UConn in on the verge of winning their 5th title since 1999. When they do cut down the nets a week from tomorrow night, it will be the 17th time since 1999 that one of six programs (Florida, Duke, Kansas, UNC, Villanova being the others) have won multiple championships in that span. Subtracting the COVID year (where traditional powers like Kansas and Kentucky were some of the better teams) and that means 17/23 titles will have been won by the same 6 school. That's 74% of all championships in that span won by the same 6 programs.
Go back a bit father and add Kentucky. Since 1996, and assuming UConn wins it all in 8 days, and 7 programs have constituted for 20 out of the last 26 national titles. That's 77% of all the titles won by the same 7 programs.
Contrarians are now sitting up at their keyboard while screeching, "Yeah, but the NIL has changed all that!"
Has it?
The NIL has been firmly entrenched since the summer of 2021. In that time, Kansas, UNC, and Duke were in last year's Final Four, and another traditional power - UConn - looks like its about the cut down their 5th title net since 1999.
Kansas was also one of the best teams this year and last year. Duke and UNC look to be among the elite teams next year. Kentucky just landed the #1 overall recruiting class (with Duke close behind).
I'm not buying the shift toward parity. We've seen the George Masons and VCUs of the past break out and make the Final Four. It didn't mean the game was definitively shifting to a wild west where any program had a chance to win the whole thing. Seems like another smokescreen and hastily constructed narrative (with no real sample size) created in order to deflect from the current problems in Lexington, one that blatantly ignores the fact that we have one of the best NIL packages offered across the country.
No, when UConn cuts the next down in 8 days, we'll be back where we've been since the dawn of college basketball, with another elite program doing what elite programs do 75 to 80% of the time in the history of this sport: winning the national championship.
Go back a bit father and add Kentucky. Since 1996, and assuming UConn wins it all in 8 days, and 7 programs have constituted for 20 out of the last 26 national titles. That's 77% of all the titles won by the same 7 programs.
Contrarians are now sitting up at their keyboard while screeching, "Yeah, but the NIL has changed all that!"
Has it?
The NIL has been firmly entrenched since the summer of 2021. In that time, Kansas, UNC, and Duke were in last year's Final Four, and another traditional power - UConn - looks like its about the cut down their 5th title net since 1999.
Kansas was also one of the best teams this year and last year. Duke and UNC look to be among the elite teams next year. Kentucky just landed the #1 overall recruiting class (with Duke close behind).
I'm not buying the shift toward parity. We've seen the George Masons and VCUs of the past break out and make the Final Four. It didn't mean the game was definitively shifting to a wild west where any program had a chance to win the whole thing. Seems like another smokescreen and hastily constructed narrative (with no real sample size) created in order to deflect from the current problems in Lexington, one that blatantly ignores the fact that we have one of the best NIL packages offered across the country.
No, when UConn cuts the next down in 8 days, we'll be back where we've been since the dawn of college basketball, with another elite program doing what elite programs do 75 to 80% of the time in the history of this sport: winning the national championship.
