Denver Pioneers men's basketball

Conference affiliations

Denver began intercollegiate basketball in 1904, playing their first game against the Denver Athletic Club on January 16, who they defeated.^[2] They played at the regional level prior to World War II. They played in the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference from 1913 to 1938, when they left to become a founding member of the Skyline Conference. Vince Boryla was named a consensus All-American, the first and so far only selection in Denver history. In 1962, they became an NCAA Division I independent.^[2]^[3]^[4]

After the end of the 1978–79 season, the university's declining finances forced the program to drop down to NAIA. They went to the NCAA Division II level in 1990.^[5] From 1980 to 1985, Floyd Theard coached the team. He went 107–38 with the Pioneers, which included a home–court winning streak of 79 consecutive games. On April 12, 1985, while serving as the head basketball coach at Denver, Theard suffered a fatal heart attack at age 40.^[6]^[7] His assistant Dick Peth became the new coach and would coach until 1997, leading them to three NCAA Division II tournament bids. Denver joined Division I for the 1998–99 season for all of its programs, including basketball. They accepted membership for the Sun Belt Conference in 1999 as a measure intended to be temporary that lasted for over a decade. The Pioneers won the regular season title with a 12–3 record in 2005. That year, they made it to the Sun Belt tournament final, which they lost 88–69 to Louisiana–Lafayette, who was later forced to vacate the win due to NCAA violations.^[8] As of 2023, it is the closest time the Pioneers have been to winning a conference tournament. Attempts to make the men's basketball team better in order to help the university's revenue stream played a part in the annual budget deficit for the university by 2010.^[9] In November 2010, it was announced that Denver would move most of its athletic teams (such as the men's basketball team) to the Western Athletic Conference for the 2012–13 school year.^[10] In November 2012, it was announced that Denver would leave the WAC (troubled by upheaval in programs leaving) for The Summit League.^[11] In their one season in the WAC, they tied with Louisiana Tech at 16–2 for a share of the WAC regular season title. In the 2023–24 season, the Pioneers finished 7th in the Summit League, but managed to upset Kansas City and defeat Omaha to reach the Summit League tournament final, their first tournament final appearance as a program in 19 years.

1904–05 to 1909–10 – Independent
1910–11 to 1936–37 – Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference
1937–38 to 1961–62 – Mountain States Athletic Conference^[a]
1962–63 to 1978–79 – NCAA Division I Independent
1979–80 to 1989–90 – NAIA Independent
1990–91 to 1995–96 – Colorado Athletic Conference
1996–97 to 1997–98 – NCAA Division II Independent
1998–99 – NCAA Division I Independent
1999–2000 to 2011–12 – Sun Belt Conference
2012–13 – Western Athletic Conference
2013–14 to 2025–26 – Summit League
From 2026–27 to future – West Coast Conference

Notes

↑ Also known as the Skyline Conference.

Alumni

Notable former Denver basketball players include:

David Adkins, played at Denver in the mid-1970s, later became known as comedian/TV actor Sinbad.
Byron Beck, ABA and NBA player, number retired by Denver Nuggets
Rodney Billups, Euroleague player, former Denver Men's Basketball head coach
Vince Boryla, 1948 all-American, 1948 Gold Medal US Olympian, NBA All-Star player, coach, and executive
Ronnie Harrell (born 1996), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Ade Murkey, former forward Sacramento Kings
Phil Heath, current Mr. Olympia bodybuilder
Ken Michelman, played with David Adkins at DU, became a TV actor on The White Shadow, Grey's Anatomy, and other programs
Royce O'Neale, Utah Jazz, played two years at Denver, all-WAC forward before transferring to Baylor
Jake Pemberton (born 1996), American-Israeli basketball player in the Israeli National League

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1992	Regional semifinals Regional Finals	North Dakota South Dakota State	W 73–68 L 57–87
1994	Regional Quarterfinals	North Dakota State	L 72–87
1996	Regional Quarterfinals	North Dakota State	L 70–71

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1948	First round	Mankato State	L 46–49
1984	First round	Waynesburg(Pa.)	L 56–58 ^OT

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1959	First round	NYU	L 81–90
2005	Opening Round	San Francisco	L 67–69
2013	First round Second Round	Ohio Maryland	W 61–57 L 52–62

v t e Denver Pioneers men's basketball
Venues	DU Arena (1947–1997) McNichols Sports Arena / Denver Coliseum (1997–1999) Magness Arena (1999–2020) Hamilton Gymnasium (2020–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

v t e Summit League men's basketball
Teams	Denver Pioneers (leaving in 2026) Kansas City Roos North Dakota Fighting Hawks North Dakota State Bison Omaha Mavericks Oral Roberts Golden Eagles St. Thomas Tommies South Dakota Coyotes South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Championships & awards	Conference tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

Denver Pioneers men's basketball

Conference affiliations

Alumni

Postseason results

NCAA Division II tournament results

NAIA tournament results

NIT results

References

External links

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