Terence Trent d'Arby with the anthem for college basketball in 2025!
We did it. We managed to get through that gaping chasm of nothingness between the end of the baseball season and the start of the college basketball season.
Of course, if you’re a weirdo like me, well, you’ve probably felt a little less than whole over the preceding 239 days. Sure, watching the Mets and Yankees spend the spring and summer alternately looking like the best and most befuddled teams on the planet was transfixing. But it’s not nearly as fun a roller coaster ride as a Flying Dutchmen basketball campaign.
And thus, I welcome you to the hairpin turns-filled 2025-26 college basketball season and the 10th season (!!!) of I’ll Be Quirky! My 10th season as a Hofstra basketball fan was the 2002-03 campaign, so when I put it that way, whew, I’m old.
As always, this is pretty impressive given my raging undiagnosed case of ADD. And as always, this is my attempt to link the past with the present in a fun and engaging package as the Dutchmen chase their second CAA championship and that elusive first NCAA Tournament game since March of 2001. Once again, as always, we can’t all be Dodgers fans.
I’ve already pontificated on how the Flying Dutchmen of the NIL era are the college basketball version of the world’s most popular cinematic baseball team, so there’s no lengthy preamble here (but if you wanted to read those 1,600 words from earlier today, as always, I’d appreciate it).
But as I do annually, I can’t start this season without acknowledging Islanders statistician Eric Hornick, whose blog “The Skinny” was the inspiration to start this in 2016, as well as Mets blogger and unofficial team historian Greg Prince, whose unique ways of tracking each Mets season via the Faith & Fear In Flushing blog I’ve emulated the last few seasons as well.
Thanks again to Eric and Greg as well as to you for reading. Enjoy the season and all the twists and turns that await!
WE DON’T KNOW WHERE WE’RE GOING BUT WE SURE KNOW WHERE WE’VE BEEN
This season marks the 90th season in which the Flying Dutchmen have played basketball. The program is 1,375-1,027 all-time. No one has played or coached in each of the previous 89 seasons, though German Plotnikov comes close.
The Dutchmen had a rare subpar season last year, when they finished 15-18 and were 11th in the CAA with a 6-12 record in league play. Any hopes of returning to the NCAA Tournament ended with a 65-60 loss to Monmouth in the second round of the CAA Tournament. That’s OK. It’s not like they were going to win the league title by winning five games in five days. Right Delaware? Hey we can say what we want now that they’re in Conference USA!
The sub-.500 season was the first under fourth-year head coach Speedy Claxton and ended a seven-season streak in which the Dutchmen finished with a winning record and placed within the top four in the CAA. The streak of winning seasons was the longest for a CAA school since our pals at George Mason finished over .500 in each of the program’s final 15 seasons in the league while the run of top-four finishes was the longest since William & Mary had seven straight top-four finishes from 2013-14 through 2019-20.
Sophomores Cruz Davis (14.4 points per game and 4.4 assists per game) and Jean Aranguren (14.2 points per game and 4.2 assists per game) continued the In Guards We Trust tradition by leading the Dutchmen in scoring and assists. Graduate student Michael Graham, the latest one-year solution at center under Claxton and Joe Mihalich, averaged 7.6 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game. Aranguren ranked second in rebounding at 5.5 rebounds per game.
Plotnikov (6.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game) provided his usual steady glue guy production while leading the Dutchmen in 3-point shooting percentage at 40.2 percent. Junior Silas Sunday (3.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 block per game) continued playing reliable minutes at center while underclassmen Joshua DeCady (2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds per game). Khalil Farmer (4.3 points per game), Eric Parnell (3.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game) and KiJan Robinson (5.7 points and 1.6 rebounds per game) offered flashes of promise.
