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g PORTQT TT T TY1-----T T ----------------------------J L v l L J U l d C J M J l l U d I l U p V , 1 S Jr> /-*v%u00bb /m i +~* /Ai v t u u u n u X7 m m1 1 W i l lT A o m f tI J U O H 1 5T ^ o c V A t K a l l Q p Q c n nJ U r U J I V V t i / W i i i k y v v u j v / a iBY NED KELKELLY As any basketball fan knows, the key to rebounding is position. Being in the right place at the right time when the ball comes off the glass wUl get you the rebound more often than soaring around at rim level.Paul lizzo, head coach of Long Island University Blackbirds, is not telling his athletes not to jump, and he certainly wouldn%u2019t argue if some of them insist on playing above the rim. What he is doing is trying to put his team in the position of making this year%u2019s %u201cOperation Rebound%u201d a success.Coming off a 9-19 record %u2014 last in the ECAC Metro Athletic Conference in the last season %u2014 the Blackbirds hope the combination of experienced players returning from last year%u2019s campaign and some talented newcomers to this year%u2019s roster, including five transfers and one freshman, will make the 1986-87 edition of the Blackbirds a competitive force again in the Metro East Coast Athletic Conference.After three consecutive years of postseason tournament play %u2014 the NCAA tournament in 1981 and 1983 and the National Invitation Tournament in 1982%u2014the Blackbirds have landed on hard times recently. %u201cOperation Rebound%u201d hopes to see the team regain that winning form and perhaps keep flying after the season ends in March.COMING BACK TO .500 %u201cThis is a period of adjustment, of improvement, for this team,%u201d says Lizzo. %u201c We just want to get back to .500 ball. Anything above that is gravy.%u201dThe meat and potatoes of the Blackbirds has been served up so far by a backcourt of guard Calvin Lamb, a Moot-4 transfer from Manhattan Community College, and 6-foot-5 senior Tyrone Cunningham, Bobby Jones, a Moot-5 senior who looks and plays more like Charles Barkley than his retired 76er namesake, has gotten off to a good start after a disappointing season last year, averaging in double figures for both scoring and rebounding after die first six games.The Sertoma Tip-Off Classic, hosted by Coastal Carolina College December 6 and 7 in South Carolina got LIU off to a competitive start. After easily winning the first two games of the season against Nyack (94-50) and against Concordia (100-85), the Blackbirds lost the tournament opener against the University of MarylandBaltimore County (UMBC) in overtime, 69-67. Against UMBC, Cunningham poured in a game high 23 points and hauled in an LIU career record 18 rebounds.LIU beat the St. Francis Terriers in the consolation game, 73-53, taking third place in the tournament. Lamb scored 23 against St. Francis and 42 in the tournament, earning him a spot on the Tournament All-Star Team as well as ECAC Metro%u2019s %u201cNewcomer of the Week%u201d honors. Washington turned a neat triple record against the Terriers by dishing outa game, team and LIU career-high nine assists.NEW STAR DISCOVEREDBy the time LIU returned home to the Schwartz Athletic Center for a game against Drexel University %u2014 defending ECAC champs %u2014 December 9, the Blackbirds boasted a 3-1 record, but knew %u201cthey%u2019d have to play a perfect game to win,%u201d according to Lizzo.They lost, 91-79, but may have found another cog in the wheel of progress in Freddie Burton, a Moot-7 transfer from Texas A&M, whose first day of eligibility as a Blackbird was game day against the Dragons of Drexel. Burton, a 230-pound sophomore, made a name for himself as a Brooklyn high-schooler by making the PSAL All-City first team in his final two years at Francis Lewis High School, where he averaged 31 points and 18 rebounds a game.Burton started off his career at LIU impressively, battling a taller, stronger Drexel front line for a game high 11 rebounds and finishing as the Blackbird%u2019s second leading scorer in the game with 18 points, behind I-amb%u2019s 22. Burton baffled Drexel%u2019s front line with quick hands on defense, stripping the ball several times from shooters on the way to the hoop.%u201cHe plays hard every day. He can%u2019t play easy,\been practicing with the team every day. %u201cHe%u2019ll be a real force in this league.%u201dWhen Burton left the Drexel game with two minutes to go because of leg cramps %u2014 %u201cIt%u2019s his first game, we%u2019ll play him into shape,%u201d explains Iizzo %u2014 Drexel had been holding onto a 10-point lead for most of the second half. When a backcourt steal and stuff by Lamb cut the lead to five, the Blackbirds seemed poised to make a run. In less than two minutes, though, Drexel pushed the lead to 13 and Lizzo called time-out.A full-court press by LIU netted a quickBobby Hunter, a member of the worldfamous Harlem Globetrotters from 1966 to 1974 and a 1976 graduate of Long Island University%u2019s Brooklyn Campus, will return to his alma mater to do the color commentary for a slate of nine home basketball games to be televised over WNYE, Channel 25, beginning Dec. 23. Howie Rose, sportscaster for WCBS-Radio, who did a series of five LIU soccer telecasts in the fall for Channel 25, will return to do the play-by-play.