Bronx-bred Rod Strickland is New York Metropolis basketball royalty. The previous Truman Excessive Faculty star performed 17 years within the NBA after being drafted within the first spherical by his hometown Knicks in 1988. He at the moment stands 14th on the NBA’s all-time assists record with 7,987.
Craig “Speedy” Claxton is a Hempstead, Lengthy Island, native who was a standout at Christ the King Excessive Faculty in Queens. Arguably the best hooper in Hofstra College historical past, Claxton, a 2000 first-round choose by the Philadelphia 76ers performed within the NBA from 2000-2009 and was an integral member of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2003 championship squad.
Now Strickland and Claxton are leaders of NCAA Match groups. The latter has piloted Lengthy Island College (24-10) into the large dance, having been named the 2026 Northeast Convention (NEC) Coach of the 12 months. Claxton, steering his alma mater’s males’s basketball program, has taken the 24-10 Delight to the NCAA Match for the primary time since 2001, once they have been led by 2021 Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame inductee Jay Wright, who received two NCAA Tournaments in 2016 and 2018 as the top coach of Villanova College.
Hofstra acquired an automated bid by defeating Monmouth 75-69 within the Coastal Athletic Affiliation match final week.
“This second is so surreal, it means a lot to [me,] this program, this college,” Claxton stated. “These children by no means wavered, they stayed assured, and I can’t say sufficient about them. This began manner again in June after we first received to campus. They listened to each single factor that we needed to inform them, and I couldn’t be happier for these children. This can be a second that they will share for a lifetime. Like I advised them on the court docket, I received a championship at each degree — highschool, collegiate, skilled. My collegiate championship meant essentially the most to me.”
Strickland steered the LIU Sharks to the Northeast Convention match championship with a 79-70 win over Mercyhurst final week. The Sharks final appeared within the NCAA match eight years in the past and are winless of their seven prior NCAA Match video games. With a No. 16 seed within the West area, incomes their first win might be extraordinarily tough, as they are going to face the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats at Viejas Enviornment in San Diego tomorrow (1:35 p.m.)
The Hofstra Delight earned the thirteenth seed within the Midwest Area, and can play the No. 4 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (23-9) tomorrow (3:15 p.m.) on the Benchmark Worldwide Enviornment in Tampa, Florida. Will probably be the primary matchup between the 2 applications. Alabama junior guard Aden Holloway, who’s the staff’s second main scorer at 16.8 factors per sport, is not with the Tide after his arrest on Monday. Holloway, a first-round NBA prospect, is going through a number of felony drug costs after regulation enforcement authorities discovered 2.1 kilos of marijuana in his residence whereas executing a search warrant.
