Forbes: The Most Valuable College Basketball Teams (Updated 4pm)

Note: Introductory Message for our new visitors – SFN Celebrates New Year with NC State Magazine Feature

Forbes has come out with a great piece that effectively ranks college basktball programs by “value” that is primarily derived from operating financials from last year. You need to realize that a major component of ‘value’ is the income stream that the ‘asset’ (the basketball program) can produce. That income stream is generated largely on the attendance and support of the fan base of the particular schools.

This link will take you to the article. We have summarized the rankings below for your convenience below.

It is very nice to NC State’s name standing alongside of the types of programs with whom we historically stood (until we effectively gave up competing in the early 1990s). With this said, a review of the actual PERFORMANCE of the basketball programs on this list produces some startling revelations that should make NC State fans feel amazingly proud.

An argument can easily be made that over the last fifteen years NC State is the WORST PERFORMING basketball program of the Top 20 most valuable programs on this list.

Additionally, there is no arguing that NC State has achieved the WORST ‘best/peak season’ of the teams on the list. For example – quickly eye-balling the list I see that only Xavier and Missouri have failed to make a Final Four in the last fifteen years and each of them have played in at least one Elite 8.

The purpose of those observations is not meant to degrade NC State’s Basketball program under the leadership of Les Robinson, Todd Turner, Herb Sendek and Lee Fowler. The purpose is meant to PRAISE the amazing support of the NC State fans that despite performance that is dwarfed by other programs. In light of the way the rest of the country’s fans behave, Wolfpack fans STILL support our program in a manner that creates Top 10-like value within our faltering program. This disproportionately strong support of the program is fascinating in light of the FANTASTIC conversations being had in the comments section of this entry that highlight our own Athletics Director’s continued criticism of his own fanbase.

It is this kind of support that causes ACC Historians like Caulton Tudor to make comments like the following:

N.C. State’s fans are among the most patient and loyal in all of college athletics. That hardly qualifies as breaking news, but it’s worth repeating…

List:
1. UNC-CH
2. Kentucky
3. Louisville
4. Arizona
5. Duke
6. Indiana
7. Illinois
8. Kansas
9. Wisconsin
10. Ohio State
11. Texas
12. Missouri
13. NC State
14. UCLA
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan State
17. Maryland
18. Syracuse
19. Arkansas
20. Xavier