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 193 is Rice 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 Rice basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 2
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 2
- Bids: 4
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 10.8
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 8
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 5
- NBA players drafted & played: 5
- Conference Players of the Year: 3
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 10
- Conference tournament titles: 0
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Rice basketball
From one Texas team to another, Rice takes spot No. 193.
The Owls’ history dates back a while, so we really have to go to the history books here. The program had a few Consensus All-Americans, with Bob Kinney getting the honors in 1941 and 1942, Bill Tom Closs in 1943, and Bill Henry in 1944 and 1945. Together, they helped build Rice into a team to fear in that era. Buster Brannon and Joe Davis were the coaches who helped lead them to big things.
In the 1939-40 season, Kenney helped lead the program to the NCAA Tournament – just the second ever edition of the postseason bracket. They would lose to Kansas, 50-44, but because it was a field of eight teams, it counts as an Elite 8. They would actually beat Colorado in the regional third-place game.
Rice had a great next season, but didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament. However, in 1942, they got back, again losing in the ‘Elite 8,’ this time to Stanford. They would fall in the regional third-place game, again to Kansas. Kinney and Closs were stars of that squad.
Rice continued to dominate the next few seasons, but wouldn’t qualify for the tourney again until 1954. That Rice squad would also lose in the first round (Sweet 16) to Oklahoma State.
1970 would be the next and also last time Rice made it to March Madness. And funny enough, both of their wins came in regional third-place games over Colorado, and not actually games to advance in the tournament.
In the 56 seasons since that tournament, Rice hasn’t had a lot to root for, with just 14 winning seasons. Coaches Scott Thompson, Willis Wilson, and, recently, Mike Rhoades, all had some respectable seasons, but nothing enough to build anything for the program.
So, for a program in the top 200, Rice basketball really had to rely on its history, but luckily for them, that history was as good as it gets, albeit decades and decades ago. But hey, it still counts the same!
And if you needed something a little more recent, future NBA star Ricky Pierce was a standout at Rice, scoring over 1,800 points in three seasons from 1979-82. He was the 1981-82 SWC Player of the Year and played 16 seasons in the Association, being named to the All-Star team once and was the NBA Sixth Man of the Year twice.
So there you have it, even a school like Rice has more history than you would have guessed!