The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 325 is Bethune-Cookman basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Bethune-Cookman basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 0
- Bids: 0
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 11.2
- Bids per season: 0
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 3
- Conference tournament titles: 0
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Bethune-Cookman basketball
Bethune-Cookman joined Division I in 1980 and has split time between mostly the MEAC and, since 2021, the SWAC. The program didn’t play any games in 2020-21 due to COVID.
The Wildcats struggled mightily out of the gates, not getting a winning season until 2008-09, nearly three decades since moving to DI. But since then, they’ve easily been one of the best HBCUs with four straight winning seasons between 08-12, and 8 of the last 17 years.
The program had some non-basketball issues in the mid-2000s, which led to some tough years to follow, but Ryan Ridder helped to rebuild it, and currently, Reggie Theus has been great, with a 72-89 overall record, the second-best winning percentage in program history.
The program hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament, but they’ve been at the top of their conference before. They finished first in the MEAC in 2011 and 2018 and won the SWAC regular season title this past season, going 14-4.
Three former players were also named MEAC Player of the Year.
For Bethune-Cookman, things haven’t always been easy, but they’ve had a winning record virtually every other season for the past 17 years, so in terms of the other HBCUs, they have bragging rights there!