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 142 is Winthrop 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 Winthrop basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 11
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 17.1
- Bids per season: 0.27
- AP Polls: 2
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 0
- Conference Players of the Year: 7
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 12
- Conference tournament titles: 13
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Winthrop basketball
Has any program been as consistently great as Winthrop since joining Division I? They are no spring chickens – 41 seasons and counting at the DI level. But the Eagles have been dancing 11 times, making it once every four years or so. They have absolutely dominated the Big South and have shown no real signs of slowing down.
In the 41 years that Sports Reference tracks, Winthrop basketball has had just 14 losing seasons. Even more impressively, they’ve gone for 20+ wins 16 times. More often than not, the Eagles are getting to 20 wins, rather than below .500. That’s the mark of a winning program and a big reason why they have a .564 winning percentage all-time.
In terms of their 11 NCAA Tournament bids, they all came in a 23-year span from 1999 to 2021. Gregg Marshall took the program to some amazing heights. From 1998 to 2007 (nine seasons), he put together a 194-83 record, guided them to seven NCAA Tournaments, and won the Big South regular season championship six times. Only one season did Marshall’s teams not win the Big South regular season or conference tournament title. In 2006-07, they even finished the season ranked 22nd in the AP Poll, going 29-5.
After Marshall left for Wichita State, Randy Peele came in and, unfortunately, struggled. In five seasons, he went 77-82 with just two NCAA Tournament bids. But the other three seasons all had losing records.
However, things turned right back around when Pat Kelsey got to town. The current head coach of Louisville, Kelsey, led them to four more Big South regular season titles and two NCAA Tournaments in nine seasons. They also won the Big South Tournament in 2020, with COVID unfortunately ending their March Madness plans. And in 2020-21, they went 23-2, one of the best seasons of any mid-major in recent memory.
Since Kelsey, it has been Mark Prosser leading the way. While he has done well with a 101-63 record in five seasons, it has only led to a single regular season conference chip and zero NCAA Tournaments. However, with three straight winning seasons and two straight 20-win seasons, the program is as alive as ever.
All of the recent success has been fun for Winthrop fans, but it has only led to one win in March Madness. They came close in 2006, as the 15-seed Eagles only lost by two points to 2-seed Tennessee. The next season, they broke through, upsetting 6-seed Notre Dame to get to the round of 32, falling to Oregon by 14 points there. Otherwise, most of their appearances in the big dance have led to blowout losses.
Still, one thing is certain: at Winthrop, you will WIN. In the last 28 seasons, they’ve had a conference winning percentage of above .600, 22 times. Few programs have ever been that dominant in their conference for what is nearly three decades. Hats off to the Eagles!