The Colby's Men's Basketball program, which began in 1936, has been rich with basketball tradition for the past half-century. The powerful teams of the 1950s created a groundwork for the storied teams of the 1970s. In 1974 the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) competition was introduced. Colby dominated on a regular basis from the beginning, winning 17 outright championships and sharing nine others.
Colby has been a strong force in conference play, sending 18 teams to ECAC tournaments from 1972 to 2002, winning three ECAC championships (1990, 1991, and 1993), and sending four teams to the NCAA tournament (1994, 1995, 1997, and 2020) since the conference began qualifying teams in 1994. Most recently, Colby Men's Basketball competed in the NESCAC Championship Final in both 2020 and 2023. The team is led by Sean Rutigliano who came to Mayflower Hill ahead of the 2025-26 academic year and became the second coach to hold the title of the Richard L. Whitmore Jr. Head Coach for Colby Men's Basketball, and only the third head coach of the program since 1970.
Colby Men's Basketball has totaled 19 All-American awards in its history with the crowning moment being the 1990 selection of Matt Hancock '90 as National Player of the Year. The most recent All-American is Sam Jefferson '20 who was named an All-American following the 2019 season. Men's Basketball has also tallied 22 NESCAC awards in its history including recent back to back Conference Rookies of the Year Will King '23 in 2020 and Noah Tyson '23 in 2019. In 2001 All-American Sam Clark '01 was selected as the NESCAC Player of the Year.
A great strength of the program is its alumni group, one of the most active and connected in Division III.
Updated as of July 21st, 2025
