Privateers Dominate Tar Heels... For a Few Minutes

Remember this?  For a brief time, the Privateers had Dean Smith and North Carolina on the run in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

It was glorious.  Until around the first media timeout.  Enjoy this video up until around the 5:10 mark or, if you're feeling adventurous, the 10:10 mark.  After that, you should stop watching because who really needs that much basketball?  The first 10:10 is fine.

Glimpse of Privateers in 1984 CWS

As the 2026 College World Series plays out, let's look back 42 (!!) years to the 1984 CWS, which saw the New Orleans Privateers become the first team from Louisiana to make it to Omaha.

Here's a brief (and sad) snippet, with UNO one strike away from being one of the last four standing. Then Pete Incaviglia of Oklahoma State ruined everything. Check it out at the 26:50 mark.

One Shining Privateer

The "One Shining Moment" montage at the end of each NCAA basketball national championship game is now an institution.

But did you know there's brief Privateer representation in the very first one, from 1987?  It was the tournament in which UNO scored the only NCAA tourny win in school history. The clip, though, quite obviously came from New Orleans' 101-76 loss to Alabama in Round 2.

Spot it, and win free season tickets for this upcoming season!  Just kidding, do we look rich?  But you WILL win the title of "Super Bestest Privateer Fan," and that plus 4 bucks will get you a cup of coffee.

We've Had a Facelift

Privateer Island has been spruced up a bit.

And as you can see, some choices have definitely been made. It's not that the term "LSU-New Orleans" will never be used, or the purple and gold logo will never be displayed, but this site has always given a special nod to tradition and nostalgia. That is the spirit behind the heavily blue color scheme that we've totally doubled down on.

Further, some recent frustrations with Tapatalk have convinced me that we need to be hosting our own forum on our own server. It has always been my vision to heavily tie the forum to the main site, but the rather rigid structure of Tapatalk (and, to be fair, other forum hosts) made that unworkable. I think what is launching today is as close as we're gonna get to that -- one reasonably unified Privateer Island.

For those disillusioned with the LSU stuff -- and you should be -- please stop by from time to time and join the message board discussion anyway. And keep an eye on the main site for occasional blasts from the past. Privateer athletics isn't just a 2026 thing; here, its entire history is celebrated.

Even the history of Privateer Island itself.

SLU Denies UNO a Tourney Bye

Playing its final home game in silver and blue, the New Orleans Privateers laid an egg at Lakefront Arena, falling to Southeastern Louisiana 82-78.

Only needing a win to secure a bye in the upcoming Southland Conference tournament, the Privateers (14-17, 12-10) were outhustled throughout the first half, falling behind 40-32. While New Orleans came out of the locker room more energized, they could never pull away from the last-place Lions, who surged ahead in the final two minutes to steal a win.

Jay Buckley, who was an all-conference guard for SLU last season, scored 28 points and dished 13 assists against his former team to lead the Privateers. Coleton Benson added 21 despite struggling again from the field.

UNO will play in Lake Charles next week in the first round of the league tournament.