NCAA Basketball: Conference purgatory – worst programs in each league
San Jose State Spartans, Mountain West Conference
San Jose State has used the technicalities of this study to their advantage. While they have finished in the bottom-three of the Mountain West seven straight seasons, those are the only years they have played in that conference. If we were to add on the three previous years where they finished near the basement of the WAC, the Spartans would place second on the list.
The entire decade really, it has been troubling for San Jose State to find conference wins. Their 3-15 mark this season was their third-best since 2010-2011. The Spartans won all three of their Mountain West games early on and stumbled to 10 straight losses down the stretch. Their poor defense did them in, as they finished 345th nationally in points allowed per game.
Looking ahead to next year, they are losing starting point guard Brae Ivey to graduation and promising forward Christian Anigwe to the transfer portal. They do bring in a decent freshman class, but will once again be competing in a league far above their current talent level. Simply put, as long as the Mountain West continues to push out high-quality teams, San Jose State will continue to struggle to keep up.
Maine Black Bears, America East
This past season was a blend of good news and bad news for Coach Richard Barron and the Black Bears. On one hand, their 5-11 conference record was their best since their streak of losing began, and they beat three D-1 teams by 20+ points this season. On the other hand, the team struggled mightily to score all season, and are losing their only three double-digit scorers to graduation.
Coach Barron has a relatively unorthodox approach to recruiting, with players from nine different countries on the roster last season. It is certainly an interesting approach, but one that has yet to pay off so far in Barron’s tenure. With the scoring difficulties that are sure to follow Maine next season, it will be difficult to rise from the bottom of the America East next season. On the other hand, all it takes is for one of the Black Bears’ international recruits to break out, and things may start to change in Maine.
Western Illinois Leathernecks, Summit League
Let’s take it back a bit. The year is 2013, and Western Illinois is riding the nation’s 2nd best scoring defense to a 13-3 record in the Summit League. Now, fast forward to 2020, the Leathernecks have stumbled to 346th in scoring defense, faltering to 2-14 in conference play, good for their seventh straight bottom-three finish. That is every single year since their triumphant 2012-2013.
The past six of those seasons were coached by Bill Wright, who was just let go this offseason. Despite that, new successes may not be on the horizon in Macomb. Incoming coach Rob Jeter will be without seven of the top eight scorers from last year’s team, including stud underclassmen Kobe Webster, Zion Young and Ben Pyle, their three leading scorers who have all transferred. Coach Jeter has had success at most stops along his coaching career, but bringing a winning culture to Western Illinois may prove his toughest test yet.