Syracuse Basketball 13th Most Valuable Program In Nation, Says WSJ

The Kentucky Wildcats may win the National Title tonight, but when it comes to the value of their program, they still can't match the Syracuse Orange.

So says the Wall Street Journal, who released a list of the "20 most valuable Division 1 men's basketball programs" today. The basic idea is, if each program could be sold like a professional franchise, how much would they be worth?

Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, calculated the intrinsic valuations of 100 top Division I programs, including all 74 major-conference ones. Among other factors, the study examined each program's revenues and expenses and made cash-flow adjustments, risk assessments and growth projections for every school.

The Louisville Cardinals were the far and away most valuable program overall and would cost $211.5M to buy. The Kansas Jayhawks, in second place, are worth $146M. The top five is rounded out by Indiana ($130M), Ohio State ($120M) and Arizona ($110M).

The Orange come in 13th place with a value of $82.7M and are the only other Big East school on the list (Hi Georgetown & UConn!).

Of course, take all of this with a pillar of salt. According to this list, the Virginia, Wake Forest, UNLV and Wisconsin basketball programs are more valuable than the Syracuse one, which is laughable. I don't care what your metrics are, that's just not correct.

If you're putting it in ACC terms, the Orange are the fifth most-valuable program behind No. 6 UNC, No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Virginia and No. 12 Wake Forest. Maryland also checks in at No. 15 overall.

H/T: Brian B.