Grand Canyon Antelopes

The Grand Canyon Antelopes play in the deafening GCU Arena in Phoenix, one of the loudest home-court environments in college basketball. A relative newcomer to Division I, GCU has quickly built a reputation as a Western Athletic Conference power with real NCAA Tournament upset potential. The program's rapid rise mirrors the explosive growth of Grand Canyon University itself.

Basketball has been part of Grand Canyon since the school's founding in 1949, and the program won three NAIA national championships (1975, 1978, 1988) before eventually moving up through NCAA Division II. GCU jumped to Division I and the WAC in 2013, with former Phoenix Suns star Dan Majerle overseeing the transition, and became eligible for the NCAA Tournament in 2017-18. Since then, the Antelopes have reached the NCAA Tournament four times, picking up their first tournament win in 2024 with an upset of Saint Mary's. Grand Canyon has not yet won an NCAA Division I championship, but its NAIA-era titles and rapid Division I ascent mark a distinctive program history.