The East Tennessee State Buccaneers are one of those college basketball teams you always seem to hear about every few years, usually in March. Most fans probably assume that it’s easy to get cheap ETSU basketball tickets because the Buccaneers play in the tiny Southern Conference. But the Buccaneers are one of the better teams in the SoCon, meaning they’re a threat almost every year to reach the NCAA Tournament. It also means that fans are lucky if they can get last-minute ETSU basketball tickets because the Buccaneers know how to play ball.

One Magic Moment

East Tennessee State began playing basketball at the Division 1 level in 1958. A decade later, the Buccaneers had their best season in program history. In 1968, ETSU won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships, earning them a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Buccaneers went on to beat Florida State to advance to the Sweet 16, a massive accomplishment for such a young program.

Pesky Pirates

The Buccaneers have switched conferences a few times during their time in Division 1. They moved from the Ohio Valley to the SoCon to the Atlantic Sun and eventually back to the SoCon. But no matter the conference, they’ve always been competitive. Since 1989, the Bucs have won either their conference regular-season or tournament crown over a dozen times. They have just one win in their NCAA Tournament history outside of their win in 1968. However, the Buccaneers, while usually a double-digit seed, rarely go down without a fight. Over the years, ETSU has developed a reputation as the kind of team that powerhouse programs don’t want to play in March.