FINAL 3 STARS OF THE GAME STANDINGS
Jean Aranguren 59
Cruz Davis 44
Michael Graham 25
Jaquan Sanders 15
German Plotnikov 13
KiJan Robinson 9
Khalil Farmer 7
TJ Gadsden 7
Silas Sunday 6
Eric Parnell 4
Joshua DeCady 3
A FOND FAREWELL
The Dutchmen bid goodbye to nine members of last year’s team. Graduate seniors TJ Gadsden and Michael Graham completed their collegiate eligibility while Jean Aranguren (George Washington), Khalil Farmer (UMass Lowell), Eric Parnell (Fairleigh Dickinson), KiJan Robinson (New Hampshire) and Jaquan Sanders (Florida A&M) all transferred. Walk-ons Jayden Henriquez and Miguel Mantilla Pacchiano also exited. We wish them well.
As noted earlier, Aranguren ranked second on the Dutchmen in scoring, rebounding and assists in his lone season at Hofstra. He posted six double-doubles, flirted with a triple-double against Iona on Nov. 8 (18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists) and scored a career-high 35 points in 77-68 loss to Northeastern on Feb. 6.
In a sign of how the game has changed, only Farmer and Robinson spent more than one season at Hofstra. Farmer averaged 3.2 points and 0.9 rebounds over 54 games (11 starts) while Robinson averaged 4.4 points and 1.0 rebound over 62 games (one start). Farmer scored in double figures five times, all last season, while Robinson scored in double figures eight times.
Sanders, a highly-touted transfer from Seton Hall, averaged 6.2 points per game but made just 24 appearances (13 starts) and scored in double figures only twice in his final 19 games. Parnell averaged 3.8 points per game and reached double figures three times. Henriquez and Pacchiano combined for three points in three appearances.
WELCOME BACK
The Flying Dutchmen return four players, including junior Cruz Davis, who led the team in scoring while starting all 32 games in which he played, and graduate senior German Plotnikov, who started 19 of the final 21 games in which he played. Senior Silas Sunday is back along with sophomore Joshua DeCady.
The returnees combined to score 838 points, which represented 38.1 percent of the Dutchmen’s total last year, and played 2,580 minutes, which represented 38.5 percent of the Dutchmen’s total playing time. Those figures represent a large increase from last year, when the Dutchmen returned just 15.8 percent of their scoring and 22.8 percent of their minutes from the 2023-24 campaign.
MY NAME IS…
The Dutchmen welcome a whopping 11 new players — six transfers as well as two freshmen, two redshirt academic sophomores and one international addition.
Biggie Patterson, a 6-foot-7 senior, opened his career at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas before spending last season at Iona, where he averaged 9.5 points and 5.9 rebounds in 15 games. A.J. Willis, a 6-foot-2 junior, began his career at Holy Cross before averaging 4.8 points and 1.6 assists over 30 games for Wyoming last year. Joshua Aaron Reaves, a 6-foot-3 graduate student, played parts of four seasons at Mount St. Mary’s before averaging 3.4 points over 16 games last year at Illinois-Chicago. Brandon Morgan, a 6-foot-4 senior, spent two years at Caldwell Community College before transferring to Western Carolina, where he averaged 5.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 28 games last season.
Trey Boyd III, a 6-foot-4 junior, transferred from Division II Pace University, where he played one season after transferring from Division II The College of Saint Rose. Alex Tsynkevich, a 6-foot-10 graduate student, transferred from Division II Kentucky Wesleyan after beginning his career with one season apiece at Blinn College, a junior college, and Alcorn State.
The most intriguing addition is 6-foot-10 junior Victory Onuetu, a native of Spain who starred for the Spanish youth national teams before signing with Hofstra in August. Maybe this is karmic payback for the NCAA screwing us with Brad Kelleher. You’ll know things are going well this season if we’re making copious Entourage references.
