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 101 is Chattanooga 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 Chattanooga basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 1
- NCAA wins: 3
- Bids: 12
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 19.0
- Bids per season: 0.24
- AP Polls: 3
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 4
- Conference Players of the Year: 6
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 21
- Conference tournament titles: 12
- NIT titles: 1
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Chattanooga basketball
The Mocs celebrated 50 seasons of being in Division I this past year and have been one of the best mid-major squads in the country since making the move. Their first season, in 1976-77, they were still under ‘transition,’ winning the D2 natty on their way to being a full-time DI team.
And soon after, it paid off. From 1979-97, head coaches Murray Arnold and Mack McCarthy led Chattanooga to eight NCAA Tournaments. In that time span, they also won 12 SoCon regular season titles, completely dominating the conference. While a few at the end were division banners, most of them were winning the conference as a whole – something they’ve done 21 times, just two shy of Davidson for the most in SoCon history. They also produced one NBA star in Gerald Wilkins, who scored nearly 12,000 points in the Association.
While lots of those Chattanooga basketball teams got eliminated early in the NCAA Tournament, the 1996-97 one was very special. The Mocs earned a 14-seed, but upset 3-seed Georgia and 6-seed Illinois, on their way to an unprecedented Sweet 16 run. There, they fell to 10-seed Providence, but not before the most memorable March Madness in Mocs history.
Since that dynasty of sorts, Chattanooga has only made the big dance four times, but still not a bad number for a program that plays in a traditional one-bid league. And lately, they’ve been a great place for coaches to go before reaching the Power 5 level, with Will Wade and Lamont Paris both taking “better” jobs after doing well here. And in 2025, Dan Earl led them to a 29-win season and an NIT Championship, a banner no mid-major program will ever have shame in hanging in their arena.
Obviously, Chattanooga isn’t out here winning national titles, but they have dominated or been in the top tier of the SoCon practically since they moved up to Division I and have had one Cinderella run of their own. It’s a Mocs program always expected to be a leader in the pack of the often forgotten about schools.