ESPN ran a recent story that used Jeff Sagarin’s rankings of the top college basketball programs of all time.

Jon’s Take: While this is great, and the Iowa coaching staff can certainly point to this on the recruiting trails, it does generate cause for pause.

Top 10? All Time? Even before the debacle that was the Steve Alford era, I don’t know that Iowa would have been worthy of a Top 10 of all time ranking.

They had been very consistent with regards to the NCAA tournament before Alford arrived, and I definitely think you could have argued Top 30 of all time. That’s pretty darn solid, too.

On Sagarin’s list, Iowa is rated ahead of Michigan State (15th), Michigan (13th) and Louisville (11th). It’s elite company, as those teams have won national titles. Iowa doesn’t have one yet.

But hey, I don’t want to sit here and throw too many stones…its good to see Iowa basketball in a positive light.

One more that I cannot resist from this list: Illinois is #6, ahead of Duke at #7. In my opinion, and in my lifetime, Illinois might be #5 on the list of what I feel the best Big Ten program have been.

By the way: Todd Lickliter said in Des Moines on 10/6 that this year’s Iowa team is going to prove the preseason publications and predictions wrong…I hope he is right!

Tags: Iowa basketball, Todd Lickliter