Sports analytics from Laura Albert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering

NCAA Men’s basketball rankings after the 2021 Final Four

Here are my top 25 composite rankings for NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball now that the Final Four are set. The teams in the Final Four are in boldface. UCLA moved up from 39th place on Selection Sunday to 13th after five tournament victories.

My composite rankings use Markov chains and analytics to rank teams. The full rankings are here.

  1. Gonzaga
  2. Houston
  3. Baylor
  4. USC
  5. Alabama
  6. Illinois
  7. Michigan
  8. Arkansas
  9. Colorado
  10. Iowa
  11. Ohio St
  12. Oregon
  13. UCLA
  14. Creighton
  15. Texas
  16. Kansas
  17. Oklahoma St
  18. West Virginia
  19. Texas Tech
  20. Loyola-Chicago
  21. Memphis
  22. San Diego St
  23. Villanova
  24. LSU
  25. BYU