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LOCATION: Hempstead, NY
CONFERENCE: America East
LAST SEASON: 22-10 (.688)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 14-4 (3rd)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 1/4
NICKNAME: Flying Dutchmen
COLORS: Gold, White & Blue
HOMECOURT: Physical Fitness Center (2,500)
COACH: Hofstra Arena (5,112)
record at school Jay Wright (Bucknell '83)
career record 72-73 (5 years)
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ASSISTANTS: 72-73 (5 years)
ASSISTANTS Tom Pecora (Adelphi '83)
Brett Gunning (UNLV '94)
Eugene Burroughs (Richmond '94)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 10-9-12-19-22
RPI (last 5 years) 203-284-195-140-81
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference semifinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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The timing couldn't be better. In January the Flying Dutchmen begin playing in the state-of-the-art, 5,112-seat Hofstra Arena. The completion of the new facility just so happens to coincide with the most anticipated Hofstra basketball season in years. The Flying Dutchmen are coming off their first NIT appearance and their first 20-victory season in 22 years. They also have the top four scorers back from the team that also won the ECAC Holiday Festival last December with victories over Georgia Tech and Penn. "It's beautiful. It's probably going to be one of the nicest on-campus arenas in the metropolitan area," sixth-year head coach Jay Wright said. "And we have four of our top five players returning and a lot of excitement on our campus about our team." Hofstra's "big four" are arguably the best returning four-player core in the America East. Craig "Speedy" Claxton leads the way as he has almost since he arrived in Hempstead four years ago. The only senior on the roster, the 5-10 Claxton is a top candidate for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award given to the top senior under six-feet tall. "Speedy is two years removed from his America East Player of the Year Award but remains the most dangerous two-way player in the league," Wright said. "He's really become a legend in the Long Island area. Wherever we go, people know him. He's done so many things that when he leaves here, people are really going to see what a difference he makes." Hofstra got a taste of life without Claxton at the end of last year when injuries forced him to miss two games and play hurt in four others. The Dutchmen still won four of those, but totaled just 82 points in disappointing season-ending losses to Drexel in an America East Tournament semifinal and Rutgers in the NIT.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B+ BENCH/DEPTH B
FRONTCOURT B INTANGIBLES B+
To many America East coaches, it seems like Craig Claxton has been at Hofstra for about eight years, not three. But this is, in fact, his last season in the gold, white, and blue. This should be Hofstra's best chance to make its first NCAA Tournament since 1977. Claxton gives the Flying Dutchmen what every championship caliber team needs a player opponents fear who can make an impact at any point during a game. In Jason Hernandez, Roberto Gittens and Norman Richardson, Hofstra also has players who, on any given night, can be the focal point of the offense. Claxton is also not afraid to defer when he sees another hot hand. However, after those four and the departed Duane Posey, the drop-off is significant. Hofstra ranked only in the middle the pack in America East scoring, and despite leading the conference in defense (60.6 points allowed per game), the Flying Dutchmen could not catch Drexel and Delaware. Hofstra went 2-3 against its chief rivals a year ago. Now the Flying Dutchmen must also deal with a championship-caliber Maine team and improvements from Vermont. Hofstra split four games against the Black Bears and Catamounts a year ago. In newcomers Rick Apodaca and Danny Walker and holdovers Marc Petit and Abdou Sylla, Wright must get some meaningful contributions off the bench. His role players of a year ago, Mike Renfro and Tim Beckett, are gone. Hofstra had a great season in 1998-99, and getting his players to remember that may be Wright's biggest challenge. Despite today's basketball environment where the NCAA Tournament is the end all for some, Wright hopes people remember the Flying Dutchmen's 22 victories and NIT appearance rather than the 37-point performance against Drexel in the America East Tournament that helped prevent a trip to the Big Dance. "I understand the fans' and media's perception of success is based on the NCAA Tournament. I don't argue it and I understand it," Wright said. "What we do is separate the two. I put a lot of value in the regular season. When the regular season is over, then we evaluate where we are and start a new season. I won't let our guys look at the NCAA Tournament as the prize. We want to win a regular-season championship first." That being said, Hofstra has a good chance to be playing in college basketball's greatest showcase come March. Life in a mid-major means that postseason fate will again come down those America East tournament games and the Flying Dutchmen's ability to finally topple the Dragons and Blue Hens. |
