BYU Ranked As Nation's 9th Best Basketball Program

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

BYU is the nation's ninth best college basketball program and Dave Rose is its 16th best coach, according to new analytical rankings published by Basketball Times. This marks BYU's first appearance in the publication's rankings, which are compiled every five years. Duke topped the list of programs for the third straight time this year, while Michigan State's Tom Izzo edged out the Blue Devils' Mike Krzyzewski for top honors among coaches.

Now, does this really mean that BYU has a better basketball program than, say, defending national champions Kentucky, who are ranked 19th? Probably not. The rankings are generated through a mathematical model based on a program's performance in five categories: winning percentage, number of former players currently on an NBA roster, graduation rate, the school's U.S. News and World Report academic ranking, and the program's ability to avoid NCAA rules infractions. (A program must win at least two-thirds of its games to qualify for the list.)

However, as ESPN's Eamonn Brennan so expertly pointed out, several of these metrics are inherently flawed:

At least three of those categories are arguably suspect. Graduation rate is decried by college coaches and has long since been replaced by the NCAA as a method of understanding the academic and professional progress of student-athletes. U.S. News & World Report rankings have frequently come under fire in recent years. (In 2007, 80 university presidents agreed to an informal boycott. If I had a dollar for every time someone complained to me about the magazine's rankings methodology, I'd have like maybe $20.) And "coaching and perceived program 'cleanliness'" is an awfully fuzzy enterprise. There's some really interesting info in there, and when smashed together, the rankings do present a pretty fair picture. But I wouldn't go overboard.

That is probably the best way to process these rankings. They are certainly not an authoritative look at a program's strength. I don't actually believe that BYU has a demonstrably better program than some of the programs ranked below it, with Kentucky being the most glaring. Based on this specific set of metrics, that might be true — but that doesn't necessarily carry over into reality. Naturally, determining the definition of what constitutes the "best" basketball program is a highly subjective enterprise, and this set of rankings represents just one way of thinking.

Nevertheless, it is nice to see BYU get some much-deserved respect for the program Rose has built. Even if Basketball Times' chosen metrics are inherently favorable to BYU — the Cougars excelled in both graduation rate and program cleanliness, but were downgraded due to the paucity of NBA alumni — there is no doubt that Provo is currently home to one of the nation's most consistently well-run basketball programs. If you take into account the sheer number of games won year in and year out, all of the recent conference championships and tournament appearances, and the ability to regularly get top-notch talent despite a challenging recruiting environment, it really is astounding what Rose has been able to accomplish.

All of which leads into my most significant gripe with these rankings -- that Dave Rose is considered to be "only" the 16th best coach in the country. To be fair, I don't think he is a top five guy right now, but he's certainly proven to be top 12, maybe even top 10. I have to believe that he has been more consistently excellent, given the relatively limited resources with which he has to work, than guys like VCU's Shaka Smart (one great season!), Belmont's Rick Byrd, or even Utah State's Stew Morrill. That isn't to say those guys aren't great coaches -- all of them most certainly are -- but the turnaround Rose has engineered in Provo has been breathtaking, and I think that's too often underappreciated. Then again, it is possible I am a tad biased.

And so are the rankings, to be honest. Coach ratings (as well as program cleanliness) were determined by the votes of 10 basketball writers, which doesn't exactly qualify as a large sample size. Obviously, those writers' personal opinions would factor heavily into their grades, making this whole thing a highly subjective and somewhat unreliable process. I mean, how else do Jim Boeheim and John Calipari wind up ranked 19th and 25th, respectively?

At the end of the day, these rankings are what they are -- a fun, but by no means authoritative, snapshot of how the college basketball world shakes out based on this very specific criteria. But most importantly for Cougar fans, it is immensely gratifying to see Dave Rose and his masterful work with this BYU program get some of the respect he so richly deserves.


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