College Basketball Decade In Review

With today being Bracketbusters and Selection Sunday on 3 weeks away I have decided to continue my look back on the past decade of sports with Mens and Womens College Basketball.

Program of the Decade: Mens- Florida Womens- UCONN: Well UCONN being named the women's program of the decade is self-explanatory so I will move on. Florida and North Carolina both won two national titles this decade but the difference to me is the fact that Florida at least made the NIT every year while Carolina finished with 8 wins in the 2002-2003 season.
Runner Up: Men: UNC, UCONN Women: TENN, STANFORD

Team of the decade: Mens: 2006-07 Florida Gators, Womens: 2001-2002 UCONN: That Gators team which had all 5 starters return from the 06 national champs and started the season as #1 and finished the season with their 2nd title in a row a first since Duke 1992-93. That UCONN team was one of the few to go unbeaten but stands out by producing WNBA stars Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, and Swin Cash. Runners Up: Men- 2005 UNC, 2002 MD, 2001 Duke Women- 2009 UCONN, 2008 Tenn, and 2007 Tenn

Player of the Decade Men: Tyler Hansbrough Women: Diana Taurasi, Hansbrough stayed at UNC 4 years and broke almost every record at the school and won a Player of the Year and a national title. Taurasi was a major part of two national championship teams including the great 2002 UCONN team she was also the face of Women's basketball for a while. Runner UP- Men- Joakim Noah, JJ Reddick Women- Candace Parker and Maya Moore.

Coach of the Decade: Mens: Roy Williams, Women: Geno Auriemma- Roy Williams led two schools to a combined 5 final fours and won 2 titles in Carolina, two of those final four losses were to the enventual national champs so he is clearly the coach of the decade. Auriemma won 5 national titles and had 2 undefeated season thus edging out Pat Summit for this award.
Runners Up: Men- Billy Donovan, Coach K Women: Pat Summitt, Brenda Freese

Game of the Decade: Men 2006 Mason vs. UCONN Elight Eight, Women 2006 Finals MD over Duke. The Mason game highlited the greatest cinderella run in the history of March Madness which included beating 2 final four teams from last year in Michigan State and UNC as well as the overwhelming favorite that year in UCONN. The MD-Duke women's game was the start of the women's version of a big men's rivalry and saw Kristi Tolliver hit a huge 3 pushing the game to OT where Maryland won. Runners Up: Men 2008 Final Memphis-Kansas, Women 2003- UCONN vs. Tenn

Rivalry of the Decade: Men- Duke vs UNC Women: UCONN vs. TENN: While this rivalry was pretty dormant in the early part of the decade as the MD-Duke rivalry dominated the ACC the Duke vs. UNC rivalry at the end of the decade was amazing and brought the rivalry back to life. When it comes to Women's rivalries UCONN vs. Tennessee is clearly the best. Runners UP: Duke- Maryland and Cuse-UCONN Women: UCONN-ND and LSU-Tenn

Story of the Decade- Men: One and Dones Women: Growing in competition and Popularity. One and Dones dominated the Men's game with guys like Kevin Durant and Mike Beasley winning at least one National player of the Year, Derrick Rose leading Memphis to the championship game (O wait that never happened according to Memphis thanks Coach Cal) and Carmelo Anthony leading Syracuse to the school's first title. The Women's game has grown thanks to stars like Candace Parker and Maya Moore and programs like UCONN and Tennessee as well as upstarts like Maryland and Baylor winning national titles, Baylor's came two years after the lowest point of the decade the Men's scandal involving a player's murder. Runners UP: Mens: Cinderellas Womens: UCONN-Tennessee.