College basketball has seen its fair share of dominance, from the University of Houston to the Duke Blue Devils. Conversely, we have also seen our fair share of bottom feeders. Here are the five of worst college basketball programs of all time, and the five best.
Worst: Army
You would think that the United States military would be dominant in athletics, it’s honestly a little disappointing that soldiers aren’t competing well against average college hoopers. Anyways, The Army Black Knights have played college basketball since 1902 and have made the NCAA tournament a whopping zero times. They have also won their conference zero times and have found themselves ranked in the AP poll (get this) zero times.
Best: University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut Huskies are a basketball school through and through. Both the men’s and women’s programs have won their conference 29 times and have accumulated 16 total NCAA championships between the two teams. No other school has touched this combined dominance, and for that reason, both the men’s and women’s programs at UConn deserve a spot on this list.
Worst: Youngstown State
First of all, Youngstown is not a state. Second of all, this program started competing in D1 Basketball in 1947, before regressing to division two. The Penguins made a comeback to Division One in 1981 and have remained there since. In 44 seasons of Division One basketball, Youngstown State has had eleven winning seasons. Most of their competition has been against smaller schools which they have lost to; this does not bode well for the pride of the program.
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Best: Duke
The Duke and UNC Rivalry is prime television no matter what team you root for. But Duke has made a name for themselves and is cemented as one of the best basketball programs over the past thirty years. Duke has won their conference 23 times in the regular season and 27 times in the tournament. The school has five national championship victories, all under coach Mike Krzyzewski who was with the team from 1980 to 2022. Duke has been ranked in the AP poll for 888 weeks in the program’s history. Even with Coach K gone, Duke is finding ways to carry on the program’s winning tradition.
Worst: University of Maine
The Maine Black Bears started play in 1903 and have had only 32 winning seasons in that 120-year span. Similar to our previous awful schools, the Black Bears have been ranked zero tines, and have no conference championships. To top it all off, their logo looks like a Panther more than a Black Bear. Look it up.
Best: UCLA
What do UCLA fans and Dallas Cowboys fans have in common? Neither side had fans alive to see their last championship! Despite the championship drought starting in 1995 and carrying to the present day, UCLA had the most dominant run in all of college basketball winning the NCAA Championship nine out of eleven years from 1964-1975. This included a six-year stream where UCLA was crowned national champions. They also won the NCAA Championship in 1995, which is cool; but not as cool as winning it nine out of eleven years.
Worst: William & Mary
The William and Mary Tribe Men’s basketball team has competed for 119 seasons and is the best-worst team so far on this list because they have actually won their conference in the regular season a total of three times. However, this team has never made the NCAA tournament and is yet to be ranked in the AP Poll. The school’s won percentage is below .500, keeping them on par with the rest of the worst programs on this list.
Best: UNC
The North Carolina Tar Heels are bitter rivals with the Duke Blue Devils and are a dominant program. North Carolina has six NCAA National championship victories and has won their respective conference 39 times. The school has been ranked in the AP Poll for over 950 weeks since the program’s conception in 1910. The Tar Heels have won three times the number of games they have lost, proving that they are a top dog in ACC basketball.
Worst: New Hampshire
In 86 seasons, the New Hampshire Wildcats have won their conference one time in the regular season and are yet to make the NCAA tournament. The school has the worst program winning percentage, having won 35.3% of all games in school history. The school has competed in lower-level conferences and even the winningest coach in program history still has a losing record with the team, Yikes.
Best: Kentucky
The Kentucky Wildcats are the face of SEC Basketball. The Program repeated as national champions in 1948 and 1949, and had another dominant stretch in the ’90s and early 2010s. All in all the program has eight national championships and has appeared in the NCAA tournament over 60 times.
