The LIU Basketball Commits That Never Were
- Joseph Simile
- Apr 26
- 6 min read
BY: JOSEPH SIMILE / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LIU basketball has had a long and storied history, featuring championships, scandals, multiple venues, and a special supporter section that has recently taken social media by storm. The once-Blackbirds and now-Sharks have had a number of great players come through the program, as LIU Brooklyn is the alma-mater of 22 NBA players and a host of other professional basketball players. LIU alumni have accounted for over 16,000 NBA points.
LIU has also received commitments from many great players who never ended up suiting up for the school. The greatest athlete that fits into this group is one that many may not know committed to LIU - or even played basketball: Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Doby. Doby most notably broke the American League color barrier in 1947, becoming the second black player in Major League Baseball history when he pinch-hit for Bryan Stephens for the then-Cleveland Indians on July 5, just three months after Jackie Robinson took the field with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Doby became the first player to go straight from the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball, skipping over minor league ball unlike Robinson, who played all of 1946 with the Montreal Royals of the International League (AAA), despite hitting .349 and swiping 40 bags.
Doby was born in Camden, South Carolina to David Doby, a horse groomer, semi-professional baseball player and World War I veteran, and Etta Brooks. Doby moved to Paterson, New Jersey at the age of 14 to be reunited with his mother. At Paterson Eastside High School, Doby was a multi-sport athlete, playing baseball, basketball, football and track.
During summer vacations, Doby played baseball with the Smart Sets, a black semi-pro team, where he played alongside future Hall of Famer Monte Irvin. Doby also played with the Harlem Renaissance, the first all-black, black owned professional basketball team in history.
Despite winning a state championship in football and being regarded as better at baseball than any other sport, Doby accepted a basketball scholarship from LIU Brooklyn, largely to remain close to Patterson and to his high school sweetheart Helyn Curvy.
Doby attended classes in the fall at LIU, but before ever suiting up for the Blackbirds in a game, Doby accepted an offer from Hall of Famer Effa Manley to join the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League. Doby transferred to Virginia Union College to play basketball and participate in the school’s ROTC program. Before the end of his freshman year, Doby was drafted and served in the Pacific theater with the Navy during World War II.
Upon his return from the Navy, Doby led the Eagles to a Negro League World Series title against a Satchel Paige-led Kansas City Monarchs squad.
Doby played 13 years in Major League baseball, being named to eight All Star teams and winning the 1948 World Series title. Doby became the first black player to hit a home run in the World Series, providing Cleveland with the second run in a 2-1 victory, with Cleveland pitcher Steve Gromek out-dueling Boston Braves’ ace Johnny Sain, who gave up just five hits in the loss. In the clubhouse after the win, Gromek shared an embrace with Doby, which became the subject of a photograph that changed America. Few Americans had seen an embrace shared by a black and white man, especially in printed media. The photograph was donned on sports pages of newspapers nationwide, and became an iconic photograph in the history of baseball and American equality.
“It wasn’t planned,’’ Doby said. “It just happened spontaneously. For me, that photograph was more rewarding than the homer.”
Doby had a Hall of Fame career in the big leagues, and retired as one of the greatest ball players Cleveland had ever seen. Doby’s #14 was retired by Cleveland, and he has a statue outside of Progressive Field. Doby was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1998 by the Veterans Committee. Doby passed away on June 18, 2003 at the age of 79.
More recently, LIU Brooklyn landed a top recruit, when Taurean Waller-Prince committed to play for the LIU Blackbirds in 2011 during the Blackbirds’ back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids. Then-Blackbirds coach Jim Ferry recruited the Texas product after having great success with San Antonio standouts Jason Brickman and Julian Boyd.
