NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 353 D-I programs for 2019-20 season

332. SIU- Edwardsville Cougars

In the 12 seasons the Cougars have been a member of Division 1 basketball they have never won more than 12 games. They have never had a winning record and have never played in a postseason tournament. First-year coach Brian Barone, their third in 12 years, tries to do something no one else could, win.

331. South Carolina State Bulldogs

The Bulldogs won eight games a season ago with one of the best players in the MEAC. This year doesn’t appear to be any different. Damani Applewhite is still one of the best players in the league, but the players around him need to step their game way up.

330. Coppin State Eagles

Head Coach Juan Dixon enters his third season at the MEAC school. Last year they improved upon their win total by three games and were playing decent basketball in the MEAC as the season ended. Coppin State hopes to capture that magic and finish near the middle of the MEAC pack.

329. Northwestern State Demons

The Demons have fallen on some hard times in the last four seasons. Head coach Mike McConathy had a very consistent program in his tenure before that. The Demons were one of the more consistent teams in the Southland during that time. Early reports are this Demons team is much better. They are now in “prove it” mode.

328. UC Riverside Highlanders

Under first-year head coach David Patrick the Highlanders improved. They were one of the youngest teams in the nation last year as well as boasting one senior. They do return their leading scorer in Dikymbe Martin. The Highlanders should improve on their 10 wins from a year ago.

327. McNeese State Cowboys

Another Southland conference team who has struggled to be good in NCAA Basketball. Heath Schroyer is in his second year as the leader of the program, and like so many smaller programs he does not have much to work with. The Cowboys have not had a winning season since the 2011-2012 season and have not made the NCAA tournament since 2001-2002.

326. Wyoming Cowboys

The Cowboys won 20 games two seasons ago. They only won eight last year and that was with one of the best players in the Mountain West in Justin James. James is no longer on campus and Wyoming was picked last in the Mountain West behind San Jose State. It doesn’t look to be a good season in Laramie.

325. Tennessee State Tigers

Dana Ford left this program to go coach at Missouri State. Last year with the first year under Brian Collins. The Tigers won nine games. The bright side is they were competitive at points during the conference season. The negative is the team won nine total games and most of that team is returning.

324. Marist Red Foxes

Marist won 12 games a season ago, which is the most they have won in the previous four seasons. The problem is that team had a lot of seniors. The team this year is slated to be one of the younger teams in the country. It is new head coach John Dunne’s first full recruiting cycle, to get his own players. Marist may not be down for long.

323. Central Connecticut State Blue Devils

The Blue Devils have a chance to be much better than their current ranking. Head Coach Donyell Marshall is doing a nice job of building the program back up. Four years ago, when Marshall took over, they were the worst program in the country. Those days are gone, and they have much of their scoring back from a year ago. It is time to prove it.

322. Western Illinois Leathernecks

Kobe Webster and Issac Johnson return to lead this team as they did a year ago. A season ago the Leathernecks had one of the best rim protectors in the country in big man Brandon Gilbeck. He is gone, but Western Illinois returns a lot of their talent from last year’s team. Can coach Bill Wright finally get this team to win?

321. Fairfield Stags

The Stags hired Jay Young last year from the Rutgers staff. Young has built the team up with grad transfers and a couple of good sit out transfers. This year is going to be a struggle as the team doesn’t have the bodies.

320. Niagara Purple Eagles

Niagara lost their two leading scorers for a team that won 13 games last year. The team underachieved, and a coaching change was made. Niagara is currently without a coach as the guy they hired, Patrick Beilein, son of legend John Beilein, resigned 12 days before the season started citing personal differences. Greg Paulus is the new interim coach. Paulus has a good coaching pedigree and may be able to turn this into a full-time job if he does well enough. Niagara has an uphill climb, hiring an interim coach and having to start fresh this close to the season is never a good thing.

319. Northern Arizona Lumberjacks

Former head coach Jack Murphy left unexpectedly to join the Arizona coaching staff as their associate head coach. It was no surprise to Lumberjack fans he was not working out. Shane Burcar inherits a roster that won ten games last year and often looked overmatched.

318. Binghamton Bearcats

The Bearcats have slowly been getting better over the last three seasons, reaching double-digit wins three years in a row. Most importantly they have improved their scoring every season under head coach Tommy Dempsey. Guard Sam Sessoms is one of the best players in the America East conference, and a great piece to build around.

317. Nicholls State Colonels

Two seasons ago the Colonels shocked the Southland and went 15-3 in league play. The expectations were never higher as last year’s team was picked to finish near the top half. That didn’t happen, and the two leading scorers are no longer on campus.

316. Idaho State Bengals

Idaho State appeared to have turned a corner two seasons ago only to regress a season ago. New head coach Ryan Looney is a first-time head coach, he has built the team with JUCO transfers this year. The Bengals lost their best player to transfer after the end of last season.

315. Milwaukee Panthers

Year two of the Pat Baldwin era went much worse than the first. That is not surprising considering all of the players who transferred out of the program in the last two seasons. The Panthers are in a forced rebuild and year one did not go well.

314. Fordham Rams

Fordham beat an upstart Rutgers team last year, and for a second it appeared Fordham may have turned the corner. Then conference play started, and Fordham took their place at the bottom of the league. This marks the second offseason in a row that the team’s star player has transferred to a better program. More of the same in the Bronx.

313. Youngstown State Penguins

The Penguins showed some signs of life a season ago as third-year head coach Jerrod Calhoun improved from a miserable first season. The Penguins return their two leading scorers from a season ago to build from. The Penguins have never made the NCAA tournament and have had six winning seasons in 40 years of division 1 basketball. Any jump in wins is considered improvement.