#CAAHoops Preview: Hofstra Men's Basketball
Miles McQuiggan
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (Oct. 31, 2022) - Speedy Claxton is part of an elite group in New York-area basketball: Hofstra guards.
The lineage of backcourt stars to drive down Hempstead Turnpike is an impressive one that includes the second-year head coach of the Hofstra men's basketball program. Seven CAA Player of the Year selections, five recipients of the Haggerty Award, and three alumni to appear in an NBA game over the last quarter-century have been Hofstra guards.
"What makes this program special is our guards," said Claxton. "We kid around that this is Guard U, but we've been fortunate to have some really special guards. And you win when you have good guards. It's the best thing we've been doing over the last couple years."
Claxton welcomes back one of those CAA Player of the Year selections in
Aaron Estrada, who lit up the scoreboard in his first season on Long Island. Estrada averaged a league-high 18.5 points and added 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game for a Hofstra team that won 21 games in Claxton's first year as head coach.
Estrada's accolades leading into this season include Preseason Player of the Year in the CAA and a coaches' vote of the "Scariest Player" according to Jeff Goodman for the Almanac - recognition worthy not only for Halloween but for Thursdays and Saturdays this winter.
Estrada isn't the only Hofstra guard to frighten upcoming opposition. Goodman's same vote tabbed
Darlinstone Dubar - an Iowa State transfer who invoked many hammer emojis in his first year's highlights in the CAA - as the league's "Breakout Player" to watch.
That duo, plus additions including All-NEC honoree
Tyler Thomas, Manhattan transfer
Warren Williams, and 20-point-per-game junior college scorer
German Plotnikov, will take on another arduous non-conference slate with the Pride looking to cause similar scares and upsets like a year ago. Hofstra will host Iona and George Washington in its first two home games, visit Saint Mary's, play Middle Tennessee and UNCG in Quebec, travel to old friend George Mason, and follow that meeting with a three-game stretch at Purdue, against UMass in Brooklyn, and at South Florida.
Hofstra - which defeated Arkansas and took Houston to overtime last year - doesn't plan to be startled by the tests ahead. Their guards are up for the challenge.
Hofstra
Head Coach: Speedy Claxton
2021-22 Record: 21-11, 13-5 CAA (3rd)
Postseason: CAA Quarterfinals
Returning Starters (2)
Aaron Estrada, G 18.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 5.0 apg, CAA Player of the Year
Darlinstone Dubar, G 11.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg
Notable Newcomers
Tyler Thomas, G 16.4 ppg at Sacred Heart, 3rd Tm All-NEC
Warren Williams, F 11.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg, and 1.6 bpg at Manhattan
German Plotnikov, G 20.7 ppg at North Platte CC
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