Get To Know A Marquette Basketball Opponent: Stetson

Name: Stetson University

Location: DeLand, Florida

Where? About halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach on I-4.

Is that Stetson as in the the hat brand? Why, yes, it is.  The university was originally founded in 1883 as DeLand Academy by - wait for it - Henry Addison DeLand, and it became a university in 1887.  John B. Stetson, the founder of the hat manufacturing company and inventor of the cowboy hat, was a trustee of the university along with DeLand and Stetson stepped in as primary financial benefactor when DeLand suffered some losses due to a citrus freeze.  Thus, they changed the name of the school to honor Stetson.

It is kind of funny, right? Seeing as John Stetson was born in New Jersey and based his company in Philadelphia, and on top of that, cowboy hats are associated primarily with the Western United States, yes, it's kind of funny that the school that bears his name is in the middle of the Florida swamp.

Enrollment: 4,333, about half the size of Marquette.

A Picturesque Campus: Stetson's campus was used as a backdrop for The Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler.  Locations on campus were also used for one of my most favorite HBO miniseries, From The Earth To The Moon.

Nickname: Believe it or not, they're the Hatters.

Notable Alumni: Ted Cassidy, who played Lurch on The Addams Family TV show; New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom, 2014 National League Rookie of the Year; US Marine Corps General Roy Geiger; Cleveland Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, 2014 AL Cy Young Award winner; Laurette T. Koellner, former president of Boeing International; Gerard Marino, soundtrack composer for the God of War video game series; Rich McKay, Atlanta Falcons president and general manager; Charles E. Merrill, founder of Merrill Lynch; ESPN reporter Britt McHenry; and Michael Yeargan, Tony award winning set designer.

Last Season: 9-22, although just 6-22 against Division 1 opponents.  They went 3-11 in Atlantic Sun action and lost in their first game of the A-Sun tournament to North Florida.

This Season: 8-13, but four of those wins are against non-Division 1 opponents.  They're 2-4 in the Atlantic Sun right now after a Saturday win over Kennesaw State.

Current KenPom Ranking: #297, up from #313 before beating KSU.

KenPom Projection: They're expected to finish 12-19 and 5-9 in the A-Sun.

Stats Leaders

Points: Derick Newton, 15.8 ppg
Rebounds: Brian Pegg, 9.6 rpg
Assists: Angel Rivera, 4.8 apg

Head Coach: Corey Williams, in his third season.  He was an assistant at Oklahoma State, where he played his college ball, as well as Oral Roberts, and Florida State before getting the job steering the Hatters.  He has a career coaching record of 24-59, but again, only 17 of those wins are against Division 1 opponents.  In case you were wondering, yes, that's the Corey Williams that was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1992, so that's "NBA Champion Corey Williams" to you.

All Time Series: Marquette holds the all time lead, 8-1.  They haven't played since 1988, and Stetson's lone loss came in DeLand back in February of 1980.