A fanbase spoiled by 15 years of storybook coaching tales began dreaming of another one Jan. 31, 2009, when Speedy Claxton returned to the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex — dubbed by some as “The House That Speedy Built” when it opened as Hofstra Arena in January 2000— to have his no. 10 retired and raised to the rafters. 

Like thousands of fathers across the country, Martin Inglesby’s bond with his sports-loving son has grown one morning at a time. But neither he nor his son really enjoyed what the daily ritual evolved into over the last few months.

The previously unimaginable — winning a conference tournament yet not getting to perform in the NCAA Tournament — became reality over the span of a few days last March for 11 programs including, of course, CAA champion Hofstra.

The head coach’s teary-eyed press conference into as much a staple of March as brackets, buzzer-beaters and “One Shining Moment.”

A hendecagon, for those who have buried the memories of geometry in the deepest recesses of the mind, is an 11-sided polygon.

Here's how to watch the 2021 Hercules Tires CAA Men’s Basketball Championship on FloHoops.

The life of a walk-on is not a glamorous one, but it’s generally a predictable one.

No returning player for James Madison had more points, rebounds, assists or steals last season than Matt Lewis. So when Lewis was named the preseason player of the year and his team was picked to finish ninth in the polling released Nov. 11, it was entirely reasonable to expect Lewis to be the Prince — the one-man band playing all the instruments — of the purple-clad Dukes. 

A third straight regular-season crown is still a long shot, but the Hofstra men’s basketball team has spent the last three weeks re-establishing itself as one of the favorites to (hopefully) cut down the nets in Harrisonburg in the CAA Tournament (hopefully) scheduled for three weeks from now.

Seemingly lopsided scores in CAA games are a lot like the weather in most regions of the country. Don’t like them? Just wait 15 minutes and they’ll probably change. 

The St. Louis Blues and Washington Nationals mounted two of the most remarkable in-season comebacks in sports history to win championships in 2019. But there were no Blues or Nationals-type stories to be found in the sports that were able to crown champions during the pandemic-dominated 2020.

For a late January game played in a gym without any fans, the end of James Madison’s 79-72 win over Northeastern Sunday afternoon sure had a March feel to it.

Remember the CAA of your misspent younger days? The one where points felt precious, games regularly ended in the 60s and the sludgy style of play was oddly honorable? Well, it’s back!

Bill Coen possesses an affable cautiousness not often found in basketball coaches. And even if he wasn’t so low-key, his resume as one of the most experienced and decorated coaches in CAA history ensures he’s not prone to hyperbole when comparing past and present feats at Northeastern.

It’s been an eventful three weeks in between I’ll Be Quirkys for the Hofstra men’s basketball team. The Pride opened CAA play by sweeping William & Mary during the first weekend of 2021 and absorbed back-to-back painful losses to Northeastern in rematches of the 2020 CAA title game before getting routed by Delaware on Friday and salvaging a split of the series by a literal split second on Sunday.