Why Roy Williams is in favor of the BCS …

By Staff     Dec 8, 2008

So how would the world be different if the BCS ran college basketball? And how would KU’s basketball history be altered?Let’s take a look. I went back and grabbed the final regular-season Associated Press polls from the last 18 seasons (thanks to Statsheet.com for the information).I couldn’t find complete information on the coaches poll, and the RPI only went back to the 1999-2000 season, so for this exercise, we’ll just take the AP rankings and make them our BCS final poll.The two BCS title teams (that would have played in the championship game) are listed on the left, along with their final ranking in the Associated Press poll. In parentheses on the right is the actual NCAA tournament winner and that team’s final AP ranking.1990-91:No. 1 UNLV vs. No. 2 Arkansas (No. 6 Duke)1991-92:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Kansas (No. 1 Duke)1992-93:No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 2 Kentucky (No. 4 North Carolina)1993-94:No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Arkansas (No. 2 Arkansas)1994-95:No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 Kentucky (No. 1 UCLA)1995-96:No. 1 Massachusetts vs. No. 2 Kentucky (No. 2 Kentucky)1996-97:No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 2 Utah (No. 15 Arizona)1997-98:No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Kansas (No. 5 Kentucky)1998-99:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Michigan State (No. 3 Connecticut)1999-2000:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Michigan State (No. 2 Michigan State)2000-01:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Stanford (No. 1 Duke)2001-02:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Kansas (No. 4 Maryland)2002-03:No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Arizona (No. 13 Syracuse)2003-04:No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Kentucky (No. 7 Connecticut)2004-05:No. 1 Illinois vs. No. 2 North Carolina (No. 2 North Carolina)2005-06:No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Connecticut (No. 11 Florida)2006-07:No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Kansas (No. 3 Florida)2007-08:No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Memphis (No. 4 Kansas)What does this all mean? For one, it means Roy Williams would have benefited greatly from the BCS.http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/blogs/entry_img/2008/Dec/08/Royjacquejerod____t640_.jpg• At KU, Williams made two championship games: 1991 and 2003, losing both of them.With the BCS system in place, Williams’ teams would have been put in the finals four years: 1992, 1997, 1998 and 2002. Looking at those matchups, Williams would have probably left Lawrence with at least one national title, most likely in 1997 with his starting five of Jacque Vaughn, Jerod Haase, Paul Pierce, Scot Pollard and Raef LaFrentz taking down Keith Van Horn and the Utes.Williams also would have made two championship games with UNC under the BCS: in 2005 and 2008.• As for Bill Self, he would have been in the same number of championship games (one) either way.In the BCS, KU would have made the title game in 2007, going up against Ohio State. I actually would have liked the Jayhawks’ chances in that matchup.As it was, though, Self was able to take last year’s No. 4-ranked Jayhawks all the way to a national title, upsetting the two top-ranked teams, North Carolina and Memphis, along the way.• As a whole, KU would have made five championship games from 1990-2008 under the BCS. With the NCAA tournament in place, the Jayhawks made three championship games, winning one title. Though it’s hard to guess what would have happened in the BCS title games, one might assume that KU would have been able to win more than one of its five championship games.• Duke would have made six title games under the BCS. Kentucky and Kansas would have been next with five title games, while North Carolina would have made four.• Another note: Obviously, with a BCS system in place, KU wouldn’t have sniffed the 1988 title. KU, in fact, wasn’t ranked in the top 20 in the final AP poll. Here’s the matchup that would have taken place: No. 1 Temple vs. No. 2 Arizona.• By the way, only seven of the last 18 national champions in college basketball have been either the No. 1- or No. 2-ranked team in the final AP poll. Makes me of the opinion that the BCS can never “get it right.” Only a playoff can truly decide the “right” teams for a national championship game.

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