%u201cBeing a former coach and player himself, Bobby will bring deeper insights to the game,%u201d said LIU%u2019s head coach Paul lizzo. %u201cHe knows the game from A to Z, and he surely will bring added excitement to our coverage.%u201dThe nine games to be televised are: Dec.F re d d ie B u rto n o f L l. lt .steal and a turnover, but after 6-foot-4 senior Jeff %u201cBuck%u201d Cadle hit both field goal and foul shot for the three-point play with about ten minutes to play, Drexel began exerting its muscle underneath and let standout guard Michael Anderson (19 points, 12 assists) handle the ball more.With eight and half minutes left to play and Drexel leading by 14, the Blackbirds were forced to foul. Trading free throws and turnovers (Drexel had 20 in the game, LIU 14) the Blackbirds twice cut the lead to 7 with less than seven minutes to play, but better shooting by the Dragons %u2014 both from the field and the foul-line %u2014 boosted them back into a comfortable lead.%u201cWe got beat by a better team,%u201d said Lizzo after his team%u2019s second defeat of the season. %u201cDrexel made the critical plays, while we missed our foul shots.%u201d23, Morgan State; Jan. 6, Monmouth College; Jan. 10, Loyola College-Md.; Jan. 13, Marist College; Jan. 21, Wagner College; Jan. 24, Fairleigh Dickinson; Jan. 31, St. Francis College-NY; Feb. 19, Robert Morris College; and Feb. 21, St. Francis-Pa. The last eight games are against ECAC Metro Conference opponents. All games, except Loyola and St. Francis-Pa., will be aired via tape delay at 9pm. Loyola and St. Francis will be televised at 10pm. Games are played beginning at 7:30pm in the Arnold & Marie Schwartz Athletic Center, Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue.The telecasts will be produced for the fourth consecutive year by the Communications Center of Long Island University%u2019s Brooklyn Campus.Drexel shot 70 percent from the floor while LIU hit only 42 percent of their field goals; the Dragons connected on 78 percent of their foul shots, while the Blackbirds made an unimpressive 58 percent of their free throws. Considering the Blackbirds shot so poorly, especially in the second half, it%u2019s a credit to their tenacity and aggressiveness that they were in the game at all.%u201cWe%u2019ve got to keep our head above water until we get into conference play,%u201d says Lizzo.BOUNCE BACK WITH VICTORYTwo nights later, LIU rang up their fourth victory, handing Delaware State University a 91-60 defeat at file Schwartz Athletic Center. Burton proved he%u2019s no one-game wonder by registering a game-high 32 points, and Cunnigham snagged a team-high 14 rebounds for the Blackbird win.The Blackbirds take on Old Dominion University December 17, away, before leaving for Orlando, Florida, next weekend for the Central Florida Tournament. The Blackbirds%u2019 last game of 1986 is against Morgan State University at home on December 23, at 7:30pm. Their first game of the new year is also the first game of ECAC Metro Conference play, as LIU begins a 16 game stretch with only one non-conference opponent. The Blackbirds begin 1987 at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, on January 3, at 7:30prn.The Blackbirds of LIU are in good position to make %u201cOperation Rebound%u201d more than just a catchy phrase, but a real metaphor for a team on the way back.The LIU Blackbirds take on Morgan State University on December 23, at 7:30pm, at the Schwartz Athletic Center, Flatbush Avenue and DeKalb Avenue Extension. For more information, call 403-1015.Flayer Uf The WeekThe leading scorer at St. Francis College, Darrwin Purdie, has been selected the ECAC Metro Conference%u2019s Player-of-the-Week for the first time this year, it was announced Dec. 10.A 6-6 sophomore from Wilmington, Delaware, Purdie averaged 18.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in four games this past week, and was an All-Tournament team selection at the Coastal Carolina Tournament. His top effort was a 21 point performance, versus Rider College, in which he also had 14 rebounds and four blocked shots. Purdie also had 20 points and seven rebounds against Long Island University, and 19 points and eight rebounds against Manhattan.For the winning week Purdie shot 57 percent from the field (33-48) and connected on 77 percent of his shots from the free throw line (24-31). Purdie ranks eighth in the conference in scoring with an 18.0ppg average.LIU Games To Be Televised With Famous AlumBig Leaguers Fail To Endorse Brooklyn%u2019s Pitch For Minor League TeamBY MARY JO NEUBERGERBaseball fans will have to wait a little longer for their minor league team in Brooklyn. That%u2019s the message brought back by the Brooklyn delegation of public and civic activists who have recently returned from a week at baseball%u2019s winter meetings without permission from major league teams to bring a minor league franchise to Brooklyn.State senator Tom Bartosiewicz, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce head Joseph French and Jim Cardella of the Borough President%u2019s office attended the meetings in Hollywood, Fla., which ended December 11, in an attempt to gain approval for a