Most Improvement Graphic

Men's Basketball Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Golden Knights Most Improved Team in NCAA History

ERIE, Pa. -- A year ago Gannon finished with a 3-23 record. Enter head coach Jordan Fee. When the Golden Knights walked off the court on Tuesday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight quarterfinals, they did so with a 32-3 record.
 
Not only were the 32 wins a school-record for victories, the Golden Knights showed an improvement of 24.5 games. They not only enjoyed the greatest improvement ever in Division II men's basketball but it was the largest improvement in NCAA history for both men's and women's basketball.
 
A list of the greatest improved teams in each division from one year to the next is listed below. (Special thanks to Nick Moeller from the NCAA for his research)
 
Prior to this year the biggest improvement in Division II men's basketball was 18.5 games by New Mexico Highlands in 2008-09, improving from 1-26 to 20-8. That was also one of three occasions of 18.5 games at all levels of NCAA men's and women's basketball.
 
Fee, in his first season as a head coach, quickly erased the memory of 2022-23 with a ten-game winning streak. After losing two of three games Gannon ran off a school-record 21-game winning streak. In the process Gannon claimed the PSAC West regular season crown, followed by its first PSAC Championship since 2015, and then captured the Atlantic Region title for the first time since 2009.    
 
Most Improved Teams from One Season to the Next
 
24.5 games – GANNON, 2023-24 (from 3-23 to 32-3)
 
DI Men's Basketball
18 games—Southern Miss., 2023 (from 7-26 to 25-8)
DII Men's Basketball
18.5 games—N.M. Highlands, 2009 (from 1-26 to 20-8)
DIII Men's Basketball
17 games—Hunter, 1998 (from 9-17 to 28-2)
DI Women's Basketball
17 games—Valparaiso, 2002 (from 7-22 to 26-7)
DII Women's Basketball
18.5 games—Grand Canyon, 2007 (from 4-22 to 23-4)
DIII Women's Basketball
18.5 games—East Texas Baptist, 2018 (from 3-22 to 25-7)
 
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