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Bronx-bred Rod Strickland is New York City basketball royalty. The former Truman High School star played 17 years in the NBA after being drafted in the first round by his hometown Knicks in 1988. He currently stands 14th on the NBA’s all-time assists list with 7,987.
Craig “Speedy” Claxton is a Hempstead, Long Island, native who was a standout at Christ the King High School in Queens. Arguably the greatest hooper in Hofstra University history, Claxton, a 2000 first-round pick by the Philadelphia 76ers played in the NBA from 2000-2009 and was an integral member of the San Antonio Spurs’ 2003 championship squad.
Now Strickland and Claxton are leaders of NCAA Tournament teams. The latter has piloted Long Island University (24-10) into the big dance, having been named the 2026 Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year. Claxton, steering his alma mater’s men’s basketball program, has taken the 24-10 Pride to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, when they were led by 2021 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jay Wright, who won two NCAA Tournaments in 2016 and 2018 as the head coach of Villanova University.
Rod Strickland and Speedy Claxton have coached Long Island University and Hofstra University respectively into the NCAA Tournament.(Credit: Rafael Suanes CAA) Credit: Rafael Suanes CAA
Hofstra received an automatic bid by defeating Monmouth 75-69 in the Coastal Athletic Association tournament last week.
“This moment is so surreal, it means so much to [me,] this program, this university,” Claxton said. “These kids never wavered, they stayed confident, and I can’t say enough about them. This started way back in June when we first got to campus. They listened to every single thing that we had to tell them, and I couldn’t be happier for these kids. This is a moment that they are going to share for a lifetime. Like I told them on the court, I won a championship at every level — high school, collegiate, professional. My collegiate championship meant the most to me.”
Strickland steered the LIU Sharks to the Northeast Conference tournament championship with a 79-70 win over Mercyhurst last week. The Sharks last appeared in the NCAA tournament eight years ago and are winless in their seven prior NCAA Tournament games. With a No. 16 seed in the West region, earning their first win will be extremely difficult, as they will face the No. 1 seed Arizona Wildcats at Viejas Arena in San Diego tomorrow (1:35 p.m.)
The Hofstra Pride earned the 13th seed in the Midwest Region, and will play the No. 4 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (23-9) tomorrow (3:15 p.m.) at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. It will be the first matchup between the two programs. Alabama junior guard Aden Holloway, who is the team’s second leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, is no longer with the Tide after his arrest on Monday. Holloway, a first-round NBA prospect, is facing multiple felony drug charges after law enforcement authorities found 2.1 pounds of marijuana in his residence while executing a search warrant.