Why we shouldn't laugh at winless teams

At StF, we often focus on teams that don't win a lot of games. We support Brian Moynahan's efforts with Reverse Survivor because he really loves the teams he covers. He proves it with the depth of his research and the width of his spreadsheets. We never want to come off like we're mocking those less fortunate.

Because the teams we see in Reverse Survivor are trying to stretch a penny into a dime most of the time, and that's why they spend entire months on the road picking up guarantee checks before going into conference play in hopes of locking up the auto-bid just so they can (most often) lose - but on national television. HI MOM!!!

The ten teams that made Brian's Worst of the Decade list a couple of days ago are generally so far down they can't even see the Red Line. They've heard rumors it exists, but they've never actually laid eyes on it. Since Basketball State includes expenditure information in each team's profile, I'm going to show you where each team stands on the 340-team D-I continuum (as of their 2008 numbers, which are fairly representative of each team's basketball-only budget throughout the decade). I'm copying and pasting Brian's stats and appending the relevant numbers from bbstate.

The Ten Worst Programs of the '00s

10. San Jose State, 86-191, .310 - Six consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($991,714 - 244/340)

9. Chicago State, 86-192, .309 - Five sub-ten win seasons ($636,022 - 325/340)

8. Nicholls State, 82-186, .306 - Six consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($429,117 - 337/340)

7. Campbell, 79-186, .298 - Five consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($1,067,676 - 227/340)

6. Howard, 82-197, .294 - Six consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($721,315 - 301/340)

5. Western Illinois, 78-190, .291 - Six sub-ten win seasons ($949,344 - 251/340)

4. Dartmouth, 74-184, .287 - Seven sub-ten win seasons ($626,437 - 323/340)

3. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 67-204, .247 - Five consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($419,388 - 338/340)

2. Savannah State, 57-194, .227 - Six consecutive sub-ten win seasons; finished 0-28 in 2004-05 ($376,968 - 339/340)

1. Maryland-Eastern Shore, 61-211, .224 - Eight consecutive sub-ten win seasons ($552,664 - 333/340)

Pretty strong correlation there. The programs that might have a little shame in their game are San Jose State, Western Illinois, and Campbell, which hover around the million dollar neighborhood in men's basketball budget, but still can't get out of the cellar. The investment seems to be finally paying off for the Fighting Camels, who are currently 8-4 overall and 3-0 in the Atlantic Sun.

This year's remaining Reverse Survivor contestants merit a look, as well. DI newbie Bryant comes in at 299/340, and moribund Alcorn State was dead last in spending in 2008. For perspective, Duke is #1 in spending with a 2008 budget of over $15 million - nearly $6 million more than #2 fat cat Kansas. That's very close to the combined budgets of the bottom ten between the two bluebloods. (I was told there would be no math)

Doing the most with the least are teams like Morgan State (291/340), which has seen two straight 20-win seasons and some nice upsets under Todd Bozeman, and Cornell, which is dominating the Ivy and starting to beat big-budget schools despite coming in 280th.

So, it's possible to win on a budget. But unlikely.