10 oldest college basketball teams prove age is critical in modern era
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For many years college basketball was dominated by youth. Dick Vitale’s iconic ‘diaper dandies’ nickname was applied to true freshmen who were leading teams to Final 4’s, and in many cases national championships.
While freshmen are still the majority of NBA draft picks out of college, they are rarely leading teams to the promised land anymore. A variety of factors, including NIL, the transfer portal, extra COVID eligibility, and weaker freshmen classes has led to teams prioritizing age and experience over youthful upside, and the results have favored those older teams.
Last year’s national champion, UConn, was led by a junior in Adama Sanogo and a senior point guard in Tristen Newton. They did have younger contributors, including freshmen Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan, but this team was carried by upperclassmen – much like Kansas in 2022 was carried by senior Ochai Agbaji and junior Christian Braun.
KenPom tracks every Division 1 program by average age, and a look at the ten oldest teams in college basketball helps prove this point. Nine of the ten oldest teams are in the Top 75 at KenPom, six of them are in the Top 40, and objectively eight of the ten have outperformed preseason expectations.
Below is a look at the ten most experienced teams in college basketball, per KenPom, and how they have performed so far this year.
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Conference: A-10
Record: 10-4
KenPom: 74
The Bonnies were projected to finish in the middle of the Atlantic-10 this season, coming off a 14-18 season in 2022-23 where they went just 8-10 in conference play.
However, the team brought in a pair of high level graduate transfer guards in Mika Adams-Woods and Charles Pride from Cincinnati and Bryant, respectively.
Those two are both in double figures, alongside junior big man Chad Venning and senior guard Moses Flowers, giving this team tons of experience and balance as they look to get back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021.
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Conference: Pac-12
Record: 10-6
KenPom: 51
The Huskies looked like a team prepared to challenge for a top three spot in the Pac-12 after beating Xavier and Gonzaga in the non-conference, but they began conference play 0-3 with losses to Colorado, Utah, and Oregon.
Still, this team has already certainly outperformed preseason expectations, and they are doing so on the back of a pair of graduate transfer guards in Sahvir Wheeler and Paul Mulcahy from Kentucky and Rutgers.
Wheeler is averaging 15.8 points and 6.6 assists on the year while Mulcahy is a more modest 5.9 points, along with 3.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds. Toss in senior wing Keion Brooks (20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds) and junior forward Moses Wood (11.1 points) and you have another team getting it done thanks to a handful of veterans.
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Conference: Big 12
Record: 12-3
KenPom:…
Read More: 10 oldest college basketball teams prove age is critical in modern era 2024-01-12 20:24:00