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 276 is Gardner-Webb 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 Gardner-Webb basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 0
- Bids: 1
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 14.3
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 3
- Conference Players of the Year: 1
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 1
- Conference tournament titles: 1
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Gardner-Webb basketball
Considering how bad Gardner-Webb basketball has been over the past few seasons, I’m even surprised they made it this high in our rankings. The Runnin’ Bulldogs went 4-29 this past season and just 11-20 the year prior.
But before that, Tim Craft was running a great operation in Boiling Springs, N.C. Craft is now at Western Carolina, but previously had a 188-166 record in 11 seasons as the head coach here, bringing G-W to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
While the Runnin’ Bulldogs reached a new low of just four wins last season, they’ve had 10 winning seasons and a pair of .500 records in the 24 years they’ve been in D1. Plus, in 2008, Thomas Sanders won the A-Sun POY.
Before they went DI, Gardner-Webb produced a trio of NBA players in the 1970s and 80s. George Adams only played in the ABA, but Eddie Lee Wilkins had a six-year NBA career. John Drew was very successful, playing 11 NBA seasons and averaging over 20 PPG for his career. He even made two All-Star teams with the Atlanta Hawks.
So don’t just take one bad year and grade a whole program off of that. Because otherwise, a pretty even keel program would’ve been marked down. And while G-W certainly wants to get out of this rut, they’ve had some outstanding seasons in the past.