Jack Goodwillie (@jackgoodwillie)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL’s 2014-15 College Season Preview, which will run from October 3-November 14, the first day of games. For the complete rundown, click here)
The Hofstra University basketball program hit rock bottom in 2012 when four players were dismissed from the program mid-season after a string of burglary related arrests.
The depleted Pride finished with just seven wins that season, good for tenth in the Colonial Athletic Conference.
Two years, one coach, and quite a few transfer players later, Hofstra has rediscovered its pride, and feels that it is capable of taking the CAA by storm this season.
And it’s all with a big help from the City of Brotherly Love.
Joe Mihalich (above) and Hofstra should take a big step forward in his second year in the CAA. (Photo: Mark Jordan)
The Hofstra reform effort began with the hiring of head coach Joe Mihalich in April 2013. After compiling a record of 264-203 (.565) during a 14-year stint at Niagara, Mihalich took the reigns of a shaken Hofstra program, leading the Pride to ten wins in his first year on the job.
Outside of getting current players acclimated to Mihalich’s system, however, Hofstra’s win total had little relevance to the program’s big picture.
The Hempstead, N.Y.-based program got more than just a proven basketball coach, however.
Former Niagara standout guards Juan’ya Green and Ameen Tanksley, a pair of Philly natives, followed their coach to Hofstra, but had to sit out the team’s 2013-14 campaign per NCAA transfer rules.
Now eligible to play, both Green and Tanksley will add talent and system awareness to a veteran Hofstra team that only features one player–senior forward Moussa Kone–from that disaster of a 2012-13 year.
For Green, following Mihalich cross-state was a no-brainer.
“[Coach] just makes things easy,” Green said at the team’s media day last month. “He teaches the game. It’s always easy to talk to him about things. He always tries to make you improve your game on and off the court with whatever you’re doing.
“We knew adjusting was going to be easy.”
Mihalich, who was raised in Philadelphia, played at La Salle and coached at his alma mater as an assistant from 1981-98, is excited about the talent that they will bring to the table, but even more excited about the built-in chemistry the two possess.
“I’m a parent of twins,” Mihalich said at the league’s media day last month, referencing two of his three sons. “[Green and Tanksley] are just so close that every once in a while I think that they are twins. It’s kind of neat.”
With Mihalich at the helm, the dynamic backcourt duo helped lead Niagara to a MAAC regular season championship in 2012-13, Green and Tanksley’s last season with the Purple Eagles.
Both Green and Tanksley were double-figure scorers that year. Green, a 6-2 guard out of Archbishop Carroll, averaged 16.5 points per game, while Tanksley, a 6-6 forward from Imhotep, averaged 11.3 points per game.
After having to sit out the 2013-14 season, Green is itching to get back out on the hardwood and be a primary contributor to the Pride this season.
“I can’t wait,” Green said. “I couldn’t even wait until the first practice to get started, I was so ready. Right now, I’m just glad to be back on the court and glad to be playing again.”
Mihalich has witnessed what Green can do on the court first hand, and knows he has the chance to have a career year, but also believes that he will have the talent around him to help him win some games.
“Juan’ya is a very good basketball player,” Mihalich said. “We keep using the word ‘expected’ and I know that he expects a lot out of himself. The beauty of Juan’ya’s talents is that he doesn’t have to do everything himself. He has some people with him.”
Green and Tanksley were not the only Mihalich acquisitions from 2013.
6-5 guard/forward hybrid Jamall Robinson from Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Va. will enter the upcoming season with a year of Division I basketball experience under his belt, and is also expected to contribute after averaging 9.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in 2013-14.
He added another transfer in 6-2 shooting guard Brian Bernardi, who averaged only 3.5 ppg as a freshman at Southern Methodist in 2012-13 but made 41.8 percent of his long-range attempts.
Along with Tanksley in the frontcourt, The Pride will feature a pair a 6-10 forward in true freshman Andre Walker. Coming out of high school, ESPN ranked Walker as the 11th-best player in Maryland.
“We will actually look like a basketball team this year,” Mihalich said. “In the airport people won’t mistake us for a choir. The big guys can play and are definitely going to help us.”
After having to spend a year on the sidelines, Green will have a chip on his shoulder heading into 2014-15. While he found it frustrating to have to sit on the sidelines, unable to assist his teammates during games, he managed to take some positive things away from the experience.
“It was a long wait but I learned [to] just be a good teammate,” Green said. “Just talking to them, clapping for them, cheering for them, just being there for them. [Now], our team chemistry is good on and off the court, and I think it made everything easier with me and Ameen coming in and teaching the new players the plays.”
As for Mihalich, he believes that if his players can satisfy their own individual expectations, they will have a chance to meet the lofty goals that others have set for them.
“Our battle cry is ‘what are your expectations?’” Mihalich said. “Don’t worry about the expectations of your girlfriend, family, fans, media, whatever. Do you expect to win? Satisfy yourself.
“Look at the guy in the mirror and make that guy proud.”
Thanks so much to Jerry Beach at Defiantly Dutch for his help with this story
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL’s 2014-15 College Season Preview, which will run from October 3-November 14, the first day of games. For the complete rundown, click here)
