SHARING IS CARING: LIU Brooklyn junior guard Jason Brickman has nine double-digit assist games this season, including a 12-assist night in Thursday’s win over Sacred Heart. (
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It’s late October at the Barclays Center and the obligations of Northeast Conference Media Day are shuffling the 12 head coaches through various rooms of the brand-new building. Optimism is ubiquitous, though cushioned with the realistic, near-unanimous expectation LIU Brooklyn would once again be the best team.
But, that wasn’t enough for the Blackbirds. They wanted to be the best NEC team ever.
After two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, LIU was looking for an unprecedented three-peat with all of the team’s top players returning from a core that had produced a 32-4 conference record over the previous two seasons. Longtime assistant Jack Perri, taking over for longtime coach Jim Ferry, embraced the rare opportunity.
“That was our whole thing, when I first got the job. I said, ‘Let’s be the best ever. You guys can claim that,’ ” Perri said. “The guys got real excited about that.”
From the outside, it all looked so easy, so obvious, so inevitable. And then things changed.
The season was nearly squandered before it started, with the team’s top three scorers — Julian Boyd, Jamal Olasewere and C.J. Garner — arrested after an on-campus altercation and suspended for the first two conference games. Then the Blackbirds dropped their first four games of the season before bouncing back to win their next five. The conference-wide bull’s-eye returned. All roads would go through Brooklyn once more.
But then the boulevards bent, detouring expectations again after Boyd, the reigning conference player of the year, tore his ACL in December. Six straight losses followed.
“It could’ve gone one way or the other and I wasn’t sure which way it would go to be honest,” Perri said. “We never really had adversity. For two years, we didn’t have any injuries, didn’t have any off the court issues. Then curveballs, knuckleballs were coming hard and fast. When Julian goes down and we get some more adversity, then it’s like ‘How are we going to deal with that?’ ”
The championship swagger returned with 10 wins in the next 11 games, with the team’s best becoming better and the rest becoming relevant.
As a senior, Olasewere (18.7 points, 8.4 rebounds a game) elevated to a conference player of the year favorite, while junior Jason Brickman’s uncanny vision made him the nation’s leader in assists (8.5) and, with his improved outside shooting, leads the conference in 3-point percentage (47.8). Garner, an often overlooked senior guard, became a go-to scorer and freshman E.J. Reed’s energy propelled him to be the best newcomer in the conference.
Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against Quinnipiac, LIU is in a four-way tie for second place and could end up anywhere from a two-seed to a six-seed in the NEC Tournament, which begins Wednesday, when the higher seed plays at home. After two postseasons hosting every game, the Blackbirds may have to hit the road to Staten Island, Rhode Island or Pittsburgh.
But the opportunity remains. They can still be the best ever. And it will have been more impressive than ever.
“This is going to be the toughest road we’ve had to win the championship, but we’ve got a lot of experience and a lot of confidence,” Brickman said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re going to play. We can beat anyone. We’ve talked about it all year, just being the best ever and winning three in a row. … With Julian going out, with the suspensions, to get through all of that adversity and win it would be an unbelievable accomplishment.”
Local Power Poll
1. Stony Brook
Record: 22-6, 13-2, America East
Up next: Tomorrow (2 p.m.) vs. Albany
2. St. John’s
Record: 16-11, 8-7, Big East
Up next: Tonight (8 p.m.) at Providence
3. Iona
Record: 15-13, 9-7, MAAC (before last night)
Up next: Tomorrow (2 p.m.) vs. Siena
4. Wagner
Record: 17-11, 11-6, Northeast Conference
Up next: Tonight (7 p.m.) at Monmouth
5. LIU Brooklyn
Record: 16-13, 11-6, Northeast Conference
Up next: Today (4:30 p.m.) vs. Quinnipiac
6. Seton Hall
Record: 14-15, 3-13, Big East
Up next: Tuesday (9 p.m.) at Providence
7. Rutgers
Record: 13-13, 4-11, Big East
Up next: Tonight (9 p.m.) at Georgetown
8. Manhattan
Record: 11-16, 8-8, MAAC (before last night)
Up next: Tomorrow (Noon) at Loyola (Md.)
9. Columbia
Record: 11-13, 3-7, Ivy League (before last night)
Up next: Tonight (7 p.m.) vs. Brown
10. St. Francis Brooklyn
Record: 11-17, 7-10 Northeast Conference
Up next: Today (4:30 p.m.) vs. Sacred Heart
Games of the week
Sacred Heart at St. Francis Brooklyn, Today, 4:30 p.m.
The Terriers’ underwhelming regular season can still be successful, with the winner of today’s game against the Pioneers capturing the eighth and final seed in the NEC Tournament. St. Francis lost the first meeting, 66-65, on Jan. 5 despite Jalen Cannon’s 20 points and 16 rebounds. The winner will play at top-seeded Robert Morris on Wednesday.
Quinnipiac at LIU Brooklyn, Today, 4:30 p.m.
The Blackbirds lost to the Bobcats early, but the game was played without LIU’s leading scorers because of suspensions. The two-time defending champions are tied with Quinnipiac, Bryant and Wagner for second-place in the conference, with this game possibly determining the difference between playing one road game or three.
St. John’s at Notre Dame, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Without D’Angelo Harrison, the Red Storm will have plenty of problems at surging Providence tonight, but a win there would make a visit to the 21st-ranked Irish an enormous encounter if the Johnnies have any intentions of keeping their NCAA dream alive. Even then, it still might not be enough.