In addition, 6-foot-4 Amir Williams is expected to play after redshirting as a true freshman last season. Carlos Lopez also redshirted last season after transferring from St. Francis (PA), but the 6-foot-1 academic junior is expected to miss the season with injury. True freshman Preston Edmead, a 6-foot-1 guard from Deer Park, and Jaeden Roberts, a 6-foot-3 guard, also join the program. Want to feel old? Roberts is the son of Roger Roberts, who redshirted for the Flying Dutchmen during Speedy Claxton’s freshman year in 1996-97 but never played for Hofstra. Get me that AARP card, now! No really, I should have one by now.
SPEEDY'S FIRST FIFTH SEASON
Speaking of time flying and everyone getting old, Speedy Claxton has now been here longer as a coach than he was as a player! Claxton, the 15th head coach in program history and the first Hofstra alum to patrol the sidelines at his alma mater, directed the Dutchmen to a 15-18 record (6-12 CAA), an 11th-place finish in the CAA and a trip to the second round of the conference tournament last season.
The Dutchmen are 81-52 (.609) under Claxton, which is the fourth-best winning percentage by a Hofstra head coach through his first three seasons (or the first three seasons of his second tenure).
Butch van Breda Kolff I 68-34 (.667, 1955-59)
Paul Lynner 73-37 (.664, 1962-66)
Frank Reilly 66-34 (.660, 1947-51)
SPEEDY CLAXTON 81-52 (.609, 2021-25)
Jack McDonald 39-31 (.557, 1936-40)
Butch van Breda Kolff II 61-53 (.540, 1988-92)
Joe Mihalich 69-64 (.519, 2013-17)
Dick Berg 56-54 (.509, 1980-84)
Tom Pecora 55-65 (.458, 2001-05)
Jay Wright 50-63 (.442, 1994-98)
Roger Gaeckler 45-57 (.441, 1972-76)
The fourth season at the helm was a little better for Jay Wright and Tom Pecora, but they’d better get over .500 soon!
Five head coaches had tenures lasting fewer than four seasons at Hofstra. Jack Smith went 27-32 from 1943-44 through 1945-46 while Mo Cassara went 38-59 from 2010-11 through 2012-13. Jack 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.
Claxton’s 133 games coached rank 10th in program history.
Claxton’s fifth season as head coach begins 25 years and a few months after he completed one of the most decorated careers in Hofstra history. Claxton racked up 2,015 points and a school-record 660 assists while leading the Flying Dutchmen (who really WERE the Flying Dutchmen back then!) to the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 23 years in 2000. He was then selected in the first round of the 2000 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers and embarked upon a 10-year career highlighted by his role as a key player on the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs in 2004.
SPEEDY’S SELECT COMPANY (part one)
Just 28 of the 57 head coaches hired prior to the 2021-22 season remain with the school that hired them. Speedy Claxton ranks seventh amongst that group with a .609 winning percentage in his first four seasons, just a fraction of percentage point behind UNC Greensboro’s Mike Jones.
Tommy Lloyd, Arizona, 112-33 (.772)
Shaka Smart, Marquette, 98-41 (.705)
Hubert Davis, North Carolina, 101-45 (.692)
T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State, 95-45 (.679)
Drew Valentine, Loyola Chicago, 83-51 (.619)
Mike Jones, UNC Greensboro, 78-50 (.609)
SPEEDY CLAXTON, HOFSTRA, 81-52 (.609)
Mark Prosser, Winthrop, 78-52 (.600)
Wes Miller, Cincinnati, 82-59 (.582)
Porter Moser, Oklahoma, 74-59 (.556)
Jordan Mincy, Jacksonville, 69-57 (.548)
Brette Tanner, Abilene Christian, 70-62 (.530)
Joe Golden, Texas-El Paso, 70-63 (.526)
Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut State, 63-64 (.496)
Jase Coburn, Portland State, 62-64 (.492)
Jim Ferry, UMBC, 60-68 (.469)
Earl Grant, Boston College, 61-72 (.459)
Levell Sanders, Binghamton, 55-67 (.451)
Shantay Legans, Portland, 57-75 (.432)
Reggie Theus, Bethune-Cookman, 55-74 (.426)
Dwayne Killings, Albany, 51-76 (.402)
Tim Miles, San Jose State, 53-80 (.398)
Alvin Brooks, Lamar, 50-76 (.397)
Stan Heath, Eastern Michigan, 47-78 (.376)
Marty Simmons, Eastern Illinois, 40-85 (.320)
Stan Waterman, Delaware State, 39-83 (.320)
Rashon Burno, Northern Illinois, 39-85 (.315)
Solomon Bozeman, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 36-88 (.290)
SPEEDY’S SELECT COMPANY (part two)
Speedy Claxton is one of five Division I men’s basketball coaches who played at their alma mater and later played in the NBA:
SPEEDY CLAXTON, Hofstra
Hubert Davis, North Carolina
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Mark Pope, Kentucky
Larry Stewart, Coppin State
Overall, Claxton is one of 22 former NBA players now coaching a Division I men’s basketball team.
