Men’s college basketball’s best of the last 25 years: Readers share their picks, favorite games

Who’s the best men’s college basketball player of the 21st century? The Athletic set out to answer that — and much more — this month, ranking the top 25 players, coaches, teams, non-title teams and games of the last 25 years.

However, one thing is for sure: There’s no consensus, and plenty of debate.

Nearly 2,000 people filled out our poll to vote for the best player, coach and team of the 2000s. And the race to be crowned best player was decided by one vote.

On to the results — and some of your best memories of a quarter-century of college hoops:

(Note: Submitted responses have been edited for clarity.)

Best player of the last 25 years?

As mentioned above, this was close! Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse to a national championship as a freshman in 2003, inched ahead of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough by a single vote. It’s the classic one-and-done versus four-year standout debate that made this ranking so challenging. Hansbrough was a four-time All-American and reached two Final Fours, winning a title as a senior in 2009. Anthony also topped Lindsay Schnell’s ranking last week.

Five of the top six vote-getters won a national championship. The seven players above were the only ones to receive at least 5 percent of a balanced vote; Davidson’s Stephen Curry and Duke’s Shane Battier and JJ Redick rounded out the top 10.

Readers’ top five

We also asked readers to pick a top-five list, in any order. Here are the results of that vote, and the comparison to our ranking.

Anthony was the only player to appear on more than half of the submissions. Interestingly, Curry was comfortably in the top five, though he didn’t receive as many votes as the No. 1 player.

The Duke vote appeared to be split, with Redick and Battier again leading the way. Readers were higher on Durant and Redick than our ranking, and lower on Saint Joseph’s Jameer Nelson — our No. 6 player appeared on only 3 percent of ballots.

Best coach of the last 25 years?

Readers had more of a consensus on the top coach, with 30 percent of the vote going to former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. The No. 1 coach in CJ Moore’s rankings, Bill Self, came in second. Krzyzewski and Roy Williams are the only coaches to win three national titles this century, but Self (who has two titles) got the edge for Moore because of his 18 conference championships and 24 NCAA Tournament appearances (every tourney this century).

Readers’ top five

Wright moves up here, with just more than half of the readers including him in their top five.

The 14 coaches above were the only ones to reach at least 10 percent. Readers were higher on Tom Izzo, John Calipari and Jim Calhoun, and lower on Rick Pitino and Kelvin Sampson.

Best team of the last 25 years?

Like the top player vote, this one was close. The UConn team of two seasons ago eked out a place atop the poll over Brendan Marks’ No. 1 team, 2000-01 Duke. It’s hard to argue with any of the top three.

This vote largely reflected our ranking, with the top eight comprising eight of Marks’ top nine.

Readers’ top five

The 2006-07 Florida and 2023-24 UConn teams both won the second of back-to-back national championships at their programs, so it’s not surprising to see the recognition that these belong in the top five. There also appeared to be a clear top five, with a decent gap to the 2008-09 North Carolina team, which was the top team not to make it.

Readers were higher on 2004-05 North Carolina and lower on 2020-21 Baylor, which ranked 16th on this list and No. 8 in our ranking.

Readers’ favorite games

We left the games question open-ended. Of course, many of the responses mirrored our top 25 games list, with many mentions of Kris Jenkins and Mario Chalmers’ clutch championship shots, the Syracuse-UConn six-overtime game in the 2009 Big East tournament, and Duke’s “Miracle Minute” comeback against Maryland. However, some games were more memorable on a personal level — the result of a sport with hundreds of teams and thousands of games. Here were some of your responses.

“It has to be the 2008 national championship, right? The first time the Final Four featured the top-ranked teams. Leads changing, Memphis storming to a seemingly insurmountable lead with, what, two minutes left? Then the missed free throws. Then Mario. And then Mario. After the miracle, OT almost seemed like a formality.” — Chris P.

“Villanova-UNC national championship game, 2016. I’ll never forget the seat cushions raining down on me after Marcus Paige tied the game with an off-balance 3, only for the fireworks and confetti to be set off after an even more stunning Kris Jenkins buzzer-beater seconds later. Nobody in the crowd could believe what had just happened. Top-five championship game in sports, ever.” — Andrew G.

“Six-OT game! Even as a UConn fan, there’s no denying the spectacle of that contest and I’m happy we were part of it and that it’s part of our program’s zeitgeist, loss and all.” — Nick S.

“The 2010 NCAA final between Duke and Butler — it wasn’t pretty but it was played at a high level throughout. Also, there was so much drama with Butler being such an underdog and basically having home-court advantage. Just great stuff.” — Lara L.

