Will Marquette or Kentucky Make the Title Game? They are the only 2 teams matching 4 title game teams in the past 5 yearsFour of the past five NCAA Championship games featured a roster averaging less than one year experience AND a top 10 NBA Pick. It is a rare combination, with only 15 rosters in all of D1 averaging less than one year of experience and only two of those teams ALSO featuring a projected top 10 pick at NBA Draft Express.
Marquette and projected No. 7 pick Henry Ellenson pulled off an almost unheard of road win against a Top 10 team Tuesday night. Meanwhile, an LSU team that Marquette already defeated blew out the other team to meet both criteria - Kentucky and projected No. 4 pick Skal Labissiere. Here are the other four teams to accomplish the feat in the past five seasons.
| less than 1 yr experience, seed | Season | NCAA Wins | Yrs | Experience | Top 10 NBA Pick |
|---|
| Marquette ? | 2016 | ? | 0.86 | 344 | Henry Ellenson 7 proj |
| Kentucky ? | 2016 | ? | 0.95 | 341 | Skal Labissiere 4 proj |
| Kentucky 8 | 2014 | Runner-up | 0.31 | 351 | Julius Randle 7 |
| Michigan 4 | 2013 | Runner-up | 0.73 | 342 | Trey Burke 9 |
| Kentucky 1 | 2012 | Champion | 0.77 | 340 | Anthony Davis 1 |
| Connecticut 3 | 2011 | Champion | 0.94 | 332 | Kemba Walker 9 |
For one night at least the talent and ceiling was evident - even if the odds of making the tournament are still low. The 15% chance Marquette was given of winning at Providence (www.kenpom.com) let fans see a team with enough talent to possibly go into the Big East tournament and win three in a row - a much easier feat than when UConn started at 49th at www.kenpom.com, lost at home to Jimmy Butler and Marquette late in the season, and then had to win SIX straight games to win the Big East title.
That team had 0.94 years of experience yet the freshmen were turning into sophomores by the end of the year and became one of only four 3-seeds to win the title in the last 28 years. Kentucky was expected to win the title in 2012 with only 0.77 years of experience. However, Trey Burke led one of the youngest teams in the land in Michigan to the title despite them only being a 4-seed, and then an 8th seeded Kentucky (0.31 years experience is the second youngest team since www.kenpom.com started tracking in 2007) went to the title game in 2014.
Ellenson is an inconsistent freshman to date, but he has also shown he can take over and dominate in many wa
Source: Will Marquette or Kentucky Make the Title Game? They are the only 2 teams matching 4 title game teams in the past 5 years (//)
Marquette or Kentucky...... I mean, both are great candidates to win it all. Some choices are just too close to call. I'm going to take a risk and say both make it.