With the start of the 2019-20 college basketball season nearly upon us, we enter a fresh decade: an era currently up for grabs by the programs at large in position to make it theirs. Before we do, let’s take a look back at the 10 years that just were and the greatest teams that will define the period for long to come.
Villanova, Duke and Connecticut all came out of the decade with two titles each, with Kentucky and North Carolina also having plenty of say in the outcomes of the 2010s. But without the bias of winning a title at the end, what teams were the best of the best from this chapter of college basketball? Here are the teams that just missed the cut for the top 10, followed by the bottom half of the top 10, using KenPom’s end-of-season adjusted efficiency numbers.
15. 2013 Florida
AdjEM: +31.18 (2nd nationally)
AdjO: 117.2 (9th nationally)
AdjD: 86.0 (3rd nationally)
Achievements: Sweet 16, SEC Regular Season Championship
Key Players: Mike Rosario (12.5 ppg, 2.0 apg), Erik Murphy (12.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Kenny Boynton (12.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
14. 2010 Kansas
AdjEM: +31.85 (2nd nationally)
AdjO: 120.4 (2nd nationally)
AdjD: 88.5 (8th nationally)
Achievements: NCAA Second Round, Big 12 Regular Season Championship, Big 12 Tournament Championship
Key Players: Sherron Collins (15.5 ppg, 4.5 apg), Xavier Henry (13.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Marcus Morris (12.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg)
13. 2016 Villanova
AdjEM: +32.01 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 122.8 (3rd nationally)
AdjD: 90.8 (5th nationally)
Achievements: National Championship, Big East Regular Season Championship
Key Players: Josh Hart (15.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg), Kris Jenkins (13.6 ppg, 2.2 apg), Ryan Arcidiacono (12.5 ppg, 4.2 apg)
12. 2017 Gonzaga
AdjEM: +32.05 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 118.4 (16th nationally)
AdjD: 86.3 (1st nationally)
Achievements: National Runners Up, WCC Regular Season Championship, WCC Tournament Championship
Key Players: Nigel Williams-Goss (16.8 ppg, 4.7 apg), Przemek Karnowski (12.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Jordan Mathews (10.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg)
11. 2015 Arizona
AdjEM: +32.36 (4th nationally)
AdjO: 119.9 (7th nationally)
AdjD: 87.5 (3rd nationally)
Achievements: Elite Eight, Pac-12 Regular Season Championship, Pac-12 Tournament Championship
Key Players: Stanley Johnson (13.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Brandon Ashley (12.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (11.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
10. 2015 Duke
AdjEM: +33.29 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 121.0 (1st nationally)
AdjD: 87.7 (5th nationally)
Achievements: National Championship
Key Players: Jahlil Okafor (17.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg), Quinn Cook (15.3 ppg, 2.6 apg), Justice Winslow (12.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Tyus Jones (11.8 ppg, 5.6 apg), Rasheed Sulaimon (7.5 ppg, 1.0 spg)
Though Coach K’s second championship team of the decade comes in at 10 on the list, it achieved the ultimate in unquestionably the most difficult year of any in the 2010s. Unlike the team that won to start the decade, this team was compromised of multiple one-and-dones, a major shift in Duke’s M.O. It paid off in 2015 as Okafor, Winslow and Jones served as the three-headed freshman monster that took the Blue Devils all the way.
9. 2012 Kentucky
AdjEM: +32.59 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 122.2 (2nd nationally)
AdjD: 89.6 (7th nationally)
Achievements: National Championship, SEC Regular Season Championship
Key Players: Anthony Davis (14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg), Doron Lamb (13.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg), Terrence Jones (12.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (11.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Marquis Teague (10.0 ppg, 4.8 apg)
John Calipari’s lone championship, Kentucky dominated in 2012, especially in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville came to the closest to the Wildcats in the Final Four, losing only 69-61, but no one else could come within single digits of the Cats. Kentucky won by an average margin of 12.5 points, a mark of great consistency. Seven players on the roster that season have played in the NBA, a sign of how much talent Calipari had at his fingerprints. This was the nation’s introduction to a truly great one-and-done team and proved to college basketball that this model could work.
8. 2019 Gonzaga
AdjEM: +32.85 (2nd nationally)
AdjO: 124.5 (1st nationally)
AdjD: 91.6 (12th nationally)
Achievements: Elite Eight, WCC Regular Season Champions
Key Players: Rui Hachimura (19.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Brandon Clarke (16.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg), Zach Norvell Jr. (14.9 ppg, 3.1 apg), Josh Perkins (11.0 ppg, 6.3 apg), Corey Kispert (8.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg)
The best team Mark Few’s Gonzaga has ever rolled out featured dynamic scorers all over the floor, with athleticism and court vision out of this world. Its frontcourt was drafted in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft, point guard Josh Perkins would make a few jaw-dropping dishes each night, and Zach Norvell would hit from anywhere if he was angry enough. This offensive juggernaut was only to be stopped by a defense equally as incredible, and that’s precisely what happened. The 2019 Zags won’t be remembered the same way a title-winning team is, but it deserves recognition for its greatness.
7. 2013 Louisville
AdjEM: +32.92 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 117.7 (7th nationally)
AdjD: 84.8 (1st nationally)
Achievements: National Championship*, Big East Regular Season Championship, Big East Tournament Championship
Key Players: Russ Smith (18.7 ppg, 2.9 apg), Peyton Silva (10.0 ppg, 5.7 apg), Chane Behanan (9.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg), Gorgui Dieng (9.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg), Luke Hancock (8.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
This team has remembered more for what it did off the court than on it, and that national title it won technically never happened. But when stacked up against the rest of the decade’s teams through a pure hoops lens, 2013 Louisville is undeniable. It attacked oppositions with one of the best defenses of the 2010s, and Russ Smith couldn’t be stopped. It was one of those seasons where the favorite to win it all does so in such convincing fashion that the tournament seemed more like a race for second than first. That’s how good this Louisville team was.
6. 2010 Duke
AdjEM: +33.29 (1st nationally)
AdjO: 121.0 (1st nationally)
AdjD: 87.7 (5th nationally)
Achievements: National Championship, ACC Regular Season Championship, ACC Tournament Championship
Key Players: Jon Scheyer (18.2 ppg, 4.9 apg), Kyle Singler (17.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg), Nolan Smith (17.4 ppg, 3.0 apg), Brian Zoubek (5.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg), Miles Plumelee (5.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
The end of the upperclassman-dominated Duke teams, the 2010 Blue Devils won Coach K his fourth of five titles with three incredible scorers who will never be forgotten in Durham lore. Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler drove fear into defenses and eviscerated them as the role players around them kept the well-oiled machine otherwise running. This squad nearly didn’t win its validating title as Gordon Hayward’s prayer at the buzzer of the national championship game narrowly bounced on the wrong side of the rim, but it wouldn’t have made this team any less worthy of its spot on this list. It does make Duke one of three programs in men’s college basketball to win multiple championships from 2010-2019, though.
Tomorrow, teams one through five will be revealed and dissected as we celebrate the closing of the 2010s in college basketball and look forward to the unknown of the 2020s.
