Fairleigh Dickinson basketball became just the second No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a win over Purdue last spring. It lost to FAU in the Second Round, but for such a small school to even reach that point was remarkable and historic.
After capturing the hearts of America during March Madness, the Knights are off to a great start during the 2023/24 college basketball season!
They began the new year on Monday night with a big six-point win over Buffalo. They followed it up with another dub on Wednesday over Penn State……………………. kind of. Not really, but kind of.
Fairleigh Dickinson held its home-opener at Stratis Arena in Hackensack, N.J. and won by 44.
Its opponent was part of the Penn State University system. However, it was not the Penn State, which is located in University Park.
FDU defeated Penn State University Brandywine 107-63. The commonwealth campus is located in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania and enrolls approximately 1,500 students.
You wouldn’t know based off of the Knights’ hilariously context-free graphic.
Called just ‘the Lions,’ PSUB began an exploratory year on the NCAAA Division-III level on Sept. 1. It’s a D-III school. For now, at least.
Brandywine is part of the Penn State University Athletic Conference, which is comprised of the 14 commonwealth campuses of Penn State University. The Lions compete alongside:
- Penn State-Beaver Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Dubois Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Fayette Roaring Lions
- Penn State-Greater Allegheny Lions
- Penn State-Hazleton Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Lehigh Valley Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Mont Alto Nittany Lions
- Penn State-New Kensington Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Schuylkill Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Scranton Nittany Lions
- Penn State-Schenango Lions
- Penn State-Wilkes-Barre Nittany Lions
- Penn State-York Nittany Lions
Despite the slight variation in mascot name, all 14 schools use the same logo. It looks identical to that of the Penn State University Nittany Lions— the one that you think of when you think Penn State.
Fairleigh Dickinson absolutely knew what it was doing by providing such little context in its victory graphic. The Knights defeated Purdue last year and now Penn State. They really do own the Big Ten!