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 311 is Northern Arizona 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 Northern Arizona 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: 10.8
- Bids per season: 0.02
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 6
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Northern Arizona basketball
The Lumberjacks have a history that dates back pretty far, including a stretch from 1926-29 when they went 44-9.
As far as modern-day goes, they joined the Big Sky in 1970 and haven’t left, which has worked out fairly well at times.
In 1994, Ben Howland took the job and stayed five seasons, guiding them to the NCAA Tournament as a 15 seed in 1998. Two years later, in Mike Ardas’s first season, they went back to the big dance. In fact, from 1996-2000 (four seasons), Northern Arizona basketball had an 83-34 record, winning at least 20 games each year.
Since the turn of the century, UNA has had three more 20-win seasons and 10 winning seasons, with the last one coming in 2024-25.
They’ve also had a handful of great players, with Charles Thomas and Andrew Mavis going back-to-back as Big Sky Players of the Year in 1997 and 1998. And most recently, Carson Towt, who played his final season at Notre Dame, set the program record with 1,078 rebounds, which he accomplished in just 123 games.
Northern Arizona basketball hasn’t had the best past chunk of seasons, but under Howland and Ardas, they had a good stretch, which bumps them up here to No. 311.