I'll Be Quirky: George freaking Mason

Live look at me watching tonight's game with all my friends in Mason Nation.

The Flying Dutchmen took care of an old friend Sunday afternoon, when they fended off a late comeback attempt by Quinnipiac to edge Tom Pecora and the Bobcats, 72-70. Now the Dutchmen will look to take care of a less familial foe tonight, when they visit George Mason. Wear your cups, boys! Here’s a look back at the win over Quinnipiac and a look ahead to the Fighting Larranagas. 

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

The Dutchmen led for the final 37-plus minutes but had to withstand a series of furious rallies in the second half to escape with their second win at the National Grammar Rodeo. Quinnipiac whittled a 17-point first-half deficit to two points a little less than seven minutes into the second half before Aaron Estrada scored seven unanswered points to start a 10-2 run that extended the Dutchmen’s lead to 54-44. The Bobcats scored eight straight points to close within 64-63 with 3:26 left and squandered a chance to tie the score when Ike Nweke missed a free throw. Quinnipiac would miss five shots and turn the ball over on its six possessions with a chance to tie the score or take the lead. Darlinstone Dubar hit the Dutchmen’s last field goal, a 3-pointer with 1:30 left that extended the lead to 69-65, and the Dutchmen went 3-for-5 from the line the rest of the way before the Bobcats missed three shots in the final four seconds. Estrada (29 points, six rebounds, six assists) had another monster game while Dubar had 15 points in just 24 minutes. Jaquan Carlos finished with a career-high 14 points, including all of the Dutchmen’s points in an 11-5 first half run, while Nelson Boachie-Yiadom had two points, eight rebounds and four blocks in 30 minutes.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Quinnipiac, 11/27)

3: Aaron Estrada

2: Darlinstone Dubar

1: Jaquan Carlos

SEASON STANDINGS

Aaron Estrada 18

Darlinstone Dubar 9

Tyler Thomas 8

Nelson Boachie-Yiadom 5

Jaquan Carlos 5

Amar’e Marshall 3

WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?

No! But for the second straight win, the Dutchmen went more than 40 years in between this particular victorious score. The Dutchmen previously beat Manhattan 72-70 on Dec. 23, 1978. 

The Flying Dutchmen have three unicorn score victories this season after recording 11 unicorn score victories last season, no unicorn scores in 2020-21, 13 unicorn scores in 2019-20 and 10 unicorn scores in 2018-19. The term unicorn score was coined by Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won. You may also know it as a “Scorigami,” a term popularized in the NFL.

WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?

Aaron Estrada hit the basket that put the Dutchmen ahead for good by draining a jumper with 17:27 left in the first half to give them a 4-3 lead. Despite the narrow nature of the victory, it’s the earliest a Hofstra player has ever hit a known Keith Hernandez dating back to *flips calendar* when we began this feature earlier this month. A new earliest Keith Hernandez has been set in each of the last four games. If these trends continue, the Dutchmen will never lose again!

Jaquan Carlos tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Princeton, 11/7/22 (1:11 left 2H)

Tyler Thomas tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Iona, 11/11/22 (:35.2 left 2H)

Darlinstone Dubar go-ahead layup vs. George Washington, 11/14/22 (5:09 left 2H)

German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. San Jose State. 11/17/22 (6:32 left 2H)

Tyler Thomas tie-breaking jumper vs. UNC Greensboro, 11/26/22 (14:56 left 1H)

Aaron Estrada go-ahead jumper vs. Quinnipiac, 11/27/22 (17:28 left 1H)

Five different players with a Keith Hernandez in six wins. Pretty, pretty good.

The Keith Hernandez is bestowed upon the player who scores the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good in a victory. The stat pays homage to Hernandez, the World Series-winning Cardinals and Mets first baseman who had a record 129 game-winning RBIs when the stat was inexplicably discontinued after the 1988 season.

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER EIGHT GAMES

With Sunday’s win, the Dutchmen improved to 6-2. This ties the 2022-23 team for the 12th-best record in school history through seven games. Eleven other teams began 5-2, most recently the 2015-16 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through eight games:

NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1975-76: 4-4

1976-77: 6-2

1999-2000: 4-4

2000-01: 6-2

2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 5-3

NIT TEAMS

1998-99: 4-4

2004-05: 8-0 (most recent 8-0 start)

2005-06: 6-2

2006-07: 5-3

2015-16: 6-2 

2018-19: 5-3 (marked second win in the 16-game winning streak)

NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1958-59: 4-4

1961-62: 7-1

1962-63: 6-2

1963-64: 7-1

Some other notable eight-game starts:

2021-22: 4-4 (most recent 4-4 start)

2020-21: 5-3 (most recent 5-3 start)

2013-14: 2-6 (most recent 2-6 start)

2012-13: 3-5 (most recent 3-5 start)

2008-09: 7-1 (most recent 7-1 start)

2002-03: 1-7 (most recent 1-7 start)

1994-95: 2-6 (Jay Wright’s first team)

1993-94: 1-7 (VBK’s last team)

1960-61: 8-0

1959-60: 8-0

1955-56: 8-0

1951-52: 8-0

1947-48: 8-0

The Dutchmen have never opened 0-8.

Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1957-58.

This feature is inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.

