Ferry Looks Forward To New Facility, Breakthrough Campaign for Blackbirds
Every morning, when LIU basketball coach Jim Ferry looks out the window to his office, he sees the bright future of Blackbirds basketball in the form of a $40 million, 100,000 square-foot arena.
The soon-to-be completed on-campus Athletic, Recreation and Wellness Center figures to be the centerpiece of the 2005-06 season for LIU. But Ferry sees more than just a building when he looks forward to the Blackbirds’ upcoming campaign.
“I look outside every day and we just can’t wait to get in,” said Ferry during Wednesday afternoon’s NEC preseason coaches teleconference.
“We’re a hungry group.”
And a young, talented one at that.
Though LIU’s nucleus won’t feature a single senior, the fast-developing juniors and underclassmen have earned the Blackbirds a No. 4 ranking in the preseason poll, showing how far they’ve already come since starting in the NEC cellar last year.
Shooting guard James Williams was one of the key players in LIU’s tremendous turnaround. The Blackbirds made a six-game improvement in conference play from 2004-05 and went to the tournament semifinals before suffering a tough loss to eventual champion Fairleigh Dickinson, this year’s top-ranked NEC team.
Williams averaged 16.3 points per game last season, more than any other returning player in the conference. He was also fourth in the league in free-throw percentage (.812), sixth in 3-pointers (2.3/gm) and 12th in assists (3.4).
Williams, a junior, will be joined by sophomore Randy Jones in the backcourt, giving LIU a lethal 1-2 punch. Jones led all NEC rookies with 3.8 assists per game last season and finished behind Williams with 9.4 points per contest.
“This is always going to be a guard-driven league,” said Ferry, who is entering his fourth year with the Blackbirds after shaking off rumors this summer that he might be headed elsewhere (Stony Brook).
“We have great quickness and scoring ability in the backcourt.”
The men up front aren’t so bad either.
Aubin Scott, the Blackbirds’ lone fourth-year player, emerged as one of the premier rebounders in the league last year. The Hempstead native grabbed 6.0 boards per game, leading the team and ranking ninth in the NEC. He is joined in the frontcourt by junior Esa Maki-Tulokas and sophomore Kellen Allen.
Maki-Tulokas contributed just under eight points and six rebounds per game last season while shooting 53.1 percent from the floor. The Finland product also hit 25 3-pointers. Allen proved himself to be a worthy defender in his first season, drawing 47 charges. He also averaged 6.9 points.
Junior Evan Meekins and sophomores Paska Morkeliunas and Eugene Kotorobai round out a strong bench for LIU, which was picked to finish fourth in the league, just ahead of Downtown rival St. Francis.
However, Ferry insists that the key to the Blackbirds’ success will be how well they defend their own basket, rather than how well they fill up the opponents’ hoop.
“We have to dig in, and buy into a philosophy of defense,” he said.
The Blackbirds open their new building Nov. 22 against Columbia, officially ending their 42-year run at the legendary Schwartz Center.
Ferry and the rest of his team hope to christen the facility with LIU’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 1997.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2005
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