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 218 is Rider 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 Rider 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: 0.05
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 12
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Rider basketball
Rider basketball may be a bit higher on this list than you would think, but they are a bit of a sneaky good mid-major program, despite their last NCAA Tournament appearance being in 1994.
While they have gone 32 seasons without a bid, they’ve also had 20 winning records in that time-frame. That is a really consistent track record to not have won a conference tourney title.
However, the last tourney bids were a fun time for the program, coming in back-to-back seasons in 1993 and 1994. Both squads got handled in the first round of March Madness, but won the MAAC regular season and tournament titles. Rider’s other tourney appearance was in 1984, and was another decisive first round loss.
It’s also worth looking at some very early years in program history. Between the 1928-29 and 1930-31 seasons, Clair Bee coached Rider to a 53-8 record. Bee would later coach LIU to NIT titles in 1939 and 1941. He won over 400 games as a college basketball head coach.
A lesser-known name that might ring a bell is Jason Thompson. He played at Rider from 2005-08, going 12th in the NBA Draft. While Thompson never led the Broncs dancing, he finished his career with over 2,000 points scored and nearly 1,200 career rebounds.
The biggest reason Rider makes it this far? Some tournament success and lots of conference success. March Madness appearances are important, but so are 12 regular season conference chips and a winning percentage of .513. Rider is a winning program, and that should never be taken for granted.