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 215 is North Texas 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 North Texas basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 4
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 13.2
- Bids per season: 0.06
- AP Polls: 2
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 5
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 5
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 1
Overall scoop on North Texas basketball
What a wild ride it has been for North Texas basketball, with the majority of their success in their 71-year tenure in Division I coming in the 21st century.
In the last 20 seasons (since 2006-07), UNT has had 15 winning seasons, 11 20-win seasons, 3 of their 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, and an NIT Championship in 2023.
In 2021, the Mean Green were a 13-seed in the big dance and pulled off a first round upset of Purdue, for their first and only victory in March Madness.
In 2018, UNT won another postseason tournament, beating San Francisco in the best-of-3 CBI finals.
However, there was very minimal success pre-2000. North Texas had some solid seasons in the 1920s, going 24-2 between 1921-23. From 1975-78, they had an outstanding 65-16 record under head coach Bill Blakeley, but as an Independent, they never got selected to go to the NCAA Tournament. They did make the tourney in 1988, going 12-2 in conference and winning the Southland Tournament.
As far as notable coaches go, that’s why North Texas has improved so much lately. 190 of Johnny Jones’s 428 wins came with the Mean Green. Grant McCasland went 135-65 from 2018-23, before heading to Texas Tech. Ross Hodge went 46-24 in two seasons before leaving for West Virginia. Right now, Daniyal Robinson is hoping to be the latest successful story for the Mean Green.