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 321 is Florida A&M 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 Florida A&M basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 3
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 11.4
- Bids per season: 0.06
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 0
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Florida A&M basketball
There is a lot of underrated history for most of the HBCU schools, and Florida A&M basketball is no exception.
For starters, three NCAA Tournaments in 48 years, including one win in the play-in in 2004, isn’t a bad claim to have. Two of those three bids and the lone win came under head coach Mike Gillespie, which is certainly the most successful era in terms of postseason play.
But you can go back further to look at some past players of note. Delon Turner won the 1992 MEAC Player of the Year, part of a stretch of five winning seasons in a row, all under head coach Willie Booker.
1978 NBA Draft pick Clemson Johnson saw an NBA career last a decade, while 1998 draft pick Jerome James played for nine seasons in the Association.
But lately in the SWAC, the Rattlers have really been hooping. MJ Randolph won Conference POY honors in 2022, and Sterling Young took it home in 2025. Wins haven’t necessarily followed, with the last winning season for the program coming in 2006-07, but they’ve held their own in one of the weaker conferences in college hoops.
So for FAMU, there’s always been players of note, and there’s been good stretches, especially in their own conferences, but for the past two decades, not a lot of overall success to talk about.