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 234 is App 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 App State 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: 14.7
- Bids per season: 0.06
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 0
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 11
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on App State basketball
App State might be known more as a football school, but the basketball program finds itself just below the middle of the pack. The Mountaineers have won almost 15 games per season, which isn’t a terrible track record, but it’s turned into only three NCAA Tournaments.
The last tourney came in 2021 as Dustin Kerns led them there despite a 7-8 record in Sun Belt play. Kerns has done well in his time, with a 133-92 record at App State. He led them to a Sun Belt regular season title in 2024.
And while App State hasn’t been to many NCAA Tournaments, they’ve had some great regular season success, winning 11 conference titles
The first came in 1978, as App State competed in the SoCon. The next would be the next season, and it would also be their first March Madness appearance in school history. SoCon regular season titles continued in 1981, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010, with the final seven all technically as ‘North Division’ titles within the conference. Still, it was a dominant run under multiple head coaches, including Bobby Cremins, Tom Apke, Buzz Peterson, and Houston Francher.
App State has had some solid players contribute, but no players have ever been drafted in the NBA and gone on to play. Their last draft pick in general was Dale Roberts in 1984.
While a lot of their history was in the 1990s and 2000s, coach Kerns has done an outstanding job in a tough league like the Sun Belt, keeping App State basketball relevant.
CJ Huntley was drafted by the Suns organization and debuted this season.