Long Island Blackbirds

The Long Island University is a nonsectarian, private, higher education institution in New York, United States. The university’s two main campuses have separate athletics programs and names: Brooklyn campus’s Blackbirds who play in the NCAA “Division I”, and Post campus’s Pioneers who play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association “Division II”. Brooklyn has fourteen varsity sports teams and Post has fifteen varsity sports teams, both representing athletics from volleyball to baseball. Long Island Blackbirds tickets are now available for purchase on our webpage!

Long Island Blackbirds basketball squad has been the top one in terms of success, at both the campuses. The Blackbirds won the renowned National Invitation Tournament in the years 1939 & 1941 under Coach Clair Bee’s guidance. The team of the 1935-1936 season, with their 25-0 score, was the top favorite in representing the United States at the Berlin Summer Olympic Games in 1936. They however decided to observe a boycott against the Olympics as a team, protesting against the Nazi Germany, and the regime’s anti-Jewish strategies. This stance taken up by the athletes was decided through secret voting. Nevertheless, the basketball team players’ involvement in the 1951 CCNY Point Shaving Scandal ended up in the suspension of five players, with another  receiving a 1-year prison term. Consequently, the university suspended the athletics program from the years 1951-1957. The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre hosted the games till recently.

In the year 1997, Blackbirds came thirteenth in NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament’s East Region. In the 1^st Ruf round, they lost to Villanova with a 101-91 score. 2011 however bought victory for the campus at Brooklyn, in both; the tournament championship and Northeast Conference, winning thirteen consecutive games towards the season’s end. Moreover, for the 2010-11 season, they ranked fifteenth in NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, however lost to the North Carolina team with a 102-87 score in the 1^st round, finishing with a record 27-6.

This year too (2012), Long Island Blackbirds continued as the NEC regular season, as well as tournament champs, being seeded sixteenth in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. They lost to the Michigan State team with 89-67 in the 1^st round, therefore finishing the Ruf round with a record 25-9 for the 2011-12 season. Besides, the Blackbirds hold a twenty-seven games run of victories at their-home court, the Wellness Center. The court also currently holds the record for the 2^nd-lengthiest home winning spell in the “Division I” in United States. The Blackbirds women’s soccer squad, which plays its games at the Long Island University Field, too has been very successful. Our website is providing Long Island Blackbirds tickets for the basketball team’s upcoming game against the Kentucky Wildcats. The game will be hosted at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. With its official capacity to seat 23,500 people, it is actually the biggest basketball arena of United States. So be there to cheer for your favorite team!