Get To Know: IUPUI

Name: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

What? Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

No, I Heard You The First Time, That Didn't Make It Make Sense: Oh, right.  It's a joint venture between Indiana and Purdue, both of which are state funded schools in the state of Indiana, but it's still it's own school when it comes to sports, apparently.

How The Hell Did That Happen? In 1891, Indiana University started offering classes in Indianapolis, less than 60 miles northwest of the main campus in Bloomington.  Eventually, IU placed their School Of Medicine and their School of Dentistry in Indianapolis for some idiot reason, along with the Robert H. McKinney School of Law, which is not to be confused with the Maurer School Of Law on the Bloomington campus.  Along the way, Purdue wasn't taking any crap from Indiana, so they opened a satellite campus in Indianapolis, some 65 miles southeast of the main campus in West Lafayette.

In 1968, for reasons that generally speaking defy logic, Dr. Maynard K. Hine, the dean of the dental school, hammered out an agreement between the Indiana president, the Purdue president, and the mayor of Indianapolis to form a brand new school out of the bits of the two schools that were already in the city.  Thus, IUPUI was born.  IU is the managing partner of the school, though, so it's kind of like UWM being run by UW-Madison.

Enrollment: 30,690 (22,525 undergrad, 8,164 graduate)

Nickname: Jaguars

Why "Jaguars?" That's what they voted on when they moved to Division 1 in 1998.  It appears that they used to be the Metros before that, which does seem infinitely more interesting.

Notable Alumni: Former Vice President Dan Quayle; Norman Bridwell, the creator of Clifford The Big Red Dog; and Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill.

A History Of Getting Boatraced: A yearly IUPUI tradition is the Regatta where teams of eight students, faculty, or alumni race canoes in the canal in dowtown Indianpolis.  The whole thing helps raise money for student scholarships.

Last Season: 10-21 overall, with a record of 6-10 in Summit League play

This Season: 1-0, after a 72-70 road win over Indiana State on Friday night.

Final 2014-15 KenPom Ranking: #286

Current KenPom Ranking: #296

Returning Points Leader: Marcellus Barksdale, 9.5 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Marcellus Barksdale, 4.7 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Marcellus Barksdale, 2.4 apg

Leaders Against Indiana State:

Points: Darell Combs, 16
Rebounds: Nick Osborne, 8
Assists: Darell Combs, 4

Fun Fact: There are eight transfers on IUPUI's roster, including former Syracuse guard Ron Patterson, who is sitting this season out.  Four of the transfers are making their IUPUI debuts this season, including both Darell Combs and Nick Osborne.

Summit League Preseason Poll: IUPUI was picked to finish sixth in the nine team Summit League, three places ahead of the Western Illinois squad that beat Wisconsin on Friday night.  Marcellus Barksdale was named to the preseason all-SL Second Team.

Head Coach: Jason Gardner, in his second season both at IUPUI, and overall.  He was formerly an assistant at Loyola-Chicago and Memphis, and before that, he was named Mr. Basketball in Indiana in 1999 before going on to be a star at Arizona.

All Time Series: Marquette leads 2-0, with both meetings coming in the last eight seasons.