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 205 is Manhattan 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 Manhattan basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 8
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.1
- Bids per season: 0.07
- AP Polls: 8
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 6
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 13
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Manhattan basketball
The New York City area has lots of basketball history, and Manhattan gets to play right in the Big Apple. It hasn’t always led to success, but it has led to 8 NCAA Tournaments and a bunch of coaching names you’ll know of.
The early years of Manhattan basketball were somewhat promising. From 1929-42, head coach Neil Cohalan led the Jaspers to a 165-83 record, before postseason tournament play really started evolving.
The next big run was under Kenneth Norton from 1946-68. Norton remains Manhattan’s all-time leader in wins, with 310, and led them to 6 of their 13 regular season conference titles. He also had them ranked in the AP Poll a few times and led them to the big dance in 1956 and 1958. The ’58 group beat West Virginia in the first round, losing to Dartmouth in the Sweet 16.
But Norton’s reign didn’t come without some controversy. In 1951, star big man Junius Kellogg was offered $1,000 for a point-shaving bribe. He actually didn’t accept it, and helped authorities arrest those involved, including co-captain John Byrnes. The incident led to the uncovering of many other similar instances around the country. Kellogg would later join the Army and after that, the Harlem Globetrotters, but while traveling with the team, was paralyzed. He wound up being a big supporter of wheelchair basketball.
Of course, that very sad story, and unfortunately, so was Manhattan after Norton stepped away from his head coaching duties. While John Powers coached them to some winning records, they would later struggle to find a coach who could do that, and wouldn’t make another NCAA Tournament until 1993. The previous year, Steve Lappas had led them to a 25-9 season, taking the Villanova job. Fran Fraschilla would step in and bring them to the big dance, which started a string of four straight winning seasons and another bid in 1995. The Jaspers were a 13-seed that year, upsetting 4-seed Oklahoma to get to the round of 32.
Fraschilla left for St. John’s in 1996 and after some rough years under John Leonard, Bobby Gonzalez did a terrific job from 1999-2006. The future Seton Hall coach brought Manhattan back to the NCAA Tournament in 2003 and 2004, taking down 5-seed Florida in the ’04 edition. In four of Gonzalez’s last five seasons, the Jaspers had 20+ wins.
The last good run for Manhattan came under Steve Masiello from 2011-22. Masiello took them dancing in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015. However, after the latter, his teams would have seven straight losing seasons. In fact, the last winning season for the Jaspers was that 2014-15 campaign.
Obviously, those are some notable coaches, but surprisingly, Manhattan has never had a notable NBA player. Even in the college game, in the 100+ seasons, Luis Flores is their only 2,000-point scorer.
But star-power aside, Manhattan has had its fair share of moments and served as a stepping stone for quite a few coaches to embark on their careers.