INTERNATIONAL BRIGHT YOUNG TRAVELING MEN

(Sorry, had to get the sort of Jesus Jones reference in there) The Dutchmen finished the Northern Classic 2-1. In addition to winning outside the United States for the first time since an 82-77 win over Florida State in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Nov. 20, 2015, the wins over UNC Greensboro and Quinnipiac marked the first time the Dutchmen have won consecutive games in a neutral tournament-esque setting since the Dutchmen won the Naismith Bracket of the Boca Raton Classic by beating Holy Cross and Canisius on consecutive days Dec. 1-2, 2019.

SORRY, TP

The Dutchmen knocked Quinnipiac from the ranks of the unbeaten Sunday afternoon, when the Bobcats became the 343rd Division I team to lose a game this season. As far as I can tell, it’s the first time in at least the CAA/KenPom era (2001-present) that the Dutchmen have knocked off a team that was 7-0 or better. I’ll have to dig a little deeper and then perhaps dive into the pre-CAA/KenPom era. The good news is I may have an excuse to do so, with unbeaten Purdue slated to host the Dutchmen next Wednesday!

THE DEFENSE STILL ISN’T RESTING

The Dutchmen gave up 70 or fewer points for the third straight game. That’s the longest such streak under second-year head coach Speedy Claxton and the longest streak since the Dutchmen allowed 70 or fewer points in three straight games from Jan 17-24, 2021. The Dutchmen last allowed 70 or fewer points in four straight games from Dec. 10-28, 2018, a span that included a win over Division III Rosemont.

STAT-STUFFING ESTRADA

Aaron Estrada finished with 29 points, six rebounds and six assists Sunday afternoon. It was the fifth time in his Hofstra career he’s had at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in a game, the most since Justin Wright-Foreman had eight such games. Fun fact: Speedy Claxton also had eight games with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists during his playing career, including five during his senior season in 1999-2000.

ESTRADA 1K

Aaron Estrada’s 3-pointer with 11:54 left marked the fifth, sixth and seventh points of his individual 7-0 run and the 999th, 1000th and 1001st points of his career in four seasons between Saint Peter’s, Oregon and Hofstra. Estrada scored 227 points at Saint Peter’s and 28 at Oregon before collecting 757 points (and counting) at Hofstra. He is the first Hofstra player to record his 1,000th career point for Hofstra after beginning his career elsewhere since Brian Bernardi, who began his career at SMU in 2012-13 but recorded his 1,000th career point during the 2016-17 season. He also finished with more than 1,000 points at Hofstra (1,186, to be exact). Both Tareq Coburn (St. John’s) and Isaac Kante (Long Island University) recorded their 1,000th career points last season after scoring the bulk of their points during their second collegiate stops at Hofstra. 

D-STONE’S SURGE

Darlinstone Dubar had a second straight solid game Sunday, when he scored 15 points in 24 minutes. It was the 13th time Dubar has scored at least 15 points in his two-year career at Hofstra and the first time he’s done so while playing fewer than 25 minutes. He had 15 points in 25 minutes in an 80-66 win over Delaware on Feb. 12.

HOT-SHOOTING CARLOS

Jaquan Carlos snapped out of an offensive slump Sunday, when he scored 11 straight Dutchmen points in the first half and finished with a career-high 14 points. Carlos, who scored 22 points in his previous five games combined, went 4-for-8 from the 3-point line after making just six 3-pointers in his first 24 games at Hofstra. The 14 points marked the third time this season Carlos has set a new career-high for points in a single game. He had eight points against Princeton in the season opener Nov. 7 and scored 12 points against Iona four nights later.

BOACHIE-YIADOM’S BLOCK PARTY

Nelson Boachie-Yiadom had eight rebounds and four blocks Sunday afternoon. It was the second time in three games he’s posted at least four blocks following a six-block game against Middle Tennessee State on Friday. Boachie-Yiadom is just the seventh Hofstra player to post multiple games with at least four blocks since the 2010-11 season, the start of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference, and the first to do so since Jacquil Taylor had at least four blocks in five games during the 2018-19 season. In addition, the eight rebounds tied a season-high for Boachie-Yiadom, who also had eight rebounds against Saint Mary’s on Nov. 19.

BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE

Redshirt freshman Amar’e Marshall was named the CAA Rookie of the Week for the third time in as many weeks after averaging 9.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the three games at the Northern Classic. Per the CAA, Marshall is just the second freshman in league history to open his career by winning Rookie of the Week honors three straight times since the award began being distributed during the 2003-04 season. Charleston’s Reyne Smith began last season by winning the award four straight times. In addition, Marshall is the first Hofstra freshman to ever win the Rookie of the Week honor in three consecutive weeks in the America East/CAA era (1994-present). Which means that unless Darius Burton did it in the East Coast Conference in 1993-94, it’s the first time a Hofstra freshman has won Rookie of the Week three straight times in Defiantly Dutch era. Now THAT’S a stat!

OVER THE AIR

Tonight’s game will be carried on ESPNPlus, which you have if you have the Disney Bundle, which you have if you have a child under the age of 18. A game we can watch? With audio accompanying the video? In this economy? Hofstra will also provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.

GEORGE MASON AND THE ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE

George Mason, a program with whom we’ve never had any sort of negative interaction with no way no sirree Bob, is 3-4 this season under second-year head coach Kim English following a 72-65 win over Queens (the fledgling Division I school in North Carolina, not the college a few miles west of Hofstra) on Saturday.

The Patriots were picked to finish fifth in the 15-team Atlantic 10 (math remains hard). Senior forward Josh Oduro, who was selected to the preseason all-A10 first team, leads George Mason with 12.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Graduate students Victor Bailey Jr. and DeVon Cooper, who previously played at Tennessee and Morehead State respectively, are averaging 11.6 points and 11.4 points per game, respectively. Point guard Ronald Polite III, who returned against Queens after missing two games due to injury, is averaging 8.6 points and 3.0 assists per game.

