Just looking at that all time poll. Whatever happened to Louisville? That was a program that's almost always been big on the national scene the 35 or so years I've been watching college basketball and all of a sudden has been one of the worst big conference programs in the last 5 years. Has NIL and the transfer portal hurt them that much? Maybe Denny Crum and Pitino are THAT good. Just a hard crash for them.
Up to 57 in All Time AP Poll
- Thread starter Jkclone15
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Past success is how fanbases are built. KU didn’t become popular because they have a dumb bird on their jersey. They did it by consistent winning over many years and then their donor base got old and had money and then they cemented themselves as a premier program.
I think moving up in this poll shows the current health of the program and that brighter days could be ahead if we can keep this momentum going.
Kenny Payne is a hilariously bad head coach, but that team has been a mess since Rick Pitino got hammered for using Adidas to pay his players. Shoe companies were College Basketballs bagmen pre-NIL. Chris Mack played a part here too.
Louisville sits in the same boat as NCState - a history almost any non-blueblood would happily take but sitting next to one of the greatest programs in the sport. It causes them to do stupid things
I understand what you're saying and I believe your point is valid. I just prefer to live in the present, so I don't pay much attention to my rear view mirror.
I wouldn't say that, Louisville has a much richer tradition than NC State (NC State is closer to Iowa State than Louisville) although still little brother to Kentucky but who isn't little brother to that program. They're a borderline blueblood program but I think you guys are right that Pitino left the program in shambles and Kenny Payne was a laughable hire although they were starting to crash under Chris Mack who I thought was a good coach.
Yeah, but you're looking into the rear view mirror and yelling at it. It's obvious what the thread is about. If you don't like it just stay out rather than come in and tell everyone how you don't like others talking about it.
Didn't say I don't like others talking about it. Just said I thought it was a meaningless statistic. But I'll take your advice and leave this thread.
2000 is where they became several levels lower. They hadn’t completely fallen off the map yet but includes ISU back to back b12 champs.
Lick and McD years are actually a push in terms of rankings, ncaa etc. had to actually watch to realize Lick was “worst in nation” bad and McD was just permanently .500 bad.
With 12 weeks/AP polls remaining this season, we could get as high as #49 on the All-Time AP.
Take that, San Francisco!
elipowell.com
The All-Time AP Poll
Eli Powell’s all-time men’s basketball program ranking based on the AP Poll
elipowell.com
UNLV being 17 spots ahead of us despite not being ranked in the last 12 years is wild. Don't think I ever realized how far behind we are historically
I think a lot of fans look fondly upon the 80s, 90s and 2000s but don’t realize how little we were actually ranked during that time.
We had very few seasons above .500 in conference in those decades. Some great teams, but also some bad ones and a bunch of average ones . Like good enough to make the tourney but not be ranked.
Orr had two winning seasons in conference, Floyd 2, Larry 2, Morgan 2, McDermott none.
Truth be told, our passion for basketball has always been disproportional to our standing in a national level with exception of a few years.
A couple others ahead of ISU that have been AP-stagnant even longer than UNLV - Wake Forest (last ranked in 2010) and Stanford (2008). And DePaul (2000) and Georgia Tech (2010), but we'll pass those shortly.
And weird to have just passed USF, which hasn't been ranked in almost 43 years.
And next week USC!Take that, San Francisco!
The All-Time AP Poll
Eli Powell’s all-time men’s basketball program ranking based on the AP Poll
Fair point
And I obviously don’t mean this to be a downer. It is what it is and we’re moving in the right direction.
