HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Stony Brook’s Lucas Woodhouse enjoys studying 19th and 20th Century United States history. St. Francis’ Yunus Hopkinson is a fan of the soliloquies spun by the rapper Tory Lanez. Manhattan College’s Zavier Turner, originally from Indianapolis, said his “welcome to New York” moment came when he went out for a slice of pizza and encountered a rat the size of a cat.
If those sound like scenes plucked from a speed dating event, that assumption would not be far off. Inside Hofstra’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Wednesday afternoon, players and coaches from eight New York City-area midmajor college basketball programs sat around tables not selling themselves to potential suitors, but promoting their personal stories and those of their respective teams in front of a rarity: a large news media audience.