At KenPom.com, George Mason is ranked 126th nationally in offensive efficiency (103.5 points per 100 possessions) and 135th in defensive efficiency (99.9 points per 100 possessions) while ranking 325th in tempo (64.2 possessions per 40 minutes).

The Dutchmen and Patriots have one common opponent. George Mason is slated to play two A-10 games against George Washington, whom the Dutchmen edged, 85-80, on Nov. 14.

Hofstra is 8-15 all-time against George Mason, with all 23 previous meetings coming while the two schools were CAA rivals from the 2001-02 through 2012-13 seasons. The Dutchmen haven’t been over .500 in the all-time series since Mar. 5, 2006, when they PUNCHED their ticket IN to THE NCAA Tournament by beating Mason, 58-49, in the CAA semifinals. Wait? That didn’t happen? NUTS.

Anyway, Hofstra is 2-10 against George Mason since then and lost the most recent game between the schools on Feb. 20, 2013, when the Patriots rolled to a 79-50 victory at the Arena. That remains the most lopsided loss the Dutchmen have suffered in their last 301 games. Ironic. 

At KenPom.com this morning, Hofstra is ranked 124th while George Mason is ranked 125th. Holy crap! We’re like, best friends and stuff! Remarkably, this is the third time this season the Dutchmen and an opponent have been separated by two or fewer spots at KenPom.com and the second time they’ve faced an opponent directly above or beneath them. Hofstra was 144th and Princeton was 143rd entering the season opener on Nov. 7.

KenPom.com predicts a 71-67 win for the Patriots. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 4-point underdogs. The Dutchmen are 4-4 against the spread this season.

This marks the 10th straight season in which Hofstra has faced at least one A-10 school. After the win over George Washington on Nov. 14 Hofstra is 39-107 all-time against current Atlantic 10 schools, a membership that includes former conference foes George Mason as well as La Salle (ECC) and VCU (CAA).

Tonight marks the Dutchmen’s second game against a former CAA foe since the latest round of realignment began following the 2012-13 season. VCU edged the Dutchmen, 69-67, in overtime on Nov. 24, 2018.

MOAR MASON CONNECTIONS

This game pits two of the three Division I schools with a former NBA player and a former Major League Baseball player coaching their men’s basketball and baseball programs. English played 41 games for the Detroit Pistons during the 2012-13 season. Hofstra’s baseball team, of course, is coached by former outfielder Frank Catalonotto while Mason’s baseball team is coached by ex-pitcher Shawn Camp.

THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY (oh boy this is gonna be fun)

You didn’t deserve that at-large bid or Final Four trip bias! (No explanation needed)

Tony Skinn should have been arrested for giving Loren Stokes an abdominal injury bias! (No explanation needed)

Jim Larranaga is a big fat thin phony but he is a Hall of Fame coach and it’s kind of funny he might end up coaching longer at Miami than Mason bias! (No explanation needed)

Ryan Pearson ran up the score bias! (No explanation needed)

Justin Bour bias! (Had to change it up by mentioning the former big league slugger who went to Mason)

On the occasion of a Hofstra-George Mason reunion, an ode to clashes with Mason Nation and the good ol' days of #CAAHoops

Which one of us is the Ogre?

I had a lede in mind for this column, something about how I regret nothing and everything about the George Mason Obsession circa 2006-2011. And while that is still true, I have to start this by noting I went to KenPom.com late last night to figure out exactly how many days and games have elapsed since Hofstra faced George Mason in men’s basketball.

It’s been 3,568 days and 301 games. And the Dutchmen’s most lopsided loss in that span was…3,568 days and 301 games ago, when George Mason rolled to a 79-50 win at the Arena. Because OF COURSE I established my #TwitterBrand for ranting after a loss that was nowhere near as lopsided as the third-most lopsided conference defeat the Dutchmen have suffered since joining the CAA.

(I should really be madder at Blaine Taylor and Ron Hunter for the beatdowns Old Dominion and Georgia State delivered in March 2003 and March 2012, respectively, but who can ever get mad at Blaine Taylor and Ron Hunter?)

And as it turns out, no one, except George Mason fans, could get mad at Paul Hewitt, who, if anything, displayed gentleness towards Hofstra during and following that rout on Feb. 20, 2013. The Patriots, taking on a Dutchmen team depleted by injuries and arrests during the worst season in school history, were up by as many as 32 points in the second half and probably could have won by 52 if they felt like it.

Instead, they eased off the gas pedal, and afterward, Hewitt shared a warm handshake and appeared to offer some comforting words to Mo Cassara. Which sure beat the second half haranguing about being outside of the coach’s box and the dead fish handshake Cassara got from Jim Larranaga — heretofore identified as C. Montgomery Larranaga — during and after the Dutchmen’s 87-74 win at the Arena on Jan. 5, 2011.

It always comes back to C. Montgomery Larranaga. Even now, far enough removed from the nightmare that was the 2006 NCAA Tournament — when George Mason, whose athletic director was on the selection committee, made the Final Four after getting an at-large bid over Hofstra, which beat George Mason twice in a 10-day span, including in a CAA semifinal game in which Tony Skinn delivered an abdominal injury to Loren Stokes by punching him in the nuts, oh God, I’m getting mad all over again — and old enough to recognize I wouldn’t react to that and everything thereafter now like I did then, the guy and his Final Four team still provide a visceral reaction. It’s sort of like my late great Casey Cat hissing and scratching whenever he saw the veterinarian.

