POSTERIZED: Oh Boyd!

The LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds are a high-flying run-n-gun team. Their 81.9ppg ranks third in the country. They are constantly running transitions, fast breaks and secondary breaks. This potent style can lead to many a highlight reel play.

Which takes us the NEC Tournament Championship game in which the Blackbirds defeated Robert Morris 90-73. Halfway through the first half C.J. Garner found NEC Player of the Year Julian Boyd in transition for a monstrous half-court alley-oop.



The game was played at LIU-Brooklyn and as you can tell from the video, the fans kinda loved it.

But was it as good as these?

Andre Drummond, UConn vs. Syracuse, 3/8
C.J. Leslie, North Carolina State vs. Boston College, 3/8
Rondey Williams, Minnesota vs. Nebraska, 3/3
Isaiah Sykes, Central Florida vs. Memphis, 2/28
Brandon Mitchell, Arkansas vs. Ole Miss, 2/28
John Henson, North Carolina vs. Virginia, 2/25
C.J. Aiken, St. Joseph's vs. Temple, 2/25
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt, 2/25
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. UConn, 2/25
Weekend Recap, 2/18
Tony Wroten Jr./Aziz N'Diaye, Washington vs. Arizona, 2/18
Chris Czerapowicz, Davidson vs. Wichita State, 2/18
Darius Miller, Kentucky vs. Ole Miss, 2/18
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. Ohio State, 2/16
Darrion Pellom, Hampton vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore 2/15 (DotY Candidate)
Trency Jackson, Northwest Florida vs. Chipola, 2/15
Kwame Alexander, Cal St. San Bernadino, 2/12
Tahj Tate, Delaware State vs. Coppin State, 2/11
Weekend Recap, 2/10 - 2/12
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Louisiana Tech, 2/9
Joshea Singleton, Bucknell vs. Colgate, 2/8
Kelsey Barlow, Purdue vs. Ohio State, 2/7
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Iowa State, 2/7
Roscoe Smith, UConn vs. Louisville, 2/7
Weekend Recap, 2/2 - 2/5
Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State vs. TCU, 2/4
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse vs. St. John's, 2/4
Kwame Alexander, Cal State-San Bernardino vs. Cal State-Dominguez Hills (D-II), 2/3
Bradley Beal, Florida vs. South Carolina, 2/2
Doug Anderson, Detroit vs. Valparaiso, 2/2
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Oklahoma, 2/1
Markel Brown, Oklahoma state vs. Texas Tech, 1/31
Royce White, Iowa State vs. Kansas State, 1/31
Savalace Townsend, Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. Grambling State, 1/28 (DotY Candidate)
Weekend Recap, 1/25 - 1/29
Tony Wroten Jr., Washington vs. Arizona State, 1/26 (DotY Candidate)
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Dayton, 1/25
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Missouri, 1/25 (DotY Candidate)
Larry Nance Jr., Wyoming vs. San Diego State, 1/24
Dion Dixon, Cincinnati vs. Syracuse, 1/23
Victor Rudd Jr., South Florida vs. St. John's, 1/17 (DotY Candidate)
C.J. Fair, Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh, 1/16
TrayVonn Wright, North Dakota State vs. South Dakota, 1/14
Bandja Sy, New Mexico State vs. Utah State, 1/12
Kenny Hall, Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, 1/12
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Duquesne, 1/11
Kadeem Batts, Providence vs. Louisville, 1/10
Karam Mashour, UNLV vs. CS-Bakersfield, 1/6
Tony Snell, New Mexico vs. Houston Baptist, 1/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgia Tech, 1/3
Trevis Simpson, UNC-Greensboro vs. Miami, 1/2
Orion Outerbridge, Rhode Island vs. Boston College, 1/2
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Indiana, 12/31
DeShon Minnis, Texas Tech vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 12/30
Keith Gabriel, VMI vs. Old Dominion, 12/22
Eric Etherly, Loyola (Md.) vs. Kentucky, 12/22
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. Texas-Arlington, 12/21
P.J. Hairston, North Carolina vs. Texas, 12/21
Robbie Hummel, Purdue vs. IPFW, 12/20
Robert Brown, Virginia Tech vs. North Florida, 12/19
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Kansas State, 12/17
Torye Pelham, Southern Mississippi vs. Ole Miss, 12/17
Quincy Diggs, Akron vs. Florida A&M, 12/17
Anthony Davis, Kentucky vs. Chattanooga, 12/17
Langston Galloway/C.J. Aiken/Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Villanova, 12/17
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. UC-Santa Barbara, 12/16
Jared Cunningham, Oregon State vs. Howard, 12/15
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech vs. McNeese State, 12/14
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Detroit, 12/12
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. UW-Green Bay, 12/11
Ronald Roberts, St. Joseph's vs. Creighton, 12/10
Dion Waiters, Syracuse vs. George Washington, 12/10 (DotY Candidate)
Victor Oladipo, Indiana vs. Kentucky, 12/10
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, 12/10
Vander Blue, Marquette vs. Washington, 12/6
Terrence Ross, Washington vs. Marquette, 12/6
Deville Smith, Mississippi State vs. West Virginia, 12/3
Terrence Jones, Kentucky vs. North Carolina, 12/3
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Georgetown, 12/1
Anthony Marshall, UNLV vs. UNC, 11/26
Michael Kidd-Glichrist, Kentucky vs. Portland, 11/26/11 (DotY Candidate)
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/25
Rodney Williams, Minnesota vs. DePaul, 11/24
Thomas Robinson, Kansas vs. Duke, 11/23
Stan Okoye, VMI vs. Ohio State, 11/23
Kyisean Reed, Utah State vs. Southern Utah, 11/19
Ra'Shad James, Iona vs. Western Michigan, 11/18
Alandise Harris, Houston vs. Arkansas, 11/18
Sam Thompson, Ohio State vs. Jackson State, 11/18
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Wichita State, 11/18
Eric Griffin, Campbell vs. North Carolina A&T, 11/18 (DotY Candidate)
Olek Czyz, Nevada vs. Pacific, 11/17
Chris Watson, Pikeville vs. Mountain State, 11/16
Ray Willis, North Carolina Central vs. Wagner, 11/16
Mike James, Lamar vs. Ohio, 11/15 (DotY Candidate)
Quincy Acy, Baylor vs. San Diego State, 11/15
Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia vs. Kent State, 11/15
Chris Evans, Kent State vs. West Virginia, 11/15
Tony Mitchell, Alabama vs. Oakland, 11/14
Isaiah Brown, East Tennessee State vs. Virginia Tech, 11/12
Michael Lyons, Air Force vs. Army, 11/11
Dezmine Wells, Xavier vs. Morgan State, 11/11
Jeremy Lamb, UConn vs. Columbia, 11/11 (DotY Candidate)
Andre Drummond, UConn vs. CW Post, 11/4
Moe Harkless, St. John's vs. CW Post, 10/26

