NCAA Basketball: Conference purgatory – worst programs in each league

The media loves to talk about NCAA Basketball’s best teams, and for good reason. But what about the worst ones? We can’t let them get off the hook.

This past NCAA Basketball season was filled with many highlights. Commonly known mid-majors such as San Diego State and Dayton were perennial top 25 teams. Stars like Luka Garza and Markus Howard put on scoring exhibitions night in and night out. The elite teams were in the news night in and night out, and rightfully so.

Conference play even furthers this sentiment. The weekly grind of top conferences like the Big East and Big Ten provided nightly entertainment for viewers. Every game was a battle, and the intensity of the games really picked up as March rolled around.

At the end of the day, nothing said here is new. Even the most casual college basketball fan knows about Obi Toppin’s high-flying dunks, or Payton Pritchard’s clutch game-winners. After all, especially in a season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to celebrate the best that college basketball has to offer.

Today, however, we flip the switch. We highlight a group of teams that have been far removed from success for quite some time. Teams that have year after year, trotted out subpar results in comparison to their peers. They may not have gotten much attention over the course of the season, but are now stepping up to the plate.

The criteria for this list is simple. We have calculated every consecutive bottom-three conference finish for every Division-1 team in American. Only those with at least six bottom three finishes qualify. Yes, that means that every team on this list hasn’t sniffed even the middle of their conference in over a half-decade. Some way, way longer.

Welcome, to Conference Purgatory.