It was early 2023, and New Yorkers Cameron Koffman and David Pochapin were on a mission. The two friends, then 25 years old, needed a local college basketball team to get behind. Not a mainstream, widely known program like St. John’s or Seton Hall. An under-the-radar mid-major.
As longtime, obsessive fans of the sport, they were the hottest free agents on the market. And they weren’t taking their decision lightly. They went to games at Manhattan, Fairfield, Columbia, Fordham and Wagner. None of them felt like the right fit. So they made a plan to attend a Long Island University game at Brooklyn’s Steinberg Wellness Center on Monday, Jan. 26, 2023. The Sharks were hosting the now-defunct St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers, whose campus was less than a mile away. “It was MLK Day and a rivalry game. We were like, it’s going to be a huge crowd,” Koffman recalls. “And there were 12 people there.”
“They could have been at a funeral,” adds Pochapin. “You didn’t even know you were at a basketball game.”
LIU was in the midst of a dismal 2022-23 campaign in which it placed last in the Northeast Conference with a 1-15 record (3-26 overall). But where others saw despair, Koffman and Pochapin saw potential. The team was in its first season under hoops legend Rod Strickland, a former star point guard from the Bronx. Strickland was a three-time All-American at DePaul and played 17 seasons in the NBA before transitioning to coaching. Beyond that, LIU had a rich history (it was a national powerhouse in the 1930s and 40s), a solid venue and an outstanding Shark mascot. “The bones were there,” Koffman says. “We were like, this is a great place, because it’s only going up from here.”
With Koffman and Pochapin cheering wildly, the Sharks won seven games in 2023-24, then 17 in 2024-25. This season, they have been one of the sport’s best stories, finishing atop the NEC with a 15-3 record (24-10 overall) and winning the conference tournament to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. As the team has garnered widespread attention, so too has its unique “Fins Up!” free throw ritual — invented, of course, by Koffman and Pochapin. The chant has become a rallying cry for America’s favorite dark horse, which will likely face a No. 1 seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament next week. “Fins Up!” is a perfect embodiment of what makes college basketball and March Madness so special: passionate fans, quirky traditions and ultimate underdogs.
“We started doing it for the five people that were there,” says Pochapin. “Now it feels like the whole nation’s doing it.”
As LIU senior Malachi Davis, a 6-foot-4 guard, steps to the free throw line, the anticipation inside the Steinberg Wellness Center swells. It’s still early in the 2025-26 NEC Championship Game between the Sharks and the Mercyhurst Lakers, but fans are on the edge of their seats. There are murmurs in “The Reef,” the team’s small, yet rambunctious, cheering section.
“You guys ready?”
“Let’s get it going.”
“Here we go.”
Davis receives the ball from the referee, gathers himself and…
“Fins up!” hollers a voice from The Reef, loud enough for everyone in the 2,500-seat venue to hear. On cue and in unison, members of the audience — from kids and parents to cheerleaders and arena employees — clap their hands together above their heads, replicating a shark fin. They hold that pose until Davis sinks his free throw.
That amusing routine has exploded in the college basketball world, so much so that national media members John Fanta and Ryan Hammer are standing in The Reef, doing it alongside the fans. In stark contrast to three years ago, the bleachers are mostly full and the building is buzzing. Koffman and Pochapin serve as the conductors of the rabid crowd, initiating several chants throughout the evening.
By day, Koffman runs a real estate company and Pochapin works in business development. Here, they are celebrities. They can’t move 10 steps without someone stopping them to say hello or grab a selfie.
The program embraced them from the very beginning. While LIU’s storied history dates back to the 1920s, it rebranded from the Blackbirds to the Sharks in 2019 following the unification of the athletic departments at LIU-Brooklyn and LIU-Post. In a way, the merger was a fresh start, a blank canvas to build upon. LIU had a new name and a new mascot, but it needed some new traditions.
“Before we even knew we had something, they welcomed us with open arms,” says Pochapin. “Someone said it perfectly earlier. They were like, ‘If you don’t have traditions, you have to make your own.’ And we were kind of on the ground floor.”
It wasn’t long before Koffman and Pochapin developed a relationship with Strickland. The coach loved their passion and appreciated their support, as did his team. At some point, a meeting was called to discuss whether the players could participate in the “Fins Up!” routine on the bench. Strickland said yes.
Each season, Koffman and Pochapin recruited more fans, and the Sharks rewarded them by winning more games. The atmosphere at Steinberg Wellness Center, a modest facility with one concession stand and one merchandise booth, just kept getting better. “Fins Up!” banners now adorn the walls, and many of the fans rock t-shirts bearing the mantra or hats in the shape of fins. There’s a 14-foot shark in the atrium right outside the gym that was dedicated to the school by Koffman (it’s actually a rendering of a shark that his stepfather, an avid fisherman, caught a few years ago).
Videos of the “Fins Up!” ritual have amassed millions of views on social media. The tradition has taken off in ways that nobody — not even fans as optimistic as Koffman and Pochapin — could have foreseen.
“We just wanted to appreciate mid-major basketball. That was the entire schtick. And all of a sudden, we’re sitting at a packed Steinberg Wellness Center with John Fanta,” says Hoffman. “But we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the players. If they were 8-8 in conference play, no one would care. So all the credit goes to them. We’re just here to boost and cheer.”
The players are fully aware of how big the “Fins Up!” phenomenon has become. In their group chat, somebody shared a clip of the fans doing it at Nebraska. “A lot of the guys were astounded by that,” 6-foot-5 senior guard Greg Gordon said. “We also saw a comment saying that LIU was America’s team.”
Over the past three years, Koffman and Pochapin have become a part of “America’s team.” During the trophy presentation for the NEC Tournament title, Gordon lifted the ropes surrounding the ceremony to allow Koffman and Pochapin to enter. An overwhelmed Strickland even found time to catch up with the pair, whom he texts with daily, before climbing the ladder to cut down the net.
Koffman and Pochapin plan to follow the Sharks wherever they go for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “We’re going to figure it out,” Pochapin says. “We’ll make it happen.” Rest assured, the fins will be up for as long as LIU’s magical season continues.
“I’m pretty sure ‘Fins Up!’ is going to be a thing for this whole tournament,” Gordon said. “I truly believe it. We’re going to make it a thing.”
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