They were not always the Sharks.
But they’ve pretty much always been NIT champions.
Long Island University’s current men’s basketball program is a fusion of two LIU’s: LIU-Brooklyn (formerly the Blackbirds, Division I fairly recently) and LIU-Post (formerly the Pioneers, formerly Division II, yes they must be the pioneers that didn’t make it very far, yes that does sound very Long Island of them). It’s the LIU-Brooklyn program we want to focus on today.
There was a time when LIU-Brooklyn owned half of all the NIT titles in the world. The tournament started in 1938. LIU made the field in each of the first four years. They won it twice. In the 1941 semifinals, they held Seton Hall to just 26 points. Powerhouse stuff right there, and it gets better.
The Blackbirds were coached by Clair Bee, the guy who wrote all those Chip Hilton books (if you’re unfamiliar, Chip Hilton books were the best for fourth grade boys). Pretty great, right? But it gets even better.
In 1951, LIU was one of six schools with players implicated in a sizable point-shaving scandal centered around reigning NIT champion CCNY—City College of New York. Manhattan was also involved, as were Bradley, Kentucky, and Toledo. CCNY dropped to D-III. LIU got rid of sports for six years and dropped to D-II, from which they’d return in the 80’s before absorbing LIU-Post just two years ago. What a saga. What a fall from grace. What fodder for movies one day, or perhaps fan fiction here on the site if we ever get really desperate for NIT content in the summer.
The Sharks, as they’re now known, are NIT longshots. They finished last season ranked 271st by KenPom out of college basketball’s 357 teams. But like many sharks, just because they’re in the deep doesn’t mean they won’t one day attack again. A sleeping giant, indeed.
Well, that’s a pretty cool fact about Clair Bee!!