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 119 is East Tennessee State 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 East Tennessee State basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 2
- Bids: 10
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.7
- Bids per season: 0.14
- AP Polls: 14
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 1
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 10
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 12
- Conference tournament titles: 10
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on East Tennessee State basketball
ETSU is easily one of the most consistent mid-major programs of all-time. The Buccaneers have been in Division I for nearly seven decades, but have turned into a yearly competitor. ETSU has had at least 10 wins or more in each of the last 29 seasons, rarely placing at the bottom of their league. But their history runs much deeper than their recent play.
Madison Brooks was a longtime coach as they first made the transition to DI, and led them to the NCAA Tournament in 1968. It would be a special March, as they knocked off Florida State, earning the only Sweet 16 in program history.
Brooks left in 1973, and the program had its only period of losing basketball. But when Les Robinson showed up in 1985, that all changed. He would help start a streak of four straight NCAA Tournaments from 1989-92, with Alan LeForce leading the way on the latter two. But it was Robinson who recruited All-American Keith Jennings, who was the maestro for three of those tournament teams. Jennings would retire with 983 career assists, still ranking sixth all-time. Meanwhile, the year after Jennings graduated, ETSU would finish off its fourth straight tourney bid with an upset over 3-seed Arizona.
LeForce’s tenure ended rough, but in came Ed DeChellis, who helped rebuild a winning culture. DeChellis would take them back to the big dance in 2003, but leave for Penn State. However, he had brought three consecutive SoCon regular season titles to the Buccaneers, leaving new head coach Murry Bartow in a good place. ETSU would go back to the big dance in 2004, 2009, and 2010, as Bartow found a way to keep the standard consistent, as their all-time winningest head coach with 224 dubs.
The Buccaneers would reach some new heights from 2015-20 with Steve Forbes leading the way. He led them to five straight 20-win seasons, including another March Madness bid in 2017 and a 30-win season in 2019-20, before leaving for Wake Forest.
For the last three seasons, Brooks Savage has had three straight winning seasons, as ETSU continues to be a major player in the SoCon, winning its 12th regular season championship this past season.
The Bucs have only had one player ever drafted and then gone on to play in the NBA, Skeeter Swift. But they’ve had countless great college players to help form an incredible mid-major culture that might never break.