Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball

Binghamton Bearcats
2016–17 Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball team
University Binghamton University
Conference America East
Location Vestal, NY
Head coach Tommy Dempsey (5th year)
Arena Binghamton University Events Center
(Capacity: 5,322)
Nickname Bearcats
Colors Dark Green, White, and Black[1]
              
Uniforms
Home
Away
Alternate
NCAA Tournament appearances
2009
Conference tournament champions
2009
Conference regular season champions
2009

The Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball team represents Binghamton University and is located in Vestal, New York. The team currently competes in the America East Conference and plays its home games at the Binghamton University Events Center. Since becoming an NCAA Division I basketball program in 2001, the team has played in one NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2009.

History

Since the school's founding in 1946 until 1998 the Bearcats, originally known as the Colonials, participated in the NCAA as a Division III basketball program. From 1998 to 2001 the school was able to elevate its status as a Division II program and since has competed in the America East Conference at the Division I level.[2] Prior to this, no school had elevated divisions faster than Binghamton.

Division I

Since moving to Division I in 2001 the Binghamton basketball team has seen rewarding successes and great disappointments. Perhaps the program's biggest non-conference win was against ACC member, University of Miami in the winter of 2006. The Bearcats also have had wins against both Rutgers University and Tulane.

Following an unsuccessful 2007 season head coach Al Walker, the only coach Binghamton had held in their Division I history, was forced to step down. Kevin Broadus, an assistant coach for Georgetown University was signed to fill Walker's position for the 2008 season. In his second season as head coach, Broadus took the Bearcats to their first regular season conference title in school history.[3] Binghamton subsequently defeated UMBC 61–51 in the America East Tournament Championship Game to make their debut in the 2009 NCAA Tournament as a 15th seed. Binghamton would lose to second-seeded Duke in the first round that year.

Following the March Madness loss a series of incidents began to make both local and regional headlines regarding academic and ethical violations by both players and coaches of the team.[4] By the start of the 2009–10 campaign six players had been kicked off the team from problems stemming back to the 2008–09 season and head coach Kevin Broadus was suspended. Despite these handicaps, the 09-10 team led by interim head coach Mark Macon managed to finish 5th in conference play with a .500 record and recorded a 13–18 overall record. Towards the end of the basketball season the SUNY system produced an audit outlining the failures of the previous administration in running the basketball team. Due to these failures Binghamton withdrew itself from the 2010 America East Men's Basketball Tournament.[5]

Since then, Binghamton has been barely competitive. The Bearcats have only won 39 games since 2009, and only 23 in America East play.

NCAA Tournament results

Binghamton has been to the tournament one time. Their combined record is 0–1.

Year Seed Round Opponent Result/Score
2009 15 First Round Duke L 86–62

Records

Binghamton's all-time record is 616–819 since 1946, heading into the 2010–2011. As a Division I team the school's record stands at 128–137 (also prior to the 2010–11 season). As a Division II team the Bearcats went 41–40.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.