It’s hard to come up with a student-athlete with a more tumultuous career than recent Hofstra graduate Moussa Kone. The 6’8” forward from the Bronx represented the Pride’s senior-most member during the 2014-15 season and was the only member of the team to don the Hofstra uniform over the last four years. Continue reading “Nesmith, Kone Leave Hofstra In Good Hands”
Earlier this month, Gotham Hoops hosted the inaugural Gotham Hoops Invitational at Farmingdale State College. The event was a showcase for over two dozen Men’s College Basketball seniors in the Tri-State area.
Participants included a diverse array of players from local Division I, II, and III schools. The players were separated into four teams and played two exhibition games to show off their skills. This was just one opportunity for these seniors to play in front of friends, media, and scouts as they pursue their dreams of playing professionally.
Big Apple Buckets was at the event, and we were able to catch up with some local players including Manhattan’s Rhamel Brown, Hofstra’s Stephen Nwaukoni, and Quinnipiac’s Ike Azotam. Continue reading “Players on Their Future at the Gotham Hoops Invitational”
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A 17-0 run during which four different Pride players knocked down 3-pointers helped Hofstra pull away from William & Mary early in the second half Wednesday night for a 77-60 CAA victory. After nursing a narrow lead for much of the game, the Pride’s furious run broke the game open as they led by as much as 23 late in the game. Continue reading “Hofstra 77, William & Mary 60”
This is the second of what will eventually be capsules for each of the NYC teams when I’m sure their season has concluded.
Team: Hofstra
Record: 10-22 (3-15 in the CAA); season ended by 85-50 loss to Georgia State in CAA First Round
Season High: There were actually two. A 63-53 win over Cleveland State in November and an 83-75 home win over Iona on Dec. 29.
Season Low: The final game, the worst loss in CAA Tournament history.
Really Good At: Offensive Rebounding — Hofstra was the third best offensive rebounding team in the CAA during conference play. Nathaniel Lester, Stephen Nwaukoni and Moussa Kone all showed an ability to get to glass.
Struggled With: Shooting — The Pride finished 11th in the CAA in effective field goal percentage. They shot poorly from three (29.8%) and two (42.3%). That led to an offense that finished 11th in the CAA in efficiency.
Key Losses:
Key Returnees:
Outlook: Cloudy. Hofstra loses its two best players and one of two key playmakers from an offense that just wasn’t very good. If you took Moore out of the equation, the Pride’s offense this season could’ve been classified as miserable. Yes, Hofstra certainly got unlucky during a number of losses in conference play, but they went 4-15 in 2012. All of that leaves Mo Cassara with a lot of work to do in order to field a competitive team again in 2012-13. He continues to bring in big men with high upside. Moussa Kone should improve next season and will be joined in the front court by 6’7″ recruit Jimmy Hall. Still, without a returning player who averaged more than 7.0 points per game it’s tough to predict an improvement next season. There is one potential silver bullet though for Cassara. He’s got two key transfers who will be eligible next season – Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Taran Buie. Both started their careers at BCS schools (Connecticut and Penn State respectively) and should immediately impact the offense. Coombs-McDaniel in particular was an efficient scorer off the bench on UConn’s National Championship team. He’ll add another key wing. At 6’2″ Buie wasn’t really a pure point guard at Penn State. He didn’t play much for the Nittany Lions in 2010-11, but he did shoot a ton when he was on the court. It should give Cassara another confident backcourt player to add the rotation alongside Mejia.
Saturday was a busy day in college basketball. Besides Columbia’s win over Manhattan, full coverage of which you can find below, there were five other games on the schedule. Hofstra got the biggest win of the day, a 63-53 victory over Cleveland State, but there were some other good wins as well.
NYC Buckets Archive 