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 159 is Little Rock 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 Little Rock basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 2
- Bids: 5
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 16.2
- Bids per season: 0.10
- AP Polls: 0
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 4
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 14
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Little Rock basketball
Next up is a program that got so famous they were able to shorten it from Arkansas-Little Rock to just “Little Rock.”
The Trojans have long been a consistent program, with an astounding 14 regular season conference titles and 29 winning seasons in 48 tries.
Their best run of success was in the 1980s under head coach Mike Newell. From 1984 to 1990, Newell led them to three TAAC regular season chips and three trips to March Madness. He went 133-60 as the head coach, never having a losing season.
Soon after, they’d see more success in the 1990s under coach Wimp Sanderson and star player Derek Fisher. In Fisher’s senior year, the Trojans won 23 games, falling to New Orleans by one point in the championship, just shy of the automatic bid. Instead, they lost in round one of the NIT.
But in the coming years, more success would follow. Porter Moser coached them from 2000-03, going 54-34 in three seasons. Steve Shields went 192-178 from 2003-15, leading them to five Sun Belt regular season crowns and another tourney bid in 2011. And the year after he left was an all-timer. In Chris Beard’s only season as head coach, the Trojans won 30 games, knocking off 5-seed Purdue in a round of 64 upset. They would fall to Iowa State in the second round.
Since then, Little Rock basketball has tailed off slightly, with just three winning records over their last 10 seasons. But they have stayed competitive enough in an always difficult league like the Sun Belt. And historically, they have been one of the best basketball programs in the league, with regular season titles in 1996, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016, and 2020. Some of those are considered division titles, but that’s still an impressive feat in such a big conference.
Little Rock isn’t that little when it comes to the court!