Today we'll be examining the most successful roster that the Philosopher Kings has ever assembled and comparing it with the current squad. In order to do this, it must first be determined which season's roster was in fact the most successful.
Newer fans of the team might point to last season (Season 20) as the gauge to base all other seasons off of. After all, it was in this season that the Kings finally won their first Naismith championship. Not only did they win the title, but they broke some pretty impressive records in the process. The Philosopher Kings can now proudly claim to be the title winner with the lowest ever regular season win total (14 wins), as well as holding the distinction of being the only Naismith team to ever win a title without having home court advantage in the finals. While those are some nice accomplishments, the reality is that the championship was merely a great finish to an otherwise unspectacular season. Additionally, most BuzzerBeater analysts feel that the Philosopher Kings would have been the favourite to win the title in the two seasons prior to their championship had their manager not taken some time off. Season 20 was a good one for the team, but it has no business being considered amongst the best. Next!
Now that long time Kings fans are done snickering about Season 20 being in the running for the team's best ever, let's take a look at Season 16. This was the season that introduced Canada to the German monster that is Waldemar Hielscher-Uhl. The addition of Waldemar marked the franchise's transition from middling division I team to world championship contender. Season 16 saw the Philosopher Kings post a still team best 19-3 regular season Naismith record and do what was unimaginable at the time -- defeat the Secret Agents in order to secure the team's first Canada Cup. The Agents were the reigning Canada Cup and Naismith champion; they also happened to have a perfect record going into the cup final. If that wasn't enough of a hurdle for the Kings, the Secret Agents were ranked as the #4 team in the world at the time. A week later they would trade in that ranking for the #1 spot and retain that position for almost a full season afterwards. That Season 16 cup final must have been a piece of cake for the Philosopher Kings, right? Well, surprisingly, the Kings did actually manage to win the game quite comfortably. The first half of the game was closely contested but some key foul outs in the second half allowed the Kings to cruise to a fifteen point victory. David had beaten Goliath and the Philosopher Kings had etched their name into the history books. So there you have it, the Season 16 roster was the most successful one the Kings have ever put out on the court... Or was it?
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