July 28, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men’s basketball program was recently named 61st in ESPN.com’s countdown of the most prestgious men’s basketball programs since 1984-85, the first year the NCAA Tournament used a 64-team field. The Navy program is the highest Patriot League-ranked team, and the rankings consisted of 300 teams.
Scores were tabulated by using such achievements as Final Four appearances, best win-loss record in a conference’s regular season, All-Americans and NCAA first-round wins, among others. Points were deducted for losing seasons and bans from the NCAA Tournament.
The Navy program is one of the most successful in the Patriot League, capturing eight Patriot League titles (five regular-season and three tournament titles). Navy reached three NCAA Tournaments in 1994, 1997 and 1998 as a member of the Patriot League, and finished no worse than third (1995) from 1994 to 2001, with all five of its league titles coming in a seven-year span from 1994-2000.
The Mids’ most dominant stretch, however, came in the mid-80s, when David Robinson led the team to three straight Colonial Athletic Association titles, three straight NCAA Tournament berths, an Elite Eight appearance in 1986 and a NCAA second-round trip in 1985. In addition, Robinson earned the program points by being the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft as well as being named All-American twice.
Among Patriot League teams, Bucknell was ranked tied for 80th, while Holy Cross was 115th. Lafayette was 191st, Colgate was 203rd, American followed at 208th, Lehigh was 225th and Army rounded out the group in a tie for 298th.
Navy was ranked higher than such teams as Boston College, Virginia, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and USC.
Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Arizona were the top five teams.
Navy will start the 2008-09 campaign on Friday, Nov. 14, at regional-rival Towson. The Mids’ home opener will be two days later (Nov. 16) when they host Howard.
# GO NAVY #
