9/01/2005 – Long
Island University’s men’s and women’s basketball
teams released its schedules for the 2005-06 season on Thursday.
The men touted the Northeast
Conference’s
biggest turnaround in 2004-05 (14-15, 10-8 NEC), finishing
fourth in the regular
season and advancing to the tournament semifinals.
Fourth-year head coach Jim Ferry returns the entire starting
lineup and 11 letterwinners this winter. The Blackbirds move
into a new state-of-the-art facility this season adjacent to
their downtown Brooklyn campus, the Athletic, Recreation and
Wellness Center. They open the season on Tuesday, November 22
at 7:00 p.m., hosting Columbia.
In addition to facing the Lions from the Ivy League, LIU tangles
with teams from the Big Ten (Penn State), Conference USA (Southern
Methodist), Southern (Charleston) and America East (Hartford,
New Hampshire) conferences.
The Blackbirds will be tested
early, playing four of their first six games on the road. They
begin league
play on January 5, hosting
Mount St. Mary’s. An anticipated re-match with conference
champion, Fairleigh Dickinson, takes place on Feb. 2.
The women’s squad returns
three starters and nine letterwinners in 2005-06. Veteran coach
Stephanie
Gaitley, on the cusp of her
350th career win, commences the season at the Subway Classic,
hosted by the University of Minnesota. The first round opponent
for the Blackbirds are the Cardinal of Stanford from the Pac-10.
In addition to those basketball stalwarts, LIU faces stiff competition
in its own tournament, the Turkey Classic on November 25 and
26. James Madison (Colonial), Cal Poly (Big West) and Lafayette
(Patriot) will contend for the title.
The Blackbirds league opener is slated for December 7 at Quinnipiac.