Claxton's scoring average of 13.3 was a career low. For the first time, he did not lead the team in that department, but Claxton was also blessed with more talent around him. He didn't need the ball in his hands all the time. That resulted in nearly 100 fewer shots and a drop in assists (7.2 to 5.3). But Hofstra won 22 games and three more America East games than the program ever had. That also doesn't mean Claxton lost his ability to score. This summer he was the leading scorer on an NIT All-Star team that went 9-1 on a European tour. The team included Syracuse's Etan Thomas, North Carolina's Kris Lang and Arizona's Loren Woods. "He's the most competitive person I've ever coached. I'm amazed how he consistently rises to challenges. That's why I think he can be a good NBA player," Wright said. "He has won a game for us in every possible way. He even blocked a shot for us to win the BU game last year. He just rose up and swatted it away." Defense is the part of Claxton's game that has never changed. He led the league in steals, snapping up 2.3 per game. He may be the toughest player in the league to defend and he is the toughest defender to play, a unique daily-double. The one weakness remains Claxton's outside shooting. He has attempted just 30 three-point shots in the last two years (19 last season). That may be the one shortcoming that prevents him making it at the next level. Claxton's long-range help arrived last season in the person of Jason Hernandez. The 6-0 Hernandez, who transferred to Hofstra from New Hampshire, made 51 three-point shots and led the conference with a .464 percentage from behind the arc. The versatile junior also averaged 9.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 steals, and a team-high 33.4 minutes. Hernandez also rose to the occasion, totaling 25 points in the two Holiday Festival victories and scoring 15 in the NIT loss to Rutgers. "We have to get Jason more shots," Wright said. "He was 15th in the country in three-point shooting, but we didn't get him enough chances." Hernandez was a big reason for Hofstra's continued improvement, but not bigger than Norman Richardson. The 6-5 junior raised his scoring average from 8.7 to 13.9 and led the Flying Dutchmen. His coming out party was the two days at Madison Square Garden in late December. Richardson scored 39 points in route to the ECAC Holiday Festival MVP. He led Hofstra in scoring seven more times during the regular season and earned second-team all-conference honors. Richardson has become a solid inside-outside threat, all the while doing his damage quietly. He went from 29 threes as a freshman to another team-best, 59, last season. Roberto Gittens (10.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg), Hofstra's third-leading scorer, does all his work from the inside. The 6-6 junior bruiser earned a third-team all-conference selection, making Hofstra the only team with three returning All-America East players. Gittens led the team in rebounding, field-goal percentage (.496) and blocked shots (1.1). Although his numbers were much the same from his freshman season, Gittens seemed to play more consistently. He has the ability to be a dominant America East low-post player. "Roberto right now is a very talented player, but he hasn't been a dominant player like a (Mike) Pegues (Delaware) has or a (Joe) Linderman (Drexel) has. I think he as the ability to do that," Wright said. "He has a lot of room to improve, and I think he will." The "Big Four" is missing a starter, because center Duane Posey (8.3 rpg, 6.3 rpg) used up his eligibility. Although he was the Flying Dutchmen's last offensive option, Posey will be difficult to replace. That job will likely fall to junior transfer Greg Springfield, a 6-8 New York native who played his first two seasons at Western Kentucky. Springfield averaged 4.4 points and 5.2 rebounds with the Hilltoppers in 1997-98. Juniors Abdou Sylla and Marc Petit will also share post duties, trying to compensate for Posey's loss. "Those three are going to fight for those minutes. How we break those minutes up, I don't know yet," Wright said. "As good as Duane was, I gotta think the three of them combined can give us more than one Duane Posey." The 6-8 Sylla became eligible for the second semester after transferring from DePaul. His numbers (1.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 13.8 mpg) were modest, but Sylla is big and strong and should produce more. At times last season, the 6-7 Petit was a very valuable commodity. Although he played just 10.8 minutes per game, Petit (2.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg) was willing to mix it up with bigger opponents, taking some of the defensive heat off Gittens and Posey. Six-foot-10, 260-pound freshman Lars Grubler could also see minutes in the middle. Grubler, a member of the German national team, may need time to adjust to the American game and way of life. Wright lost his top reserve role players of a year ago in Mike Renfro (4.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Tim Beckett (4.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg). They were Hofstra's sharpshooters off the bench. They were also experienced. This year those roles will be filled by freshmen. Six-foot-three Rick Apodaca finished his high school career as North Bergen (NJ) High School's all-time leading scorer, breaking the record of former Seton Hall scoring machine, Danny Callandrillo. Apodaca also broke all of the Hudson County scoring records held by ESPN analyst Bill Rafftery. When the record fell, Rafftery even brought Apodaca on television with him while he was working a New Jersey Nets game. Apodaca averaged 28.9 points as a senior and was second-team all-state. Six-foot-six Danny Walker doesn't come in with the same fanfare, but he scored more than 22.0 points per game and was the Brooklyn Player of the Year at Robeson High School. He also averaged 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. "These guys are good enough to where we could have some great depth," Wright said. "But I am a little concerned about losing the experience. That has become such a commodity in today's game." Six-foot-six sophomore Mike Feeley was redshirted a year ago after averaging 0.6 points in 17 games as a freshman two seasons ago. Five-foot-nine junior walk-on Jeff Fox (0.1 ppg, 0.1 rpg) got into 15 games in 1998-99.
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