Where is Fairleigh Dickinson University? What is their NCAA Tournament history?

After one of the great upsets in the history of college basketball, you might be a new fan of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

But you might also be wondering ... where is Fairleigh Dickinson University?

The Knights are located in Hackensack and Teaneck New Jersey. It’s a campus of just over 12,000 students, and they play in the NCAA’s Northeast Conference. And that matters because the actual winner of the NEC Tournament Merrimack was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament due to their ongoing transition to Division I. Imagine what they would have done to Purdue!

The school was founded in 1942, and is the rare private sea-grant institution with an endowment of about $90 million. That might increase after this run in March Madness.

And while the Knights had won two games in the NCAA Tournament previously, they had never won a game outside the First Four before. From 1985 to 2022, they were 0-6 in the main draw.

As for who their famous alumni are, Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi Wilf is amongst them, as is former Tampa Bay Rays owner Vince Naimoli. John Spencer of West Wing fame is in there as well, and ESPN college hoops analyst and former D1 coach Seth Greenberg too. Former Ronald Reagan speechwriter and political op-ed writer Peggy Noonan is also an alum.