(Hey idiot, you are trying to convince people you regret some of your past actions, should probably stop comparing yourself to a cat trying to attack a vet)

Aaaanyway, Hofstra facing George Mason — in its 10th season since moving to the Atlantic 10 — is a reminder I surely have Tweeted at least a couple multiples of 3,568 times about my contempt for George Mason in the aftermath of the Selection Sunday Screw Job. And the number of words I’ve written about said topic is DEFINITELY a number many, many multiples of 3,568. I mean, for goodness sakes, I wrote 2,227 words over two separate blog posts ALONE about the Patriots’ 90-72 win over the Dutchmen on Jan. 19, 2010.

That was an interesting month. I drove to Fairfax for the first Hofstra-Mason game of the year on Jan. 4 and had a pretty good time with former Mason student Ryan Sonner — who didn't end up graduating from there but is still the first Mason-connected person I’d ever befriended! — and some of his former classmates, even though the Dutchmen lost 67-63. Then I got into a frightening car accident on the way home when a drunk driver slammed into the side of my car on 495 outside of Baltimore, sending me careening across four lanes of traffic before I found myself going backwards in drive in a non-breakdown lane.

Somehow, no one was injured. A few minutes later, before she failed a field sobriety test and got arrested, the driver who hit me asked where I’d been before the crash. I told her a college basketball game in Fairfax.

“Oh, George Mason?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“I went there.”

No shit. Now they were actually trying to kill me.

And things got even weirder the next day, when we were both retrieving items from our cars at the same junkyard, buried so deep in the woods and manned by such a strange-looking mechanic that I was sure this random reunion with the driver who crashed into me was part of a Quentin Tarantino movie.

I would like to declare that series of events excused my behavior following George Mason’s decisive victory in the rematch at Hofstra. But the truth was I was madder over Ryan Pearson sinking a 3-pointer in the final minute of that win than I was over getting sideswiped by a Mason alum with a buzz and a vendetta (I assume, anyway). Even by the standards of sports fanaticism, that’s pretty messed up.

I was convinced Pearson and C. Montgomery Larranaga were running up the score on Hofstra (they were) and unloaded almost four years worth of frustration during the aforementioned Tweets and blog posts. It wasn’t the first time I’d ranted about George Mason, but it was the first time my words found an audience outside of Mike Litos and a handful of other readers of Defiantly Dutch.

Tweets with the #CAAHoops hashtag used to automatically collate on the CAAZone message board. Mason fans took great delight in telling me what a loser I was (past tense!) in posts about and Tweets replying to me. Someone even started a fake Twitter called Defiantly Bitch. I also got a bunch of emails making fun of me and my then-employment status.

Was it a lot of fun in the moment? Not especially, though my wife was amazed at the reaction my Tweets and blog posts got. I believe her first words to me the next morning were “You’ve got to see what they’re saying about you at the CAAZone.” Now that’s love.

But it also ended up being, pretty quickly, a reminder of what is now looked back upon as a somewhat simpler time. I say somewhat simpler because it’s cliched to think that the past was always simpler. I had a lot going on in early 2010, nothing of which was more impactful than trying to come to terms with the death of my Mom in March 2009. There was nothing simple or nostalgic about that time.

But in terms of a community on social media, early 2010 was definitely the good ol’ days. The #CAAHoops community was budding and filled with like-minded people who found one another on this still-nascent thing called Twitter. Whether we were approaching middle age or in college, most of us were schooled in traditional media and conditioned to believe that we were the outliers in focusing our passions on mid-major hoops afforded only slivers of coverage in newspapers and on TV.

The blogs focused on #CAAHoops (thanks again, Litos) and Twitter proved we weren’t alone. There were other people who felt like we felt, and Twitter, in particular, provided an organic and euphoric way to find each other.

Sight unseen, we’d trade tales of fandom, establish inside jokes (The Wolf converts eight-point plays and solves problems for Hofstra), put the CAA into pop culture terms only we’d understand (there was one email thread about St. Elmo’s Fire as the CAA) and create friendships.

RIP to the late great Joe Suhoski (fourth from left)

One longtime friend from this community says his wife calls mid-major hoops soap operas for men. I think that’s a great way to describe it, even if I scheduled my college classes around “Guiding Light.” (You didn’t think I’d write this long without mentioning something that would make me the target of jokes again, did you?)

And in 2010, with Twitter still in its innocent phase, it was easy enough for the relationship with Mason fans to unfold like an ‘80s movie in which the instant mortal enemies eventually united, a la Ogre and the Nerds. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which party here is Ogre and which one is the Nerds!

We could argue and call each other names, but there was a common ground to rooting for another CAA school. Simply seeing someone else Tweet about the CAA, even if his or her comments made us mad, was enough to mash the follow button.

In these more innocent times, being on opposite sides of an issue didn't entrench us to the point where the block or mute button was almost immediately deployed. Nor did we have to scroll through his or her feed first to figure out if he or she, say, seemed to support the idea of a violent overthrow of the United States government. 

By March 2010 -- barely a month after Ryan Pearson ran up the score -- I was meeting and shaking hands with Mason fans at the CAA Tournament. Over the subsequent dozen-plus years, the friendship has evolved to discussing shared interests, from baseball — I’ve met up multiple times at sporting events with Mason fans I met via Twitter — to parenthood. There have been messages and gestures of support through health scares and health battles involving one another or family members. 

