Game 4 vs. Iona, 12/5/20, 4 PM on Flosports

[Wags]

Future trivia question: Who did Rick Pitino defeat in his first coaching win at Iona? Answer: Hofstra.

One Hofstra game after Farrelly's first head coaching win (possibly the first of many himself, since he's a good coach and still pretty young).

The Mack: the place where history is made in front of no fans during the pandemic.

[Polito]

I'm with you Wags on the shooting, I don't believe for one second it's going to start happening magically - HU has had recent years where people said the same thing and the shots never came - and their ultimate goal suffered - the one thing that could help them mitigate it is the D - this team seems to have potential there at least

Regarding that, and Coburns comment you noted, that is because of one thing and one thing only, and I've been calling it out loudly --->>> LACK OF LEADERSHIP

Ray and Coburn need to get their acts together and start leading their team. And that's a lot more than scoring points, although they both need to keep working on that as well. Heard all offseason directly from staff Ray was ready to take over - well let's go, the season started 3 games ago. YOU are the guy now, you gotta step IN and step UP!

If they can't because they don't have the ability or talent, then this team is in trouble. Buie was not only a stud point, he was a superior leader. This team has neither thus far.

[Wags]

I'm with you Wags on the shooting, I don't believe for one second it's going to start happening magically - HU has had recent years where people said the same thing and the shots never came - and their ultimate goal suffered - the one thing that could help them mitigate it is the D - this team seems to have potential there at least

Regarding that, and Coburns comment you noted, that is because of one thing and one thing only, and I've been calling it out loudly --->>> LACK OF LEADERSHIP

Ray and Coburn need to get their acts together and start leading their team. And that's a lot more than scoring points, although they both need to keep working on that as well. Heard all offseason directly from staff Ray was ready to take over - well let's go, the season started 3 games ago. YOU are the guy now, you gotta step IN and step UP!

If they can't because they don't have the ability or talent, then this team is in trouble. Buie was not only a stud point, he was a superior leader. This team has neither thus far.

Today was so typical of what this team is with its shooting. Ray 3/7 from 3 and Coburn 3/8 from 3. Combined, that's 6/15 (40%). Not great, but good enough -- 18 points on 40% (6/15) from 3 = 18 points on 60% (9/15) from 2. The problem is shot distribution and believing too much that the other guys can shoot. The rest were 0/8 from 3 (Silverio 0/4 and Green & Burgess each 0/2) -- those are times when as a team, they need to instead get much better looks from 2 (find Kante maybe?) or let the only two guys on the roster who can shoot from deep (Ray and Coburn) take those shots.

Cramer also does so many different things well but 1/6 from the line today?! Brutal! And 26/39 from the line as a team after they shot so well from there the past two years, they again, need to get guys to the line who can make them (unfortunately no more near automatics from there like Buie). It's encouraging that they are still getting there a lot. Coburn got there 17 times in this game and HU drew 17 fouls in the second half. But like shooting from the floor, that only matters if the right guys are taking and making them.

The bulk of the shot attempts have to go to Coburn, Ray and Kante, with Cramer next. Burgess can't be going 1/7 overall and Silverio 0/4 from 3 if they're not going to have much better shot selection. If they don't, then redistribute those attempts to the other three. Let Ray and Coburn shoot close to 40% from 3 (good enough), get Kante close to 10 shots a game inside to open up outside shots for Ray & Coburn and driving lanes for those two and slashing for Cramer.

And, the defense can't take games or halves off. It has to be with the intensity, communication and effort of the second half against FDU, not how it was for most of the game against Iona or the first half against FDU.

Fix those things, I think they can compete well in the CAA this year.

[joeg1]

Buie took some time. Remember he was here 5 years. The kids have talent. They are still learning how to play

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[Wags]

Buie took some time. Remember he was here 5 years. The kids have talent. They are still learning how to play

Fair enough for Burgess still and for Green, who has barely started. And maybe for Cowart too, though he's already a junior.

But Silverio shot 32.1% overall & 33.3% from 3 with URI, then 30.4% overall & 28.8% from 3 with HU last year.
This year, he's started 6/20 (30%) overall and 3/12 (25%) from 3.
He still has time left, but he too is already a junior and there's enough body of work already there to strongly indicate that maybe "he is what he is" rather than showing any sort of growth to build on down the stretch of his final two years.

