In basketball, one of the most culturally revered titles a player can hold is New York City Point God.
Being a New York point guard means you’re special. You have the ball in your hands, you control the flow of the game and you’re the center of attention both on and off the court.
In other words, you’re the man everyone is watching and you’re not relinquishing that for anyone or anything.
“A New York City point guard will give up his girl and his chain before he give up his dribble,” said Stephon Marbury in the “NYC Point Gods” documentary.
But that title is a heavy weight to shoulder for you follow in the path of broken ankles carved out by the likes of Pearl Washington, Mark Jackson, Rod Strickland, Kenny Anderson, Marbury and many other New York City legends.
It also means that after your playing days are over, the title stays with you no matter your next step in life.
That holds true for three well known New York point guards who pursued coaching and are now leading DI college programs in the New York/New Jersey area.
We start in Brooklyn, home of iconic names such as Biggie, Jay Z and Junior’s. Across the street from the latter is the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University, and that’s where legendary NYC Point God Rod Strickland has rejuvenated the university’s basketball program.
Strickland returned home to New York and took over the Sharks program in 2022. Unfortunately, winning did not come quickly for the Bronx basketball legend.
But even though his teams lost more than they won early on, the program improved each year, going 3-26, 7-22 and 17-16.
This season, Strickland finally broke through the frustration as the team went 24-10, won the NEC regular season and Tournament titles and received a bid to the NCAA Tournament, where his 16th seeded team will face the no.1 seed in the East, the Arizona Wildcats this week.
While the Bronx native was building his program, Speed Claxton was finding success doing the same in Long Island at his alma mater, Hofstra.
Since taking over in 2021, Claxton has had only one losing season (15-18 last season) and this year the Pride bounced back to post a 24-10 record, captured the CAA Tournament title and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time under his watch.
This week Claxton, who is from Long Island but played high school ball at legendary basketball school Christ the King in Queens, will lead his 13th seeded team against the fourth seeded Alabama Crimson Tide in the Midwest region.
The final NYC Point God is Shaheen Holloway, who hails from Queens but made his mark in high school and college in New Jersey.
The Queens native traveled to The Patrick School in Union, NJ to star on the hardwood, after which he took his talents to Seton Hall University in South Orange, where he became one of the greatest players in program history.
Holloway then moved into coaching, getting his first head coaching job in 2018 at Saint Peter’s University in NJ. Four years later, Holloway led his team in a thrilling March Madness run that included an overtime upset of Kentucky and advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history after beating Murray State. The team then made history again by becoming the first 15 seed to advance to the Elite Eight after upsetting third seeded Purdue.
That run convinced his alma matter to call him home, and a few weeks after that remarkable run, Holloway returned to Seton Hall as the Pirates’ new head coach. In his four years at the helm, the Pirates have gone 70-65, including 21-12 this season.
And while they unfortunately didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this year, Holloway was named Big East Coach of the Year.
So all three former stars are continuing to successfully lead their teams, this time with a clipboard.
And that’s what NYC Point Gods do, no matter the surface or role.
