The Winthrop Eagles basketball team represents Winthrop University

Winthrop University

Winthrop University is a public, four-year liberal arts university in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA. In 2006-07, Winthrop University had an enrollment of 6,292 students. The University has been recognized as South Carolina's top-rated university according to evaluations conducted by the South...

 in Rock Hill

Rock Hill, South Carolina

Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fourth-largest city in the state. It is also the third-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte and Concord, North Carolina. The population was 71,459 as of . Rock Hill has undergone rapid growth between...

, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

 and competes in the Big South Conference

Big South Conference

The Big South Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. The conference's football teams are part of the Football Championship Subdivision...

. The Eagles are currently coached by Randy Peele

Randy Peele

-External links:*...

 and play their home games in the 6,100 seat Winthrop Coliseum

Winthrop Coliseum

Winthrop Coliseum is a 6,100-seat multi-purpose arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was built in 1982 and is home to the Winthrop University Eagles basketball team. It hosted the Big South Conference men's basketball tournament three times and the conference title game in 2005, 2006, and...

. Winthrop has appeared in nine NCAA Tournaments and has won 17 conference championships (season and tournament). The Eagles have played 33 seasons of basketball since their inaugural 1978-79 campaign.

Rise to Mid-Major Prominence

During the late 1990s and 2000s, Winthrop established itself as one of the premier mid-major programs in college basketball, reaching the NCAA Tournament eight times in ten seasons. From 1999-2008, the Eagles posted a 216-95 overall record and went 114-28 in Big South play. During this stretch, Winthrop defeated such major conference programs as Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that...

, Miami

Miami Hurricanes

The Miami Hurricanes, of Coral Gables, Florida, are the varsity sports teams of the University of Miami. They compete in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference . The university fields 15 athletic teams for 17 varsity sports...

, Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...

, Marquette

Marquette Golden Eagles

The Marquette Golden Eagles are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Marquette University....

, Mississippi State

Mississippi State Bulldogs

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Mississippi State University. They participate in NCAA's Division I in the competitive 12-member Southeastern Conference under the mascot Bulldogs and the school colors of maroon and white...

, Providence

Providence Friars

The Providence Friars is the name of the athletic teams of Providence College. They compete in the Big East Conference for every sport except for ice hockey, where they compete in Hockey East and in women's volleyball, where they compete in the America East Conference...

, Missouri

Missouri Tigers

The Missouri Tigers athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports teams of the University of Missouri, located in Columbia, Missouri, United States...

, Georgia

Georgia Bulldogs

The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference...

, and Clemson

Clemson Tigers

The Clemson Tigers are any team that represents Clemson University as a member of the NCAA's Division I or in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference....

.

Gregg Marshall Era (1999-2007)

Gregg Marshall

Gregg Marshall

Gregg Marshall is the current head basketball coach at Wichita State University.-Education:Gregg Marshall graduated from Randolph-Macon College with a B.A. degree in Economics/Business in 1985...

 coached the Eagles from 1999–2007, engineering one of the great program turnarounds in NCAA history. He posted a 194-83 overall record during his nine-year tenure and remains Winthrop's all-time winningest coach. Marshall led the Eagles to a 104-24 conference record, six Big South season titles, and seven Big South tournament titles. Winthrop also appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments, posted six 20-win seasons, and averaged 21.5 victories per year during the Marshall Era.

Randy Peele Era (2008-Present)

Current coach Randy Peele has a 65-62 overall record (40-28 Big South) since taking over as head coach in 2008. He has led the Eagles to one Big South season title and two Big South tournament titles. In addition, Peele's 2010-11 squad defeated Wake Forest

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Originally, Wake Forest's athletic teams were known as the Fighting Baptists, due to its association with the Baptist Convention...

 in Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...

. Winthrop has appeared in two NCAA Tournaments and has one 20-win season under Peele's leadership.

2007 Season: Top 25 and Second Round

Winthrop achieved its greatest success in 2007, as it went 29-5 under Coach Marshall and finished #22 in both the AP and Coaches' Final Polls. The Eagles posted a perfect 14-0 mark in conference play, winning the Big South regular season championship. Notable regular season non-conference victories included wins against Mississippi State and Old Dominion. Each of Winthrop's four regular season losses came at the hand of a Top 25 opponent, with two of the games decided by single-digit margins.

After winning the Big South Tournament, the Eagles were given a #11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a First Round matchup against #6 seed Notre Dame. On March 16, 2007 (day before St. Patrick's Day), Winthrop defeated the Irish by a score of 74-64, becoming the first Big South men's basketball team to win an NCAA Tournament First Round game. In the Second Round, the Eagles lost to Oregon

Oregon Ducks men's basketball

Oregon Ducks men’s college basketball is an intercollegiate basketball program that competes in the NCAA Division I and is a member of the Pac-12 Conference, representing the University of Oregon. The Ducks play their home games at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon, then coached by Howard Hobson, won...

 by a score of 75-61 to close out their season.

All-Time NCAA Tournament results

Winthrop has appeared in nine NCAA Tournaments

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

 and has a combined record of 1-9. The Eagles have twice appeared in the tournament's Opening Round Game (formerly called the "play-in" game) and participated in its debut contest in 2001.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score
1999 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St....	First Round	Auburn	L 80–41
2000 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 2000, and ended with the championship game on April 3 in Indianapolis, Indiana...	First Round	Oklahoma	L 74–50
2001 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2001 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 2001 with the play-in game, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in...	Opening Round Game	Northwestern State	L 71–67
2002 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2002 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 12, 2002, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Atlanta, Georgia...	First Round	Duke	L 84–37
2005 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2005 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 15, 2005, and ended with the championship game on April 4 at the Edward Jones Dome in St...	First Round	Gonzaga	L 74–64
2006 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2006 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2005–06 basketball season...	First Round	Tennessee	L 63–61
2007 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 NCAA schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2006–07 basketball season...	First Round Second Round	Notre Dame Oregon	W 74–64 L 75–61
2008 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball season...	First Round	Washington State	L 71–40
2010 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The first and second round games were played at the following sites:*March 18 / 20*March 25 / 27*March 26 / 28Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held on April 3 and 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium, hosted by the Horizon League and Butler University, as per the NCAA's...	Opening Round Game	UA-Pine Bluff	L 61–44

Conference Championships

• 1988 Big South (tourney) – Winthrop went 17-13 overall and won the Big South Tournament.

• 1999 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 21-8 overall and 9-1 in Big South play.

• 2000 Big South (tourney) – Winthrop went 21-9 overall and 11-3 in Big South play.

• 2001 Big South (tourney) – Winthrop went 18-13 overall and 11-3 in Big South play.

• 2002 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 19-12 overall and 10-4 in Big South play.

• 2003 Big South (season) – Winthrop went 20-10 overall and 11-3 in Big South play.

• 2005 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 27-6 overall and 15-1 in Big South play.

• 2006 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 23-8 overall and 13-3 in Big South play.

• 2007 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 29-5 overall and 14-0 in Big South play.

• 2008 Big South (season & tourney) – Winthrop went 22-12 overall and 10-4 in Big South play.

• 2010 Big South (tourney) – Winthrop went 19-14 overall and 12-6 in Big South play.