Evansville Aces

The Evansville Purple Aces bring a rich small-college basketball pedigree to downtown's Ford Center, where the program's five national championship banners still define its identity. Evansville built its reputation as one of the most dominant programs of the pre-Division I era before making the jump to college basketball's top level. The Purple Aces' name comes from a sportswriter's description of the team playing "like Aces," and that never-back-down mentality has stuck. Evansville remains a proud member of the Missouri Valley Conference. Purple and white basketball runs deep in this river city.

Evansville won five NCAA College Division (now Division II) national championships in 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965, and 1971, a level of Division II dominance matched by very few programs in history. The Purple Aces moved up to Division I in 1977 and joined the Missouri Valley Conference, where they have competed ever since. Evansville has made multiple NCAA Division I Tournament appearances, carrying forward the winning tradition built in its dominant small-college era.