. Well, they ended up having a great season and an even better NCAA tournament, with Melo leading the way. They also beat a solid Kansas team in the Final, though they were missing Wayne Simien. Hakim Warrick had the monster block on Michael Lee, Gerry McNamara was Melo’s sidekick and began his fantastic Syracuse career as well. Kueth Duany had some long arms, Billy Edelin was talented and Craig Forth was, well, huge. Still, I feel that while Melo might take it to any of these teams, the other teams were maybe a bit more balanced and well constructed. It would have been a superstar against a bunch of better constructed teams, and while Melo could probably make things happen, I think the teams in front might have taken this Cuse team down.

9. 2009-10 Duke: This was another greatly balanced Mike Krzyzewski team, but lets be honest, they are sort of underwhelming on the wow factor. They had Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer handling the scoring duties, Lance Thomas, Brian Zoubek and the brothers Plumlee providing some size, and they just outwilled the other teams. Still, having Nolan Smith be your only first round pick leaves a lot to be desired.  Nonetheless, this team was very well put together and played awesome basketball to get to the championship. A great achievement and not a Duke team I expected to win, but Coach K got it done again.

10. 2010-11 UCONN: I again have nothing against coach Jim Calhoun. I like him a lot. But, this team, while they were a sentimental favorite of many and an underdog who killed in tournaments, had its flaws. Kemba Walker was the story of this past year, and his scoring ability was indeed incredible, not to mention his penchant for lighting up every tournament the Huskies entered. They also look to have a bonafide star in the making with Jeremy Lamb. After that, does this team have a lot to write home about? They shot pretty poorly for the year, they had one big guy you really like in Alex Oriakhi, but beyond that, I found it amazing that these guys won the NCAA tournament. The tournament this year was indeed, also crazy. The Finals, maybe one of the most ridiculously poorly played and shot games of the year. I thought it was awesome that UCONN won the championship, and they definitely, like all of these teams, deserved it. Still, while it would be fun to see Kemba take on all of these teams, I am thinking that this team is looking like the last place finisher amongst the top 10 NCAA Title teams of the last 10 years.

[CameronParticipant]

But I might actually give the edge to Maryland.  Having the bitter taste of being upset the previous year, they really came back with a vengence that year.  And I think a lot of people forgot just how dominant Baxter was while in College.  Maryland never really played a close game that tournament and played really well each game. 

Both Florida teams would have been really tough as well, just because of the size they had upfront and the perimeter defense with Brewer. 

Good topic.

[TRC1991Participant]

to the dude who posted this,

1) uconn’s starting PG was taliek brown and charlie villanueva came off the bench

2) marvin williams didnt start; that was jackie manuel that started

3) tyler olander didnt start for UCONN; he was more of a spot starter. they went with Charles Okwandu, oriakhi, smith, lamb and walker

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

1) Charlie Villaneuva also was not a starter, as Rashad Anderson was for most of the year and in the NCAA championship game.

2) Tyler Olander may have been a spot starter, but he started in the NCAA championship game. He only played 7 minutes, but was still a starter (http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/2011/04/04/butler-41-connecticut-53). Kemba Walker started all 41 games, Jeremy Lamb 40, Alex Oriakhi 39, Roscoe Smith 33, Olander 21, Okwandu 19, Niels Giffey 10 and Coombs-McDaniel 2.

3) (Applies to almost everyone who has posted on this thread) I find it hilarious how this thread of mostly corrections on who started where and such without making an actual Top 10 list. What is the deal? TC, this is board copping out of control man!

[TRC1991Participant]

…not once did i say villanueva started, i said he came off the bench…

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Though, I think you missed the point, which was to make a list of who you thought were the 10 best NCAA Championship teams in order, rather than criticize the starting line-ups the original poster had written. 

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