You know, you're gonna miss the BCS when she's gone. There's nothing quite like having a convoluted, nonsensical, arbitrary system for determining a National Champion to make you truly appreciate something like the NCAA Tournament.
So naturally, it makes one wonder...what if the BCS ran college basketball as well as college football? What kind of post-season exhibition games that mean nothing would we have to look forward to? And who would play in the BCS National Championship Game?
First, some ground rules...
- We'll use the 2012-2013 bowl game schedule.
- We'll try to stick to the actual NCAA Tournament 1-68 seedings when possible.
- Same rules as football, BCS Conference champions get auto-BCS bids. At-large bids determined by any non-BCS teams highly ranked and remaining at-large teams.
- I will try my best to stick to bowl-conference affiliations without getting too crazy.
- Mid-Major bowl affiliations will be re-imagined amongst the different conferences in basketball.
- Keep the same order in which the bowls are played.
Without further ado, here's the 2013 college basketball bowl schedule... Enjoy?
Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque, N.M.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Boise, ID
S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, San Diego, CA
Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl, St. Petersburg, FL
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, New Orleans, LA
MAACO Las Vegas Bowl, Las Vegas, NV
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, Honolulu, HI
Little Caesars Bowl, Detroit, MI
Military Bowl, Washington, D.C.
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl, San Diego, CA
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, Shreveport, LA
Russell Athletic Bowl, Orlando, FL
Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl, Houston, TX
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Dallas, TX
New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Bronx, NY
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, San Francisco, CA
Valero Alamo Bowl, San Antonio, TX
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, Tempe, Ariz.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, Nashville, TN
Hyundai Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX
AutoZone Liberty Bowl, Memphis, TN
Chick-fil-A Bowl, Atlanta, GA
North Carolina Tar Heels (24-10) vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (21-12)
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, FL Wisconsin Badgers (23-11) vs. Tennessee Volunteers (20-12)
Heart of Dallas Bowl, Dallas, TX
Capital One Bowl, Orlando, FL
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Discover Orange Bowl, Miami, FL
Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, LA
Tostitos Fiesta, Glendale, AZ
AT&T Cotton Bowl, Arlington, TX
BBVA Compass Bowl, Birmingham, AL
GoDaddy.com, Mobile, AL
BCS Championship Game, Miami, FL.
Note 1: As dumb as this all way, remember, this is exactly how we have been determining our football national champion.
Note 2: I swear I didn't put Pitt in Birmingham on purpose, it actually worked out that way. Amazing.
Note 3: See the 2011-2012 season results here.