Two Nassau County men’s basketball programs will be among the 68 colleges from across the country competing in the NCAA Tournament, with both Hofstra University and Long Island University capping off 24-10 regular seasons by punching their tickets into the big dance.
LIU was crowned champions of the Northeast Conference, but the program became the first in the country to clinch its spot in the NCAA Tournament due to an obscure NCAA rule, preventing teams that were recently promoted to Division I from participating. The March Madness appearance marks the first for the Sharks since 2018.
Hofstra won three-straight games in the Coastal American Association Tournament to earn its spot in the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time the Pride will play in the tournament since 2001.
But how did each program achieve its success?
LIU finished second in the Northeast Conference during the 2024-2025 regular season but was bounced in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Sharks finished the regular season 17-16, earning more wins than their previous two seasons combined and their most since the 2017-2018 season when they played deep into March.
Malachi Davis and Jamal Fuller, who were both in their first year with the program, were the only two players to have double-digit scoring seasons for LIU during the season.
With those two leading the way, and the additions of Jomo Goings and Greg Gordon via the transfer portal, the Sharks looked poised to increase their offensive production. That didn’t translate into the program’s season opener against Notre Dame University, where the Sharks shot just 38% from the field and were blown out 89-67 by the Fighting Irish.
And the early-season inconsistency continued through the rest of the calendar year, as LIU was just 6-7 through its first 13 games.
LIU Head Coach Rod Strickland said during a Jan. 5 interview that the non-conference games are great for exposure and for the team’s development moving forward.
“You have to put yourself in the lion’s den sometimes,” Strickland said.
Three days before the interview, the Sharks began conference play with a narrow victory over Central Connecticut State University, marking the beginning of a 15-3 stretch to end the regular season. LIU clinched the NEC regular-season title while averaging 74.1 points per game, its highest total in four years.
The Sharks had home-court advantage during the conference tournament, needing just three wins to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
But they actually didn’t need three wins. In actuality, they only needed two.
LIU beat Chicago State in the quarter finals, pitting them against seventh-seed Wagner for a 2 p.m. matchup on Saturday, March 7. The other semifinal game between Stonehill College and Mercyhurst University was to be played at noon on the same day, and Mercyhurst came out victorious 56-51.
Mercyhurst is in its second season as a Division I basketball program after making the jump from Division II. Due to the NCAA rules, transitioning schools cannot play in an NCAA Tournament for their first three years in Division I.
LIU defeated Wagner 64-56, meaning the Sharks became the first school to clinch a spot in the 2026 NCAA Tournament three days before they even played their conference championship game.
“The celebration continues. They have the automatic bid and now they are NEC champions,” Jay Alter, the play-by-play announcer for LIU’s 79-70 win against Mercyhurst, said as time expired in the conference title matchup.
The Sharks players and fans proceeded to storm the court, a member of the coaching staff already with the NEC trophy in hand, and all shared the historic moment.
“We’re just a bunch of last-chance-U guys that made it work,” Gordon, who was named the MVP of the NEC Tournament, said in a postgame interview after winning the championship.
LIU was joined shortly afterwards in the pool of teams to punch their ticket into March Madness contention by another Long Island team who won its conference title.
Hofstra reached the NCAA Tournament in both 2000 and 2001 after winning the America East Conference. The school decided to join the Coastal Athletic Association in 2001, with the idea that it would strengthen its athletic programs, but the decision led to a long drought from the NCAA Tournament.
The Pride won just 20 games across their first two seasons in the new conference. The team rebounded to having multiple 20-win seasons but failed to make it through the conference tournament.
Hofstra reached the semifinals of the 2024 CAA Tournament after a 20-win season, but then stuttered during the 2024-2025 season, winning just 15 games and being eliminated early in the conference tournament.
The Pride was projected to finish eighth in the CAA heading into the season. The team lost its first two games of the season to UCF and Iona, but then stormed ahead and went 12-4 before the start of conference play, including wins against Power 5 schools in Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
Hofstra then started conference play hot, going 4-0, including a double-digit win against Towson, which was projected to be the top team in the CAA heading into the year.
Hofstra finished the regular season on a high note, placing third in the conference, led by CAA Player of the Year Cruz Davis, who led the conference in scoring with 20.2 points per game, and CAA Rookie of the Year Preston Edmead, who contributed 15.9 points per game during the year.
The school faced off against sixth-seeded William & Mary in the first round of the CAA Tournament, a team that scored 89 points against the Pride in their lone regular-season matchup. Hofstra put that January game in the rear-view mirror, blowing out William & Mary by 31 points to advance to the semifinals.
Hofstra had defeated Towson twice before, but the playoff game was highly contested, with neither team able to break away and both sides finishing 40 minutes of play with 55 points. The game was even tied at 65 with just 19 seconds left in overtime, but a go-ahead three-point shot from Edmead launched the Pride into the conference title game.
The team standing in the way of Hofstra’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years was Monmouth, the program that eliminated the Pride just a year ago. In another back-and-forth game, Edmead scored a season-high 26 points, leading Hofstra to a 75-69 victory.
Speedy Claxton, Hofstra’s head coach who had his number retired by the program as a player, was emotional on the court after the final buzzer. Claxton spent four years with the program, reaching the NCAA Tournament in his senior year before being drafted into the NBA. ]
“It’s the final piece of the puzzle,” the former NBA champion said. “This completes my journey.”
On Sunday, March 15, it was announced that LIU, whichwas named a 16-seed, will face off against top-seeded Arizona on Friday, March 20, at 1:35 p.m. and Hofstra, which was named a 13-seed, will play four-seed Alabama on Friday, March 20, at 3:15 p.m.
Neither team has ever won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
