With the last champion of the 2000s crowned, WhatIfSports.com ranks the decade's ten NCAA men's basketball tournament winners by "playing" the champs against one another 1,000 times each. Where do the Florida back-to-back champions rank? Were Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse lucky or good in 2003? Is a North Carolina or a Duke team on top? Check out the rankings to find out.

Very young and underwhelming during the season, this team was a bit of a flash in the pan come tournament time. A three seed, Syracuse was able to build on a regular season of experience for its talented freshman starters -- McNamara and Anthony -- and some fortunate tournament venues on its path to title.
Starters: Gerry McNamara, Kueth Duany, Carmelo Anthony, Craig Forth, Hakim Warrick
Winning percentage from 1,000 WhatIfSports.com simulations against each champion of this decade: 29.8 percent

9. 2005-06 Florida Gators
As a three-seed, the 2005-06 Gators are only other team on this list to win the championship unexpectedly -- among the top eight on this list, only 2003-04 UConn, a two-seed, was not a one-seed in the tournament. Furthermore, similar to Syracuse, this young team almost seemed to win the title on accident without really knowing what it was doing. Lucky for Billy Donovan, all of the main pieces came back for another run at the title. (more on that later).
Starters: Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey, Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah
WhatIfSports.com simulation winning percentage: 32.9 percent

8. 2001-02 Maryland Terrapins
Head coach Gary Williams put together the most complete team of his Hall of Fame career with a good mix of heady players like Steve Blake and Lonny Baxter, defensive stoppers like Byron Mouton, freakish athletes like Chris Wilcox, and an all-around talent like Juan Dixon. Williams did not have to sweat too much over this team either, as it won all of its tournament games by double digits, except for an eight-point win over UConn.
Starters: Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Byron Mouton, Chris Wilcox, Lonny Baxter
WhatIfSports.com simulation winning percentage: 33.3 percent

7. 1999-2000 Michigan State Spartans
Head coach Tom Izzo gets credit as a tough, defensive mastermind, but his true legacy may be in taking some of the region's best athletes and building them into smart, versatile basketball players -- it just took until the tournament for it to click. The best MSU squad since Magic Johnson, this team played ten guys more than ten minutes a game and seemingly every one of them could pass, defend, rebound and score at a high level.
Starters: Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell, Morris Peterson, Andre Hutson, A.J. Granger
WhatIfSports.com simulation winning percentage: 35.7 percent

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