Where does the 2019 Virginia national title team rank among KenPom.com era champs?

ESPN Insider John Gasaway published his ranking of the 84 men’s basketball national champs this week, touting extensive research, et cetera, et cetera.

The ranking put the 2019 Virginia title team at #40, middle of the pack, without any rhyme or reason given.

But then, that was the case for the rest of the rankings, which I understand.

The article was already going to be long enough having to write snippets for each of the 84.

I’d say another issue would be comparing teams from different eras, but then I’d assume that you’d be judging not based on eras as much as how a team was in its title season.

From a look at the rankings, nah, not what he did here – the bottom of the list is a run of teams from the 1940s and 1950s, with the exception of putting the two San Francisco title teams, from 1955 and 1956, helmed by the iconic Bill Russell, in the Top 10.

That seems more about the identity of Bill Russell than anything else.

Again, it’s this guy’s rankings.

So, yeah, a mishmash, but it achieved what Gasaway and ESPN intended, I’m sure – clicks, discussion, more clicks, the rest.

I’ll throw out my own counter.

I’m a KenPom.com fanboy, as regular readers are well aware.

The KenPom era only dates back to 2002, and because we didn’t have a champ in 2020 because of COVID, we have 21 national champs to review the numbers for.

To me, you rank teams based on how they fared relative to other teams in the season in which they played, not based on, well, this team had Michael Jordan, that one had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Bill Walton.

Pure data.

Here’s how that group of KenPom era champs ranks in terms of adjusted efficiency margin:

1. Kansas (2008) +35.21
2. Virginia (2019) +34.22
3. Baylor (2021) +33.87
4. Villanova (2018) +33.76
5. Duke (2010) +33.29
6. Louisville (2013) +32.92
7. North Carolina (2005) +32.77
8. Kentucky (2012) +32.59
9. Duke (2015) +32.48
10. Villlanova (2016) +32.01
11. North Carolina (2009) +31.14
12. Florida (2007) +30.81
13. UConn (2023) +29.86
14. Maryland (2002) +29.25
15. UConn (2004) +28.30
16. Florida (2006) +28.28
17. North Carolina (2017) +28.22
18. Kansas (2022) +27.49
19. Syracuse (2003) +23.28
20. UConn (2011) +23.93
21. UConn (2014) +22.13