What Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton said about facing Alabama in NCAA Tournament

TAMPA, Fla. — Hofstra coach Speedy Claxton spoke to reporters at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday afternoon, previewing a first-round matchup with No. 4-seed Alabama.

Here is everything Claxton said about the 4-13 matchup against the Crimson Tide.

Q. I’ve got to start with the shirt, the quote on the shirt. Where did you get the idea for it?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: Well, it speaks for itself. We’ve had a ton of great guards here, starting with myself to Desure Buie, Justin Wright-Foreman, Aaron Estrada, Tyler Thomas, these two guys that I have now in Preston and Cruz, Charles Jenkins. Hofstra has always been a place that we’ve raised good guards. I’m the one who kind of started that, so I’m the Guardfather.

Q. Speaking of the guards, what do you make of the matchup between your guys and Philon? How good is he, and what makes him so good?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: He’s a great player. He can score at three levels. He’s an NBA player. We’re definitely going to have our hands full, but I feel like I have good guards myself.

I think it’s going to be a really good game. I think it’s going to be great guard play from both sides.

Q. When you’re playing against an Alabama team that’s so high tempo, how has the scout kind of gone? How are you preparing your guys? Is anything being done differently to counter the offense?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: We’re going to instill the same game plan that we have against William and Mary. They play a similar style tempo. We told our guys think of William and Mary on steroids, more athletic, bigger, faster, stronger.

It’s not like we’re not used to seeing this play style. Definitely going to try to control tempo. I think it’s going to be a big key to the game.

Q. Speedy, can you tell us a little bit about when you first started to think about coaching and how you got into this business?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: Yeah, it was pretty much my last year that I was playing. I was with Golden State Warriors, Don Nelson was the coach at the time. One day after practice he pulled me to the side, and he asked me if I ever thought about coaching. Up until that point, I hadn’t.

I said, no, not really. He was like, you should think about it. I think you would make a helluva coach. That’s what prompted the idea.

I was like, well, here I have a Hall of Fame coach tell me that I should think about coaching, so I said, all right, let me start thinking about coaching.

Coach Mihalich got the job at Hofstra, I went to him the AD at the time, Jeff Hathaway and I asked to be part of the program.

Q. (No microphone.)

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I did not. I’m not going to lie, my first years it was kind of rough. It’s different, going from being a player to being a coach and being in the office from 9:00 to 6:00, 7:00. It was a change in lifestyle for me, but once I got used to it, I loved it.

Q. This season has had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of ups. What’s the biggest area of growth you’ve seen in your team from the start to where we are right now?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I would say confidence. As the season has gone along, my kids’ confidence has grown after each and every game, whether we win or lose. They believe they should have won if we lost, and if we won, they’re excited. So I would say confidence.

These kids, they truly believe whoever’s in front of us, we can win the game.

Q. I know one of your messages to all the guys is to not look at this as anything bigger than it is. How do you impress upon them — obviously you played at all the levels and gone through this before. How do you get that through their minds not to make where they — it’s the first time in 25 years —

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I’m sorry. Honestly, I want them to embrace everything, enjoy the moment, because this is truly special for myself, the program, the university, the community. It’s been a long time since we’ve been here. I want my guys to embrace the moment.

Q. One of the guards you talked about as being a big time guard matchup, but Alabama has Jalil Bethea, who’s going to have a bigger role in this game. What do you make of Jalil and how big of a role he’s going to be playing?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I know Jalil. I knew him in high school. I’m sure he’ll have a bigger role if Holloway doesn’t play. We’re going to prepare as if Holloway is playing, and if we get news that he’s not going to play, then we’ll adjust.

Q. Nate Oats had some praise for you earlier in the week. Talked about the interaction you had while he was pursuing Aaron Estrada. Talk about those conversations and what you’ve seen out of Nate as a program builder and the job he’s done.

