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 147 is Detroit Mercy 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 Detroit Mercy basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 6
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 12.7
- Bids per season: 0.05
- AP Polls: 41
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 2
- NBA players drafted & played: 17
- Conference Players of the Year: 7
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 2
- Conference tournament titles: 3
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Detroit Mercy basketball
At one point, Detroit Mercy was the brunt of jokes about being the worst team in college basketball. In 2023-24, they went 1-31. From 2016-2025, they had nine straight losing seasons. That just ended with a 17-15 record this past season.
It wasn’t all bad during that stretch. Star guard Antoine Davis scored 3,664 points in five seasons, coming up four points shy of breaking Pete Maravich’s all-time scoring record. Davis did shatter the all-time record for most threes made in a career, with 588.
But Davis is far from the only star to suit up for the Titans. The program used to send some quality players to the league, including Knicks legend Dave DeBusschere and NBA journeyman Spencer Haywood. Both players are enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The program also had another notable name – Dick Vitale coached them from 1973-77, going 78-30 and leading them to the NCAA Tournament in ’77. The team featured future NBA Draft picks John Long, Terry Tyler, Terry Duerod, and Dennis Boyd, and went to the Sweet 16, knocking off Middle Tennessee to get there. Vitale would leave the college to coach the Detroit Pistons in the NBA.
But Detroit Mercy has had plenty of other notable seasons – including all the way back in 1912-13, when they went a perfect 13-0! Besides the run under Vitale, Detroit has made March Madness appearances in 1962, 1979, 1998, 1999, and 2012. In 1960-61, with DeBusschere starring, they were ranked as high as third in the country.
The best way to describe the Titans is random. The program has had many great moments, but there hasn’t seemed to be a rhyme or reason to their success, with none of it staying for long periods at a time. Instead, it’s a program with a bunch of scattered history, making for one of the coolest stories of a mid-major in college basketball. No sport like it!