Weeeee little liberal arts college men's basketball team undefeated

February 24, 2006 9:53 AM

My eensy-beensy alma mater in eastern Wisconsin currently has the only undefeated men's basketball team in the nation. This is not just in the NCAA, but in the NAIA as well. It's a Division III team, and its only loss this season didn't count--it was to Division I UW-Madison in an exhibition game. Like most Division III schools, Lawrence offers no athletic scholarships whatsoever. Its immediate past president, Richard Warch, in a 1987 speech at the NCAA national convention, controversially called for abolishment of all athletic scholarships.
posted by gillyflower (15 comments total)

I'll be sure to pick them to go all the way in my upcoming March Madness bracket...
posted by BobFrapples at 10:02 AM on February 24, 2006

Wow, and look at all the powerhouses they went up against.
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:19 AM on February 24, 2006

That is the cruel thing in NCAA basketball. Once you get to be actually good, they expect you to play your out-of-conference games against other good ranked teams. It makes it pretty unlikely to be undefeated even though you might be a great team.
posted by smackfu at 10:32 AM on February 24, 2006

Best of the web, for sure...
posted by mikojava at 11:19 AM on February 24, 2006

Hell, I didn't know. I'll give the post a thumbs-up.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 11:40 AM on February 24, 2006

my alma mater is also a division III school and a consistently good football team. they use a loophole -- "leadership" scholarships are given instead of athletic scholarships.
posted by karson at 11:50 AM on February 24, 2006

My wee little Div. III alma mater (usually) beats Karson's alma mater and doesn't have to stoop to such tactics. Nanner-nanner.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:08 PM on February 24, 2006

Lawrence gets points for hosting Skappleton and a giant trivia tournament.
posted by drezdn at 12:16 PM on February 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Yup...my trivia team came in 3rd off-campus this year! Go Iowans! (Page hasn't been updated, pout. Smitch, you reading this?)
posted by gillyflower at 12:29 PM on February 24, 2006

Good for you and your school gillyflower. I went to Penn State, a school renown for sucking ass in basketball. People still reminisce about us getting invited to the NIT in the late '80s.

We'd stomp your school in football though.
posted by Fat Guy at 12:30 PM on February 24, 2006

Well now, see, I wouldn't actually CARE if anyone stomped LU in football, or any sport. I'm not into sports (never even set foot in Alex Gym, which is across the river from the main campus, the whole time I was at LU). But I like that it has its own little claim to fame this week, in a specialty far removed from its normal academic excellence.
posted by gillyflower at 12:36 PM on February 24, 2006

Go Pioneers! Grinnell, that is. I played on a team there that had the longest losing streak in NCAA history. Made my mom proud.
posted by MarshallPoe at 2:11 PM on February 24, 2006

I went to LU too. I am glad that the athletes get any recognition. I don't think I could have identified a single basketball player during my four years. I must have known them, I just ignored sports.

I went graduate school at big universities where playing is about money. I like the fact that Lawrentians are playing just for the love of the game.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 2:51 PM on February 24, 2006 [1 favorite]

Karson and Pollomacho, I was in the SCAC, too. We always won Cross Country. I always wondered how Trinity got all of those athletes.
posted by Frank Grimes at 3:13 PM on February 24, 2006

Well as long as we're talking about all-time best, my teensy lil school holds the best winning record of all time, across sports, across divisions of the NCAA. And we do it without athletic scholarships, too.
posted by somethingotherthan at 10:39 PM on February 25, 2006