[triplec2195]

Future trivia question: Who did Rick Pitino defeat in his first coaching win at Iona? Answer: Hofstra.

Jojo was this meant to just lighten the otherwise very somber mood here?? Lol

[triplec2195]

I know I sound like Captain Obvious, but we are getting nothing from anyone, except the three seniors. Omar S is what he has been, awful, a turnover machine with a bad shot. Rhode island's loss is now our loss. Green? I get he's a true freshman, but , , , Has anyone seen Truehart? He's better than what I'm seeing from many of the guys playing.

Since nobody has talked about Trueheart and probably a lot of people are indifferent to his presence or absence thereof I don't believe he has been on the floor during warmups so I'm assuming he's hurt. If he wasn't hurt he would have gotten minutes for sure against Rutgers where we needed some size but the last thing we need is another player who's going to launch another brick three from the corner or wing. We have an entire team of bricklayers here between Green, Silverio, Burgess and even Ray at times taking bad shots. We can't live and die on the three ball and one and done O possessions. We did do what a HU team normally does get to the foul line unfortunately we didn't have the guys who shot 80% here anymore. This could become a major Achilles heal for us if we can't capitalize from the FT line.

[Dooku25]

Buie took some time. Remember he was here 5 years. The kids have talent. They are still learning how to play

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As freshmen, Buie and Burgess were in similar situations- (Buie behind Juan'ya and Burgess behind Buie). Buie appeared in every game (34 games) averaging 12 minutes per. Burgess only appeared in 23 games last year at 6 mins per. And to be fair, Buie flashed potential his freshman year. Burgess did not, and has yet to show much 3 games into his soph season.. With all that said, I am still rooting for him of course. He ended up with 7 assists and 1 turnover yesterday, and he looked a bit more vocal out there. Hopefully he can build off that and start playing with some confidence.

There are several concerns right now so it's not all about Burgess anyway. The team as a whole played a game vs a Pitino coached team like it was a scrimmage. Very disappointing effort, and after watching the presser this morning, I am glad Coach Farrelly called that out. It's still early in the season, and this is a tough situation if you keep in mind the shortened off-season prep time and game cancellations etc, but we can't make excuses because our opponents are in the same situation. Iona had no issue bringing effort and toughness to Hofstra yesterday.

[Wags]

Buie took some time. Remember he was here 5 years. The kids have talent. They are still learning how to play

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As freshmen, Buie and Burgess were in similar situations- (Buie behind Juan'ya and Burgess behind Buie). Buie appeared in every game (34 games) averaging 12 minutes per. Burgess only appeared in 23 games last year at 6 mins per. And to be fair, Buie flashed potential his freshman year. Burgess did not, and has yet to show much 3 games into his soph season.. With all that said, I am still rooting for him of course. He ended up with 7 assists and 1 turnover yesterday, and he looked a bit more vocal out there. Hopefully he can build off that and start playing with some confidence.

There are several concerns right now so it's not all about Burgess anyway. The team as a whole played a game vs a Pitino coached team like it was a scrimmage. Very disappointing effort, and after watching the presser this morning, I am glad Coach Farrelly called that out. It's still early in the season, and this is a tough situation if you keep in mind the shortened off-season prep time and game cancellations etc, but we can't make excuses because our opponents are in the same situation. Iona had no issue bringing effort and toughness to Hofstra yesterday.

When they start out by chucking 11 3s (missing 9) out of their first 18 shots and watch a 6-2 lead turn into an 18-9 deficit by giving up a 16-3 run, instead of establishing an aggressive, attacking tone from the start, they have the tendency to naturally hang their heads defensively. That leads to giving up buckets and putting even more pressure on them offensively. That snowballs quickly into a lack of confidence that often shows itself as poor effort or poor intensity. Establish the proper tone from the start instead of everyone foolishly thinking they're Steph Curry, and it'll at least look like the effort is there, whether the results are or not.

[Polito]

All goes back to leadership, they currently have none on the floor. Really disappointed in Ray not yet rising to the occasion. I think the staff and team are depending on him to do so (they're not wrong, he needs to be). Coburn has started to step up a bit more last 2 games, but the inconsistency of 'presence' from them both is really hurting this group so far. They have to show up.

