In a single-elimination tournament with the national title on the line, it’s hard to say a team could get extra motivation. How could you need anything more than that? Still, when a coach or player on the opposing team serves up some bulletin board material, sometimes that’s what a team needs to make sure it's locked in against an overmatched but upset-minded opponent.
For Alabama, that opponent is 13th-seeded Hofstra, the champions of the CAA. The Pride are coached by Speedy Claxton, who got them back to the tournament for the first time since 2001, when Jay Wright was the head man on Long Island. However, Claxton wants more than just an appearance. He wants the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. Better yet, he expects it.
Claxton joined CBS after the bracket reveal on Sunday, which pits the Tide and Pride against each other in the Midwest Region on Friday in Tampa, Florida, with tip-off set for 12:15 p.m. ET. His comments were what a coach of a team that hopes to fit into Cinderella’s glass slipper should say, but that doesn’t mean they won’t end up on a bulletin board somewhere in Tuscaloosa.
"We're not (just) happy to be here. We fully expect to win... Going up against Alabama, it's not gonna be any different."@HofstraMBB's Speedy Claxton on his team's expectations for the NCAA Tournament 👀 pic.twitter.com/Wet4d9OVc1
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 16, 2026
Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton expects to knock off Alabama with 1st-round upset
“We’re not (just) happy to be here,” Claxton said. “We fully expect to win. That’s how my guys have been going about it every single game, no matter if we’re playing Colombia, Iona, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, whoever we play, we expect to win, and going up against Alabama, it’s not going to be any different.”
Claxton’s team has notched a few impressive wins this season, including the ones he mentioned over Pitt and Syracuse. However, the Pride are still 0-1 in Quad 1 games, largely because Pitt and Syracuse turned out to be ACC bottom-feeders once again, with the Orange now searching for a new head coach after firing Adrian Autry.
Hofstra is a good team, and star guard Cruz Davis, who averages 20.2 points a game, could be equipped to go toe-to-toe with Labaron Philon Jr. and Aden Holloway, Alabama’s dynamic backcourt duo. Yet, the Tide opened as 12.5-point favorites for a reason. It’ll take more than Davis and his running-mate, Preston Edmead, to down Alabama, and despite his team’s ugly loss in the SEC Tournament to Ole Miss, Nate Oats should be the one expecting to win on Friday.