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 137 is Bowling Green 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 Bowling Green basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 1
- Bids: 4
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 13.5
- Bids per season: 0.04
- AP Polls: 19
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 2
- NBA players drafted & played: 13
- Conference Players of the Year: 4
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 0
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Bowling Green basketball
From the MAAC to the MAC, Bowling Green comes in at No. 137, mostly thanks to an impressive and dominant run in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Head coach Harold Anderson was legendary for the program, going 362-185 from 1942-63. He was known for pioneering the run-and-gun offense and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985. Anderson died in 1967 at age 64, shortly after retiring from coaching.
While Anderson mastered the offense for BGSU, it was Nate Thurmond who also put them on the map. Another future Hall of Fame, Thurmond played toward the end of Anderson’s reign, putting up some insane numbers. He never averaged fewer than 15 points and 15 rebounds per game in three seasons in college, and was a Consensus All-American in 1963, joining Wyndol Gray (1943) as the only Bowling Green players to have that honor.
Thurmond helped lead Bowling Green to the NCAA Tournament in 1962 and 1963. While the team was ranked as high as seventh in the AP Poll in ’62, they showed up when it mattered the most the next March, winning a game for a Sweet 16 appearance, the furthest they’ve ever made it.
Bowling Green previously went dancing in 1959 and went again in 1968 under coach Bill Fitch, his only year in town. But that was the last time they played in the NCAA Tournament. Lately, we’ve had a lot of teams with long droughts, like Columbia and Toledo. Bowling Green joins them in that respect.
But that isn’t to say they fell off the map. Jim Larranaga coached them from 1986 until 1997, going 169-145 with a MAC regular season championship. He also coached future NBA star Antonio Daniels.
Dan Dakich did similarly, going 156-140 from 1997 to 2007, also with a regular season MAC title.
And lately, Bowling Green basketball has had four 20-win seasons in the last 13 tries. Unfortunately, none of this success has led to playing any games in the NCAA Tournament. Failure to make it back to March Madness in a while is what’s hurting Bowling Green’s case in these rankings.