Andrew Pace
The UMBC Retrievers are the athletic teams representing the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in intercollegiate varsity sports, including basketball. The Retrievers basketball games are broadcast by Paul Mittermeier, Gary Stein, Troy Greene, and Dan Levin. UMBC competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and has appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament twice. They have also competed in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and The Basketball Classic once each. The Retrievers play their home games at the new Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena, which opened in 2018 and hosts basketball and volleyball games, convocations, speaker events, and other community events.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of the team | UMBC Retrievers |
| University represented | University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Division | Division I |
| Conference | America East Conference |
| Colours | Black and Gold |
| Mascot | True Grit (a Chesapeake Bay Retriever) |
| Arena | Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena |
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What You'll Learn
The UMBC Retrievers basketball team plays Division I
The Retrievers have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament two times, with a combined record of 1-2. They have also appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament once, with a record of 3-1. In addition, the Retrievers have qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament twice.
The UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team made history in 2018 when they defeated the #1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. This marked the first time a 16-seed had defeated a 1-seed in the tournament out of 135 previous match-ups. The Retrievers also won their first regular-season American East men's basketball title in 2007-08 and qualified for their first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
The UMBC Retrievers play their home games at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena, which opened in 2018. The arena hosts basketball and volleyball games, as well as convocations, speaker events, and other community events. The team's mascot is True Grit, who appears as both a statue and a costumed anthropomorphized Chesapeake Bay Retriever, the state dog of Maryland.
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They compete in the America East Conference
UMBC stands for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The UMBC Retrievers are the athletic teams that represent the university in intercollegiate varsity sports. The Retrievers compete in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports, including basketball.
The UMBC basketball team competes in the America East Conference. They have been members of this conference since the 2003-04 academic year. The Retrievers previously competed in the Northeast Conference (NEC) from 1998-99 to 2002-03 and in the Big South Conference from 1992-93 to 1997-98. They have also competed in various forms of the Mason-Dixon Conference at the NCAA Division II level.
The Retrievers men's basketball team has had some notable successes while competing in the America East Conference. In the 2007-08 season, they won their first regular-season America East men's basketball title and qualified for their first NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. On March 16, 2018, the Retrievers made history when they became the first 16th-seeded team to defeat a 1st-seeded team in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament by beating the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Retrievers basketball teams play their home games on campus in Baltimore. The men's and women's teams share a brand-new, $85 million arena and events center called the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena, which opened in 2018. The arena hosts basketball and volleyball games, as well as other community events.
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They previously competed in Division II
The UMBC Retrievers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, located in Catonsville, Maryland. The Retrievers have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament twice, with a combined record of 1-2. They have also appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament once, with a record of 3-1.
Before competing in Division I, the UMBC Retrievers basketball team previously competed in Division II. They took part in the Mason-Dixon Conference at the NCAA Division II ranks. They competed in the first variation of the Mason-Dixon Conference from 1972-73 to 1977-78, and in the second variation from 1983-84 to 1987-88.
The Retrievers have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament twice. They have also competed in other conferences before moving to Division I. From 1998-99 to 2002-03, they competed in the Northeast Conference (NEC). Prior to that, they were in the Big South Conference from 1992-93 to 1997-98.
In 2003-04, the Retrievers began primarily competing in the America East Conference, which they still do today. In the 2007-08 season, the UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team won its first regular-season America East Conference title and qualified for its first NCAA Division I tournament. In 2018, the Retrievers made history by becoming the first 16th-seeded team to defeat a 1st-seeded team in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, beating the Virginia Cavaliers 74-54.
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The Retrievers' mascot is True Grit
The UMBC Retrievers are the athletic teams representing the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in intercollegiate athletics as a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Retrievers have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament twice.
The Retrievers Mascot is True Grit
The Chesapeake Bay Retriever is the state dog of Maryland and has been the mascot of UMBC since its founding in 1966. The costumed mascot was also known as "Fever the Retriever" in the late 1990s. The university once had a live mascot named Campus Sam, who was donated to the school in the spring of 1967 by a student, Tom Berlin, who won a contest to choose a mascot.
UMBC also has a statue of a retriever known as True Grit, which stands in front of the Retriever Activities Center (RAC). True Grit is a 500-pound bronze cast sculpture created by artist and UMBC alumna Paulette Raye. Raye used a champion Chesapeake Bay Retriever named "Nitty Gritty" as her model. The statue was unveiled in a ceremony on December 7, 1987, with Nitty Gritty himself in attendance.
Today, UMBC's live mascot is named Gritty, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever puppy chosen in 2008. The university also held a volleyball pep rally in 2007, where True Grit revealed he had a sister, Trudy Grit, who also served as a mascot.
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They have appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
The UMBC Retrievers men's basketball team represents the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. They have appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) once, with a record of 3-1.
The CIT is an American men's college basketball postseason tournament for teams that don't get selected for the NCAA Division I or National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and reside outside of the "major conferences". The tournament was first held in 2009, with 32 teams participating. In 2016, 2017, and 2019, only 26 teams took part, and in 2018, it was reduced further to 20 teams.
The CIT was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was relaunched and rebranded as The Basketball Classic in 2022. In 2023, neither The Basketball Classic nor the CIT took place. However, CollegeInsider.com announced that the CIT would be revived for the 2023-24 postseason with a 16-team pod-based format. Unfortunately, only nine teams agreed to play, and the tournament did not go ahead. A similar format was planned for 2025, but again, no tournament was played.
The criteria for selection in the CIT include win-loss record, strength of schedule, strength of conference, and final ten games. Teams from major conferences are generally ineligible. In the early years of the tournament, participating teams had to finish the regular season with a minimum .500 winning percentage, except for the champion of the now-defunct Great West Conference tournament.
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Frequently asked questions
UMBC competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The UMBC basketball team's nickname is the Retrievers.
The UMBC Retrievers play in the America East Conference.
The Retrievers have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament twice and have a combined record of 1-2.
