By Dylan Butler
Last week at the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, Suarez bottomed out. He was suspended by Hofstra head coach Jay Wright for the Pride's opener, a 58-52 win over Rutgers, after arriving late to practice. Suarez also missed a preseason game for arriving late to practice.
In the championship game of the tournament against Penn State, Suarez was cleared to play, but again languished on the bench as Wright opted to go with a bigger, more veteran lineup in a 74-71 loss to the Nittany Lions last Wednesday.
“I knew this was a big game against an experienced team. I didn't want to put him in a situation he couldn't handle,” Wright said. “He's going to be a good player. He just has to learn to play a team game. He doesn't fight it, he has just struggled with it.”
Two games on the bench at the ECAC Holiday Festival capped a very trying first semester for Suarez, on and off the basketball court. Wright said Suarez worked so hard in the classroom that his basketball growth has suffered.
“He's spent so much time academically and has done so well, I didn't think it would entail so much time on his part and it's slowed his progress basketball-wise,” Wright said. “It has drained him.”
Making matters worse for now is the way Suarez began his collegiate career. In front of his parents in Miami Fla. in the Florida International Tip Off Classic, the 6-foot point guard scored 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including 3-for-3 from downtown as Hofstra defeated Northern Illinois, 81-57. The graduate of St. Mary's in Manhasset followed that with a 10-point effort in a 78-50 victory over Florida International, earning him all-tournament honors.
In Hofstra's third game in the Sunshine State, Suarez had 11 points and five assists in an 87-67 win over Florida Atlantic. The Pride returned to New York and defeated Long Island rival Stony Brook, 72-60, as Suarez scored in double figures for a fourth straight game, netting 12 points in 24 minutes.
“When I accomplished all that – I was surprised I made the all-tournament team – I thought things were going to be great,” Suarez said. “Then things started to change. I can't let that go to my head.”
As his playing time dwindled – 24 minutes against the Seawolves to just nine against Delaware, to two minutes against Drexel, five vs. Iona and four against St. John's – the more those around Suarez began to complain. The same people who were perplexed when Suarez picked Hofstra over Atlantic Coast Conference team Clemson again questioned his decision.
“When I committed to Hofstra, I shocked a lot of people, even my high school coach [Tim Cluess] was shocked,” he said.
Suarez said he even began to think about leaving Hofstra and transferring during some of the darker days.
“I thought a lot, but I just can't leave,” he said. “I just have to look at it that I have three more years here. Hopefully, things will change.”
According to Wright, things will change.
“He's going to be good, very good,” he said. “He just has to learn to play within the system. He's very coachable, he just has a lot to learn.”
Wright said Suarez has similarities to former Christ the King standout Claxton, who was drafted in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He can flat out score, he has an ability to score you can't teach,” Wright said of Suarez. “He can do a lot of the same things as Speedy. For a guy who can score, he is not selfish at all. But Speedy was just a lot more ready, academically, socially and in terms of experience.”
Suarez also didn't think things would be this tough. After returning from his native Dominican Republic and attending the elite ABCD camp in the summer of 1999, Suarez chose Hofstra to be closer to his mother.
However, his mother decided to leave Queens and join Joel's father to live in Miami. For his senior year at St. Mary's, Suarez lived with an aunt and he now lives on his own in a dorm on the Hofstra campus. Making matters worse, Suarez's first class is at 9 a.m. each day, forcing him to miss the last of the Pride's three-hour morning practices.
It has been a difficult adjustment for the 19-year-old.
“It gets pretty tough, but you have to learn to balance things,” Suarez said. “In college, you have the freedom to go anywhere you want, but you will end up failing out. It's been hard, but I did good my first semester.”
And now that the first semester is behind him, Wright said Suarez will be able to concentrate more on basketball.
“He knows what he's doing on the court, he just has to learn what his teammates are doing out there,” Wright said. “I really think this time now in January, he's going to really get comfortable and know what we're doing.”
