Hofstra has high hopes in CAA Tournament

A history lesson is in order for the Hofstra men's basketball team as it enters the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. The program's initial appearance, in March 2002, could serve as a useful reminder for the 11th-seeded Pride (10-21) as it faces Georgia State (20-10) Friday night at the Richmond Coliseum.

Second-year coach Mo Cassara has often heard about what Hofstra achieved that first year. "Eddie talks about it all the time,'' Cassara said. He was referring to the team's bus driver, Eddie Dellostritto, who reminded Cassara how that 12-20 team (5-13 in CAA play) under then-first-year Hofstra coach Tom Pecora beat Towson and George Mason before losing to VCU in the semifinal round.

Cassara appreciated the inspirational talk from Dellostritto, especially after a difficult regular season. "We've had six games literally go down to the last possession, lost all six of them," he said. "A little bounce here, one free throw there, a defensive stop."

But that is all erased now. "We think that all the records are out the window," senior forward Nathaniel Lester said. "All your losses are over with. You start off with a clean slate."

Cassara still envisions a successful conclusion to the season. "I think I'd be really satisfied winning that first game,'' he said. "If we win that first game, after that, there's really no pressure on us. As we've seen in so many conference tournaments, anything can happen after you win that first game. I think for us to have won two of our last three at home pretty convincingly and to go down to Richmond and win a first-round game again would be a tremendous accomplishment. And like I said, you win that first game and anything can happen.''

Hofstra never has won the CAA Tournament, which produces an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the players have high expectations. "Our level of success is winning the whole thing. Coming up short of that will be a disappointment,'' Lester said. "I'm not going to stop after Georgia State. I think we are changing it around right now. It's a great time to turn the season around at playoff time.''

"This is why I transferred to Hofstra [from Fordham]. My main thing was postseason accomplishments,'' said senior guard Mike Moore, who led the conference in scoring with a 20.0 average and made the All-CAA second team. "I still want to win games in the postseason.''

If Hofstra advances, it will play George Mason on Saturday in the second round -- just as it did 10 years ago. A little bit of history repeating?