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- IUPUI basketball has had a very difficult season.
- After winning just one game against a D-1 opponent, the Jaguars are set to play the Horizon League Tournament with only five players.
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Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis is the worst team in college basketball.
However, there are very few programs with more heart.IUPUI, a public, collaborative university between Indiana University and Purdue University, has not had success on the hardwood in 2021. The Jaguars have just three wins on the season, and only one of them came against a D-1 program.
Their first win of the year came against Division-III school Spalding University, a private Roman Catholic school with an total undergraduate enrollment of 1,305. They also won a game against USCAA independent East-West University, a school with an enrollment of less than 1,000.
Throughout the season, the IUPUI roster has diminished significantly. After beginning the year with 13 players on the team, due to injuries, transfers, and other unforeseen circumstances, the Jaguars roster shrunk to six— five starters and one substitute.
The team held open tryouts at the beginning of February but decided to finish out the season with the players that chose to stick it through. All six of them.
Somehow, despite their lack of players, IUPUI beat Robert Morris on February 17th to notch their third win of the season and first over a Division-I opponent. It was incredibly demoralizing for the Colonials and an incredible feat for the Jaguars.
That was two weeks ago. Since then, head coach Matthew Crenshaw has only been dealt even more bad cards.
On Saturday, the six-man roster dropped to five.
During IUPUI’s 67-41 home loss to Green Bay, sophomore Bakari LaStrap — who started for the team down the stretch — lasted only three minutes before leaving with injury. He is presumably out for the remainder of the season, however long that lasts.
The Jaguars will open the Horizon League Tournament on Tuesday night against Oakland as 23.5-point underdogs. Assuming that they will take the court without LaStrap, that leaves just five players.
Freshman guard Boston Stanton III, freshman center Chuks Isitua, junior guard Mike DePersia, junior guard Nathan McClure and grad transfer forward B.J. Maxwell will have to play all 40 minutes. There will be no substitutes.
IUPUI will be the 12-seed in the tournament and just advancing out of the first round would be remarkably impressive. Tonight, we are all Jaguars.
The post The Worst Team In College Basketball Is Set To Play Its Conference Tournament With Only Five Players appeared first on BroBible.