SPEEDY CLAXTON, Hofstra
Steve Alford, Nevada
Mike Bibby, Sacramento State
Hubert Davis, North Carolina
Johnny Dawkins, Central Florida
Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon
Kim English, Providence
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska
Bobby Hurley, Arizona State
Mark Madsen, California
Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State
Mark Pope, Kentucky
Roger Powell Jr., Valparaiso
Nolan Smith, Tennessee State
Larry Stewart, Coppin State
Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech
Rod Strickland, Long Island University
Reggie Theus, Bethune-Cookman
Charlie Ward, Florida A&M
Darrell Walker, Little Rock
Mo Williams, Jackson State
COMING HOME
Overall, there are 51 Division I head coaches directing their alma maters:
SPEEDY CLAXTON, Hofstra
Casey Alexander, Belmont
Clint Allard, UC San Diego
Adrian Autry, Syracuse
Jeff Boals, Ohio
Alvin Brooks, Lamar
Ed Conroy, The Citadel
Chris Crutchfield, Omaha
Doug Davenport, Bellarmine
Hubert Davis, North Carolina
Travis DeCurie, Montana
Jamie Dixon, Texas Christian
Quinton Ferrell, Presbyterian
Joe Gallo, Merrimack
Kevin Giltner, Wofford
Corey Gipson, Austin Peay
Stan Gouard, Southern Indiana
Anthony Grant, Dayton
John Griffin III, Bucknell
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Stan Heath, Eastern Michigan
Mitch Henderson, Princeton
Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall
George Ivory, Mississippi Valley State
Cornelius Jackson, Marshall
Jon Jaques, Cornell
Alex Jensen, Utah
Mike Jones, Old Dominion
Andy Kennedy, Alabama-Birmingham
Chris Kraus, Stonehill
Jay Ladner, Southern Mississippi
Luke Loucks, Florida State
Chris Markwood, Maine
Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State
Mike Martin, Brown
Thad Matta, Butler
Fran McCaffrey, Penn
Luke McConnell, St. Francis (PA)
Matt McKillop, Davidson
Niko Medved, Minnesota
LeVelle Moton, North Carolina Central
Saah Nimley, Charleston Southern
Matt Painter, Purdue
Mark Pope, Kentucky
David Richman, North Dakota State
Tevon Saddler, Nicholls
Jon Scheyer, Duke
Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut
Tony Skinn, George Mason (never heard of him)
Larry Stewart, Coppin State
John Tauer, St. Thomas (MN)
In addition, Hofstra is one of just four Division I schools with a former NBA player as its head men’s basketball coach and a former MLB player as its head baseball coach.
Speedy Claxton, Hofstra (Frank Catalanotto)
Bobby Hurley, Arizona State (Willie Bloomquist)
Mark Madsen, California (Mike Neu)
Roger Powell Jr., Valparaiso (Brian Schmack)
HOW MANY UNICORN SCORES WERE THERE LAST SEASON?
