college-basketball

ROD STRICKLAND HAS CREATED SOME TEETH IN THE LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL PROGRAM

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Every March Madness tournament I always have to look up a university wondering where the institution came from. These are the universities that make the best Cinderella teams. That’s where the Madness name comes from, seeing schools most of the country has never heard of take down a basketball powerhouse from time to time. Most of these schools come in as 16 seeds. Only two 16 seeds in the history of the tournament have upset a number 1 seed. We always remember Fairleigh Dickinson and the first school ever to accomplish this task, UMBC. This year I had to look up High Point University as they came in as a number 12 seed and took down the Badgers of Wisconsin University. My first guess on High Point was that they were located somewhere in the Rockies like Colorado. They are from North Carolina. Schools like Lehigh and Prairie View A&M, Queens, and Cal Baptist sound like community colleges. One question I had was what LIU stood for. I found out they were Long Island University which is easy to determine they are from New York. Nicknamed the Sharks. They have a great story with former NBA star Rod Strickland as their head coach. LIU only won three games in Strickland’s first season 4 years ago as they were the worst basketball university in the country. To turn this program around that quickly is an amazing job. It’s nice to get to the dance. Then to face the Wildcats of Arizona University and go up against the odds of trying to be the 3rd 16th seed to knock out a number 1 is a David versus Goliath kind of match up. Strickland Sharks are not Great Whites.

Rod Strickland’s last year in the NBA was in 2005. He was originally drafted by the New York Knicks in the 1988 NBA draft in the first round 19th overall from DePaul University. He would debut for the Knicks, his hometown team, in 1988 as Strickland is a Bronx native. He would not last very long in his town. Only parts of two seasons. Strickland was a point guard who lasted 17 seasons in the NBA. Nicknamed Hot Rod or was referred to as Lightning Round for his play on the hardwood courts. He would be remembered mostly for playing with the Portland Trailblazers or Washington Bullets at the time as he played in those two cities for 5 seasons each. He was a basketball mutt who also suited up for the Spurs, Heat, Timber Wolves, Magic, Rockets, and Raptors. In 17 seasons, Hot Rod averaged 13.2 points per game, 3.7 rebounds per game and dishing out the ball 7.3 times a game. He definitely had a solid basketball career his entire life. After basketball he got into coaching. He was the program manager in the NBA G-league before the opportunity of coaching in his home state came along with the Sharks. Strickland is 59 years of age and looks like a guy that is starting to grasp the head coaching job at the college level and constructing a long term solid program for the University which they really never had in their history.

LIU hails from the North East conference. The Sharks won the NEC tournament to get the automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. The Sharks also won the NEC conference with a 15-3 record this season. In 2025 LIU finished with a 17-16 record overall. They were 12-4 in their conference play and finished second in the standings. This year they finished with a 24-11 record and dominated at home with 14-1 record. Rod Strickland after the NBA and before the G-league at a administrative role at the University of Kentucky under head coach John Calipari. Hot Rod also served as an assistant coach for Southern Florida. In the NBA G-league he evaluated while educating along with mentoring top high school players to prepare them for a path to the NBA. You could see how Strickland took all his tools he learned along the way and used them in his first head coaching job with Long Island University. LIU is a small school, so he will not always get the top players who will most of the times get scooped up by bigger schools. Strickland’s work on the court has shown with guard Greg Gordon who was NEC defensive player of the year. Plus he earned NEC tournament MVP honors. I love the fact Strickland comes from the NBA when the league actually played defense. This LIU is known for playing very well defending the 3 point line. Obviously the Wild Cats were too much to handle for Strickland’s bunch. This would have been an even better story if the Sharks took a huge bite out of the pussy cats from the desert. They would have been the Cinderella story if they knocked out the Wildcats. We may be seeing the start of a basket ball program on the rise with Strickland being in charge of things. Maybe next year this team will earn it’s first single digit seed in the NCAA Tournament. I wouldn’t mind seeing this school become a staple in the tournament for years to come. I just need to purchase a Sharks hoodie and I’ll be a fan of theirs for years to come and hope they take a bite out out the next basketball powerhouse. This time gobble them up like a Great White would do! Fins up for LIU’s future!!!

It’s Long Island University first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2018. In 2018 LIU had to battle it out making the First 4 of the tournament in which they lost to another 16th seed Radford. This year Hot Rod had the Sharks a step better than the 2018 team as LIU came in as a 16 and avoided the first 4 part of the tournament. The first time the school made the tournament, you have to go back to 1981 when they came in as a 12 seed. In 1984 LIU had their best seed in their tournament life as a number 11 seed. That year they lost a close one to Northwestern University. Originally they were the Brooklyn Blackbirds as they captured two NIT championships. The first in 1939 and the second in ’41. In 1951 several Blackbird players were implicated in a point shaving scandal. The University had to shut down their athletic program for a few seasons. The Brooklyn Blackbirds would eventually merge two athletic programs with the LIU Pioneers in 2019 and were renamed the Sharks. With the first round loss to the Wildcats yesterday, the school is now 0-8 all-time in the NCAA tournament and has never been a single seed.

