Binghamton University is one of the academic jewels of public higher education in the state of New York, boasting the highest SAT scores among the system's major university centers and the second highest among the dozen and a half four-year institutions in the vast SUNY system. In the late 1990s the university decided to begin a process that would elevate its basketball program from the Division III level, which allows no athletic scholarships and attracts minimal attention, to the most competitive level, Division I. The other three SUNY universities, Albany, Buffalo, and Stony Brook, were already playing basketball at the Division I level, and Buffalo had an FBS football team. A required interim step, moving to Division II, was recommended by the university's faculty senate and approved by the university administration in 1996, although the faculty senate's executive committee had originally opposed the move.

When it came time to make the final decision to move to Division I in 1999, the faculty senate demurred, citing concerns about the potential financial and academic effects of such a move. Under no obligation to follow the faculty's recommendation, however, the president announced shortly thereafter that Binghamton would indeed make the move to Division I, beginning in the fall of 2001. In the next four years, the university replaced its head basketball coach, built a new arena with seating for 5,500, and became competitive in its conference, the America East Conference.