In much more mundane matters, some of the nicest comments I got in those blissful 18 or so hours in which it appeared Hofstra was going to the 2020 NCAA Tournament were from Mason fans. Despite March Madness being canceled, my friend Ryan paid up on a long-ago bet in which we’d agreed that whenever one of our alma maters finally made the NCAA Tournament again, the other one would have to buy a shirt of the advancing school and be photographed wearing it. A few months later, he bought a Cameo message from Jim Larranaga wishing me a Happy Birthday. Now THAT was funny.

This is both hilarious and triggering.

You know what would be even funnier? Buying him a Cameo message from Speedy Claxton if (pardon me, when) Hofstra wins tonight in the first game between the schools in almost 10 years. Despite our harmonious relationship, a Hofstra-Mason game is still a big deal. My phone blew up with messages and Tweets from Mason fan friends when the game was announced.

A Hofstra fan friend asked me this week which rivalry game was bigger: The United States-Iran soccer game or Hofstra-Mason. What a dumb thing to ask. Of course the answer is Hofstra-Mason.

As a, uhh, man in his late 40s here in late 2022, I have matured (snort) enough to both believe I overreacted in January 2010. Yet I still desire to see the Dutchmen to get revenge for March 2006 and Ryan Pearson running up the score and everything that happened in between.

But I will not be driving to the game in Fairfax because, well, you know, someone might try crashing into my car on the way back. Instead, Mason Nation and everyone else in the #CAAHoops family past and present interested in this game, I’ll see you where we all met — on Twitter.

A Speedy reunion reminds Tom Pecora of the unique paths blazed by Claxton's Hofstra decision

Speedy Claxton, Tom Parrotta and Mike DePaoli reunite with (and against) Tom Pecora today. Photo from Claxton's Twitter.

Speedy Claxton doesn’t spend too much time pondering the butterfly effect generated by his teenaged decision to attend Hofstra — partially because it’s hard for him or anyone else to remember a time when he wasn’t singularly connected with Hofstra.

“Nah, that’s way too far gone at this point,” Claxton said last week. “I’m glad I did come here. The rest is history. There’s no looking back.”

But even if he’d decided to go somewhere else beginning in the fall of 1996, it’s easy enough to envision his career playing out mostly the same way: Claxton parlaying a wildly successful collegiate career into a decade-long NBA career and subsequently taking advantage of the myriad opportunities in coaching and scouting afforded those who are veterans of the highest level of professional basketball.

But Tom Pecora knows how the butterfly’s wings flap. And this afternoon — when Pecora, an assistant coach at Quinnipiac, coaches against Claxton and the Flying Dutchmen for the first time the 28th anniversary of his first game as an assistant to Jay Wright at Hofstra — Pecora will get a uniquely up-close reminder of how so many careers and college basketball programs are linked to that hot summer day in 1994 when he first saw Claxton.

“I was watching him play in a summer league game (after) his sophomore year of high school at a place, Hoffman Park, in Queens, and he was about 5-foot-5, 110 pounds,” Pecora said Friday night from Quebec, where the Dutchmen and Quinnipiac are among the teams competing in the Northern Classic. “And I came back and I told Jay and Joe Jones ‘I just saw a kid who’s special, man.’ I said ‘Now, I know he’s little, but boy, he’s really good.’

“And obviously, the rest is history.”

Claxton said his first memory of meeting Pecora was at the Physical Fitness Center in the summer of 1994, when he and his Christ the King teammates participated  in a camp put together by Wright and his staff months after they arrived at Hofstra.

“They started recruiting me, they took a liking to me when we were here for team camp,” Claxton said. “And from then on, it seemed everywhere I played, somebody from that staff was watching me.”

Claxton orally committed to Hofstra following a junior year in which he averaged 6.0 points and 4.3 assists per game. But everyone started watching Claxton as a senior, when the point guard — previously the overlooked fifth starter on a team featuring heavily recruited stars such as Rhode Island-bound Lamar Odom and St. John’s-bound Erick Barkley — averaged 15.1 points and 6.2 assists per game in helping Christ the King to the CHSAA championship game.

“I remember Villanova coming in late, Georgia Tech (was) coming in late, St. John’s started (messing) around with him,” Pecora said. 

But Claxton remained committed to Hofstra, where he had one of the most impressive careers in school history. The Flying Dutchmen went 77-44 with Claxton, who scored 2,015 points, collected a school-record 660 assists and 288 steals, won a pair of America East Player of the Year awards and led the Flying Dutchmen to the NCAA Tournament as a senior — the first NCAA Tournament trip for Hofstra in 23 years.

“The loyalty he showed to Hofstra and to Jay was incredible,” Pecora said. “To just say 'No thanks, I’m going to stick with these guys’ — it just speaks volumes for the kind of man he is, the kind of kid he was, and the kind of family he came from.”

The Dutchmen repeated as America East champs in 2001, after which Wright departed for Villanova and Pecora moved down one seat to become head coach. Wright, of course, directed Villanova to two national championships, two additional trips to the Final Four and 520 wins before retiring in April.

Pecora was the first of at least eight Wright assistants to become Division I head coaches, a group that includes Jones (Boston University) as well as Quinnipiac head coach Baker Dunleavy, who is in his sixth season at the helm of the Bobcats. One of Dunleavy’s first hires was Pecora, who spent two years out of coaching after he was fired at Fordham. And two of Claxton’s assistants, Tom Parrotta and Mike DePaoli, served as assistants under Pecora.

