Basketball programs from all over the New York metropolitan area gathered at the David S. Mack Sports Complex on Wednesday, Oct. 12 for the first annual New York City College Basketball Media Day.
In all, eight different schools sent representatives to Hofstra, spanning four conferences.
Each program sent its head coach, as well as a player or two.
For the Pride, it was head coach Joe Mihalich and senior Brian Bernardi and junior Rokas Gustys.
The Northeast Conference had the largest contingent of representatives, with members of Stony Brook University, Long Island University Brooklyn, St. Francis of Brooklyn and Wagner College bearing the NEC flag.
Manhattan College and Iona College came from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association (MAAC), Hofstra was the lone member from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Columbia University represented the Ivy League.
In addition, commissioners from all four of the conferences were on hand for the event, including new CAA Commissioner Joe D’Antonio.
D’Antonio is succeeding the league’s only commissioner in its 30-year history, Tom Yeager.
“What makes the conference special is the people in the conference,” D’Antonio said. “We have some great people and it’s a great conference, both athletically and academically.”
Jeff Hathaway, Hofstra’s director of athletics, opened up the festivities. Hathaway and Stephen Gorchov, the associate director of athletics, were the ones who envisioned this event.
“I think that one of the things that Coach Mihalich and Stephen and I have talked about is that there’s so much great basketball in New York City and Long Island,” Hathaway said. “We’ve got to tell that story. NYC really is the mecca of basketball.”
The event was hosted by Fran Fraschilla, an ESPN college basketball analyst and former coach with ties to the New York area.
“This is the place where I grew up and learned basketball, and it’s also the place where I coached college basketball,” Fraschilla said.
Before stepping behind the press table, Fraschilla got his start in collegiate head coaching at Manhattan, leading the Jaspers to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his four years as head coach.
“I’m a local kid from Brooklyn who wanted to be a college basketball coach, and that dream came true,” Fraschilla said. “I’ve never worked a day in my life.”
After opening remarks from Fraschilla and Hathaway, the head coach of each of the programs in attendance had a turn to give a statement, with Columbia head coach Jim Engels starting it off.
After he was finished, it was Mihalich who took the podium next.
Mihalich, in his fourth year at the helm of the Pride, expressed excitement about the event, as well as about the upcoming season.
The Pride ended last season on a sour note, falling to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in the CAA title game, before losing to George Washington University on a last-second floater in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
“If you’re any good, you always remember those [losses],” Mihalich said. “That’s what makes great players great and successful coaches successful.”
However, with a lot of new, young talent in the mix for the Pride this season, Hofstra has a lot of reason to be gearing up for another crack at the CAA championship this season.
“I see a bunch of really hard-working guys, competitive guys,” Mihalich said about this year’s crop of new talent, including freshmen Elijah Pemberton and Stafford Trueheart as well as transfers like Deron Powers.
Gustys and Bernardi, two of the most experienced players on Hofstra’s roster, are also looking forward to putting the disappointing end to last season behind them.
“I gave everything I had in the conference championship game … I’m humble now,” said Gustys, the second-leading rebounder in the NCAA last season.
“You take two weeks off and put it in the past and move on to this season,” Bernardi said. “We’ve been so hungry since losing that semifinal game [to the College of William & Mary in 2015], that’s what motivates us. If we could bring a championship back to the school, that would be amazing.”
Among the teams gathered in Hempstead for the media event were three teams that will come head-to-head with the Pride this season.
Of the New York metro area schools in attendance at NYC Media Day, Hofstra will take on Manhattan, Columbia and cross-island rival Stony Brook this season.
Hofstra took on both Columbia and Stony Brook last season, defeating the Lions and falling to the Seawolves.
In the “Battle of Long Island,” Stony Brook returns to the Mack Sports Complex for the first time since Dion Nesmith’s buzzer-beater two years ago for the Pride.
Hofstra opens up the season on Nov. 11 against Coppin State University.
The game that Hofstra fans are sure to be circling on their calendars has to be the Pride’s showdown with college basketball powerhouse Kentucky on Dec. 11.
The game was originally scheduled to be payed at the Nassau Coliseum, but continued renovations on the Coliseum have moved the game into the Barclays Center in New York. The game will be televised on ESPN, the first time ever that a Hofstra non-conference regular season contest will be seen on the network.
The Pride will have a lot of work to do if they wish to erase last season’s heartbreaking finish, and climb to the top of the New York metro basketball scene.