A Basketball BCS

[SWC75]

I decided to update a post a I made a couple of years ago about #1 vs. #2 match-ups in the NCAA tournament.

What if we had a BCS type system in basketball and two teams were simply chosen to play for the title at the end of the season? I thought it might be fun to look at the match-ups. I’ll use the weekly poll information in the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia beginning in the first year of polls, (1948). From 1991, I go with the RPI ratings.

1949 BCS: Kentucky vs. Oklahoma A&M (State) That’s what we got, (WWG)
(Kentucky won 46-36.)
1950 BCS: Bradley vs. Ohio State. WWG: CCNY beat Bradley
1951 BCS: Kentucky vs. Oklahoma A&M WWG: Kentucky beat Kansas State
1952 BCS: Kentucky vs. Illinois WWG: Kansas beat St. John’s
1953 BCS: Indiana vs. Seton Hall WWG: Indiana beat Kansas
(Seton Hall opted for the NIT: Kansas was ranked #3 so the top ranked teams in the tournament played for the title and Indiana won, 69-68.)
1954 BCS: Kentucky vs. La Salle WWG: La Salle beat Bradley
(Undefeated Kentucky was actually eligible for the tournament but refused to go when the NCAA declared several players ineligible. #3 Holy Cross opted for the NIT. LaSalle and #4 Indiana were the highest ranked teams in the tournament.)
1955 BCS: San Francisco vs. Kentucky WWG: San Francisco beat LaSalle
1956 BCS: San Francisco vs. NC State WWG: San Francisco beat Iowa
1957 BCS: North Carolina vs. Kansas WWG: North Carolina beat Kansas
(The Tar Heels won in triple overtime, 54-53.)
1958 BCS: West Virginia vs. Cincinnati WWG: Kentucky beat Seattle
1959 BCS: Kansas State vs. Kentucky WWG: California beat West Virginia
1960 BCS: Cincinnati vs. California WWG: Ohio State beat California
(California did beat Cincinnati 77-69 in the national semi-finals.)
1961 BCS: Ohio State vs. Cincinnati WWG: Cincinnati beat Ohio State
(70-65 in overtime.)
1962 BCS: Ohio State vs. Cincinnati WWG: Cincinnati beat Ohio State
(71-59 in regulation.)
1963 BCS: Cincinnati vs. Duke WWG: Loyola (Chicago) beat Cincinnati
1964 BCS: UCLA vs. Michigan WWG: UCLA beat Duke
1965 BCS: Michigan vs. UCLA WWG: UCLA beat Michigan
(91-80.)
1966 BCS: Kentucky vs. Duke WWG: Texas Western (UTEP) beat Kentucky (But Kentucky did beat Duke 83-79 in the semis.)
1967 BCS: UCLA vs. Louisville WWG: UCLA beat Dayton
1968 BCS: Houston vs. UCLA WWG: UCLA beat North Carolina
(UCLA crushed Houston in the semi-finals 101-69.)
1969 BCS: UCLA vs. North Carolina WWG: UCLA beat Purdue
1970 BCS: Kentucky vs. UCLA WWG: UCLA beat Jacksonville
1971 BCS: UCLA vs. Marquette WWG: UCLA beat Villanova
1972 BCS: UCLA vs. North Carolina WWG: UCLA beat Florida State
1973 BCS: UCLA vs. Long Beach State, (NC State was on probation) WWG: UCLA beat Memphis (State)
1974 BCS: NC State vs. UCLA WWG: NC State beat Marquette
(NC State beat UCLA 80-77 in OT in the semi-finals.)
1975 BCS: Indiana vs. UCLA WWG: UCLA beat Kentucky
1976 BCS: Indiana vs. Marquette WWG: Indiana beat Michigan
