Springfield, Ohio – As if holding NCAA Division III records for all-time victories, NCAA Tournament victories and NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances weren’t enough to affirm the success of the Wittenberg University men’s basketball program, HERO Sports has provided additional numerical evidence.
Wittenberg was recently named the Best College Basketball Team in Ohio by HERO Sports, joining the likes of UCLA, Duke, Michigan State and Syracuse representing their home states on the list of honorees. The Tigers were selected following a “conversation in our office about dominance, dynasty, and what it means to be successful in college sports,” which resulted in a “scoring system that takes into account recent and historical successes and ranks every team in the sport,” according to the news release on herosports.com.
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The editors at HERO Sports came up with the following criteria: winning percentage since 2010, NCAA Tournament appearances since 2000, Final Four appearances and national championships since 1975 (when the NCAA split into three divisions), and national player and coach of the year awards. The criteria was established with date cutoffs to ensure that recognition went to programs displaying both recent and historical success.
Wittenberg finished with 23.48 points based on the criteria established by HERO Sports to finish first in Ohio by surprisingly wide margin. North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rival Wooster ranked second at 19.89, followed by Ohio State at 18.81, Findlay at 14.71, Ohio Wesleyan at 14.71, Cincinnati at 14.63, Xavier at 12.85 and Ohio Northern at 11.11.
The Tigers compiled a winning percentage of .648 between 2010-15, and Wittenberg has made eight NCAA Tournament appearances since 2000. Within the designated time frame, the Tigers have seven NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances and one national championship (1977), in addition to two national player of the year awards (Tim Casey in 1985 and Brad Baldridge in 1991) and two coach of the year awards (Bob Hamilton in 1976 and Larry Hunter in 1997).
The HERO Sports article specifically about Wittenberg’s men’s basketball program goes on to say that Wittenberg’s score would have been “a lot higher if we extended the time scale.” Since 1955, Wittenberg holds NCAA Division III records with 27 NCAA Tournament appearances, 51 wins in postseason play, 1,701 all-time wins (prior to the 2015-16 season), and a winning percentage of .709.
Written By: Ryan Maurer