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 317 is Longwood 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 Longwood basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 0
- Bids: 2
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.4
- Bids per season: 0.09
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 0
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 1
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Longwood basketball
Longwood joined DI in 2004 as an independent and only had one winning season in eight years, all coached by Mike Gillian.
In 2012, they joined the Big South, and after one more year with Gillian, moved on to Jayson Gee. He didn’t do much better, but in 2018, Griff Aldrich worked wonders with the program. He went 127-100 in seven seasons, winning a regular season conference title and two conference tournaments, resulting in NCAA tourney bids in 2022 and 2024. Aldrich is now the coach of Pepperdine, but in year one under Ronnie Thomas, the Lancers went 16-16, seemingly not having lost a step just yet.
The 2021-22 season was very special for the Lancers’ program, going 26-7 overall and having just one loss in conference play. They got blown out in the first round of March Madness by Tennessee, but it was still a season to remember.
But before Longwood basketball went DI, they had an NBA legend. Jerome Kersey played for the Lancers and was drafted in the second round in 1984. Kersey went on to play in over 1,000 games in the NBA, scoring 11,825 points and grabbing 6,339 rebounds. He was never an NBA All-Star, but played 17 seasons. His 1,153 career games played rank 71st in league history.
So for Longwood, the time in DI has been short, but lately, very successful. And before that time, they had an absolute legend as a part of the program.