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I have great respect for Nate. He comes from the mid-major ranks. He was at Buffalo, had great success. I know he’s not going to overlook us because he had success when he was at Buffalo being in Arizona, I believe.

Truly respect what he’s done at Alabama. He’s done an unbelievable job there. Definitely looking forward to matching up against him.

Q. Was it a surprise when you saw Coach Mihalich on the trip with you guys, and what’s it been like having him on the trip with you?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: It means everything having one of my biggest coaching mentors with me here in this moment. Coach Mihalich is the one who taught me the college game and to see basketball through a coaching lens. I’m happy to share this moment with him.

Q. Of your two starting guards, what characteristics for each do you like the most between Preston and Cruz?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I’m going to say with Preston just how competitive he is and his confidence. Like that kid is well beyond his years. The things that he’s doing right now as a freshman is truly remarkable. I don’t think he even understands fully what he’s doing right now.

Then with Cruz, it’s just his approach, man. He had a chance to leave us after last season and go out in the portal for a significant amount of money. To his credit, he wanted to stay and get better. I’m just thankful that he’s seeing the fruits of his labor come true because hard work truly pays off.

Q. You were robbed of this experience in 2020. What has it been like this whole experience leading up to tomorrow?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: It’s been a whirlwind. Like you said, our experience kind of got cut short during that COVID year. So finally being here in front of you guys and being in Tampa and hopefully being able to play because I’ve still got — you know.

It’s just been great just to go through the whole experience, the whole week, going out to restaurants, receiving standing ovations, getting texts, DMs, e-mails from family, friends, even people that I don’t know that’s wishing us well. It’s been truly an amazing week for me.

Q. You talked a lot over the last few years about the ever-changing way college basketball is with NIL and the transfer portal. I was wondering if you could touch on what are the biggest challenges for you at your school in terms of dealing with that every year?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: Obviously it’s keeping my good young players. Yes, it’s forever a changing landscape, but the biggest thing for myself and my program is being able to keep a Cruz Davis, hopefully being able to keep Preston Edmead.

But we have a great culture here, and our guys they truly love being here. That’s the only reason Cruz stayed last year. He passed up a lot of money to be here.

Q. Obviously Syracuse and Pitt didn’t quite have the best seasons this year, but when you look at your bigs and the experience they got playing against those high major teams, how do you think that carries over into this kind of matchup with Alabama?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: I’m not worried about my bigs at all, because honestly I believe we have bigs that are more suited to go up against high majors than mid-majors. When you play against a mid-major team that plays with a smaller five, that’s where we struggle as a team, and that’s where my bigs struggle guarding.

So going up against a high major team, I like my bigs’ chances against those guys better quite honestly.

Q. Speedy, just kind of going back to what it means, there are a few coaches that get to coach for the school they played for, and now you’ve delivered a conference championship as a player and a coach. Is there any extra meaning behind that for you?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: There’s always extra meaning for me. We’re talking about legacy right now. Obviously, like you said, I’ve won here as a player, now as a coach. So it means so much more to me.

Hofstra is a very special place, always will be a special place. I just want to thank President Poser, Rick Cole for giving me the opportunity to come back and lead this program. I keep saying Hofstra is a very special place because of the people that’s involved at Hofstra. It starts at the top with President Poser and just trickles all the way down. Everybody falls in line after that.

Q. Coming back to the bigs, Alabama’s team struggled on the boards a lot. You guys have had success with offensive rebounds. How do you evaluate that matchup with Alabama with Aiden Sherrell, who’s had some big moments. What have you seen out of him?

SPEEDY CLAXTON: That’s what we do. We try to attack the glass on the offensive side of things. We know they’re bigger than us obviously, but we’re not going to change our style of play. We’re going to go and try to get extra possessions. It’s not going to be a check the box type of a day for us. We’re truly going to go out there and try to pursue the basketball.

Sherrell is a big time athlete, but we’re going to go after him.

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