Former Niagara star has Hofstra Green to go

Joe Mihalich was the coach and Juan'ya Green his star player when Niagara's basketball team won 19 games two seasons ago. It seems entirely possible that that scenario, with plenty of reinforcements, can yield a similar result for Hofstra this season with Mihalich in his second year as Pride coach and Green one of four transfers eligible to compete.

Hofstra not only anticipates its first winning season since going 21-12 in 2010-11 but expects to compete for the Colonial Athletic Association championship.

Green, a 6-2 guard, decided to transfer when Mihalich left Niagara. "I didn't want to start over, basically,'' Green said of playing for a new coach. "When [Mihalich] had the meetings [about leaving], no one knew what to say. It was pretty shocking. It was pretty difficult. Part of me wanted to stay. I didn't want to go through sitting out. Another part of me wanted to go with him.''

Green was a first-team MAAC selection in his sophomore year at Niagara, when he averaged 16.5 points, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds a game. "I think they're going to see a pretty balanced kid,'' Mihalich said of Green. "He scores points, he gets assists, he gets steals, he gets rebounds.''

Mihalich, undermanned in his first season at Hofstra, kept the team competitive and finished 10-23. Green watched from the bench, as did fellow Niagara transfer Ameen Tanksley, SMU transfer guard Brian Bernardi and guard Eliel Gonzalez.

"It was weird just watching everybody warming up and I'm sitting on the bench just cheering on my team,'' Green said. "Now I think we're going to have a pretty good year. Hopefully we get to the championship.''

Mihalich has significant expectations. "If most things go right, we're looking at a team that would have a chance to win the league,'' he said. "That's the dream. That's the goal. The battle cry isn't 'let's finish fifth.' If you don't think that way, we're in the wrong business. We feel like if we do our jobs, we have a chance.''

Having Green and the other transfers waiting in the wings sustained Mihalich through his first season.

"It was frustrating and exciting at the same time,'' he said. "Not just Juan'ya Green, but four guys at the end of the bench who you know are going to make a big difference. It's exciting knowing that their time will come.''

Bernardi, from Staten Island, visited Hofstra as a high school recruit but ultimately chose SMU. "I can't tell you how excited I am,'' he said about returning to action. "It feels like it's been forever. It seems longer than eternity. It's hard practicing every day and you can't go out and play. We looked at it as every practice was a game for us, so we tried to get better each practice.''

Mihalich is not really concerned about the transfers melding with the other players, saying, "It hasn't been what's kept me awake at night. I don't know if it will be seamless. I'm sure there'll be a little bit of a rust factor in there, but you also think and hope it will be short-lived.''

Returning guard Dion Nesmith added, "We've played with these guys [in practice] for a year, we all know each other's styles and we'll get all our kinks out in scrimmages and be ready to go by the time the season starts. We have no time to waste. We want to win now.''

Tanksley is expected to start in the frontcourt. Junior college transfer Malik Nichols joins returnees Jamall Robinson and Moussa Kone to provide depth, and freshman Rokas Gustys is expected to see considerable action.

This will be Hofstra's 14th CAA season, and it has never won the conference title. "This place,'' Mihalich said, "deserves a winner.''