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 194 is Lamar 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 Lamar basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 5
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 14.7
- Bids per season: 0.10
- AP Polls: 1
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 4
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Lamar basketball
Lamar basketball gets the nod at No. 194 in our rankings, thanks to a surprising amount of NCAA Tournament success. The Cardinals have made it to the big dance six times, but had a great run, going there in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1983. In each of those trips, they won at least one game.
It’s also noteworthy that multiple coaches were at the helm during the run. Billy Tubbs guided them there the first two times, before leaving for Oklahoma. He had over 600 wins at the Division I level and still ranks 44th all-time. Pat Foster took over and led them there in ’81 and ’83 and would later coach at Houston (and Nevada). He had 366 career DI wins.
Lamar’s run of greatness was thanks to players like Clarence Kea, BB Davis, Mike Olliver, and Tom Sewell. Davis and Olliver were there for all of the runs from ’79 to ’81, with Olliver winning Southland Player of the Year in 1981. Sewell would later win the award in 1984.
In terms of runs, Lamar had a 10-seed in 1979, knocking off 7-seed Detroit Mercy before getting handled by Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Quite impressively, Olliver and Davis each averaged north of 20 points per game with Davis and Kea each averaging double-doubles with 10+ rebounds per game.
The following season, stats went a bit down, but play went up, as 10-seed Lamar upset 7-seed Weber State and 2-seed Oregon State, losing to 6-seed Clemson in the Sweet 16. And in 1981, as an 8-seed, they beat Missouri, but fell to 1-seed LSU.
While the 1983 tournament squad was much different, Swell still led them past 6-seed Alabama, losing in the round of 32 to Villanova in a close one.
Unfortunately, Lamar basketball would have some rough years, making it back to the big dance in 2000 as an under .500 automatic bid, and in 2012 under Pat Knight (Bobby Knight’s son), losing in the play-in round as a 16-seed.
Lately, Alvin Brooks had Lamar seemingly in a better spot, with winning records in 2023-24 and 2024-25, but took a bit of a step back this past season. But in comes new head coach Jordan Fee, who will try to turn the program back around.
In terms of a stretch of greatness, few mid-majors can level up to what Lamar was able to do. Unfortunately, it is tough to sustain that, and they’ve learned the hard way.