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 246 is South Carolina State 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 South Carolina State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 0
- Bids: 5
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 13.9
- Bids per season: 0.09
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on South Carolina State basketball
The latest HBCU in our rankings is South Carolina State, entering at No. 246.
The Bulldogs play in the MEAC, coming in just a few spots ahead of Coppin State, who was No. 249.
South Carolina State’s best chunk of history was under head coach Cy Alexander, who, between 1987 and 2003, led them to the NCAA Tournament five times. In fact, every time SC State has made the big dance was under Alexander. All five of those seasons were also 20-win seasons, so they deservedly represented the MEAC each time.
Since Alexander left, it’s been a major struggle for the Bulldogs. Ben Betts led them to back-to-back winning seasons in 2003-04 and 2004-05, but SC State has only had .500 records or better four times since then. One came recently, with South Carolina State winning 20 games in 2024-25.
To make it this high in the rankings is a little wild for a program with no NCAA Tournament wins, but when you have nine MEAC regular season titles, it bumps you up a bit.
Still, you can’t discredit their great run under coach Alexander.