University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine is a public, coeducational university situated in suburban Irvine, California. It is one of ten University of California campuses and is commonly known as UCI or UC Irvine.

Athletics

UCI's sports teams are known as the Anteaters. (The unusual mascot was chosen by student vote, in the non-violent and anti-establishment spirit that was popular in the school's early years.) They participate in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. School spirit is on the rise at UC Irvine as some students have taken it upon themselves to change the old perception by forming a student spirit squad known as CIA (short for Completely Insane Anteaters). The CIA is the largest student group on campus and is the second largest student spirit group on the West Coast. It is an incentive based club, whereas the more games CIA Members attend, the more prizes they receive. As a member of the CIA, which is free to all UCI Students, they receive a free t-shirt which is usually a pretty hot commodity on campus.

Related Topics:
Sports - NCAA - Big West Conference - Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

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The UCI Men's basketball team has had three twenty-win seasons in recent years and four total. They have made it into the Division 2 NCAA Tournament twice, and the Division 1 NIT tournament four times. In 1986, they swept UNLV. The UC Irvine Women's basketball team has had one Division 1 NCAA Tournament appearance in 1995, when they were champions of their conference, and won the conference tournament; however, they lost in the first round. Since the return of baseball in 2002 (the sport was eliminated in 1992 due to state budget cuts), UC Irvine has been ranked as high as #7 in the country and has been at the top of the Big West Conference standings, which is one of the top Division I Baseball Conferences in the country. Both Men's and Women's Volleyball have seen success in the past few years. The women's team has made it to the NCAA Tournament the past two years and the men's team was ranked #1 in the country at one point during the 2003 Season and traditionally is in the top #15 every year.

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Anteater basketball and volleyball teams compete at the on-campus Bren Events Center.

Related Topics:
Basketball - Volleyball - Campus - Bren Events Center

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