Not only the NBA but basketball as a whole has been growing all over the world for the last several years. The game is seeing more and more young talent take over. College basketball has seen some great teams and great players over the past decade. The amount of talent on each team all over the country have made that school great. As the decade comes to a close, we look at the top five best teams in college basketball of the 2010s.
Best College Basketball Teams Of The 2010s
2015-16 Villanova
The Villanova Wildcats won their first of two National Championships in 2016. They got beat by a pesky Seton Hall team in the Big East Tournament but that didn’t faze them. They had shooters every where as they shot 50 percent as a team throughout the tournament. This team got hot at the right time. Villanova beat number one seed Kansas and number two seed Oklahoma back-to-back to make it to the title game against number one seed North Carolina. Villanova won their second title on a game-winning three by Kris Jenkins. This team had an incredible run and it didn’t stop there.
2012-13 Louisville
After winning the Big East tournament, Louisville knew they had a special team. They had an amazing defense and a great back-court led by Peyton Siva and Russ Smith. Both of them out a lot of pressure on the opposition on both sides of the court. Gorgui Dieng and Luke Hancock were great for the Cardinals as well. They started the tournament as the number seed and ended it as the only team left standing. In 2018, they had to vacate the 2013 National Championship for forbidden acts. Vacated title or not, everyone knows how good that team was and they still see themselves as National Champions.
2014-15 Duke
What kind of a list is it if we don’t have at-least one Duke team apart of it? 2015 was Duke’s second National Championship this decade with the first one coming in 2010. This Duke team was led by All-American Jahlil Okafor who was dominant throughout the season but slowed down in the tournament Luckily, they had many other guys that could step up like Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow. They had it all from talented freshmen like Grayson Allen and veteran leadership like Quinn Cook. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski is considered one of the best coaches in college basketball history and what he has done with this team has been impressive.
2017-18 Villanova
Just two years after winning a title, they got ahead and do it again but this time with an even better team. They had a historic offense and rolled through everyone that stood in their way. They had the National Player of the Year in Jalen Brunson and a lottery pick in Mikal Bridges. The Wildcats had a couple of great three-point shooters in Eric Paschall and Omari Spellman. This team was littered with talent and it’s surprising that there’s a team better than this team.
2011-12 Kentucky
Kentucky was so talented that they had a lot of one-and-done players. They also had a National Player of the Year in Anthony Davis who led them to their eighth National Championship and their first since 1998. They only lost two games that season and it was by a total of eight points. Winning by double-digits was their thing for the first few rounds. This team had it all. Anywhere from athleticism in the form of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to the physicality of power forward Terrence Jones and great shooting ability by Doron Lamb. This team changed the talk around college basketball and was the best team to win it all in the 2010s.
Rewind
There are a lot of other teams that could have made it like Virginia in 2015-16, 2009-10 Duke, and any of the two UCONN teams in 2013-14 and 2010-11. A lot of talent came out of the NCAA this decade like Anthony Davis, Kemba Walker, John Wall, and DeMarcus Cousins. As the college game becomes more popular, look for a lot more star players to get the recognition. The Cliche at the end of every decade is “I hope this next one is better than the last.” The saying applies to the ending of the 2010s as well.
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