2023-24 Final CCB Rankings
Hear ye! Hear ye! We have crowned a new national champion and it's the same guys as last year! All hail UConn!
At last, after five full months and a couple extra weeks and well over 5,000 total games, the 2023-2024 men’s college basketball season has come to an end. UConn came into this season wearing the crown and they had one of the best title defenses we had seen in a couple decades. They fully embraced the back to back persona and while not sitting at #1 all year long, they surely defended the crown until the very last day of the season where they proved once and far all the last two seasons were not a fluke and that this is one of the more dominant runs we have seen in modern college basketball. The UConn Huskies absolutely dominated the second best team in the country 75-60 to become the first back to back national champions since the 2006/2007 Florida Gators.
There was no stopping Zach Edey, and UConn understood that because they deployed a game plan that allowed Edey to score 37 in a national championship game but completely stifled the rest of the Boilermakers where the the team shot only 1 of 7 from deep and Braden Smith was only player above five points on the night with his 12.
While Clingan was put to a tall task (no pun intended) facing off with Edey, it was UConn’s size and depth in all aspects of the game that allowed them to just pull away in this one, just like they have done in the 11 other tournament games the last two years. MOP Tristen Newton, Cam Spencer, Stephon Castle, and to a lesser extent on offense, Alex Karaban were stunning out of the court.
I don’t want the blowout to take away from the significance of this moment. The single elimination style tournament, while adds for plenty of excitement and upsets we might not otherwise see, it doesn’t always leave us with the best team raising the trophy at the end. But I was ecstatic to see the two teams that I felt have been the best for the last three months face off in the end so there was no doubt. The first half certainly lived up to expectations but you could tell the UConn run was waiting in the shadow and sure enough the defense was suffocating in the second half. Make no mistakes, this Purdue team is the second best team in the country and I would be willing to bet that they would beat a good percentage of the national champions from the last ten years. But there was nobody that could beat this UConn team when it mattered. They were dominant. They were historic, and they will be remembered as a college dynasty and among the historic greats in the sport.
As a matter of fact, the only negative that I took from this tournament was Jamal Shead getting hurt against Duke and likely robbing us of a Houston vs Purdue matchup in the final four. But all and all two dominant facing off in the end is all we can ask for.
Some stale thoughts before the last rankings of the year:
Because the final rankings really don’t matter for too much, I put heavy emphasis on tournament results. I originally had Houston fall all the way to 8th and giving Duke a nod ahead of them because of the head to head. However, after having a couple days to reflect, I’m playing Houston 3rd where they belong. This is a single game elimination that had an injury to a major player play a large role. It’s not fair to penalize Houston for that when they were consistently a top three team in the country nearly all season long.
I’m probably the last person in America to put this in writing at this point but shoutout to North Carolina St. It’s odd putting a 15 loss team in the top 5, but I have no shame putting the Wolf Pack at #5. Nine straight victories, includes wins against UNC, Marquette, Texas Tech, and twice against Duke; not to forget the five wins in five days just to get to the dance. Yes Purdue beat them wire to wire, but is there really shame in that at this point? Take a bow North Carolina St, this team will be remembered in tournament history
Did I force Grand Canyon into the Top 20? Yes I did. Yes, GCU had once of the strangest second halves I have seen against Alabama, but their season should have been rewarded much earlier in the season. I felt it was right to put them at 25 directly before the tournament and they rewarded that decision with the upset victory over a very good Saint Mary’s team.
Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina, and BYU just stunk in this tournament. Four teams that had very good seasons that just fell flat in the one game elimination style. For teams like South Carolina, and BYU, they were young and not expected to do much this season in the first place. The experience will pay dividends going into next year. But for Auburn and Kentucky, this was a prime chance to make a serious run and potentially knock off one of the top teams. Auburn and Bruce Pearl should just be happy that Kentucky is continuing to take all the spotlight on the embarrassment
And finally, the teams that I ranked initially in the preseason that failed to leave up to expectation and failed to close the year in the Top 25:
Michigan St (3rd, last appearance Week 5), Florida Atlantic (8th, last appearance Week 14), Texas A&M (12th, last appearance Week 6), Arkansas (14th, last appearance Week 4), Texas (15th, last appearance Week 7), Miami (16th, last appearance Week 6), Kentucky (17th, last appearance Week 20), USC (19th, last appearance Week 2), Maryland (21st, last appearance Week 1), Villanova (23rd, last appearance Week 2)
Lastly, I leave you with my final rankings of the season. Not the best but still a cherry on top for another phenomenal season of college basketball. I will be back next year and whether that be just doing rankings or added content is to be seen. But hopefully I will actually be able to rank and brag about URI next season, or maybe sometime this decade.
Five More: South Carolina, BYU, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Colorado
Dropped Out: Kentucky (14), BYU (15), Wisconsin (16), South Carolina (19)