Long Island University punched the first ticket into the 2026 NCAA Tournament — and it didn’t even have to win its conference championship.
The Sharks secured the NEC’s automatic bid with their 64-56 semifinal win over Wagner on Saturday, thanks to a unique situation with the conference tournament bracket.
In the championship game Tuesday, LIU is set to face off against Mercyhurst, which is currently ineligible to participate in March Madness because it is transitioning from Division II to Division I.
This process takes four years to complete and typically means programs are ineligible for their respective NCAA tournaments until the school is fully transitioned into a DI team.
Mercyhurst started its transition in 2024 and will not be eligible for the men’s basketball tournament until the 2027-28 season, meaning that even if it beats the Sharks in the championship, it will not receive the NEC’s automatic bid.
Since Mercyhurst is ineligible, the conference bid automatically goes to the highest finishing eligible team, which in this case is LIU.
The NEC has multiple schools undergoing the transition process, with LeMoyne and New Haven having also shifted to Division I in the past four years.
With their win over the Seahawks on Saturday, the Sharks improved their season record to 23-10 and secured their first NCAA tournament berth since 2018.
LIU head coach Rod Strickland has overseen the program over the past four seasons, with the team improving greatly since going 3-26 in 2022-23.
“We had to go through our journey to get to this point,” Strickland told reporters on Saturday, according to The Athletic. “I got a great group of guys.”
Senior guard Greg Gordon led the way for the Sharks by scoring 19 points and grabbing four steals while shooting 7-for-13 from the field.
Gordon, who is now at his fourth school, said that LIU is going for it all in this year’s tournament.
“We want the trophy. We want to cut the net. We want the ring,” he told The Atheltic.
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