How much of this happens if Claxton goes to college somewhere else? Without Claxton, how many opportunities does Wright — who was 19-36 in his first two seasons — get to rebuild the Flying Dutchmen? Does he establish himself enough at Hofstra to get the opportunity — at Villanova or elsewhere — to construct the country’s preeminent championship culture? Is he one of just 16 coaches to win multiple national titles and a Hall of Famer, all before turning 60?

What’s the parallel universe path for Pecora — whose Division I coaching experience prior to arriving at Hofstra consisted of one season apiece as an assistant at Loyola Marymount and UNLV — and the rest of Wright’s assistants-turned-head coaches?

What happens to Hofstra, which is 127 games over .500 since the 1996-97 season after being 68 games under .500 in the quarter century prior to Claxton’s arrival? Maybe Hofstra is playing Quinnipiac this afternoon in Canada, but neither program would look anything like it does today if Claxton played somewhere else.

The sight of one another on the opposite sideline will be a little unusual this afternoon for Pecora and Claxton, who talk weekly as peers and friends who have shared nearly 30 years worth of experiences together. Pecora spoke Friday of the admiration he has for Claxton’s late Mom, Yvette, and noted Claxton’s Dad, Steve, just celebrated his 73rd birthday.

“We’re in that no-fly zone,” Claxton said with a grin Wednesday afternoon. “If I bump into him out there, I’m sure we’ll chop it up. (Editor’s note: They did, see the picture accompanying this post) But we’ll probably talk after the game is played.”

Pecora doesn’t know how his career would have evolved if he hadn’t seen Claxton on the hot pavement in Queens in the summer of 1994. But 793 games as a head coach or assistant later, he has a pretty good idea of what wouldn’t have happened.

“I think every coach in their career — especially when you’ve been doing it a while — has an arc,” Pecora said. “There’s always one player that’s the reason why they turned the corner, or one team. And obviously, having Speedy play for us there was a life-changing experience on a lot of levels for all of us. It made all of our lives better.”

I'll Be Quirky: Quinnipiac

For two hours this afternoon, Tom, you are a MORTAL enemy!

Hey TP, we’re coming for you. The Flying Dutchmen snapped a two-game losing streak Saturday afternoon, when they led UNC Greensboro almost the entire way in a 65-53 victory. The Dutchmen will look to finish their trip to the National Grammar Rodeo with a winning record this afternoon, when they are slated to face Quinnipiac and assistant coach Tom Pecora. Here’s a look back at the win over the Spartans and a look ahead to the Fighting Pecoras (they’re actually the Bobcats).

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Darlinstone Dubar (17 points) broke out of a lengthy slump for the Dutchmen, who led by at least five points for the final 32-plus minutes. Tyler Thomas scored all 14 of his points in the first half and had 10 points in a 15-3 run that gave the Dutchmen a 27-12 lead. UNC Greensboro got within 45-40 with 11:50 left, but the Spartans went 0-for-3 from the field with three turnovers over the next four minutes, a span in which the Dutchmen scored 11 unanswered points. The Dutchmen maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way. Aaron Estrada was limited to seven points on 2-for-8 shooting from the field, but he added a team-high 10 rebounds and five assists. Budding freshman star Amar’e Marshall added 10 points off the bench. Thomas sat out the final 12:22.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. UNC Greensboro, 11/26)

3: Darlinstone Dubar

2: Tyler Thomas

1: Aaron Estrada

SEASON STANDINGS

Aaron Estrada 15

Tyler Thomas 8

Darlinstone Dubar 7

Nelson Boachie-Yiadom 5

Jaquan Carlos 4

Amar’e Marshall 3

WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?

No! But it'd been more than 40 years since the Dutchmen’s previous 65-53 win, which they recorded against Delaware on Jan. 23, 1982. That was the day before Super Bowl XVI!

The Flying Dutchmen have three unicorn score victories this season after recording 11 unicorn score victories last season, no unicorn scores in 2020-21, 13 unicorn scores in 2019-20 and 10 unicorn scores in 2018-19. The term unicorn score was coined by Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won. You may also know it as a “Scorigami,” a term popularized in the NFL.

WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?

Tyler Thomas hit the basket that put the Dutchmen ahead for good by draining a jumper with 14:56 left in the first half to give them a 14-12 lead. It is the earliest a Hofstra player has ever hit a known Keith Hernandez dating back to *flips calendar* when we began this feature earlier this month.

Jaquan Carlos tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Princeton, 11/7/22 (1:11 left 2H)

Tyler Thomas tie-breaking 3-pointer vs. Iona, 11/11/22 (:35.2 left 2H)

Darlinstone Dubar go-ahead layup vs. George Washington, 11/14/22 (5:09 left 2H)

German Plotnikov go-ahead 3-pointer vs. San Jose State. 11/17/22 (6:32 left 2H)

Tyler Thomas tie-breaking jumper vs. UNC Greensboro, 11/26/22 (14:56 left 1H)

This also, as you can see, makes Thomas the first player to record two Keith Hernandezes. History!

The Keith Hernandez is bestowed upon the player who scores the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good in a victory. The stat pays homage to Hernandez, the World Series-winning Cardinals and Mets first baseman who had a record 129 game-winning RBIs when the stat was inexplicably discontinued after the 1988 season.

