It’s been over two decades, since 2001, that the Hofstra Pride have made the NCAA Tournament and participated in March Madness. With alumni Speedy Claxton at the helm as head coach, Hofstra is back in March Madness, their reward being a showdown against No. 4 seed Alabama.
Prior to Hofstra’s round of 64 games against Alabama, Speedy Claxton dropped an interesting comparison when thinking about the teams that the Pride have faced this season in the Colonial Athletic League, as per Theodore Fernandez of Sports Illustrated.
“William and Mary on steroids,” Claxton said. “It’s not like we’re not used to seeing this play style. Definitely going to try to control the tempo. I think it’s going to be a big key to the game.”
Hofstra earned the CAA automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of defeating Monmouth in the conference tournament championship game. As far as Claxton’s comparison, Hofstra has played against William and Mary twice this year, once during the regular season and once in the conference tournament, with Hofstra winning both games.
This is Claxton’s fifth season as head coach, and he’s led Hofstra to a winning record in all but one of his seasons. Coincidently, Claxton was a part of one of the last Hofstra teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2000 under former head coach Jay Wright. Claxton has his jersey retired by the program and is in the school’s Hall of Fame.
He played all four seasons of his college basketball career at Hofstra before going on to be the No. 20 overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Prior to becoming Hofstra head coach, he was an assistant with the program for eight years (2013-2021).
