Men's Basketball

University of Nebraska- Kearney

905 West 25th - Kearney, NE - 68849
Team Office: Tel: (308) 865-8021 Fax: (308) 865-8832
Team website: www.lopers.com/

Originally founded as as state teacher's college, the University of Nebraska-Kearney is part of the state university system. It offers nearly 50 Bachelor degree programs and over 30 Master's. Majors offered include Aviation/Airway Management and Operations, Commercial and Advertising Art, School Counseling and Guidance, Criminal Justice/Safety Studies, Physical Education Teaching and Coaching, and Sport and Fitness Administration/Management. US News 2008 report on America's Best Colleges ranked Nebraska-Kearney #60 among universities in the midwest offering a Master's degree.

The campus is located in Kearney (pop. 28k), about 150 miles west of Omaha.

School website
www.unk.edu

College Profile

Type:

Public, Co-educational

Religious Affiliation:

None

Enrollment:

6,500

Getting In:

Moderately Difficult. ACT 25/75: 20-25

Tuition + Room & Board:

In-state: ~$10,000
Out-of-State: ~$14,000

Most Popular Majors

Business - Education - Operation Management

Misc. Information

Head coach Tom Kropp completed his 18th season at Nebraska-Kearney in 2007-08. One of Nebraska's greatest athletes, Kropp has become one of the most respected coaches in the nation. Kropp was UNK's all time leading scorer and even played in the NBA for a brief time. Prior to coming to UNK in 1990-91, Kropp was pursuing his doctorate degree in education. Kopp inherited a program that had already established itself among the elite D2 powers, posting a .704 winning percentage since the program's inception. Kropp's own winning percentage (.728) ranks him among the top 20 active D2 coaches. With only one losing season during the last 16 years, Kropp's teams have chalked up thirteen 20+ winning seasons and made eleven NCAA appearances. Assistant coach Kevin Lofton was recently promoted to 'co-head' coach; paving the way for him to take over the team in the near future. In 2007-08, the Lopers finished at 16-13.

Team Name	Lopers
Colors	Royal Blue and Old Gold
Division	NCAA Division II
All-Time Record	2186-926 (.702)

Recent Record (Last 8 Years)

	Last Yr	Last Yr - 1	Last Yr - 2	Previous 5 Years
Overall	16-13	25-6	23-8	130-27 (.828)
Conference	13-6	16-3	15-4	83-12 (.900)
Conf. Finish	1	2	2	1, 2, 1, 1, 2
Post Appear.	n/a	2nd Rnd	1st Rnd	NCAA 4x
Final 25 Rank	NR	#23	NR	1x

Coaches

Head Coach	Tom Kropp
	Birthday: 1953-02-12
Started at Nebraska-Kearney	1990-91
Contract Expires	?
Record as Head Coach	393-147 (.728)
Record at Nebraska-Kearney	393-147 (.728)
Coaching Awards	RMAC COTY 3x

Asst. Coaches	Kevin Lofton, Nate Mohs

Recruiting Coordinator

Kevin Lofton, (308) 865-8053, loftonk@unk.edu

Conference and Schedule

Nebraska-Kearney plays in the highly regarded Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (www.rmacsports.org). The RMAC is the oldest D2 conference and is comprised of 14 teams in two divisions, east and west. UNK plays in the east. UNK will play each team in their own division twice, the other division once. Conference play can begin in December but same division games don't begin until January. Conference games are usually played on Saturdays plus one mid-week game and are often piggybacked with the women's. The farthest conference away game is at Fort Lewis (Durango, CO) some 850 miles from campus. The season concludes with the RMAC tourney which takes the top eight teams and the two division winners getting the top seeds. Tourney winner receives automatic NCAA berth.

Conference Opponents

East: Colorado State-Pueblo, Chaldron St., Regis, Colorado Christian, Ft Hays, and Colorado Mines. West: Fort Lewis, U. Colorado-Colorado Springs, New Mexico Highlands, Adams St., Mesa State and Western St.

Facilities

Sports Center
Capacity: 6,000; Average Attendance: 2,700