The Binghamton Bearcats men's basketball team represents Binghamton University and is located in

Vestal, New York Vestal is a town within Broome County in the Southern Tier of New York, United States, and lies between the Susquehanna River and the Pennsylvania border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 29,110. Vestal is on the southern border of the ...

. The team currently competes in the

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research ...

and plays its home games at the

Binghamton University Events Center Binghamton University Events Center is the premier Division I Athletics and multipurpose facility at Binghamton University. The arena opened in 2004 and is adjacent to the Bearcat Sports Complex. It is home to the Binghamton Bearcats Division I I ...

. Since becoming an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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. 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. The Bearcats also have had wins against both

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

and

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

. Following an unsuccessful 2007 season head coach

Al Walker Al Walker (born March 19, 1959) is an American former basketball coach. He currently is a pro personnel scout for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA, a position he'd held since 2015. He played college basketball for the Brockport Golden Eagles, won ...

, the only coach Binghamton had held in their Division I history, stepped down. Kevin Broadus, an assistant coach for

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

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. 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 The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

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. 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 Mark L. Macon (''born April 14, 1969'') is an American basketball coach and former professional player. He is the former head coach of Binghamton University and a current staff member at his alma mater, Temple University. Playing career Macon w ...

managed to finish fifth 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 The 2010 America East men's basketball tournament was held from March 4–7 at Chase Arena on the University of Hartford campus. The final was held at Patrick Gym in Burlington, VT on March 13. As winners, the Vermont Catamounts win an automati ...

. Numerous coaches and Binghamton staffers were fired as a result of the scandal. Since then, Binghamton has been barely competitive. The 2011–12 Bearcats set a school record after beginning the season on a 26-game losing streak and finishing 2–29 for the worst winning percentage in program history. The team has yet to record a winning record in either conference or overall play.

History

Division I

NCAA tournament results

Records

References

External links