Men's Basketball

Aurora University

347 S. Gladstone - Aurora, IL - 60506
Team Office: Tel: (630) 844-5144 Fax: (630) 844-5436
Team website: www.aurora.edu/athletics

Aurora University was founded in 1893. It offers 40 undergraduate majors as well as graduate programs in Education and Business. Majors offered include Criminal Justice, Computer Science, Nursing, Marketing, Elementary Education, and Accounting. Due to its proximity to a large urban area (Chicago), many of its students are older. Nearly 2/3 of the student body are women. US News 2008 report on America's Best Colleges ranked Aurora in the third tier among universities in the midwest offering a Master's degree.

The university is located in the greater Chicago metro area in the city of Aurora (pop. 150k).

School website
www.aurora.edu

College Profile

Type:

Private, Co-ed

Religious Affiliation:

None

Enrollment:

4,000

Getting In:

Moderately Difficult. ACT 25/75: 20-23

Tuition + Room & Board:

In-state: ~$24,000
Out-of-State: Same

Most Popular Majors

Business - Education - Health

Misc. Information

Head coach James Lancaster completed his 14th season at Aurora in 2007-08. Prior to his arrival in 1994-95, Lancaster coached AU's women's program for four seasons. Lancaster has amassed a W-L record of 262-108 which is the highest winning percentage of any men's basketball coach at AU. He also led the men's program to their first ever NCAA Division III playoff appearance in 1998 and has repeated that performance five times since. Lancaster was named NIIC 'Coach of the Year' back-to-back in 1998 &1999. Lancaster has built the Aurora program into one recognized for being competitive with an annually strong schedule, boasting top-flight opponents. Lancaster played for Wabash Community College, one of the nation's top junior college programs, and two seasons for Aurora (1984-86). In 2007-08, the Spartans produced a 22-7 record but lost in the first round of the NCAA tourney to Augustana.

Team Name	Spartans
Colors	Royal Blue and White
Division	NCAA Division III
All-Time Record

Recent Record (Last 8 Years)

	Last Yr	Last Yr - 1	Last Yr - 2	Previous 5 Years
Overall	22-7	25-3	16-11	102-33 (.755)
Conference	16-2	16-2	9-3	49-11 (.816)
Conf. Finish	1	1	2	1, 1, 2, 2, 2
Post Appear.	1st Rnd	1st Rnd	n/a	NCAA 3x
Final 25 Rank	NR	#14	NR	1x

Coaches

Head Coach	James Lancaster
	Birthday: 0000-00-00
Started at Aurora	1994-95
Contract Expires
Record as Head Coach	320-150 (.680)
Record at Aurora	262-108 (.708)
Coaching Awards	NIIC COTY 2x

Asst. Coaches	Jabari Harrell

Recruiting Coordinator

James Lancaster, (630) 844-5144, jlancast@aurora.edu

Conference and Schedule

Aurora now plays in the newly formed Northern Athletic Conference (comprised of former teams from the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference and Lake Michigan Conference). The NAC (www.northernathleticsconf.org) consists of 12 colleges and universities from the shared-border states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Currently, teams play an 18 game schedule playing seven teams 2x and three teams 1x with one or two games during the week and a game on Sunday. The league schedule starts in December. Teams in the NAC will be eligible for automatic NCAA postseason berths in 2008-09. For the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons the NAC will gain access to the NCAA postseason through both independent and at-large berths.

Conference Opponents

Alverno College, Benedictine University, Concordia University-River Forest, Concordia University-Wisconsin, Dominican University, Edgewood College, Lakeland College, Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Marian College, Rockford College and Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Facilities

Thornton Gym
Capacity: 2,200. Average Attendance: ?

Style/Stats

In 2006-07, Aurora was ranked #10 in offense, averaging 86.3 ppg.