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 175 is UNC Wilmington 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 UNC Wilmington basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 7
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 16.1
- Bids per season: 0.14
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 2
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 10
- Conference tournament titles: 7
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 1
Overall scoop on UNC Wilmington basketball
UNC Wilmington basketball is one of those programs that just churns out good coaches. Since 2002, Brad Brownell, Kevin Keatts, and now Takayo Siddle have graced the sidelines. Brownell has turned into Clemson’s best coach of all-time. Keatts had a rocky road at NC State, but still turned it into a Final Four. Siddle just turned 40, and has led UNCW to five straight 20-win seasons, seemingly a season or two away from a Power 5 job.
Siddle’s track record might be the most impressive – a 133-54 record and a pair of regular season conference titles. He was the CAA Coach of the Year this past season. However, just once has a Siddle-coached team made it to the big dance, happening in 2025.
Keatts’ time shouldn’t be understated. In three short seasons, he led the Seahawks to two NCAA Tournaments and was the CAA Coach of the Year two seasons. All three seasons he was in town, UNCW won the regular season conference title. And a 72-28 record is just ridiculous.
And before that, in the early 2000s, Brownell went 83-40 with two NCAA Tournaments and two CAA Coach of the Year awards. In the 2005-06 season, they were a 9-seed.
But before Brownell was Jerry Wainwright, who also took them to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and did one thing none of the other three head coaches have – win a tournament game. In 2002, the Seahawks upset 4-seed USC, and even gave Indiana a tough game in the round of 32. While the program as a whole has leveled up since then, that’s still their March Madness moment to remember.
UNCW had one more season of note. In 2021-22, Siddle took them from 7-10 the year before to a 27-9 record and CBI Tournament champs. It might not be remotely the same as a March Madness title, but mid-majors will still take it.
I like to think of UNCW as the coach’s program. They’ve only had two Conference Player of the Year winners despite just a great track record over the last quarter of a century. And that’s chalked up to some outstanding men leading the way.