baseball team for a proposed stadium/arena complex to be built in Coney Island.The Florida trip followed a December 4 press conference at which the State Urban Development Corporation chair Vincent Tese released a Pratt Institute study recommending the construction of a sports complex which would include a 15,000 seat collegiate/amateur arena and a 17,000 seat stadium for a minor league baseball team.The minor league team has been on the wish list of many public officials andhncinpsQmpn fn r v e a rs anri is pnnsiderpd hvmany to be crucial to the economic viability of the project, estimated to cost some $58 million. The Pratt study, however, included two other alternatives: the building of the amateur arena alone, and the building of the amateur arena with the possibility of addinga baseball stadium later if a franchise were secured. And the latter is the course Borough President Howard Golden still says is viable.If the stadium were built, two minor league Triple A organizations, the American Association and the International League, have said that they would bring a franchise to Brooklyn when one becomes available. The remaining obstacle is the necessity of gaining permission from the two major league teams in the area.According to the major baseball leagues%u2019 Professional Baseball Agreement, the Yankees and the Mets each exercise %u201cterritorial rights%u201d over the placement of any minor league team within 50 miles of the area in which they play. While the delegates met with many baseball officials in Florida this month, it was this permission they failed to get.Bartosiewicz said the meeting with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner went well, and the Senator called him %u201ca friend, a real ally of Brooklyn.%u201dNevertheless, the delegation failed to get written consent fromt he Yankees head and they didn%u2019t meet with Mets officials at all. Although a tent, t.ivp m eeting had beenscheduled with Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the Mets along with Nelson Doubleday, he did not make himself available. %u201cHe was avoiding us,%u201d says Bartosiewicz, who, referring to the team%u2019s voiced opposition to a minor league team in Brooklyn, called it %u201cextremelygreedy and selfish. I don%u2019t think it will cost them any money.%u201dAlthough the Pratt study predicted the complex would bring increased jobs and economic development to Brooklyn, Bartosiewicz said the chances of the project seeing financial success are lessened without a team. %u201cThere%u2019s not a single college stadium I know of that survives on its own,%u201d he said. %u201cI don%u2019t think they can go ahead with the stadium without the minor league team.%u201dBorough President Howard Golden, however, strongly disagrees. Referring to the double complex of amateur stadium and baseball stadium, he said last week, %u201cI made it clear the one is not dependent on the other.%u201d Golden, who stressed the importance of the amateur arena at the December 4th press conference, added, %u201cEach college is asking for their own field. I didn%u2019t want to wait until we got a minor league team.%u201dGolden, who did send representative Jim Gardella down to the winter baseball meetings in Florida, says, %u201cSure. I would like to get a baseball team in Brooklyn, but you have to deal with reality. Taxpayers are being represented and the arena is for their sons and daughters.%u201dArea schools have also voiced an urgent request for the building of an amateur stadium for their use, according to Golden. %u201cAll the schools have expressed the need for a general athletic facility,%u201d he says. %u201cBrooklyn College has agreed to sponsor a consortium of universities in the area to demonstrate this need,%u201d he adds.Viewing the latest update on the baseball team situation, Golden adds, %u201cThe chance of getting a team certainly doesn%u2019t look as good as before we left.%u201d But, he said a few days later at a press conference that the views of the major league owners could be subject to change. %u201cLet%u2019s see how they feel when we picket Shea Stadium on opening day next year,%u201d he said.For others the picture looks more grim. According to Reynold Shaw, assistant director of Public Affairs at the Urban Development Corporation, %u201cIt will be difficult to demonstrate that the project will generate sufficient money unless there%u2019s a minor league team.%u201d The entire project could require initial City and State financing of up to $35 million and according to Shaw, under the current situation, %u201cthe economic feasibility is less certain.%u201dEither option of the project remains indefinite at this stage, however, and Shaw says further -esearch on the project must be completed before a decision can be made. Referring to the plan to build just the----- K o o o v o e i m n l v %u201c T h o r o icU 1 1 1 U V V /U * U t V 4 * M , **>- %u2014------- r -J %u00bb - - -----this alternative action,%u201d but adds that the next step is a cost benefit analysis and a survey of Brooklyn colleges. %u201cWe need to determine whether there%u2019s potential to utilize the facilities,%u201d he says.December 25, 1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 15