“Even on the losing side as a Purdue fan, the 2019 Elite Eight game against Virginia takes the cake. The Carsen Edwards shotmaking, the Virginia redemption story, the back-and-forth scoreboard, the Diakite shot and OT finish …  it may not have been a title game, but it still won Virginia the title and was an instant classic.” — Jack G.

“The 2024 national championship game, UConn vs. Purdue. It felt like these two dominant teams were on a collision course all year, but it turned out to be the coronation of the last two years of UConn dominance. Back-to-back was historical and that UConn team was so much fun to watch. As Dan Hurley said, ‘They were bulletproof.’” — Deryl W.

“March 16, 2006. No. 12 Montana 87, No. 5 Nevada 79. NCAA Tournament first round. The Grizzlies’ first tournament win in 31 years and the last tournament win for the Big Sky Conference. A special moment for a proud program and an effective reminder as to why the size and structure of the tournament should be left alone.” — Kris G.

“ACC championship 2024. I’m a recent NC State alum and got to rush the bell tower with my dad that night. He’s the one who introduced me to the Wolfpack. The rest of that run was pretty fun too. — Haley H.

“Forgotten Classic: Kansas 90, Texas 86 (March 3, 2007). Freshman Kevin Durant going off for 32 in Allen Fieldhouse, 25 in the first half, Kansas comes back from a 16-point deficit to win the Big 12 regular-season title. When you have Danny Manning on the bench watching a freshman going off in the toughest venue in college hoops, saying, ‘That’s the baddest man to play here,’ that’s a special game.” — David C.

“2017 Elite 8 — UNC over Kentucky: Tit for tat the entire ballgame with two legendary coaches at the helm. Obviously, the finishing sequence and Luke Maye will be remembered forever. People forget the December matchup between these teams, which was every bit as electric, only without the high stakes. Shows just how hard it is to beat a team twice.” — Brendan I.

“2011 Pac-10 championship game. Been to thousands of games at this point in my life, nothing took my breath away the way this one did. ‘Cold-blooded!’ Washington 77, Arizona 75 in OT. Easily the best game I’ve ever seen live.” — Rocco M.

“UCLA-Gonzaga Final Four in 2021. An 11-seed’s improbable run collided with a mid-major’s quest for perfection, ending in Jalen Suggs’ half-court heave banking in at the buzzer. That game exemplified what this sport is all about.” — Brendan P.

“Michigan State beating Duke to advance to the Final Four in 2019. Kenny Goins hitting that 3 over Zion (Williamson) provided a moment of euphoria that I will chase for the rest of my life.” — Joey C.

“Michigan versus Kansas in the Sweet 16 during the 2013 NCAA Tournament. (Trey) Burke pulling up from planet Mars to hit a 3 and force overtime. I can still picture (Mitch) McGary falling to the floor after setting the screen.” — Andrew R.

“2005. Illinois vs. Arizona in the Elite 8. As a 12-year-old just beginning to fall in love with college basketball, this was my first ‘Where were you watching?’ game. — Jeremy K.

“Creighton Blue Jays vs. Bradley Braves, Feb. 1, 2011. The game had to start four hours early because a historic blizzard was coming (it would drop 20 inches of snow and halt life in central Illinois) and Creighton was favored. Bradley was on an 11-game losing streak. In front of a more-empty-than-usual Carver Arena, Bradley legend Andrew Warren scored 23, overpowering the Creighton star Doug McDermott. What a wonderful game to experience in person.” — Zach B.

“Florida and Wisconsin in the 2017 Sweet 16. Gators blow a double-digit lead/the Badgers hit an unbelievable 3-pointer to force overtime. Down two with four seconds left, nearly all hope was lost for Gator Nation. But Chris Chiozza hits an even more unbelievable 3-pointer at the buzzer. Pure elation!” — Rusty G.

“Collin Sexton at Alabama successfully playing three-on-five vs. Minnesota.” — Dan S.

“Saint Louis vs. Rhode Island, A-10 tournament 2010. Snuck out of work to watch the game. A friend encouraged me to stay out a little longer after SLU lost. I got my future spouse’s phone number that night.” — Zach B.

“Duke vs. Gonzaga in the 2019 Maui Invitational. Being a Duke fan and my brother being a Zags fan, I wish we would’ve won the game. Still, the game being super back and forth while watching it with my brother remains one of my favorite CBB games in recent memory.” — Benjamin B.

(Photo: Craig Jones / Getty Images)