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 273 is Northern 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 Northern Illinois basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 0
- Bids: 3
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.3
- Bids per season: 0.05
- AP Polls: 2
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 3
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 4
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Northern Illinois basketball
From Quinnipiac and the MAAC to Northern Illinois and the MAC, the Huskies are in at No. 273!
For NIU, most of the good years happened way back, but they count the same as the recent years. In 1971-72, the Huskies had a pair of future NBA players in Jim Bradley and Billy Harris. They’d reach as high as 19th in the AP Poll, taking down number 5 Indiana in the regular season. Unfortunately, they did not play in the postseason.
NIU would make its first tourney appearance in 1982, winning the MAC Tournament and earning a 12 seed. After going Independent, they joined a conference again and won 25 games in 1990-91, making another NCAA Tournament. It was just the second year as head coach for Jim Molinari, who would then leave for Bradley. Brian Hammell came in and stayed for a while, taking NIU to its third and most recent tournament in 1996.
Unfortunately, Hammel wouldn’t stay for much longer, and since the turn of the century, the Huskies have had six different head coaches. Starting next season, Matt Majkrzak will be the seventh.
It’s a program that certainly had a good run a while ago, but since that 1996 March Madness bid, they’ve only had FOUR winning seasons. Unfortunately, even some good history can’t make up for that and NIU just hasn’t been able to get out of the MAC basement.