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 270 is Marist 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 Marist 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: 13.3
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 5
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 5
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Marist basketball
Staying in New York state, we go from Wagner to Marist basketball as the Red Foxes come in at No. 270.
Marist saw some extremely early success, making the NCAA Tournament in their fifth and sixth seasons at the Division I level. Matt Furjanic guided them there in 1986, with Dave Magarity doing so in 1987. Unfortunately, Marist couldn’t play in any postseason tournaments in 1988 or ’89 due to program violations. They won the regular season conference title in ’88.
But really, both of those Marist basketball teams were led by star player Rik Smits, who would go on to have a 12-year NBA career, scoring nearly 13,000 career points and being named to the All-Star team in 1998.
Smits’ career came to a close at Marist in 1988, but Magarity coached there until 2004, notching 253 wins with the program. Matt Brady replaced him and did very well, taking a new job at James Madison after three straight seasons going 19-10, 25-9, and 18-14.
However, the program would go through about a decade of poor play before John Dunne was hired in 2018. Dunne has led the Red Foxes to three straight winning seasons and counting, finishing in the top four of the MAAC all three seasons.
For Marist, the pair of NCAA Tourneys doesn’t tell the whole story. They’ve had other good years – including the brief run they’re on right now. And having an NBA legend in Rik Smits bumps them up even more.