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 203 is Jackson 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 Jackson 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: 14.1
- Bids per season: 0.06
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 10
- Conference Players of the Year: 7
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 7
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Jackson State basketball
The first props you have to give Jackson State basketball is their history of developing some notable NBA players. Four former Tigers have played in at least 250 games in the league: Ed Manning, Cornell Warner, Purvis Short, and Lindsey Hunter.
Manning and Warner played for the Tigers before the SWAC moved to Division I, but Short was a senior in Jackson State’s first-ever season up at the level. He averaged 29.5 points and 11.4 rebounds, leading the Tigers to a 21-5 record and a SWAC regular season title. Short would play in the NBA for 12 seasons, mostly with Golden State. He was never an All-Star, despite averaging 28.0 PPG in the 1984-85 season. For his career, Short scored just shy of 15,000 points.
Hunter’s career was very lengthy, spanning 17 seasons in the NBA. He only averaged 8.5 PPG for his career, but turned into a key role player for the Detroit Pistons. Hunter made over 1,000 career threes. In college, he was also dominant, averaging 26.7 PPG in his senior year. Even though Jackson State won the SWAC regular season that year, they fell short in the conference tournament, as he never got to play in March Madness.
Jackson State has had three teams play in the big dance. The first two were in 1997 and 2000, coached by Andy Stoglin, who won nearly 200 games in 14 seasons there. Tevester Anderson brought them there in 2007, as it is coming up on two decades since the last time Jackson State played in the NCAA Tournament.
Jackson State has also had 10 SWAC Player of the Year winners, only trailing Texas Southern, which has 12. However, three of the Tigers were before they went to Division I, which happened to be one of Purvis Short’s trophies, and two of his brother’s, Gene Short.
Unfortunately, nearly all of Jackson State’s success happened pre-21st century. In fact, in the 19 seasons they have had since their last NCAA Tournament bid, they’ve had just five winning seasons. But Trey Johnson replaces Mo Williams as the new head coach, hoping that it could mean a turnaround and some more winning basketball for the program.