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 217 is Florida Gulf Coast 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 Florida Gulf Coast basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 3
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 16.6
- Bids per season: 0.16
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 0
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 3
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Florida Gulf Coast basketball
FGCU is known by one name and one name only – Dunk City!
The Eagles made history in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. In just their sixth season in Division I, Andy Enfield took them to the Sweet 16 as a 15-seed. The high-flying squad upset 2-seed Georgetown and 7-seed San Diego State, falling to 3-seed Florida in the regional semifinals.
The run would set up Enfield for a new head coaching gig at USC, while FGCU would start a run of five straight 20-win seasons under Joe Dooley, going dancing again in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, they won a First Four game.
Dooley left for East Carolina in 2018, and FGCU’s play has gone down since. In the last eight seasons, they’ve had just three winning seasons, but also haven’t had fewer than 10 wins in a season. While it has certainly been a step down, Patrick Chambers has kept them competitive in the Atlantic Sun for the last four seasons. We’ll see if the program can level up and get back to an era that was one of the most exciting for a while in mid-major hoops.