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    Kansas Jayhawks - Former coach Roy Williams with point guard Kirk Hinrich.

    Kansas Jayhawks

    4.9(9 reviews)
    24.6 mi

    Kansas is one of the "blue bloods" of college basketball. The definition of college basketball's…read moreblue bloods depends on who you ask. My definition is below. Five teams, ranked by number of NCAA tournament titles won (number of Final Four appearances in parenthesis). Blue Bloods 1. UCLA - 11 (20) 2. Kentucky 8 (17) 3. North Carolina - 6 (20) 4. Duke - 5 (16) 5. Kansas - 3 (15) Notables * Indiana - 5 (8) * UConn - 4 (5) * Villanova - 3 (6) It's coincidence that the blue bloods - UCLA, UK, UNC, Duke, and KU - all wear some shade of the color blue. So do UConn and Villanova. While Indiana has more national championships than Kansas, Kansas has many more Final Four appearances and I believe an overall better and more consistent body of work. Indiana's right there, though. Regardless, the programs listed above are among the greatest in college basketball history. Kansas' three titles came in 1952 (Phog Allen, for home Allen Fieldhouse is named after), 1988 (Larry Brown), and 2008 (Bill Self). Roy Williams, who coached KU from 1988-2003, never led Kansas to a national championship despite having stellar, highly-talented, and highly-ranked teams year-in and year-out. In his 15 years at the helm, Williams led the Jayhawks to 14-straight NCAA tournament appearances including four Final Fours and two national championship game appearances. I remember his heavily-favored, No.-1-seeded Kansas teams, featuring the star-studded duo of Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, getting bounced early from the 1997 and 1998 NCAA tournaments. And I remember, on live TV, after Kansas lost the 2003 title game to Jim Boeheim, Carmelo Anthony, and Syracuse, Williams telling CBS reporter Bonnie Bernstein, "I could give a sh*t about North Carolina right now." That was Roy Williams' last game at Kansas. He just announced his retirement from UNC on April 1, 2021 after 18 years leading the Tar Heels. Williams led the Heels to national championships in 2005, 2009, and 2017. A native North Carolinian who attended UNC, played basketball on the Heels' JV team, and an 11-year assistant to another coaching legend, Dean Smith, it was inevitable Williams would return to North Carolina. Williams' replacement, current coach Bill Self, has done well at Kansas. He led the Jayhawks to 16-straight NCAA tournament appearances. That included the 2008 national championship. It was an overtime thriller against a John-Calipari-coached Memphis team that had future NBA players Derrick Rose, Joey Dorsey, and Chris Douglas-Roberts. For Kansas, future NBA players included Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur, and Brandon Rush. The day after Williams announced his retirement, Kansas announced they had signed Self to a lifetime contract. My favorite team and alma mater, Georgia Tech, eliminated Bill Self's first Kansas team in the 2004 NCAA tournament. It was an Elite Eight game that went to overtime and sent Tech to just our second Final Four (a big deal for us). I was a student then and we welcomed the team back to campus in Atlanta that night (from the St. Louis regional). Bill Self's 2019-20 team was favored to win the 2020 NCAA tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled it.

    Unbelievable season ending with an incredible NCAA tourney romp though the Midwest region, semis,…read morethen the finals....FTW! What's not to love - deep bench, solid coach, talented players, first Big 12 BBall team to win it all.

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    Kansas Jayhawks - The Jayhawks' third NCAA championship with coach Bill Self in 2008.

    The Jayhawks' third NCAA championship with coach Bill Self in 2008.

    Kansas Jayhawks - Paul Pierce when he played for Kansas.

    Paul Pierce when he played for Kansas.

    Kansas Jayhawks - Jayhawks coaching legends (left to right): Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and Bill Self.

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    Jayhawks coaching legends (left to right): Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and Bill Self.

    Sport Zone - amateursportsteams - Updated May 2026

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