LIU Goes to NCAA Tournament – Before NEC Championship Game
College basketball almost has its NCAA Tournament bracket completely filled out, but one program got an automatic bid for the big dance before even playing in the Northeast Conference Championship Game.
Meet the Long Island University Sharks, who are coached by former NBA superstar Rod Strickland. Because of a stipulation involving Mercyhurst University, making the jump from Division II to Division I, they were not eligible to compete in postseason play; this left the door open for one of the more unbelievable ends to a story you’ll ever see.
Nevertheless, LIU silenced the haters and won the NEC Conference Championship just to put an official stamp on their trip to the NCAA Tournament. We’ll dive into the details and see whether or not there’s potential for “Shark Week” in the early rounds of the big dance.
LIU’s 2025-26 season
What certainly wasn’t a fluke was LIU’s 24-10 record, which included an incredible 15-3 mark in NEC play. Strickland pursued a tougher regular season schedule to prepare his team for their final goal – the NCAA Tournament.
Early on, LIU took some lumps on the road against major programs like Notre Dame (89-67 on Nov. 3), Illinois (L 98-58 on Nov. 22), and Georgia (L 89-74 on Dec. 29). But there were also some more narrow losses that brought the Sharks’ record to 6-7 heading into the new year.
Once the calendar hit 2026, it was almost like a completely brand-new team swimming around the tank. LIU went 18-3 in its final 21 games, with all three losses coming by eight points or fewer.
This marked a massive turnaround by Strickland, as LIU went 3-26 in 2022-23, 7-22 in 2023-24, and 17-16 last season. The huge 10-win jump may have forecasted some success this year, but despite being the preseason favorites to win the NEC, this was well beyond anyone’s imagination.
How LIU made it to the big dance
Every Cinderella has a great story, and LIU is no exception with its unique situation that really didn’t even matter in the end. Mercyhurst University, which was on the opposite side of the NEC Tournament bracket, is in the midst of transitioning from Division II to Division I; this stipulation prohibits them from participating in the NCAA Tournament until the 2028-29 season.
LIU came in as the NEC’s No. 1 seed and beat No. 8 Chicago State (the lowest NEC seed) 79-75 in a tight battle. NEC Tournament rules are a bit different, as the bracket re-seeds after the Quarterfinals, so LIU was matched up against No. 7 Wagner, who knocked off No. 2 seed Central Connecticut (70-60).
On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Mercyhurst was taking care of business by beating No. 6 Farleigh Dickinson (70-61) and No. 5 Stonehill (56-51) to put them in the NEC Championship Game, which it couldn’t play in.
That set up LIU to take advantage of a golden opportunity: beating Wagner 64-56 and moving on to the NCAA Tournament. LIU certainly benefitted from facing the lowest two seeds in the NEC Tournament, but they did put the exclamation point on this whole thing by going out and beating Mercyhurst in the faux final 79-70.
Looking ahead to LIU in the NCAA Tournament
According to Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology on ESPN, the Sharks are expected to be a 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament. It’s certainly not the spot LIU wants to be in, but they certainly present a tough defensive challenge for any of these 1-seeds looking for an easy win in the First Round.
It would be fun to see LIU in one of the First Four games to see if they can build on even more momentum. Perhaps, the committee puts LIU in that spot, with the buzz they’ve generated with this story. But you have to remember – they still won the conference tourney anyways, and that shows true character.
One way or another, we’re all interested to see how this shakes out. Of course, having one of the NBA’s most legendary point guards in Strickland makes it an automatic watch for the casual basketball fan. We’ll be watching Shark Week!