Some may not believe this, but watch the film, Burgess is starting to play really well in terms of being a true point guard, he is creating, dishing, seeing the floor, setting up the O, excellent defender, etc. Can't score with a lick, so having zero production there is unfortunately equally as detrimental to the HU system. The 1 is THE most important position they have, it has to fire on all cylinders or they typically don't go far.

Cowart has been a big disappointment thus far, so that's certainly not helping. Not only is he not scoring either, but he isn't yet running the O as a true floor general. I get he's going to need time to acclimate, just acknowledging the impact. It's Burgess for now, and the staff needs to develop 1 of those two in a hurry. Speedy, all you my man!

On Silverio, agree he is the X factor for this club (at least until Bethea is available), but the dangerous side is he can also be a negative X factor rather than a positive one - he has to make shots. He either pours gas on the momentum or totally kills it. He has looked a bit better than last year, but still not clicking yet. I'd like to see Zion get a shot out there sooner rather than later.

[Flying Dutchmen]

I mean it's been 3 games. It took 5 games with the seniors we had last year to get going, and we really didn't hit our stride until the end of January. I was pretty disappointed, this was our chance to beat Pitino. I thought we were sloppy, but I'm honestly not shocked, especially upon a weekend of reflection.

Offensively, I actually thought our strategy was good. We were highly aggressive, Iona was going to foul, and we got to the line 39 times. I know we were throwing up a lot of 3's early, but they were mostly open shots, and Iona had 7 blocks, 4 in the first 7.5 minutes, it was a matter of adapting to what Iona was giving us.

We just can't hit shots, sometimes it comes down to that. Silverio was horrendous, consider my expectations tempered. Green looks like he's in a funk, I'd love for him to get off the schneid with an easy layup or something, just so we can see what he has. Burgess had a great defensive day, brutal offensive day. So many times he got the dribble penetration just to be tentative and not go up with the shot or quickly move it, stalling out the play. That's not going to help Coburn and Ray, who have feasted off the ball. Their roles are evolving, but I thought Ray got lost in the 2nd half, and that was somewhat a product of poor ball movement. Isaac is playing fine, but he's getting the Rok treatment because we cannot hit a bucket. Luckily he's a good FT shooter.

But also credit to Iona, their big man, Joseph, is going to be a top mid-major player, he's very smooth and a strong defender. Ross had an awesome game, and their role-players hit big shots. I thought their full-court ride really hurt our offensive setup, and was the difference in the game.

We're struggling to get a rotation going, it's not surprising, considering the loss of Pemba and Buie, just wish we had more time. I thought our substitutions hurt us throughout the game, but a lot of that was just due to nobody being able to hit a shot, and Cramer being in foul trouble most of the game. Burgess has looked good, like he could actually play PG, but his shooting has been so brutal, sometimes I think he can't be on the court. We can't win if he's going to shoot at this clip, we could be a force in the CAA if he can find it.

[joeg1]

There's more to offense than jump shots. Run some set plays for the bigs

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[triplec2195]

If you take a look at our percentages in D-1 all of our numbers relative to all other D-1 teams are pathetic. We're 270th in field goal percentage or 37%, 282 in 3 point percentage or 23.4%, points scored 198th with rebounding being our best statistic at 163rd or 36.6 RPG. Our FG % last year was 45% our 3 point % was 37.5. Granted this is a small sample size but for sure cause for concern. If our inept 3 point % shooting doesn't improve dramatically we may have to change our entire offensive game plan. Before this season started I brought up whether or not we would try pressing in the back court but there were some here that said we should go with what has been successful in the past. The same people who now want to advocate using a full court press or some derivative of it. For me and I'm sure most fans I'm all about winning and doing whatever it takes to win but personally I hate the full court press. I like to see the game played wide open and running up and down the court and creating opportunities because the defense doesn't have the time to set up. I guess my biggest problem with the full court press is hounding the inbounds pass. If you want to press once the ball after it gets in-bounded fine but taking your biggest player and having him front the in-bounds pass just annoys me. IDK how others feel I know it's a part of the game but just slows everything up.
As far as our PG's are concerned it's true that Caleb looked better in the last game in terms of getting the ball to convert some passes into actual points but FD makes a good point. He penetrated into the paint then it looked like now what do I do instead of trying to score. It looked awkward for sure not knowing what to do after beating your defender and why not shoot?? OK if we get open 3's when the D collapses on him fine but he needs to be confident in his shot. Another thing I have issues with someone especially a guard who can draw contact and get fouled but can't shoot foul shots. IMO all guards have to be good FT shooters and this is something that needs to be worked on until it's almost automatic. We have had for the past few years a team that was one of the best in the country in shooting FT's. We won a lot of games from the foul line and we need to continue being exemplary from the FT line.