The Dutchmen had seven unicorn scores — scores by which they’d never previously won — last season:
11/4/24: 89-62 over Old Westbury
11/8/24: 90-76 over Iona
12/6/24: 114-48 over St. Joseph’s
1/4/25: 55-37 over Northeastern
1/23/25: 93-68 over Delaware
1/30/25: 74-63 over Not Twitter Guy
3/1/25: 70-49 over North Carolina A&T
The Dutchmen have recorded 60 unicorn scores since we first started tracking them in 2018-19 — 10 in ’18-19, followed by 13 in 2019-20, none in the weirdness that was 2020-21 when the Dutchmen played just 23 games and none were decided by more than 18 points and then 11 in ’21-22 and 12 in ’23-24 before the seven unicorn scores last season. At least seven unicorn scores in every season except the season without one. Quirky.
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.
HE’S JEAN ARANGUREN, HE HAD ALL THE KEITH HERNANDEZES
Jean Aranguren collected a team-high five Keith Hernandezes — i.e. scoring the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good in a victory — last season. In another example of college basketball in the mid-2020s, Aranguren is the second straight player to transfer after leading the Dutchmen in Keith Hernandezes, following in the footsteps of Darlinstone Dubar.
The Keith Hernandez honors Hernandez holding the all-time lead in game-winning RBIs with 129 before Major League Baseball inexplicably discontinued the stat following the 1988 season.
Jean Aranguren 5
Michael Graham 3
Cruz Davis 2
Eric Parnell 1
German Plotnikov 1
KiJan Robinson 1
Silas Sunday 1
ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)
Tyler Thomas 16
Darlinstone Dubar 14
Jean Aranguren 5
Aaron Estrada 4
Michael Graham 3
German Plotnikov 3
Warren Williams 3
Cruz Davis 2
Silas Sunday 2
Jacco Fritz 2
Jaquan Carlos 2
Eric Parnell 1
KiJan Robinson 1
Bryce Washington 1
MARATHON MEN
The Dutchmen played 33 games last season, which was tied for the seventh-longest season in program history. Four other teams played at least 33 games, including the 2023-24 team. All 11 seasons in which the Dutchmen have played at least 33 games have happened since 2005-06.
DOUBLE-DIGIT COMEBACKS…
…of which there were none! The biggest deficits for the Dutchmen in victory were the seven-point holes out of which they climbed against Division III Old Westbury (really) and Seton Hall. Quirky!
…AND DOUBLE DIGITS WEREN’T ENOUGH
The Dutchmen lost four games in which they led by at least 10 points. They squandered an 18-point lead in a 69-67 overtime loss to Campbell on Jan. 25 and suffered two other losses after leading by 16 points.
EIGHT IS ENOUGH?
The Dutchmen were picked eighth in the CAA’s preseason poll of league coaches and sports information directors.
1.) Towson (seven first-place votes)
2.) UNC Wilmington (five first-place votes)
3.) Charleston (one first-place vote)
4.) William & Mary
5.) Hampton
6.) Monmouth
7.) Campbell
8.) HOFSTRA
9.) Northeastern
10.) Drexel
11.) Stony Brook
12.) Not Twitter Guy
13.) North Carolina A&T
Cruz Davis was selected to the all-CAA preseason first team.
The eighth-place preseason ranking is the lowest for Hofstra since 2013-14, when Joe Mihalich’s first team was picked to finish last in the nine-team CAA. There was a nine-team CAA? Anyway those Dutchmen finished eighth.
LUCKY THIRTEEN
The CAA (which was rebranded as the Coastal Athletic Association prior to last season, once again, the Coastal recycles TO THE EXTREME!!!) dropped to 13 schools this season with Delaware’s departure for Conference USA and the pursuit of Bahamas Bowl berths. The CAA expanded to 13 with the addition of Hampton, Monmouth, North Carolina A&T and Stony Brook in 2022-23 before increasing to 14 with the addition of Campbell prior to the 2023-24 school year.