Prince, who was under-recruited during much of his high school tenure, (largely in part to not playing basketball until his sophomore year of high school and sporting a thin 6’4” frame). By the time the Blackbirds’ 2012 season had concluded, they had made their second straight NCAA Tournament, and while more people were taking notice of Prince, who had committed to LIU over a plate of Junior’s cheesecake, just as many were taking notice of Ferry. Ferry would end up leaving LIU to coach Duquesne. Meanwhile, Prince had risen up the prospect rankings, earning top-five honors in Texas. Just two weeks after reopening his recruitment, Prince had committed to Baylor.
Prince spent four years at Baylor, earning All-Big 12 honors twice and winning the 2015 Big 12 6th Man of the Year award, capping off his season with an 18 point, 15 rebound performance in a 57-56 loss to Georgia State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Prince had shown his proficiency as a junior coming off the bench, but his performance went to another level in his senior campaign; his lone season as a starter. Baylor averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Baylor was fourth in the Big 12 in scoring and ninth in rebounding.
Prince’s final college game came in Baylor’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament. In a devastating 79-75 loss to Yale, Prince had 28 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. It wouldn’t be the end of Prince’s basketball journey, however, as his play at Baylor was good enough to get him drafted with the No. 12 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Prince is in his ninth NBA season, currently battling the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Prince has solidified himself as one of the NBA’s premiere “3-and-D” players, with career averages of 9.9 points and 3.6 rebounds, with a career three-point percentage of 38.4 percent. Prince set a career-high mark in three-point percentage this season, knocking down 43.9 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. The Bucks are Prince’s sixth NBA team, having previous stints with the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers.
More recently, LIU has had some other de-commitments that have gone on to have collegiate success. In 2017, Mark Freeman committed to the Blackbirds before decommitting and reclassified. Freeman finally made his collegiate debut in 2019 with Tennessee State, where he spent two seasons. In his second season, Freeman averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. Freeman then played for Illinois State, where his scoring production dropped to 8.8 points per game. Freeman headed back to the Ohio Valley Conference, playing a season for Morehead State, averaging 15.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Freeman didn’t play in 2024, but returned to college basketball in 2025 with James Madison, where he earned First Team All-Sun Belt honors, averaging 15.8 points per game. The now-25 year old Freeman is seeking another year of college eligibility and has entered the transfer portal.
The Sharks also had a commitment from Class of ‘22 guard George Beale Jr., who decommitted to join Norfolk State. Beale was a key bench contributor in his first two seasons before transferring to Hampton, taking a massive leap in his junior year with the Pirates, averaging 13.0 points per game, including a 22 point performance in the CAA Championship quarterfinal.
In 2024, the Sharks got a commitment from Polk State College guard Dominick Nelson. Nelson averaged 19.5 points per game in his sophomore season at Polk. However, with the addition of Malachi Davis, who had one of the greatest Shark seasons in recent memory, Nelson de-committed, pivoting to Utah Valley. Nelson led the Wolverines in scoring, averaging 14.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. The Wolverines won the WAC regular season title before dropping the WAC title game to Grand Canyon, 89-82. The Wolverines had won their previous 10 games heading into the championship game. Nelson had just nine points in the contest, shooting two-for-nine from the field and making just five of his 10 free throw attempts. The Wolverines were invited to the NIT, where they lost their first round matchup to San Francisco. Nelson once again struggled, posting just five points. Nelson ended the regular season with back-to-back 20+ point games, but didn’t reach double digits in any of the Wolverines’ four postseason matchups. Nelson has entered the transfer portal, looking for a new home for his senior season.
The Sharks just concluded the best season of the Rod Strickland era, posting a 17-16 record and going 12-4 in NEC play. The Sharks roster looks to be very different from this past season, with seven players leaving via graduation or the transfer portal, and returning just three players who played last season. Fans will be heavily anticipating the sophomore season of freshman standout Shadrak Lasu, who led the NEC with 7.3 rebounds per game and anchored the conference’s best defense. The Sharks’ coaching staff has been hard at work trying to recruit players to fill out the roster around Lasu, who will be in contention for NEC All-Defense honors next season.
Comments