Long Beach: Who Are The Flames?

By Lara Boyko - June 02, 2007

For those of you who don't know, I am a big fan of the underdogs in life. Maybe it's because I am somewhat of an underdog myself, but whatever the case, I enjoy seeing the little guys in the world enjoy some time in the spotlight (exclusion: college football season when anyone is playing my Trojans).

My point is, I've started to become a fan of the UIC team in the last couple of days here.

Here's a little background on who UIC is:
- They are the 2007 Horizon League Champions.
- This is the program's third all time NCAA tournament appearance.
- Their first NCAA tournament bid was in 2003 and the last one was in 2005.
- Their win over host school and No. 1-seed Long Beach State yesterday was the first NCAA postseason victory in program history.
- UIC has one the last six Horizon League regular season titles (2002-2007)
- UIC is located one mile west of downtown Chicago
- Journalist Bernard Shaw, actor Michael Gross (remember him from Family Ties?) and Detroit Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson are among their most noteable alumni.