Sometimes Desure Buie wonders what might have been for 2020 Hofstra team
Hofstra guard Desure Buie (4) looks at the trophy after Hofstra defeated Northeastern in the CAA Championship on Tuesday, March 10, 2020, in Washington. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
Desure Buie spent most of this winter sitting in his apartment waiting for basketball season to restart. Although he lives and plays in Kocaeli, a city in western Turkey more than 12 hours away from the devastating earthquakes that hit the other side of the country in early February, the disaster shut down the TBL – Turkish Basketball League -- for several weeks.
It’s not the first time serious outside matters have disrupted a season of his.
Three years ago, Buie was a senior guard for Hofstra on the 2020 team that won the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament and clinched a trip to the NCAAs, only to have COVID-19 cancel the marquee event of the college basketball season. That Pride squad became the asterisks in Hofstra’s thin postseason record book -- the team that reached The Big Dance but never got on the floor.
“It was tough, I’m not going to lie. It was very tough,” Buie told Newsday of having his college career end in such a manner. “We went out as winners, though. Can’t complain about that. I’m grateful for that.”
Even while Hofstra was playing in the conference tournament that year, there were rumors about the quickly spreading coronavirus affecting scheduling. There were whispers that one of the officials at the tournament in Washington D.C. had tested positive, and the day after Hofstra won the title and cut down the nets with a 70-61 victory over Northeastern, the team was briefly quarantined at its hotel.
Still, “nobody thought it was that serious,” Buie said. “After we won that game, everything was cool. Everyone was excited, everyone was celebrating.”
Eventually, after a few hours of confusion and decision-making, the team was allowed to leave and return to campus.
Norman Richardson, left, and Jay Hernandez, at a Charlotte Hornets practice on Thursday. Credit: Charlotte Hornets
“We were still on our high horse thinking the tournament would go on,” Buie said of that triumphant arrival home on March 11.
The following day, the tournament was canceled.
No bracket. No seeding. No opponent. Nothing.
“I would have loved to play in the NCAA Tournament,” Buie said. “We finally got over that hump. That was my third year in the championship. I went my freshman year, my junior year and my senior year. We finally got over the hump and finally got to be part of the March Madness where everybody gets to sit down and watch you. As a kid you watch that on TV, you run home from school to watch those games. I wanted to be a part of that and see what it felt like. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
Buie and fellow senior Eli Pemberton had their college tenures end in that manner. Pemberton now plays for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League and has been representing Team USA in some international events.
Buie said it took about two months for him to get over the worst parts of that disappointment. He eventually began to focus on the next steps in his playing path, working out by himself, hoping for a phone call from a professional team even though there were no tryouts or scouting events to attend. He eventually heard from ZZ Leiden of the Dutch Basketball League, but after eight games, their season was shut down. He played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers briefly in 2021 and then landed with MBK Lučenec in Slovenia. This season he is with Kocaeli.
Buie had hoped to be able to return home to the Bronx during the TBL’s break from the earthquakes, mostly to see his 6-year-old daughter Jada, but he had to remain in Turkey instead. The schedule resumed last weekend and he’ll be there through the season, which ends in May.
Might he have been playing at a higher level had he gotten the chance to appear on the big stage of the NCAA Tournament?
“I definitely would have spun some heads,” he said. “But my path is my path. I’m grateful I’m still able to play this game. It’s always in the back of your mind when this time of year comes around, but I’m grateful. I had a great experience at Hofstra. I couldn’t have been more blessed."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
