Where Does Connecticut Rank Among the Past 25 NCAA Basketball Champions?

Lost somewhere in the Butler Bulldogs failure to accomplish the main objective of basketball was the 2011 NCAA Basketball Championship game.

On the flip side of Butler’s 18.8 percent field goal percentage was a Connecticut Huskies defense that blocked ten shots and outrebounded the Bulldogs by 11.

As disturbing as this NCAA finale was, the record books will still state Kemba Walker carried a team on his back for the last month, head coach Jim Calhoun won his third title, and the Huskies finished the season on an 11-game winning streak.

Although watching the 2011 NCAA Basketball Championship probably answered all we needed to know about this championship squad, Whatifsports.com wanted to learn where the 2011 Connecticut Huskies ranked among the last 25 national championship programs.

Using our college basketball simulation engine, we placed Connecticut in a round-robin tournament where the Huskies played the other national champions 51 times. This generated each team’s winning percentage and average points per game in a power rankings list.

It’s fitting that UConn, who managed to score 53 points in the national title game, would average the fewest points per game in this power rankings simulation and rank 23rd. The Huskies 75.7 ppg. is 4.9 points fewer than the “worst” team in this power rankings. The 1987-88 Kansas Jayhawks, led by Danny Manning, averaged 80.6 ppg.

UConn 2011 vs Past 25 NCAA Basketball Champions
Team	Win%	Avg PPG
2000-01 Duke Blue Devils	90.0	97.0
1995-96 Kentucky Wildcats	84.6	95.4
2004-05 North Carolina Tar Heels	80.9	95.0
1989-90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels	73.8	95.8
1997-98 Kentucky Wildcats	60.9	84.9
2007-08 Kansas Jayhawks	60.0	84.8
1991-92 Duke Blue Devils	59.4	93.6
2003-04 Connecticut Huskies	57.6	82.2
2008-09 North Carolina Tar Heels	57.0	91.7
2001-02 Maryland Terrapins	56.3	89.2
2006-07 Florida Gators	54.1	85.3
1994-95 UCLA Bruins	53.6	91.5
1992-93 North Carolina Tar Heels	51.2	89.4
2005-06 Florida Gators	48.1	84.2
1988-89 Michigan Wolverines	47.2	90.7
1998-99 Connecticut Huskies	42.3	84.0
1985-86 Louisville Cardinals	42.0	89.3
1999-00 Michigan State Spartans	40.5	83.3
1990-91 Duke Blue Devils	40.0	90.0
2009-10 Duke Blue Devils	38.3	82.6
2002-03 Syracuse Orange	31.0	82.6
1986-87 Indiana Hoosiers	27.3	86.8
2010-11 Connecticut Huskies	22.1	75.7
1996-97 Arizona Wildcats	20.9	85.4
1987-88 Kansas Jayhawks	10.6	80.6

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