1974 and 1976, those teams finished second twice and fourth the other year. These teams included seven All-Americans.
In 2015, for the first time, the UC Irvine Anteaters men's basketball team appeared in the Division I tournament. It was narrowly defeated in a first-round tournament game by Louisville. The Anteaters made their second NCAA appearance in 2019, beating fourth-seed Kansas State University for their first March Madness win ever.
=== Anteater as mascot ===
The anteater was chosen in 1965 when students were allowed to submit mascot candidates, which would be voted on in a campus election. Three undergraduates named Pat Glasgow, Bob Ernst, and Schuyler Hadley Basset III were credited with choosing the anteater and designing a cartoon representation, having been disappointed with other candidates such as a roadrunner, unicorn, seahawk and golden bison.
While often attributed to the Johnny Hart comic strip B.C., the original anteater design was based on the Playboy bunny.
In August 2007, a small stuffed …
