2010 NCAA Basketball Rankings, part 1: #21 - 25 & honorable mention

Before I start into the top 25, here are the 5 that almost made the list:
#29(tie): Wisconsin - 32 points
#29(tie): LSU - 32 points
#28: Stanford - 34 points
#26(tie): Cincinatti - 35 points
#26(tie): Utah - 35 points 


#25: Ohio State

(Wrong sport, I know. It's still funny. Plus, I had to save my couch-burning picture for another school later on.)

Points: 37
NCs: 0
Final Fours: 2(1999, 2007)
Made the NCAAs: 50%

Ohio State's feast or famine; they only made the field of 64 half the time, but when they do they have a better chance of making a deep run.



#24: Georgia Tech

(I'm pretty sure nobody's going to complain about this one being the wrong sport. Bonus points for the shocker sign BTW.)

Points: 39
NCs: 0
Final Fours: 2(1990, 2004)
Made the NCAAs: 57.69%

Georgia Tech has a team with players. And a coach. Probably. I don't know. They're probably the most under-the-radar team on this list, likely because when they were doing their heaviest damage I was watching Airwolf, blissfully unaware that 'Stringfellow Hawke' was a completely unrealistic name for a badass military helicopter pilot.

#23: Oklahoma State

 (Sean Sutton's got his Dad's room all ready when he gets back from Betty Ford.)

Points: 40
NCs: 0
Final Fours: 2(1995, 2004)
Made the NCAAs: 57.69%

Oklahoma's little brother was a bit of a surprise on this list to me. They had a few good runs where they made it out of the 1st weekend here and there which was enough to get them on the list. Having 2 Final Four runs helped cover up the long stretches('85-'90, '06-'08) where they missed the field entirely.


#21(tie): Memphis

(Derrick's doing a little light reading.)
 
Points: 41
NCs: 0
Final Fours: 2(1985[as Memphis State], 2008)
Made the NCAAs: 53.85%

The tie at #21 seems fitting, considering both these teams' predominant success came under a cloud of scrutiny. Nearly half of Memphis' points came while Calipari was making it rain recruiting amazing players to a school that hadn't been very relevant in the years leading up to his arrival. He's got nothing on the other school at #21 though...

#21(tie): UNLV

(How could I NOT use that picture?)

Points: 41
NCs: 1(1990)
Final Fours: 3(1987, 1990, 1991)
Made the NCAAs: 46.15%

UNLV, crooked as they were, was a team I loved watching & played no small role in my hatred for a team that's significantly higher on this list and coached by a man whose mother may have had a one-night stand with Splinter in a sewer sometime in the mid-1940s. But I digress. I know a lot of people credit the Fab Five with bringing the streetball feel & attitude to the NCAA consciousness, but these guys were there before Chris Webber called a timeout(or before Jalen Rose called anyone an 'Uncle Tom') and they WON. I'm pretty sure I'd pay good money to have Jerry Tarkanian gum a towel on my bench any day.

#20 - #16 coming soon... 

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