SEASON OPENERS
Hofstra is 52-37 all-time in season openers. The Flying Dutchmen won their third straight opener last Nov. 4, when they beat Division III Old Westbury 89-62.
Today marks the earliest season opener in program history, beating…last season! Which in turn beat the season before! For comparison’s sake, in my first year on campus in 1993-94, the Dutchmen didn’t open until Nov. 27, which was two days after Thanksgiving and a whopping 35 days after the Blue Jays finished playing in the World Series. And we liked it!
Most lopsided season-opening win: 101-48 over St. Joseph’s, 2023-24
Most lopsided season-opening win over DI foe: 94-61 over Jacksonville, 2014-15
Most lopsided season-opening loss: 96-57 to St. Joseph’s 1965-66, 60-21 to NYU, 1936-37
OVER THE AIR
Tonight’s game is slated to be carried live on ESPNPlus, which you have if you have the Disney Bundle, which you have if you have a child under 18. (Alas mine mostly watches Max, Netflix and YouTube, sigh) Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.
CENTRAL FLORIDA AND THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE
Central Florida (which officially goes by UCF but I’m going to call them Central Florida because, as Dennis Reynolds would say, well, it’s your name), under 10th-year head coach Johnny Dawkins, was picked to finish 14th in the 16-team Big 12. Math is hard.
Central Florida brings back exactly zero points from last year’s team, which finished 20-17 and lost to Nebraska in the title game of the College Basketball Crown, which is like the CBI for schools that like to set money on fire. Four players graduated while seven transferred, including Big 12 leading scorer Keyshawn Hall, who is now at Auburn.
Themus Fulks (14.6 points and a Horizon League-leading 5.9 assists per game at Milwaukee) leads a trio of new arrivals who averaged at least 10 points per game at their previous stops. Jamichael Stillwell averaged 13.0 points and a Horizon-leading 10.7 rebounds per game at Milwaukee while former Hampton star George Beale Jr. averaged 13.0 points for the Pirates.
The Dutchmen and Knights have three common foes this season. Central Florida will face Pittsburgh Nov. 20, before hosting old friend Tom Pecora and Quinnipiac on Nov. 25 and CAA rival Towson on Dec. 7, the same day the Dutchmen visit Pitt and 14 days before they facing Quinnipiac.
Hofstra and Central Florida have never faced each other in men’s basketball.
This marks just the eighth all-time meeting between the schools in any sport. The Flying Dutchmen edged Central Florida, 1-0, in the Central Florida tournament in 2005 while the softball team is 2-4 all-time against the Knights, whom they last faced while absorbing a 1-0 defeat in the UCF Tournament on Feb. 19, 2018.
The Dutchmen are facing a Big 12 team for the second straight season. Houston earned an 80-44 win last Nov. 22.
Hofstra is 0-8 all-time against current Big 12 schools with two losses to Houston and single defeats to Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Utah. However, only four of those defeats — last year’s loss to Houston as well as losses to Kansas, Kansas State and Oklahoma State — happened when the victors were actually members of the Big 12.
At KenPom.com this afternoon, Hofstra is ranked 162nd while Central Florida is ranked 64th. KenPom.com predicts a 79-66 loss for the Dutchmen, but what does he know anyway? Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 12 1/2-point underdogs. The Dutchmen finished 14-17 against the spread last season.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER (OR BLUESKY) IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
Terence Trent d’Arby bias! (Per Wikipedia, which is never wrong, the singer with two huge hits in the ‘80s went to Central Florida)
Esix Snead bias! (Snead played at Central Florida long before he hit the most unlikely walk-off homer in Mets history…also, he only played for the Mets, in case it ever comes up)
Sons of Michael Jordan bias! (Jeffrey and Marcus Jordan both played basketball at Central Florida)
Blake Bortles bias! (Alliteration! Th king of garbage time scores for my 2015 fantasy football team played at Central Florida)
You’re actually a member of the Trans-America Athletic Conference bias! (Seriously, how is Central Florida in the Big 12?)
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