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 290 is Eastern Illinois 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 Eastern Illinois 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: 13.1
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 0
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Eastern Illinois basketball
We got to the OVC for our next team, as Eastern Illinois has played in the conference since 1996. They’ve had one NCAA Tournament appearance since joining, coming in 2001. Rick Samuels was the coach then, and also coached EIU to a Mid-Continent tourney title in 1992.
Samuels held the job for 25 seasons, taking EIU dancing for the only two times in program history. He also led them to a conference tournament title in 1985, but they weren’t awarded an automatic bid.
After Samuels, hoops haven’t been the same for the Panthers. Mike Miller only had one winning season in seven tries, and Jay Spoonhur did a little better, with two winning seasons in nine tries.
Current coach Marty Simmons hasn’t had a winning season in five years, but has improved the quality of play since he took over. He actually just received a two-year extension on Wednesday.
EIU also has one semi-famous NBA alum, with Kevin Duckworth lasting 11 seasons and scoring over 8,000 points in his career.
The Panthers haven’t had a lot of history since Samuels left, but when he was the coach, they were a mid-major force.