The Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team represents Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States and competes in the Big South Conference. Winthrop plays their home games in the 6,100 seat Winthrop Coliseum. Winthrop has appeared in 11 NCAA Tournaments and has won 11 conference season championships, 13 conference tournament championships, and 1 conference division title. The Eagles have played 44 seasons of basketball since their inaugural 1978–79 campaign. Team history Rise to mid-major prominence During the late 1990s and 2000s, Winthrop established itself as one of the most successful mid-major programs in college basketball, reaching the NCAA Tournament eight times in 10 seasons. From 1998 to 2008, the Eagles posted a 216–95 overall record and went 114–28 in Big South play. During this stretch, Winthrop defeated programs from high major conferences like the ACC (Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami), Big East (Marquette, Missouri, Notre Dame, Providence), and SEC (Georgia, Mississippi State). Since 2009, Winthrop has defeated over 30 non-conference D1 teams including: Auburn (SEC), Clemson (ACC), East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Furman, Georgia Southern, Illinois (Big 10), James Madison, Manhattan College, Ohio University, Saint Mary's, St. Louis, UNC Greensboro, Portland, San Diego, Wake Forest (ACC), Washington (PAC 12), and William & Mary. Winthrop beat the ACC, SEC, PAC 12, and Big 10 schools at the opposing school. Neild Gordon era (1978–1986) Winthrop's first head coach, Neild Gordon, recorded 25 wins and 10 losses in the Eagle's first season. He finished with an average win percentage of .615 and 20 wins per season during his tenure at WU. Gordon was later inducted into Winthrop University's Athletics Hall of Fame, the Furman University Athletic Hall of Fame, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Halls of Fame, and the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. Steve Vacendak era (1986–1992) Former Duke point guard and ACC Player of the Year, Steve Vacendak coached the Eagles from 1986 to 1992. In Winthrop's second season as a Division I program, he led the 4th seeded eagles to their first Big South tournament victory. Dan Kenney era (1993–1998) Dan Kenney was the head coach of the Eagles during the mid-1990s and finished his tenure with a record of 51-113. WU athletic director Tom Hickman reportedly said that Kenney "graduated his players, ran a clean, upstanding program and did everything first class but had to be relieved of his coaching duties because the school could no