LIU Sharks
2023–24 LIU Sharks men's basketball team
UniversityLong Island University
Head coachRod Strickland (2nd season)
ConferenceNortheast Conference
LocationBrooklyn, New York
ArenaSteinberg Wellness Center and Barclays Center
(Capacity: 3,000/17,732)
NicknameSharks
ColorsBlue and gold[1]
   
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1936, 1941
Pre-tournament Helms champions
1939
NCAA tournament appearances
Division I
1981#, 1984#, 1997#, 2011#, 2012#, 2013#, 2018#
Division II
1962*, 1965#, 1966#, 1967#, 1971*, 1973*, 1974*. 1983*, 1984*, 1985*, 1987*, 1989*, 1990*, 1993*, 2002*, 2003*, 2008*, 2009*, 2011*, 2012*
(# = LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds; * = LIU Post Pioneers)
Conference tournament champions
LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds
1981, 1984, 1997, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2018
LIU Post Pioneers
1990, 1991, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012
Conference regular season champions
LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds
Metro NY: 1936, 1937, 1939
NEC: 1983, 1984, 1997, 1998, 2011, 2012
LIU Post Pioneers
ECC 1990, 1991, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012

The LIU Sharks men's basketball team represents Long Island University in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They play their home games at their Brooklyn Campus in the Steinberg Wellness Center and Barclays Center, formerly known as the Wellness, Recreation & Athletics Center, and are members of the Northeast Conference. Their current head coach is Rod Strickland who was hired in June 2022.[2]

The LIU Sharks are the result of the July 1, 2019 unification of the athletic departments which had previously represented two separate campuses of LIU, the Division I LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and the Division II LIU Post Pioneers.[3][4]

History

Following Long Island University's founding in 1927, it soon entered intercollegiate athletic competition. Initially, its sports teams wore blue uniforms and became known as the Blue Devils. In 1935, a Brooklyn Eagle reporter saw the basketball team in its new black uniforms and stated that the team looked like blackbirds, and a new nickname was born.

LIU was a national basketball powerhouse in the 1930s and 1940s under Clair Bee, who compiled the highest winning percentage in major college basketball history, and the 1935–36 team was retroactively recognized as the pre-NCAA tournament national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.[5]

After several players were implicated in the point-shaving scandal of 1951, LIU shuttered its entire athletic program. It returned to the College Division (now Division II) in 1957 as the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds.

Blackbirds

LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds

The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball team represented the Brooklyn campus LIU in Division II from 1957. The Blackbirds were members of the Northeast Conference. The team first returned to the University Division (the predecessor to Division I) in the late 1960s. They finally returned to Division I in the 1980s. At the same time as the Blackbirds returned, LIU's C.W. Post College Pioneers began competing, in the College Division with the school being renamed LIU Post in 2012.[6]

Their final head coach was Derek Kellogg, who was hired after his firing from Massachusetts in 2017, with the 2017–18 season was his first as head coach. On March 12, 2013, the team achieved what was the greatest run in Northeast Conference history with a third straight NCAA Tournament bid.[7]

In October 2018, LIU announced that it would merge its two existing athletic programs—the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and LIU Post Pioneers, the latter an NCAA Division II member—effective with the 2019–20 school year. The merged athletic program now competes as the LIU Sharks, with the new colors of blue and gold, with Kellogg becoming the Sharks' first head men's basketball coach.[8][9]

Blackbirds Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Blackbirds appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament seven times. Their combined record was 0–7.

Year Seed Round Opponent Result
1981#12First round#5 VCUL 69–85
1984#11Preliminary Round#11 NortheasternL 87–90
1997#13First round#4 VillanovaL 91–101
2011#15First round#2 North CarolinaL 87–102
2012#16First round#1 Michigan StateL 67–89
2013#16First Four#16 James MadisonL 55–68
2018#16First Four#16 RadfordL 61–71

NCAA Division II tournament results

The Blackbirds appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament three times. Their combined record was 6–3.

Year Round Opponent Result
1965Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Cheyney
Philadelphia Textile
W 57–48
L 58–61
1966Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Elite Eight
Drexel
Cheyney
Akron
W 62–54
W 67–64
L 68–74
1967Regional Quarterfinals
Regional semifinals
Regional Finals
Elite Eight
Rochester
Central Connecticut State
Saint Michael's
Winston-Salem State
W 85–76
W 114–66
W 72–64
L 54–62

NIT results

The Blackbirds appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) ten times. Their combined record was 7–8 and they were NIT champions in 1939 and 1941.

Year Round Opponent Result
1938QuarterfinalsNYUL 37–39
1939Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship Game
New Mexico A&M
Bradley
Loyola (IL)
W 52–45
W 36–33
W 45–32
1940QuarterfinalsDePaulL 38–45
1941Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Championship Game
Westminster
Seton Hall
Ohio
W 48–36
W 49–26
W 56–42
1942QuarterfinalsWest VirginiaL 49–58
1947QuarterfinalsKentuckyL 62–66
1950QuarterfinalsSyracuseL 52–80
1968First round
Quarterfinals
Bradley
Notre Dame
W 80–77
L 60–62
1982First roundIllinoisL 78–126
1998First roundDaytonL 92–95

Rivalry

The Battle of Brooklyn plaque listing the men's basketball winners since 1976

For 44 years, beginning in the 1975–1976 season, an annual Battle of Brooklyn has been a tradition for LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds and St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers men's basketball teams. Each season, a game (the schools usually play each other twice) is dedicated in tribute William Lai and Daniel Lynch, former athletic directors at Long Island University and St. Francis College, respectively. The Battle of Brooklyn has been a tradition between the basketball programs for 40 years. Each year the most valuable player of the game is given the Lai-Lynch Trophy in memory of the two ADs. Long Island now has a Battle record of 23–17 against St. Francis.

Notable players

References

  1. Long Island University Style Guide for Print and Visual Application (PDF). July 25, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  2. Warren, Brooks (June 30, 2022). "Rod Strickland Leaving G League Ignite to Become Head Coach of LIU Brooklyn". slamonline.com. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  3. "LIU combining Post and Brooklyn athletic programs". Newsday. October 3, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  4. "#OneLIU website". Long Island University. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  5. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 544. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  6. "The Official Site of Long Island University–LIU Post Pioneers Athletics". Long Island University. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  7. "LIU Brooklyn makes history with third consecutive Northeast Conference title after defeating Mount St. Mary's". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  8. "LIU combining Post and Brooklyn athletic programs". Newsday. October 3, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  9. "#OneLIU website". Long Island University. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2019.
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