[EvanJ]

Since nobody has talked about Trueheart and probably a lot of people are indifferent to his presence or absence thereof I don't believe he has been on the floor during warmups so I'm assuming he's hurt. If he wasn't hurt he would have gotten minutes for sure against Rutgers where we needed some size but the last thing we need is another player who's going to launch another brick three from the corner or wing.

Trueheart has 45 career blocks, which is third among active CAA players, which shows that the CAA doesn't have upperclassmen who are great shot blockers. JMU's Zach Jacobs is the active leader. He's a senior whose career averages are 4.3 points in 15.6 minutes. Drexel's James Butler is second with 49. He's an athletic junior, and if NCAA gives all winter athletes a fifth season of eligibility, he's less than half done. However, he started at Navy in 2016-2017 and is a graduate student. Even if he's eligible in 2022-2023, he would need to be a doctoral student or pursue a second masters. Coburn's 27 blocks are tied for seventh among active CAA players.

[joeg1]

There's more to offense than jump shots. Run some set plays for the bigs

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Actually, Speedy said as much on the call tonight. Said IK will attract double teams, which will open up teammates

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[Wags]

There's more to offense than jump shots. Run some set plays for the bigs

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Actually, Speedy said as much on the call tonight. Said IK will attract double teams, which will open up teammates

I like Kante, but I'm not sure he's such a dominant threat down low that opposing teams (like Iona, with two 6-9 forwards, van Eyck and Joseph last game) feel they have to double Kante rather than just play him straight up with one big in man D or contain him in a zone. But they should still feed him anyway. Burgess did that very well on one easy bucket in particular that I recall in the first half on Saturday. Wanted to see more of it.

A big loss with the offense this year is the lack of a PG who can feed a guy like Kante with pick-and-rolls, the way Juan'ya or Buie could with other guys in the past. They have to do a lot more with moving the ball and moving players without the ball. So far this season, too much stagnant offense, too much dribbling, especially with too few on the roster this year who seem to be able to create their own shot. So they have to get a lot more movement and make opposing defenses work.

[stuball888]

Iona just lost to Morgan State 83-72

[Polito]

Yep, Iona is going to be up and down this year, and will ultimately be a good team / program. That's why HU really had no business losing this game. I know I know Pitino, but this isn't a "Pitino" team yet - people think HU hasn't had a lot of practice time, Iona's guys barely even know each other! lol

As FD said, this was really the year to get them - they are only going to get better - granted he won't be there long as soon as the bigs come calling again, but still a very disappointing showing by the team and poor prep by the staff.

True FD, only 3 games, much more to this season, and HU has a knack for starting slow and becoming a force in time - just anxious!

[triplec2195]

Iona just lost to Morgan State 83-72

I was going to ask if Morgan State was a D-2 team but take note that M.S. hit 22 of 26 free throws and 11/19 from beyond the arc. Also the HU killer only had 12 points and missed all 5 of his three point attempts as a matter of fact Iona shot 6/25 from beyond or 24% there. If we had Morgan States stats we would have blown them out. I feel three's will develop but FT shooting IMO is a cause for concern.

[EvanJ]

Morgan State is in Baltimore. They play in the Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEAC). The MEAC and Southwestern Athletic (SWAC) are poor HBCUs and are always the worst two conferences. They rarely play Division I out of conference opponents at home, and sometimes they open with a double-digit length road trip. When we went to Jackson State in the SWAC it was extremely unusual for a team from far away to go to a SWAC team. Before playing Iona, Morgan Stanley lost 62-55 hosting Mount Saint Mary's and won 102-94 hosting non-Division I Lincoln (PA). They're 313th in the NET, and they were 313th last season. MEAC teams you could know include North Carolina A&T, who came to Hofstra on November 14, 2018, and Delaware State, who plays Delaware every season (I don't know about this season).