Great story on HCBS by Bill Reiter

Enjoy!
www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/new...-some-elite-company/

Yes, indeed, LKF! Love to see him get at least 1 more NC before he hangs up the clipboard, preferably more.

... as to the identity of the greatest KUMBB coach ever. First, it would mean he would beat or tie Roy on all but one benchmark.

In same time @KU (15 years)
NC: 3 to 0
Final Fours: 4 to 4
Conference titles: 14 to 9 (assuming KU goes on to tie and then break UCLA's record 13 in a row)
KU Wins: more than Roy's 418 (could pass that this year if KU finishes strong)

The only stat of note that would still belong to Roy would be never losing a first round NCAAT game, while Bill's teams lost 2.

Phog would still be in the running and the sentimental best ever for everything he brought to the game and in establishing the KU "brand", but in important statistical categories Bill would trail Phog only in career wins, conference titles and years at the helm -- and in a second 15 years (if he stays that long), he would project to pass Phog in career wins and conference titles if he can continue to average 31 wins a year (his average over the last 10 seasons).

BILL (15 years) v PHOG (39 years)
NC: 3 to 3 (w/1922&23 Helms titles)
Final Fours: 4 to 3* (1940, 1952*, 1953)
Conference titles: 14 to 24
KU Wins: 440-450 to 590

*The NCAA tournament began in 1939, so Phog only had 18 opportunities to get KU into it in his career. His teams made 4 appearances in the days before the field of 64. (The 1939 NCAAT included just 8 teams -- Brown, Ohio State, Villanova and Wake Forest in the East and Oklahoma, eventual champion Oregon, Texas and Utah State in the West. The tournament didn't get to 64 teams until ). His KU teams made the Sweet 16 four times, and the FF and NC game three times, winning it all in 1952 against St John's (the two NC losses in 1940 and 1953 were both to Branch McCracken's Indiana Hoosiers).

But that's enough looking back! Here's hoping this is a day KU gets to "eat the bear", and not a day where "the bear eats (K)U"!^

^with absolutely no apologies whatsoever to Jerry Reed .
Be hot, Jayhawks!

Excerpted from Wikipedia :

The NCAA tournament has changed its format many times over the years. Below are listed many of these changes.

Expansion of field[edit]
The NCAA tournament has expanded a number of times throughout its history. This is a breakdown of the history of the tournament formats:
1939–1950: 8 teams
1951–1952: 16 teams
1953–1974: varied between 22 and 25 teams
1975–1978: 32 teams
1979: 40 teams
1980–1982: 48 teams
1983: 52 teams (four play-in games before the tournament)
1984: 53 teams (five play-in games before the tournament)
1985–2000: 64 teams
2001–2010: 65 teams (one play-in game to determine whether the 64th or 65th team plays in the first round)
2011–present: 68 teams (four play-in games before all remaining teams compete in the first round)
After the conclusion of the 2010 tournament, there was much speculation about increasing the tournament size to as many as 128 teams. On April 1, 2010, the NCAA announced that it was looking at expanding to 96 teams for 2011. On April 22, 2010, the NCAA announced a new television contract with CBS/Turner that would expand the field, but only to 68 teams.