[JohnR34231]

And it was a little frustrating the year we were ranked #1 in the nation and proceeded to lose in the second round of the tourney.

That would be 2004, losing to Alabama in the second round, and Monty left soon after that game for the Warriors.

It was perhaps the most frustrating loss of the Monty era. Stanford led by 13 with 7 minutes left, attempted an amazing 30 more shots than Bama, had 22 offensive rebounds, outrebounded Bama by 20, but lost on the back of 44 FT attempts by Bama (they made 34, Stanford had 11 attempts).

Approximately the same thing happened in 2000. Stanford had been ranked #1 during the season, but was merely #3  at the time they lost to UNC in the second round.

Yeah, I remember there was one diehard fan on the Cardboard who insisted that despite that loss, we were still the #1 team in the nation.
Whatever, guy.

That guy wasn't me. But, to this day I'd argue that Stanford was at worst the second best team in the country that year (with UConn being the other.) In a single-game elimination tournament, the best team doesn't always win. Doesn't help when the refs inexplicably put the other team on the line 44 times.

Yeah, I recall debates on the Cardboard about just how you determine who the "best" team in college basketball is. I don't think a consensus was ever reached although I think most agreed that a single elimination tournament often didn't.
What I drew from the debates is that no matter what method you use, you will have people arguing that it doesn't select the "best" team.
It would be nice if we could get ourselves in a position again where someone could argue we were the best team in the country without looking like a total idiot.

[JohnR34231]

And it was a little frustrating the year we were ranked #1 in the nation and proceeded to lose in the second round of the tourney.

That would be 2004, losing to Alabama in the second round, and Monty left soon after that game for the Warriors.

It was perhaps the most frustrating loss of the Monty era. Stanford led by 13 with 7 minutes left, attempted an amazing 30 more shots than Bama, had 22 offensive rebounds, outrebounded Bama by 20, but lost on the back of 44 FT attempts by Bama (they made 34, Stanford had 11 attempts).

Approximately the same thing happened in 2000. Stanford had been ranked #1 during the season, but was merely #3  at the time they lost to UNC in the second round.

Yeah, I remember there was one diehard fan on the Cardboard who insisted that despite that loss, we were still the #1 team in the nation.
Whatever, guy.

That guy wasn't me. But, to this day I'd argue that Stanford was at worst the second best team in the country that year (with UConn being the other.) In a single-game elimination tournament, the best team doesn't always win. Doesn't help when the refs inexplicably put the other team on the line 44 times.

Yeah, I recall debates on the Cardboard about just how you determine who the "best" team in college basketball is. I don't think a consensus was ever reached although I think most agreed that a single elimination tournament often didn't.
What I drew from the debates is that no matter what method you use, you will have people arguing that it doesn't select the "best" team.
It would be nice if we could get ourselves in a position again where someone could argue we were the best team in the country without looking like a total idiot.