William & Mary Tribe men's basketball

Postseason berths

NIT results

The Tribe have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament three times. Their combined record is 0–3.

NCAA tournament results

None (have never qualified)

The Tribe (an original Division I team since the NCAA division classification began for the 1956–57 season and retroactively recognized as a de facto Division I team since the Associated Press started classifying teams as either major programs or small colleges in 1948) are one of 42 Division I programs to have never appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Of all Division I schools today that were charter members of this new classification, only William & Mary, The Citadel, and Army have never reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament at least once. (St. Francis Brooklyn was also part of this group before it discontinued all athletics in 2023.) The closest effort by the Tribe to reach the NCAA tournament was a 75–74 loss in the 2014 CAA Tournament Final to Delaware. The Tribe also lost conference tournament championships in 1958, 1961, 1965, 1975, 1983, 2008, 2010, and 2015, now having gone 0–9 in NCAA tournament berth-clinching games.

Rivalries

William & Mary's traditional rivals have included in-state opponents Old Dominion University, James Madison University, the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University. However, of these teams, none are still members of the CAA. The Richmond Spiders, VCU Rams, and George Mason Patriots have all moved on to the Atlantic 10 Conference while the Old Dominion Monarchs left for Conference USA in 2013 and the James Madison Dukes left for the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. Some of these teams are maintained as part of William & Mary's out of conference schedule each year along with other Virginia schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Hampton, Radford, VMI, and Liberty.

Series records

Records through the 2019–20 season

NCAA records

Individual

Bill Chambers – single game rebound total (51); occurred on February 14, 1953 vs. Virginia (rules changes since then make this record unlikely to be broken)

Accolades

ECAC South (1977–1982)

William & Mary joined the CAA, its current conference, in 1982–83. The CAA's predecessor was the ECAC South, which existed between 1977–78 and 1984–85. The CAA recognizes the 1982–83 through 1984–85 seasons as part of its basketball history but not any earlier. The CAA was formally founded in 1982–83 as the ECAC South Basketball League. It was renamed the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985–86 when it added championships in other sports, and the Coastal Athletic Association in 2023 (although a number of members maintain ECAC affiliation in some sports).

Retired jerseys

William & Mary has retired six men's basketball jerseys in its program's history. Uniform numbers are not retired, only ceremonial jerseys. Banners depicting the all-time greats hang in the rafters of Kaplan Arena (the banner in white is for Lynn Norenberg, the only W&M women's basketball player to have a jersey retired). There also hang banners which commemorate their 1983 National Invitation Tournament and 2010 National Invitation Tournament bids.

Players in the NBA

This section is for William & Mary players who have appeared in at least one regular season or postseason NBA game.

Andy Duncan – Rochester Royals, Boston Celtics (1947–1951)

Nathan Knight – Atlanta Hawks (2020–2021), Minnesota Timberwolves (2021–2023)

Brant Weidner – San Antonio Spurs (1983–1984)

Players in international leagues

Matteus Case - Bristol Flyers

David Cohn – PS Karlsruhe Lions

Caleb Dorsey - KK Kansai Helios Domžale

Gabe Dorsey - BK Patrioti Levice

Jo'el Emanuel Cheshire Phoenix

Sean Houpt - Pully Lausanne Foxes

Nathan Knight – Bnei Herzliya Basket

Kyle Pulliam - BC Slovan Bratislava

Anders Nelson — BK Ogre

Terry Tarpey — Paris Basketball

Marcus Thornton – FC Argeș Pitești

Andy Van Vliet – Rostock Seawolves