(Indiana beat Marquette 65-56 in the Elite 8.)
1977 BCS: Michigan vs. UCLA WWG: Marquette beat North Carolina
1978 BCS: Kentucky vs. UCLA WWG: Kentucky beat Duke
1979 BCS: Indiana State vs. UCLA WWG: Michigan State beat Indiana State
1980 BCS: DePaul vs. Louisville WWG: Louisville beat UCLA
1981 BCS: DePaul vs. Oregon State WWG: Indiana beat North Carolina
(Both DePaul and Oregon State lost their first game, in the round of 32.)
1982 BCS: North Carolina vs. DePaul WWG: North Carolina vs. Georgetown
1983 BCS: Houston vs. Louisville WWG: NC State beat Houston
(Phi Slamma Jama beat the Doctors of Dunk 94-81 in the semi-finals.)
1984 BCS: North Carolina vs. Georgetown WWG: Georgetown beat Houston
1985 BCS: Georgetown vs. Michigan WWG: Villanova beat Georgetown
1986 BCS: Duke vs. Kansas WWG: Louisville beat Duke
(Duke beat Kansas 71-67 in semi-finals.)
1987 BCS: UNLV vs. North Carolina WWG: Indiana vs. Syracuse
1988 BCS; Temple vs. Arizona WWG: Kansas beat Oklahoma
1989 BCS: Arizona vs. Georgetown WWG: Michigan beat Seton Hall
1990 BCS: Oklahoma vs. UNLV WWG: UNLV beat Duke
1991 BCS: UNLV vs. Arkansas WWG: Duke beat Kansas
1992 BCS: Kansas vs. Duke WWG: Duke beat Michigan
1993 BCS: Indiana vs. North Carolina WWG: North Carolina vs. Michigan
1994 BCS: Purdue vs. Missouri WWG: Arkansas vs. Duke
1995 BCS: UCLA vs. Arkansas WWG: UCLA beat Arkansas
1996 BCS: Kentucky vs. Massachusetts WWG: Kentucky over Syracuse
(Kentucky beat UMASS 81-74 in the semi-finals.)
1997 BCS: Kansas vs. Kentucky WWG: Arizona beat Kentucky
1998 BCS: North Carolina beat Duke WWG: Kentucky beat Utah
1999 BCS: Duke vs. Michigan State WWG: Connecticut over Duke
(Duke beat Michigan State 68-62 in the semi-finals.)
2000 BCS: Cincinnati vs. Kentucky WWG: Michigan State beat Florida
Amazingly a 21-9 Kentucky team was #2 in RPI- due to their #1 schedule. Syracuse beat them 52-50 in the round of 32 on Preston Shumpert’s jump shot. Cincinnati lost Kenyon Martin in their conference tournament and also lost in the round of 32. Duke and Michigan State were #1-2 in the polls and Michigan State won the national title.)
2001 BCS: Duke vs. Stanford WWG: Duke beat Arizona
2002 BCS: Kansas vs. Cincinnati WWG: Maryland beat. Indiana
2003 BCS: Kentucky vs. Arizona WWG: Syracuse beat Kansas
2004 BCS: Kentucky vs. Duke WWG: Connecticut beat Georgia Tech
2005 BCS: Kansas vs. Illinois WWG: North Carolina beat Illinois
(Illinois and North Carolina were actually 1-2 in the polls but Kansas was #1 in RPI because of their #1 ranked schedule.)
2006 BCS: Duke vs. Villanova WWG: Florida beat UCLA
2007 BCS: Ohio State vs. North Carolina WWG: Florida beat Ohio State
2008 BCS: Tennessee vs. North Carolina WWG: Kansas beat Memphis
2009 BCS: Duke vs. Pittsburgh WWG: North Carolina beat Michigan State
2010 BCS: Kansas vs. Kentucky WWG: Duke beat Butler
2011 BCS: Kansas vs. Ohio State WWG: Connecticut beat Butler
2012 BCS: Syracuse vs. Kentucky WWG: Kentucky vs. Kansas
2013 BCS: Duke vs. New Mexico WWG: Louisville vs. Michigan

