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 263 is UIC 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 UIC 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: 14.6
- Bids per season: 0.07
- 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: 2
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on UIC basketball
The Flames of Illinois-Chicago are the latest program to join our rankings!
Joining Division I in 1981, they’ve made the big dance three times, coming in 1998, 2002, and 2004. Jimmy Collins was the head coach of all three, previously serving as an important assistant for Illinois under Lou Henson. UIC was the only head coaching job Collins had, retiring in 2010. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 74.
Collins was a welcome addition, but even before he got the job, UIC was competitive. In their first 15 years without him, they had 11 seasons of .500 or better, a very competitive track record for a mid-major.
However, Collins helped bring the program to a new level, winning 20+ games four times in his 14 seasons as head coach. The Flames went 218-208 under Collins.
The season to remember was 1998, with UIC taking down Michigan State by 12 in the non-conference and only losing by 1 point at Illinois three days later. They would lose in their first game in the conference tournament, but still draw a 9-seed, falling to Charlotte in the opening round of March Madness.
Since Collins, the Flames have still stayed competitive, with Steve McClain doing well from 2015-20 and Rob Ehsan off to a hot start with two straight winning seasons. But they haven’t found any other tournament success, with Collins as the only coach to do that. However, UIC now competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, a small step up from the Horizon League, so the last two seasons have been promising.