Division 1 Basketball

[FastMJ]

Why are there 350+ D1 basketball programs? Isn’t that excessive? Shouldn’t half of them be in a lower division compared to the big boys?

 

[bac2therac]

St Peters

 

[RUz91]

Not when you have teams like Bellarmine and Wright State beating Louisville. This is a much different game than football where almost anyone can get lucky or be better than a "big boy"

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

March madness is all about the 350+ teams.

 

[FastMJ]

Is it my imagination or is the number of D1 programs steadily growing? Every year I see a whole new slew of schools on the scoreboard that I’ve never heard of

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

2018 351
2023 363

 

[rufancoe00]

There are about 2800 4-yr colleges in the US. so D1 represents about 12.5%

 

[RUChoppin]

The newer transfer rules and ease of the portal make lower programs much more competitive. They may lose their top talent upward, but there's a lot of talent available that struggled in their first year or two in higher tier programs, too.

 

[RUJMM78]

The 3 point shot allows lower level teams to compete and sometimes upset higher rated opponents.

 

[kcg88]

As a fan I'd rather compete for a D2 title than a Southland title but more people hear about the 16 seeds than the D2 champs so that's why it happens

 

[MiloTalon13]

The allure of the money and notoriety (which increases applications) of getting into the NCAA D1 tournament.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

As a fan I'd rather compete for a D2 title than a Southland title but more people hear about the 16 seeds than the D2 champs so that's why it happens

Seriously? I feel like there’s very little fan support outside of the D1 level. There’s no way I’d prefer for my almamater to be a top D2 school vs. a contender for the Southland autobid.