Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE
Earlier during the offseason, a certain Rant Sports CAA basketball writer was criticized for not ranking the Hofstra Pride within the top half of the CAA in his Preseason Rankings. The argument was made largely in part of the Pride’s additions to this season’s roster, most notably two transfer students.
However, after Taran Buie transferred from Penn State and Jamaal Coombs-McDaniel transferred from Connecticut, the two key additions have been suspended 4 games for violating team rules. The suspension will eliminate the two key components of Hofstra’s roster from two preseason games as well as two regular season contests.
Previously, Buie scored 5.8 points for the Nitanny Lions and Coombs-McDaniel scored 5.6 points for the Huskies when they were last season on a college basketball court.
Head coach Mo Cassara has high expectations for what these two newcomers can contribute to the team, specifically experience and leadership. Unfortunately, neither has been able to balance their academic lives with their basketball activities thus far into their times in upstate New York.
With only Stevie Mejia, David Imes and Stephen Nwaukoni returning from Cassara’s rotation last season, Buie and Coomb-McDaniel were expected to step in right away and contribute. Even though they won’t be on the court early in the season, the two newcomers are still eligible to participate in basketball-related activities up until their suspensions begin. With many new faces and inexperienced players filling in new roles, the Pride will need as many chances to build chemistry that they can get if they want to compete in the conference this season.
Jake Fischer is the CAA Correspondent for Rant Sports-NCAA Basketball. Make sure to follow Jake on Twitter @fischsportsline.