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Homecourt advantage propels Blackbirds to second straight NCAA Tournament appearance

The Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center in Brooklyn, NY is not big at all. When empty, it does not look like it's home to a back-to-back Division-I Conference Championship team.

It's small, narrow, and very bright. It looks more like a state-of-the-art intramural gym than anything else. But when you stuff 1,700 frenzied LIU-Brooklyn fans inside a gym the size of a squash court, it makes for an environment unlike anything else in college basketball.

With a NCAA Tournament birth on the line, the atmosphere on Wednesday night for the NEC Tournament Championship game between the Blackbirds and Robert Morris University had all the characteristics of a "One Night Only" rock concert.

The crowd noise was in a constant state of high-pitched chaos. Flash-bulbs went off every five seconds. fans were practicially spilling out of the bleachers. At halftime, fans had to be corralled by police officers because so many people were trying to get near Spike Lee.

Yup, Spike Lee was there.

That should give you a good idea as to the type of home-court advantage the Blackbirds were dealing with. "We needed them, definitely," said NEC Tournament Julian Boyd, who finished with 18 points and ten rebounds. "If we didn't have them tonight, we wouldn't have won by as much as we did, we may not have even won. It was fantastic, I love playing in front of crowds like that."

Boyd's play was driven by the fans. When C.J. Garner found him for a half-court alley-oop, the sell-out crowd erupted into a frenzy. Boyd cracked a smile as bright as the flash-blubs, and back-peddled down the court urging the fans to get even louder.

"With an atmosphere like that, you want to have fun," Jamal Olasewere said, clutching the NEC Tournament trophy with both hands. "You know, with the way we play, why can't you have fun, going up and down like that, catching oops and and dunking the ball. Especially with a crowd like that. we're truly blessed to have fans who will come out and bring it like that."

But it wasn't always like that. Just a year ago, the Blackbirds were the hunters, trying to dethrone a Robert Morris team that had won back-to-back NEC Tournament championships. The two teams met in the same gym with the same prize at stake. Long Island prevailed in overtime 85-83, and the culture surrounding the program shifted.

"Last year was the beginning of something great. They started to support us more and more after every game. I mean, after the year we had, how can thy not support something like that?"

With two consecutive NEC Tournament titles, the Blackbirds are now the team to beat in the NEC. But that's something opposing teams can play for next year. As for now, they have a NCAA Tournament win to get.

"Last year we got the experience of just getting to the NCAA Tournament," Boyd said. "But this time, we can go in focused at the task at hand and get the job done."

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Dancing with the Stars: Long Island Blackbirds

Conference: NEC

Record: 27-5, 16-2

Rankings: 117 (Kenpom), 77 (RPI), 95 (Sagarin)

Potential Seed: 15/16

Best Players: Julian Boyd (12.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg), Jamal Olaseware (12.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg), Jason Brickman (6.3 ppg, 5.4 apg, 1.9 t/o's)

Big Wins, Bad Losses: Long Island doesn't have anything on their resume that would qualify as a big win. They played just three top 100 teams (St. Peter's, Iona, Northwestern) and lost to all three. Their best wins of the season came against Robert Morris. That said, they only have one loss outside the top 101 -- St. Francis PA.

Tendencies: Run, run, run. If you like uptempo, exciting, full court basketball, LIU is the team for you. They are the fourth fastest team in the country, and, amazingly enough, that is not the result of the Blackbirds forcing a lot of turnovers. They just like the fast break and shoot quickly, attacking the offensive glass as hard as any team in the country. While this opens them up for giving up offensive rebounds, Long Island makes up for it by keeping their opponents from getting to the foul line and defending the three point line. This truly is a team, as well. They've had 11 different players reach double figures this season, seven guys averages at least 20 mpg and an eighth averages 17.4 mpg while no one plays more than 25.1 mpg, and each of those eight players averages between 6.3 ppg and 12.9 ppg.

How They Got There: LIU went 27-5 on the season, so there really isn't much to say. They slipped up a couple times in the non-conference portion of their schedule when they took teams lightly, but their 27 wins and 16-2 record speaks for itself. In the NEC Tournament final, they were taken to overtime by Robert Morris but were able to hold on in front of a raucous crowd.

Outlook: It will be tough for LIU to win a game in the tournament simply because they are going to be playing one of the best teams in the country. I like this team, I like their weapons, and I like their style of play. I don't think they can beat a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, but they'll put a scare into someone.
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