Athletics
The two major LIU campuses have distinct athletic programs and thus names: the Blackbirds at LIU- Brooklyn, who compete in NCAA Division I; and the Pioneers at LIU-Post, who compete in NCAA Division II. LIU-Brooklyn has 14 varsity teams, and LIU-Post has 15 varsity teams, each representing sports from baseball to volleyball.
The Blackbirds basketball team has been the most successful of both campuses’ programs. The basketball team won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1939 and 1941 under the guidance of Coach Clair Bee. The 1935-36 team went 25‑0 and was the overwhelming favorite to represent the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, with basketball a medal sport for the first time. However, the Blackbirds decided as a team to boycott the Games as a protest of Nazi Germany and its anti-Jewish policies. This principled position taken by the players was based on a secret ballot among them in Coach Bee's office in early March 1936. In 1951, however, the Blackbirds basketball players were involved in the CCNY Point Shaving Scandal that resulted in five players receiving a suspended sentence and one player a one-year prison sentence. The school suspended its athletic program from 1951 to 1957 due to the scandal. Games were played at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater until recently.
In 1997 the Blackbirds were seeded 13th in the East Region of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. They lost in the first round to Villanova, 101‑91. In 2011 the Brooklyn Campus won both the Northeast Conference regular season and tournament championship, winning 13 games in a row at the end of the season. The Blackbirds were seeded 15th in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament but lost 102‑87 to North Carolina in the first round, and so finished with a 27‑6 record for 2010-11. In 2012 the Blackbirds repeated as NEC regular-season and tournament champions and were seeded 16th in the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament but lost 89‑67 to Michigan State in the first round, thus finishing Ruf with a 25‑9 recond for 2011-12. The Blackbirds have a 27‑game run of wins at the Wellness Center, their home court, which is currently the second-longest home-winning streak in Division I in the country.
The Blackbirds' women's soccer team, which plays at Long Island University Field, has also been extremely successful.
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