CAN THAT HONKY TONK CHRISTIAN SCHOOL LIPSCOMB FIT INTO THIS MARCH MADNESS CINDERELLA SHOES

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When it comes to March Madness, everyone loves the underdog in the NCAA basketball tournament. In the first round of action, you look for the beloved Cinderella team to make a name for themselves. We have only seen a 16th seed take down a number 1 seed twice in history. It has happened twice since 2018 when UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) took down Virginia 75-54. Then in 2023, FDU (Fairleigh Dickerson) amazed us knocking off Purdue University. Both schools I never heard of until tournament play. Taking down a 16th seed, I never thought that would happen in my time. That it was something that could not be done. A great Cinderella story could be a 15th, 14th, 13th seed winning their first game. I think the 12-5 combo in the tournament had been done to death by now. After these teams that most of the country has never heard of, it’s even better when they win their match up in the second round or beyond. I looked at all the unknown schools that have made the tournament this season to find that one which no one knows their name. A Cinderella team I can get behind. It’s not a 16th seed. It’s a 14th seed. The Bible Thumpers in Nashville, Tennessee – University of Lipscomb.

This year’s March Madness had a variety of interesting schools in this year’s tournament to choose from like High Point University, American, SIU Edwardsville and the clothes store Bryant. University of Lipscomb sounds like a swear word. Holy Lipscomb! They are nicknamed the Bison and they won the ASUN, Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. On March 9th they beat North Alabama as Lipscomb was a #2 seed in the tournament. It is the second time Lipscomb has made the March Madness tournament in school history. Last time, which was their first time in school history, was in 2018. They made it as a 15th seed, played North Carolina, and lost that match up by 18 points. The Bisons have never won a March Madness tournament game & that makes them a nice selection to be a cool Cinderella story for 2025.

Originally Lipscomb University was called Nashville Bible School and was founded by David Lipscomb and James Harding. In 1918 it became Lipscomb College. Then became a University in 1989. The school is a private christian school that you can get a liberal arts degree from, as part of the University is dedicated to seminary studies. The big school in Nashville is Vanderbilt which is only a few blocks away from Lipscomb University. I’m not one of those guys shoving religion down your throat ringing your door bell like in the Book of Mormon. How many commandments can any person break in a town like Nashville? Country music, moonshine, and sexy women wearing cowboy hats with sexy boots. I can see the temptation for an overachiever in Christian studies there, lashing out & painting the town red in an explosive manner. Then locking him or herself in a room for weeks for all the sins they committed. Makes ever tourist that goes to Nashville to party like some devil worshipers compared hard core Christians. I’m not going to assume Lipscomb University is only about religion 24/7. Everyone has the right to go with their passion in life. I have a clean slate for the Bisons and this article is about the Cinderella team that Lipscomb University could be this season.

Above is the Bisons leading scorer this season, Jacob Ognacevic, who averages 20 points per game. Jacob looks like something out of that legendary basketball movie that starred Gene Hackman, “Hoosiers.” Rest in peace, Gene. We lost a great one.

Hoosiers is about that underdog high school basketball team which takes the next step and gets themselves into the state finals. Lipscomb has played some of the bigger schools this season such as Kentucky and Arkansas as they defeated Duquesne, a team that I did not know until last year when they made it to the March Madness tournament. When the Bisons won the ASUN Tournament, they spread the ball out as they had 4 guys that had a big day putting the ball in the hoop in that championship game. Joe Anderson had 23 points who led all scorers that day. Will Pruitt and Gyasi Powell had solid games. Beating North Alabama gave the Bisons a sure ticket to tournament play as they finished the season 25-9 overall. They were 14-4 in the ASUN Conference along with North Alabama.

I wish I could teleport to places because Nashville should be rocking this Friday afternoon with two of their own schools in the mix. In the first game, the Nashville faithful will hope to see history be made and see Lipscomb University upset Iowa State who come in as a number three seed. Then later in the afternoon, Vanderbilt who gets in the tournament as number 10 seed play St. Mary’s who are number 7 seed. The Bison’s famous alum in sports comes from baseball. Guys like Casey Bind, Rex Brothers, and Caleb Joseph. Many small schools have no one that has played in the NBA. Can the Bisons pull off the upset over a Cyclone team who have history of being knocked out early in this tournament? Iowa State may be without their guard Tamin Lipsey who left the Big 12 quarter finals game versus BYU with a groin issue. The Cyclones ended up losing that one. The Cyclones’ second leading scorer Keshon Gilbert has been ruled out. You never know when a team like the Bisons who come into the tournament red hot winning their last six games, can be a threat to the Cyclones as they have that bad history that follows them in tournament play. We know the Bisons will have all the prayers lingering in the skies trying to get final approval in the heavens. Sometimes the heavens can play tricks on humanity supporting hated franchises in the NFL like the Patriots and Chiefs. Do the sins of Nashville put a gigantic dome on the Tennessee town blocking the prayers from getting to the heavens?

Some of Steven King’s stories have a happy ending. Our crystal ball is mostly on the fritz, but it’s telling us the Bisons will avoid a Cyclones disaster. Anything can go. I’ll put my hand on a stack of bibles and back the Bisons rather then turn to the High Point University chances. I would love to see many smaller schools win it and advance to the Final Four over those basketball universities that we all are sick of. The likes of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and UCONN. So give Lipscomb a AMEN!! Maybe the swear word, “Holy Lipscomb,” could work both ways if they beat Iowa State for their first ever victory in the March Madness tournament.