NJIT: College Basketball's Biggest Loser

The Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and 2008 New England Patriots are examples of some of the most famous losing teams in history. Their losses transcend time, and leave them as side-splittingly hilarious punchlines for people like Jim Rome or Mike and Mike.

But it's time for all of those also-rans to move over into the relative winner's circle - because the New Jersey Institute of Technology just opened up a can of futility on all of them.

You may have heard fleetingly about NJIT on Sportscenter, but if not, here is the scoop: the Highlanders - of which there can only be one - of Newark, N.J. finished their regular season at a sterling 0-29 last Saturday. They are not the first team to ever pull off a masterful winless campaign, but they now hold the Division I record for most losses without a win in a season.

Pardon me as I start a slow clap. Feel free to join in.

Maybe I shouldn't take NJIT down yet another peg - perhaps I should lay off. The Princeton Review named NJIT the fifth-best school in the country in two separate categories: "Campus is Tiny, Unsightly or Both" and "Least Happy Students."

Still, you can major in engineering or video game development and get a great degree. But that college stuff is for nerds. Everybody knows the only true measure of a school's worth is how its Division I athletic programs perform.

So here is the ledger:

It all started with a 70-28 loss to Manhattan on Nov. 10. Then, there was a 41-point loss to Washington in the preseason NIT. A high point came with a 23-point loss to High Point (see what I did?), followed by the best loss of the year, a nine-point defeat at Lehigh. Fordham, which I believe is composed of New York schoolchildren, hung a 44-point win on NJIT.

Mighty Rutgers went into the Prudential Center in Newark and escaped with a 10-point win. And Rutgers is awful.

Cornell almost doubled the Highlanders up, 64-33, on Jan. 15. Against other Division I independents, NJIT went 0-9, including a 10-point loss to Chicago State in the home finale in front of 300. In that game, the Highlanders cut their deficit to 74-71 with 2:30 to go. They then allowed eight straight points in the next two minutes.

These are numbers that would make Savannah State (0-28 in 2005) and Prairie View A&M (0-26 in 1992) feel good about themselves.

The losing got bad enough that coach Jim Casciano resigned, despite staying with the school after undisclosed health problems in December.

Their best player is Nesho Milosevic, a forward from Montenegro, who won that nation's under-18 and under-16 championships. Their best freshman might be the obviously-misspelled Jheryl Wilson, who lost three career games at St. Benedict's Prep in New Jersey. So much for that winning, guys.

But for me, the easiest way to gauge a school's self-shame is to go to its official athletics Web site. This is where the university can make their athletic programs sound as good as humanly possible without flat-out lying.

For example, on UConnHuskies.com, you may notice a story titled "Golf Finishes In Tenth Place At Argonaut Invitational." Only if one clicks on the "results" link can one find out that only 10 teams entered said invitational. Not to knock the golf team, because it's cold and no one in their right mind golfs in February, but I wish UConnHuskies.com would stop lying to me.

Anyway, a quick scan of the NJIT site Wednesday revealed that though other game stories from Saturday - when the Highlanders ended their ignominious season with a 76-50 loss to the immortal Utah Valley State - were on the front page, men's basketball was nowhere to be found.

The official story from the UVSU game barely mentions the historical implications of the loss, though it does manage to mention Paulis Skema's seven rebounds, as well as the fact that the Wolverines only managed to out-rebound NJIT, 33-31. NJIT kept it close, only getting outscored in the second-half, 27-25 (it was 49-25 at halftime).

Stop withholding the truth, NJIT. Everyone would like to enjoy the sweet, sweet schadenfreude that comes with a team going 0-for-29. While the official position of your athletic department may be one of denial, the official position of America is that your team is awesome. Terribly, awfully, wonderfully awesome. Embrace it.

And one day, when you're playing on UConn's home court - in a deal brought to you by the same people who brought you "UConn-Texas Southern" and "That Time Stanley Robinson Dropped 31 On Maine" - perhaps some of our fans will recognize you and think of some witty catcalls beyond the usual "you suck."

Even though you do.

Kevin Meacham's column runs every Thursday. He can be contacted at Kevin.Meacham@UConn.edu.