Houston has played in seven Final Fours and three national championship games. It is still looking for title No. 1.
Purdue paired a two-time National Player of the Year in Zach Edey with the NCAA's all-time assists leader in Braden Smith and has a runner-up finish and an Elite Eight to show for it. Illinois was nine points from playing on Monday night this past April.
At some point, these programs that keep reaching "almost" are going to climb atop the mountain. This isn't a ranking of the best programs that have never won a title. History only matters here when it tells us something about what a program can do right now. This is about which program can be next to claim its first title.
That comes down to three questions: Does the program have the resources to recruit, retain, and replace championship-level talent? Has the administration matched the ambition of the coaching staff? And is the window actually open?
Some of these ten check every box. Others are one piece — or one March — away.
