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 114 is Southern Illinois 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 Southern Illinois basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 3
- NCAA wins: 6
- Bids: 10
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 16.7
- Bids per season: 0.17
- AP Polls: 17
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 7
- Conference Players of the Year: 6
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 9
- Conference tournament titles: 5
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Southern Illinois basketball
What a month it has been for New York Knicks fans, and we get to highlight a Knicks legend here – Walt Frazier! The 1973 NBA Champion starred for the Salukis before he went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Knickerbockers. And it was before SIU even started competing as a full-time DI team. But in 1967, Frazier led Southern Illinois to the NIT Title, taking down Marquette in the final. It was the final college game played at the old Madison Square Garden, a pretty cool omen for Frazier’s future. They were the only non-DI team to ever win the NIT.
Once going DI, it wouldn’t take long for the Salukis to go on another tournament run. In 1977, they took down Arizona before losing to Wake Forest in the Sweet 16.
But the program began to hit its peak in the 1990s. Head coach Rich Herrin took them to the big dance in three straight years from 1993 to 1995, as the program began to dominate the Missouri Valley Conference. Then, in 1998, Bruce Weber came in and started a streak of five-straight winning seasons. And from 2002 to 2007, SIU went to six straight NCAA Tournaments under Weber, Matt Painter, and Chris Lowery. A change of coaches didn’t matter for a program built to keep on winning.
Weber actually took the 2002 Salukis to the Sweet 16 as an 11-seed, upsetting Texas Tech and Georgia on their way there. Lowery would lead them to the second round in 2005 as a 7-seed, and then back to the Sweet 16 in 2007 as a 4-seed. The 2006-07 squad finished the season ranked 14th in the AP Poll and nearly knocked off 1-seed Kansas in their regional semifinals game.
Unfortunately, SIU has gone 19 seasons and counting without making it back to the big dance. Lowery’s tenure ended with four seasons of .500 or worse, and in the last 14 seasons since moving on from him, they’ve only had a winning record seven times. Scott Nagy took over in 2024 and is obviously hoping the former South Dakota State and Wright State head coach can work his magic with them. It is a very proud program that once dominated the MVC. They haven’t totally fallen off just yet, but the program has to be eager to get back to the big dance very soon.