Five times the #1-2 teams in the last poll have played for the national championship: 1949, 1957, 1961, 1962 and 1965. The #2 team has won the last three after losing the first two but the last such final was 49 yards ago. The 1-2 teams have met prior to a final in 1960, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1983, 1986, 1996 and 1999. Every time but 1976 it was in the semi-finals. The #1 lost the first but has since won 7 in a row for an overall 9-4 edge. In addition, the two top ranked teams on the tournament, one of whom was a #3 team, met for the title in 1953 and the #1 team won. .

It’s more than a question of which result you like better. I think the public would be very upset if we ditched the tournament format for a 1 vs. 2 game and the schools that would be left out, (including Syracuse) would have rebelled against it. I do think the tournament format has done an increasingly poor job of producing the match-ups we’ve waited all season to see. That Connecticut- Butter game still bothers the heck out of me. But I don’t see switching to a 1 vs. 2 game as any kind of an answer.

If I had my druthers, I’d prefer to pick the top 16 teams in the country and put them in four regionals. Then each regional would be like an Olympic pool: a round robin but instead of two teams advancing, I’d have extra games to break ties. Then the four regional champions advance to the Final Four, with the National Championship being decided the same way. The best teams would have a better chance, (but not an automatic one) of advancing and producing better match-ups in the Final Four and a champion who was more clearly the best team in the country. Not that I expect any changes in what has been a very popular event that draws the interest of every basketball fan in the country because everybody has a local team in it.

 

[AccuRater]

In interesting idea. Particularly in light of the fact that winning The Tournament is a bit of a crapshoot. It has always bothered me that you can have a great season, win 30+ games against strong opposition, achieve the #1 rank at the end of the regular season, and still be considered a failure because you didn't win The Tournament. What I hadn't realized is how often this happens.

 

[LennX6]

It didn't used to. Well when UCLA was the champ. The sin back then is there could only be one team per conference in the Tournament. So more than a few title worthy teams got left out.

 

[PeteCalvin]

If they had done the BCS method, we would have been denied some of the NCAA's most iconic moments and match-ups, especially what was probably it's most indelible moment of all time: Bird vs. Magic in 1979. We never would have seen Texas Western beat the racist Rupp. No Jim Valvano. No Villanova perfect game to beat the mighty Hoyas. No Danny and the Miracles. And, of course, no Syracuse in 87, 96 or 03.

What amazed me is how many times we would actually have seen the correct match-up of teams in the title game. Things held pretty well to form in the old days when the tourney was less than 32 teams. It certainly started to veer off course a bit in the late 80's. The 64-team model obviously impacts the results because now there are more games and more chances that the top 2 teams falter. You almost wonder if the selection committees over the last 20 years have over thought some things and purposely looked for some tough match-ups prior to the Final Four to keep ratings going. :noidea:

My only regret about using the tournament format vs BCS: UConn's three titles.

Let's not screw up a good thing. Keep the tournament the way it is and give the teams that deserve the shot to play for the trophy a chance to do just that.

 

[cto]

I guess it just shows how "wrong" the polls can be. I really like the current system which lets some underdog like Nova (in 85) or NC State (in 83) win it.

 

[LennX6]

If they had done the BCS method, we would have been denied some of the NCAA's most iconic moments and match-ups, especially what was probably it's most indelible moment of all time: Bird vs. Magic in 1979. We never would have seen Texas Western beat the racist Rupp. No Jim Valvano. No Villanova perfect game to beat the mighty Hoyas. No Danny and the Miracles. And, of course, no Syracuse in 87, 96 or 03.

What amazed me is how many times we would actually have seen the correct match-up of teams in the title game. Things held pretty well to form in the old days when the tourney was less than 32 teams. It certainly started to veer off course a bit in the late 80's. The 64-team model obviously impacts the results because now there are more games and more chances that the top 2 teams falter. You almost wonder if the selection committees over the last 20 years have over thought some things and purposely looked for some tough match-ups prior to the Final Four to keep ratings going. :noidea:

My only regret about using the tournament format vs BCS: UConn's three titles.

Let's not screw up a good thing. Keep the tournament the way it is and give the teams that deserve the shot to play for the trophy a chance to do just that.

My only regret about using the tournament format vs BCS: UConn's three titles.
Even this is moofed up by the current system. My feeling is the 95 UConn team was their best ever, just a notch above 2004.

 

[SWC75]

I guess it just shows how "wrong" the polls can be. I really like the current system which lets some underdog like Nova (in 85) or NC State (in 83) win it.

FWIW: This is the post I was referring to in the chat room last night:
http://syracusefan.com/threads/cto-will-love-this.67240/#post-912231

 

[moqui]

When conference realignment is complete, I hope what we now call the BCS conferences will completely abandon the NCAA & run their own tournament. There are currently 63 schools in the 5 major conferences; it will be 65 when Louisville and Rutgers escape probation next year.

The top 6 from each conference in, plus 2 bonus schools, get a bye

The other 33 BCS schools join with 31 invitees from what is left of the NCAA to play off in first round games, the winners to be seeded against the top 32 who enjoyed the bye.

That allows every major school to play in the Big Dance and at the same time expands the field to 96 teams and lets all the plucky little mid majors like UConn still have a shot at glory.