Kansas basketball and the often forgotten early ’90s teams

Roy Williams took Kansas basketball to the Final Four in 1991 and 1993; however, those teams seem to be easily forgotten.

When we think about Roy Williams’ time as the head coach of Kansas basketball, players like Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce, Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, and Kirk Hinrich come to mind. We remember the national title loss to Syracuse in 2003, and how Williams left for his native North Carolina.

Very rarely do we look back on Williams’ early ’90s teams though.

There may be a few reasons for this, one being the lack of a true “star” during that time. That’s not to say that the players weren’t good, because there were some all-time Kansas great during that era. Guys like Terry Brown, Adonis Jordan, Mark Randall, Greg Ostertag, and Rex Walters had tremendous success at Kansas, and all helped lead the Jayhawks to Final Fours in 1991 and 1993.

In 1991, Brown and Randall led the Jayhawks with 16 and 15 points per game respectively. Kansas was a darkhorse that season, they hadn’t been in the AP Poll all season until the very end of January. By the time March rolled around, Kansas was ranked No. 10 in the nation and was a Big 8 co-champion with Oklahoma.

As a three-seed, Kansas took on and beat two-seed Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen, then moved on to the Elite Eight where they beat Arkansas who was a one-seed. In the Final Four, the Jayhawks played yet another No. 1 seed, this time North Carolina.

Kansas was defeated in the national title game against the Duke Blue Devils, who claimed their first title. While the ending to the season was less than ideal, the fact that Williams had the Jayhawks in contention for a national title just a few years after being hired is quite incredible.

In ’93, Kansas basketball returned to the Final Four. This time, they were led by Rex Walters and Adonis Jordon who averaged 15.3 and 12.1 points per game respectively.

Unlike the ’91 team, the 1993 squad was ranked within the top 10 for the entire season, spending four weeks ranked No. 1. The team easily won the Big 8 conference and received a No.2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks advanced to the Final Four, but this time, the Tar Heels got the better of the Jayhawks and Williams.

North Carolina would go on to defeat Michigan in the national title game.

Even though neither team won the big one, they’re still two of the better teams in Kansas basketball history, and they deserve to be remembered as such.