New York City’s most dominant college basketball team was established by a gangly business professor two decades ago and has no gym of its own. Its campus consists of two buildings near Grand Central Terminal. The team rents its courts, including a rubber one on the second floor of another college near the Financial District.
The roster includes a former resident of a homeless shelter and many players from low-income areas of Brooklyn and the Bronx. Because the school does not offer athletic scholarships, the players typically borrow thousands of dollars for their education.
Most of them have part-time jobs, and they commute by subway to school and to practice, which lasts until 10:30 p.