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 324 is VMI 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 VMI basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 1
- Sweet 16s: 2
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 3
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 8.2
- Bids per season: 0.03
- AP Polls: 3
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 6
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 2
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on VMI basketball
VMI basketball might be the most interesting program on here, because on one hand, they’ve arguably – consistently – been among the worst of all-time. In 118 years, the Keydets have averaged 8.2 wins per season. But they’ve had random stretches of greatness along the way.
The first was in the early 1900s. Head coach Pinky Spruhan led VMI to records of 11-1, 11-1, and 11-7 from 1919-22. It was the very early days of the sport, but they showed a lot of promise, especially as a military school.
However, there would be examples of some awful play. From 1943 to 1953 – 10 full seasons – VMI basketball never won more than five games. Once, they even went 0-14.
But in 1963-64, they had their first taste of NCAA Tournament basketball. Led by Bill Blair, the Keydets won the SoCon Tournament, receiving a bid to March Madness. They would lose to Princeton by 26 in the opening round, which back then, was only 18 teams.
In the 1970s, under coach Bill Blair and then coach Charlie Schmaus, VMI basketball had a run of greatness. Both years, the Keydets had a future NBA player in Ron Carter. Carter was one of the best in college hoops and led them to SoCon regular season and conference tournament titles. Then, VMI went on a March Madness run. In a 32-team bracket, they first took down Tennessee to advance to the Sweet 16. Then they knocked off DePaul in overtime, heading to the first and only Elite 8 in program history, where they would lose to Rutgers.
But VMI would get right back to the NCAA Tournament the following season, taking down Duquesne before losing to Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
Carter’s senior year showed a lot of promise again, but VMI would fall in the SoCon Tournament and not play any postseason basketball.
Unfortunately, once Carter’s eligibility ran out, the program quickly went right back to the pit of college basketball, going 1-25 just four seasons later. In fact, since the 1977-78 season, VMI has had just eight winning seasons, with a handful coming in the early 2000s under coach Duggar Baucom.
For the most part, VMI’s had a very rough go of things, but they can never take away those years in the 1970s where the Keydets were almost on top of the college hoops world.