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 301 is East Carolina 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 East Carolina 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: 12.6
- Bids per season: 0.03
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 0
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 1
Overall scoop on East Carolina basketball
Despite years in Conference USA and the American, East Carolina basketball has long struggled in high-major conferences. The Pirates’ last NCAA Tournament bid came in 1993, winning the CAA. Before that, they made it in 1972, winning the SoCon.
It was a bit of a surprise for ECU winning the SoCon in 1972, as the Pirates were just 11-14 heading into the conference tournament. They knocked off The Citadel, Davidson, and Furman, but of course, were no match for Villanova, falling by 15 in the NCAA Tournament first round.
Then, in the CAA, ECU had a 10-16 record heading into the conference tournament, but won three games to get the auto bid. Again, no surprise they fell to UNC by 20 in the first round of the big dance.
Still, ECU has had some players of note. Jim Gregory won the SoCon POY in 1971, while Blue Edwards took home the CAA POY in 1989, becoming a first round draft pick and playing 10 seasons in the NBA.
But in all honesty, ECU would be bottom 20 in our rankings had it not been for a couple of miracle seasons to go dancing. Other than that, it’s a program that often gets overshadowed by the great teams in North Carolina.