Get To Know: New Jersey Institute of Technology

Name: New Jersey Institute of Technology

Location: Newark, New Jersey

Specificially, though: It's a part of University Heights in Newark, which is a neighborhood that houses four colleges: NJIT, New Jersey Medical School, Essex County College, and the Newark campus of Rutgers University.

So, they share campus area, but: NJIT is the only independent college basketball team in the country, as in they have no conference affiliation.  This is their second season in that situation, as they were left without a home when the Great West Conference collapsed after the 2012-13 season.

Nickname: Highlanders

Why "Highlanders?" In 1949, 333 out of 700 possible students at the Newark College of Engineering voted for it.  As the official NJIT website puts it:

This was chosen because NCE was located on the Highlands of Newark, where 19th and 20th centuries homes on High Street looked east upon the rivers and watched as boats came in from all over the world.

Notable Alumni: Dick Sweeney, co-founder of Keurig; Vince Namoli, the first owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, and Wally Schirra, the only NASA astronaut to fly missions for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs,

Last Season: 13-16.  Four games were against non-Division 1 opponents, all wins.

This Season: 1-3

KenPom Ranking: #321 out of 351.

Returning Points Leader: Damon Lynn, 17.2 ppg

Returning Rebounds Leader: Terrence Smith, 6.0 rpg

Returning Assists Leader: Ky Howard, 3.9 apg

Head Coach: Jim Engles, in his seventh season.  He's only been a head coach at NJIT, where he has a record of 71-115.

Last Meeting: As was the case with Nebraska-Omaha, this is the first meeting between the two squads.