When you think of Troy in terms of college athletics, you often think about their football team. The Trojans are a traditional power at their level. From Larry Blakeney, to Neal Brown, to most recently Jon Sumrall, the Trojans just win, win, win, no matter what on the football field. However, this is March and this is college basketball season. Even better, the Trojans will be part of March Madness this season.
Troy is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year after a drought going back to 2017. The Trojans went 22-11 this season en route to winning the Sun Belt and getting that league's automatic qualifying bid. The Sun Belt is better known as the Fun Belt in college football, but we have seen this league give us one quality team after another in the men's tournament. Will the Trojans be any different this spring?
Well, they will be up against it on Friday night, as they will be taking on. No. 3-seeded Kentucky. The Wildcats are an all-time program on the hardwood, but have had some success on the gridiron in recent years. Troy is essentially the lower level antithesis of Kentucky, where they win a ton on the football field, but not necessary on the hardwood. Troy has moved up a few levels in athletics before.
But before we get down to the real nitty-gritty of it all, where is Troy University even located anyhow?
Where is Troy University located?
Troy University is located in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School. It was one of 180 "normal" schools created in this era to account for the rapid need for teachers in the world of public school education in the United States of America. For the better part of its existence, Troy was known as Troy State University from 1967 to 2005 before a merger made it just Troy University.
Troy is a public school with an enrollment of a little more than 14,000 students combined. Troy offers five undergraduate programs, including education, business and fine arts, as well as a graduate school and a division of general studies. Troy emphasizes athletics and education simultaneously. This rapidly growing university continues to make a name for itself across the board in Alabama.
It should be noted that did not make the men's NCAA Tournament until its first year in Division I.
Troy basketball NCAA Tournament history
To date, Troy has only made the NCAA Tournament four times before since moving up in 2003.
| Year | Seed | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | No. 14 | First Round: vs. No. 3 Xavier (L, 71-59) |
| 2017 | No. 15 | First Round: vs. No. 2 Duke (L, 87-65) |
| 2025 | No. 14 | First Round: vs. No. 3 Kentucky (L, 75-57) |
| 2026 | No. 13 | First Round: vs. No. 4 Nebraska (TBD) |
Troy has a rich basketball history, but most of its success came at lower levels of competition. Troy is 0-3 in its two March Madness appearances to date. They lost to Xavier in 2003 and then to Duke in 2017. Their return to the tourney in 2025 also featured a loss to Kentucky. Fate would have it, all three of their previous NCAA Tournament opponents are seen as basketball schools and varying levels of traditional power. Nebraska is different.
The Cornhuskers have never won an NCAA Tournament game themselves. So no matter what, someone on Thursday is about to notch their biggest win in program history.
- UNC's embarrassing March choke job should be the last straw for Hubert Davis
- Jon Scheyer just gave Syracuse the best reason yet to hire Gerry McNamara
- March Madness Live Prop Tracker: Upsets, buzzer beaters, stats and box score extremes
- Duke isn't good enough to treat this NCAA Tournament like a cakewalk
- Meet Chase Johnston: Why High Point senior has all the March Madness hero traits