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Non-New Yorkers would possibly assume the Massive Apple looks as if one compact unit the place everyone seems to be conversant in the boroughs and neighborhoods, however that’s positively not true. Particularly for a young person who lived in The Bronx’s Mitchel tasks within the Nineteen Eighties.
“I by no means got here to Brooklyn,” chuckles Lengthy Island College’s males’s basketball coach Rod Strickland, a New York Metropolis Level God who spent 17 years within the League and greater than a decade on high-level school staffs earlier than getting this, his first head teaching job, in the summertime of 2022. “I got here right here a few occasions to play, however I used to be so younger I barely bear in mind… I performed in The Bronx, clearly, and we performed in Harlem.
“So after I first acquired the job right here, it was a complete totally different atmosphere. I simply needed to get adjusted to that, which was nice. On the finish of the day, it does appear to be The Bronx and Harlem. I simply hadn’t been right here. Now it looks like house.”
And isn’t that pretty for the LIU Sharks? If you happen to’re doing a double tackle what certainly one of your favourite level guards ever is doing at a college you could not have even heard of…let’s take a step again.
LIU, previously often known as the Blackbirds, had been a nationwide energy going again to the Thirties, when legendary coach and creator Clair Bee led them to undefeated seasons in 1936 and ’39 and NIT championships in ’39 and ’41. This system crumbled within the Nineteen Fifties after a point-shaving scandal and didn’t resurface in DI till ’68. The one causes followers underneath 50 is likely to be conversant in this system are the dope ’97 and ’98 groups that featured New York Metropolis ballers Mike Campbell, Charles Jones and Richie Parker or the ’10-13 groups that made three straight NCAA Tournaments.
Since that point, the college’s Brooklyn and suburban Brookville places formally merged and the varsity has formally been identified solely as Lengthy Island College. What’s extra, the sports activities groups at the moment are the Sharks.
Rod Strickland, who in 1998 led the NBA in assists (he ranks thirteenth all-time in profession assists) and was subsequently named second-team All-NBA, has been teaching the LIU Sharks for 2 years and we’re simply getting round to protecting them? Effectively, that’s OK with him, as a result of it took about 24 months for him to get absolutely comfy. “I needed to get the expertise and really feel issues out,” says Strickland (whose groups went a mixed 10-48 in his first two seasons) from the consolation of his workplace in LIU’s Steinberg Wellness Heart. “As of at this time, I really feel like I’ve an amazing understanding of the atmosphere. Now it’s a clear slate. These are my recruits. Entire new employees. It feels good.”
OG NYC hoop heads ought to take into account this workforce a must-watch on the energy not solely of Rod however his newly employed assistant Derrick Phelps, who starred at Christ the King in Queens earlier than a stellar four-year profession at UNC. However we get it; that demo is getting old. Why ought to a contemporary hoop fan tune in to see the Sharks? As a result of they’re gonna be good!
The newcomers LIU followers are most enthusiastic about embody freshman Roc Lee, a extremely touted taking pictures guard from Atlanta thought of a contender for NEC ROY, and Malachi Davis, a senior switch wing from the Toronto space by means of Energy 4 program Arizona State who has NEC POY potential. We discover Davis overlooking the Sharks’ court docket from an workplace throughout the corridor from Coach Strickland. “The necessary factor is constructing the LIU model,” Davis says. “We’re making an attempt to vary the tradition. We’re making an attempt to vary the atmosphere. And produce the group collectively and do one thing actual particular this yr.”
Sophomore ahead Jason Steele, a Queens native who performed his highschool ball at Our Saviour Lutheran in The Bronx, is certainly one of a choose group of returnees for the Sharks. “The life like purpose for us is to win,” Steele says firmly. “We’ve got individuals who wish to compete. I’d check with them as straight canines. Everybody right here desires to work and everybody desires to win.”
The de facto workforce chief is one other returner with a really acquainted final title: senior level guard Terell Strickland. Terell had an amazing highschool profession within the Tampa-St. Pete space (Dad used to teach at South Florida) earlier than taking part in in 50 video games for James Madison College between ’20-23. Rod acquired the job too near the ’22-23 season for Terell to stand up right here, however there was little question he’d arrive for the ’23-24 season. Terell had a strong junior marketing campaign on the level, averaging 7.2 ppg and three.6 apg, and everybody expects a good higher efficiency this yr.
“There was no debate about me coming to play for him,” Terell says. “I actually loved my time at James Madison, however this was simply too particular of a chance to move up. Not solely is he my dad, however he’s an NBA participant who’s performed the sport at a excessive stage. The possibility to study from him was one thing I couldn’t move up.”
As Rod says, “I used to be quoted as a participant as saying I by no means wished to teach as a result of I wouldn’t wish to coach 5 of me. However after I was executed taking part in, I wanted a job. I referred to as my man at Memphis—William Wesley—and he acquired me with Cal [John Calipari]. Cal was so forward-thinking; he knew I used to be some extent guard, and he acquired Derrick Rose, Tyreke [Evans], J-Wall.”
Strickland adopted Cal from Memphis to Kentucky after which did stints at South Florida and with the NBA G League. “I wasn’t able to be a head coach at first. However after being in it—at a excessive stage at Memphis and Kentucky, taking part in for nationwide championships—I don’t know precisely when, nevertheless it simply acquired to some extent the place it was like, the following step. I performed. Then I used to be an assistant coach. Then the following factor was to be a head coach.”
It’s an all-around, feel-good New York story that simply wants some success on the ground to succeed in the glad ending everybody within the constructing appears to assume is inevitable.
When requested about his father, who is clearly the important thing to the entire LIU hoops rebuild, Terell says, “I’m actually glad for him. Very happy with him. It truly is a tremendous alternative for him, particularly for him to be again in New York to do it, surrounded by his household and a giant group of supporters.”
Motion photographs through Getty Photos and David Patalano.