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SEVEN GAMES

With Saturday’s win, the Dutchmen improved to 5-2. This ties the 2022-23 team for the 15th-best record in school history through seven games. Thirteen other teams began 5-2, most recently the 2015-16 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through seven games:

NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1975-76: 3-4

1976-77: 6-1

1999-2000: 3-4

2000-01: 5-2

2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 4-3

NIT TEAMS

1998-99: 3-4

2004-05: 7-0 (most recent 7-0 start)

2005-06: 5-2

2006-07: 4-3 (over .500 for good)

2015-16: 5-2 

2018-19: 4-3 (marked first win in the 16-game winning streak)

NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1958-59: 4-3

1961-62: 6-1

1962-63: 5-2

1963-64: 6-1

Some other notable seven-game starts:

2021-22: 3-4 (most recent 3-4 start)

2020-21: 4-3 (most recent 4-3 start)

2013-14: 2-5 (most recent 2-5 start)

2012-13: 3-4 (under .500 for good because…well, you know)

2011-12: 3-4 (under .500 for good)

2008-09: 6-1 (most recent 6-1 start)

2002-03: 1-6 (most recent 1-6 start)

1994-95: 2-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)

1993-94: 1-6 (VBK’s last team)

1982-83: 6-1 (first loss in 7th game)

1978-79: 3-4 (under .500 for good)

1973-74: 1-6 (win snapped the most recent season-opening six-game losing streak, the Dutchmen have never begun 0-7)

1960-61: 7-0

1959-60: 7-0

1955-56: 7-0

1954-55: 7-0

1951-52: 7-0

1947-48: 7-0

1943-44: 3-4 (under .500 for good)

Hofstra has never been 0-7 through seven games. It’s the first record they’ve never experienced! Let’s keep it that way.

Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1945-46, 1948-49, 1949-50, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1957-58.

This feature is inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.

NUMBER TEN THROUGH THIRTY-NINE

With Saturday afternoon’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 26-13 (.667) as head coach. That’s the third-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 38 games at the helm.

Paul Lynner 31-8 (.795, 39th game was the ninth game of his second season in 1963-64)

Butch van Breda Kolff I 28-11 (.718, 39th game was the 13th game of his second season in 1956-57)

SPEEDY CLAXTON 26-13 (.667, 39th game was the seventh game of his second season in 2022-23)

Mo Cassara 24-15 (.615, 39th game was the sixth game of his second season in 2011-12)

Dick Berg 18-21 (.462, 39th game was the 12th game of his second season in 1981-82)

Butch van Breda Kolff II 17-22 (.436, 39th game was the 10th game of his second season in 1989-90)

Jay Wright 15-24 (.385, 39th game was the 11th game of his second season in 1995-96) 

Joe Mihalich 14-25 (.359, 39th game was the sixth game of his second season in 2013-14)

Tom Pecora 13-26 (.333, 39th game was the seventh game of his second season in 2002-03)

Roger Gaeckler 10-29 (.256, 39th game was the 15th game of his second season in 1973-74)

The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenures of Jack Smith (1943-46) and Frank Reilly (1947-55).

Three coaches had one-season tenures lasting fewer than 33 games at Hofstra. McDonald went 18-6 in the lone season of his second stint in 1946-47 while Joe Harrington went 14-14 in 1979-80 and Mike Farrelly went 13-10 in 2020-21.

INTERNATIONAL BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS

The Dutchmen earned a win outside of the United States for the first time since Nov. 20, 2015, when they upset Florida State 82-77 in a Paradise Jam game in the Virgin Islands. 

THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST (part one)

The Dutchmen limited UNC Greensboro to 35.7 percent shooting (20-of-56), including just 16.7 percent (4-of-24) from 3-point land. The overall shooting percentage was the worst by a Dutchmen opponent since Jan. 22, 2022, when Northeastern shot 35 percent (21-of-60) as Hofstra rolled to a 72-50 win. And the last Division I team to shoot as poorly from 3-point land was Duquesne, which shot 12.5 percent (3-of-24) from beyond the arc in the Dutchmen’s 73-63 win on Nov. 13, 2021. The Dutchmen later limited Division II Molloy to 11.5 percent (3-of-26) from 3-point land in an 87-49 win on Nov. 24, 2021.

THE DEFENSE DIDN’T REST (part two)

The 53 points allowed by the dutchmen were the fewest since that 72-50 win over Northeastern, With Saturday’s victory, the Dutchmen have won 34 straight games in which they’ve surrendered fewer than 60 points. The Dutchmen last lost when giving up fewer than 60 points on Feb. 10, 2014, when they fell to James Madison, 59-53.

D-STONE’S BIG DAY

Darlinstone Dubar, who was scoreless against Saint Mary’s and had just four points Friday night against Middle Tennessee, scored 17 points while going 7-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from the 3-point line, over 31 minutes. Dubar was 1-of-10 from the field, including 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, while playing just 41 minutes in the previous two games. In addition, Dubar led the Dutchmen in scoring for the first time since he scored 24 points in a 102-51 win over Division III John Jay on Dec. 12, 2021.

STAT STUFFER

Aaron Estrada was limited to just seven points Saturday, but he also pulled down 10 rebounds, finished with five assists and made six turnovers. It’s the second time Estrada’s had at least five points, five rebounds, five assists and five turnovers in a game for the Dutchmen and the first time since he finished with 28 points, six rebounds, seven assists and seven turnovers in a 73-71 win over UNC Wilmington on Feb. 28, 2022. Three other players have had at least five points, five rebounds, five assists and five turnovers in the same game since the 2010-11 season, the start of the Play Index era at College Basketball Reference. Juan’ya Green did it four times and Stevie Mejia and Eli Pemberton had one such game apiece.

AARON BOARDS

Aaron Estrada’s 10 rebounds Saturday led the Dutchmen. It was the first time he’d led the Dutchmen in rebounding since he also had 10 rebounds in an 83-67 win over William & Mary on Feb. 26.

AARON CLOSES IN ON 1,000

Aaron Estrada’s seven points Saturday afternoon night increased his career total to 983 points in four seasons between Saint Peter’s, Oregon and Hofstra. That means he needs *carries the one, drops the remainder* 17 points to reach 1,000 for his career. The most recent Hofstra player to record his 1,000th career point for Hofstra after beginning his career elsewhere was Brian Bernardi, who began his career at SMU in 2012-13 but recorded his 1,000th career point during the 2016-17 season. He also finished with more than 1,000 points at Hofstra (1,186, to be exact). Both Tareq Coburn (St. John’s) and Isaac Kante (Long Island University) recorded their 1,000th career points last season after scoring the bulk of their points during their second collegiate stops at Hofstra. 

NO DOUBTING THOMAS

Tyler Thomas also snapped out of a slump Saturday, when he scored 14 points. It was a bit of a hot-and-cold effort for Thomas, who scored all his points while hitting his first five shots from the field and both his free throw attempts. He then went 0-for-6 from the field before exiting for good a little under eight minutes into the second half. Thomas had just 10 points in his previous two games, a span in which he shot 5-of-15 from the field.

MARSHALL’S LAW

Amar’e Marshall finished with 10 points and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line Saturday. It was the second straight double-digit scoring performance for Marshall, who scored a career-high 16 points against Middle Tennessee State on Friday night, and the first time he’s scored at least 10 points in back-to-back games.

TURNOVER AND OVER AND OVER

The Dutchmen finished with 20 turnovers Saturday (though the last one was a shot clock violation in the waning seconds…you know who wouldn’t do that? Jim Larranaga. Too bad Hofstra’s not playing a team once associated with Larranaga later this week HEY WAIT A MINUTE). It’s the first time they’ve committed at least 20 turnovers in a win since the Dutchmen also had 20 turnovers in a 96-88 victory over Monmouth on Dec 15, 2020. UNC Greensboro also had 20 turnovers Saturday, which marks the first time in the Play Index era that both the Dutchmen and an opponent committed at least 20 turnovers in the same game.

OVER THE AIR

This afternoon’s game is slated to be carried live on the Northern Classic website. It’s $25 (covers the entire tournament) and there’s no audio. I don’t hear anyone complaining about FloHoops now, do I? The good news is Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.

QUINNIPIAC AND THE MAAC

Quinnipiac, under sixth-year head coach Baker Dunleavy, is 7-0 this season after beating Montana State, 70-53, on Saturday night. It was the most lopsided wino f the season for the Bobcats, whose previous double-digit win over a Division I foe was Friday’s 58-44 win over Stephen F. Austin.

The Bobcats were picked to finish fourth in the MAAC while redshirt senior guard Matt Balanc was selected to the preseason all-MAAC first team and junior guard Dezi Jones was a preseason all-MAAC third team selection. Balanc leads Quinnipiac with 13.7 points per game while junior guard Luis Kortright is averaging 10.9 points per game. Junior forward Paul Otieno is averaging a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game.

At KenPom.com, Quinnipiac is ranked 192nd nationally in offensive efficiency (100.7 points per 100 possessions) and 141st in defensive efficiency (100.4 points per 100 possessions) while ranking 56th in tempo (71.2 possessions per 40 minutes).

The Dutchmen and Bobcats have just one common opponent despite playing this weekend in the same “tournament.” Quinnipiac is slated to play Iona twice in MAAC play. Hofstra edged the Gaels, 83-78, on Nov. 11.

This is the second meeting between Hofstra and Quinnipiac in men’s basketball. Quinnipiac edged the Dutchmen, 71-68, in the championship game of the Hofstra Holiday Tournament on Dec. 1, 2002. That’s right, Hofstra once hosted a holiday tournament!

At KenPom.com this morning, Hofstra is ranked 123rd while Quinnipiac is ranked 163rd. KenPom.com predicts a 76-73 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 4-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 4-3 against the spread this season.

Hofstra is 104-120 all-time against current MAAC schools. The Dutchmen are playing at least two MAAC schools for the 15th time in the last 17 seasons. (Apologies, I forgot Quinnipiac was a MAAC school while writing the Iona preview — I still think of them as a Northeast Conference school, apparently)

REUNITED

This afternoon marks the first coaching reunion involving a Hofstra head coach and a former co-worker AT Hofstra, since Dec. 21, 2009, when the Flying Dutchmen fell to Davidson, 61-52, at Madison Square Garden. Hey! Another neutral site game! Then-Hofstra head coach Tom Pecora was an assistant coach to then-Davidson head coach Bob McKillop at Long Island Lutheran from 1984-87. But this is the second coaching reunion for Claxton, who coached against one of his former NBA coaches last season when the Dutchmen beat Arkansas 89-81 on Dec. 18. Arkansas head coach Eric Mussleman coached Claxton with the Golden State Warriors during the 2003-04 season.

THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY

Tom Pecora bias! (Shouting this no matter what)

Vinny Simone bias! (Our friend and fellow local college basketball scribe Vinny Simone graduated from Quinnipiac)

Mike Dunleavy bias! (Baker’s Dad is longtime NBA player and coach Mike)

I used to cover the Nutmeg State Games on your campus in Hamden bias! (Showing off my Connecticut ties here)