MBB @ JMU - 2/7/16, 3 PM

[dutchiedoright]

i believe that once a player starts his/her college career, they have 5 years in which to compete for 4. mission, military and NCAA waivers are the exceptions to the rule.

[Wags]

We have only 9 players next year. Unless we add 3 more I see us shorthanded again next year.

obviously, next year is when it might matter a lot more since they won't have guys like Green (especially), Tanskley and Koon to carry the team along with Gustys and Bernardi (who will obviously be returning). So that's when it'll matter a lot more to spread out the the minutes and have a much deeper team and a longer rotation. Could be a much bigger issue next year unless some others who aren't part of the rotation or who aren't here yet step up. I know that's where some will say that's why some on the bench needed to be developed more this year, but when you have a shot to win it all while JG/AT/DT are still here, you go for it with them and worry about the development next year.

[Flying Dutchmen]

And Wags, I disagree on the mental focus part - that to me is a DIRECT reflection of over-exertion for the past 3+ months. DIRECT.

I'm not buying that.

If it is, how do you explain executing and making the plays they needed to make through three overtimes, even after first falling being in overtime, to win at Northeastern? And how do you explain going from that game, when they should have been exhausted after winning at NU earlier, to being 3 down in the second half of the next game, and closing 45-15 to crush W&M by 28?

Yes, to a degree, being over-exerted affects your ability to execute late. But they have also shown the ability to overcome that in spades.

When you take it ALL into account -- the losses to JMU and UNCW, the wins at NU and over W&M, and everything else -- I still see it as a lack of mental focus and a lack of execution down the stretch of just THREE games more than anything else. Make those few plays here and there, and they're 11-1, 10-2, and ALL of these other comments and threads go away. That's how fine a line it's been.

While I agree there is a lack of mental focus late and not necessarily fatigue related, the reality is we cannot get a stop when it matters!! What is the root cause of that?

We've lost substantial leads in the final five minutes that have turned into one possession games in 13 games this year!!!

Changing nothing and blaming execution is insanity. Bernardi has been the worst player on this team inside the final five minutes of the game, just try to put Buie in to help get a stop!! Maybe if Buie comes in with more than 20 seconds left in the UNCW game, that well defended 3 never even gets put up for UNCW. Rok has been inconsistent defensively in the last few minutes of the game, and he's a 41% FT Shooter, just put Walker in the game if Rok is gassed!!

If we give up 2 or 3 big leads late during the course of 24 games, no big deal, but this has happened 13 times this year. We can't close out games, and nothing ever changes. It's a gameplan issue, there aren't many moves to make personnel wise, but try something, or we will not have a chance in Baltimore. It was the same shit last year too, teams were shooting 55-60% on us every second half, and no adjustments were made

[cactus]

wait, we're still arguing that the starters aren't fatigued at the end of games after those last two second half defensive performances?

[Purple Eagle 1]

Hi guys....as a Niagara grad ('94) I'm finding your comments about JM to be very similar to the complaints we had about him when he was our coach . His teams always played poor defense and relied upon the 3pt shot way too much . I'm pulling for you guys , however , with porous defense winning the tournament is going to be real tough . It seems that just like at Niagara , JM can't beat teams that are his equal or better .

I laughed when one poster talked about an opponent always having a career day , it was the same at Niagara . JM is a good guy , but honestly I think he is a horrible coach from the standpoint of fundamentals and minutes allocation .

[Cards]

Remember that with a short bench, the starters are basically told "don't foul out". There is no other explanation for JG and RG letting guys go right past them (in the case of JG) or take uncontested lay-ups (in the case of RG) unless they had been told to because there is no backup (as far as JM is concerned).

The poor defense at the end of games is all related to the depth issue - its all connected!

[Wags]

And Wags, I disagree on the mental focus part - that to me is a DIRECT reflection of over-exertion for the past 3+ months. DIRECT.

I'm not buying that.

If it is, how do you explain executing and making the plays they needed to make through three overtimes, even after first falling being in overtime, to win at Northeastern? And how do you explain going from that game, when they should have been exhausted after winning at NU earlier, to being 3 down in the second half of the next game, and closing 45-15 to crush W&M by 28?

Yes, to a degree, being over-exerted affects your ability to execute late. But they have also shown the ability to overcome that in spades.

When you take it ALL into account -- the losses to JMU and UNCW, the wins at NU and over W&M, and everything else -- I still see it as a lack of mental focus and a lack of execution down the stretch of just THREE games more than anything else. Make those few plays here and there, and they're 11-1, 10-2, and ALL of these other comments and threads go away. That's how fine a line it's been.

While I agree there is a lack of mental focus late and not necessarily fatigue related, the reality is we cannot get a stop when it matters!! What is the root cause of that?

The root cause is that this isn't good defensive team, period. Just like it's not a great shooting team (like I've been saying all year, pointing out they have shot a mediocre percentage all year, but which people here are only first admitting now). The ONE good defender they had is hurt. Who else on the team is a legitimate solid defender?

[HUSID80]

To me I look at the playing time having an effect as the season continues. Sort of like innings pitched or pitch count in baseball. At the beginning of the season we were able to get away with it against Fla state, st bonnie and lasalle. if we were to play those teams now, I doubt we win those games. As the season wears on so does the effect of the starters playing all those minutes. Would love to see stats of shooting Pct and defense shooting pct comparing the first half of the season to the second half of the season.

I don't think you can compare that because there's a big difference in playing OOC teams vs. CAA teams (that know you better and which you know better).

To me, it's still mainly about EXECUTION, or the lack thereof, particularly at the end of a few games.

Yesterday:
- Tanskley missed a LAYUP, up 79-72 with 3 1/2 left
- Bernardi turns it over, up 81-76, with <3 left
- Green misses a FT, up 81-78, with 1:39 left
- HU doesn't grab a defensive rebound, up 82-79, leading to the Curry 3 to force OT with :16 left.

We can sit here and talk about playing time and fatigue all we want, but those are plays these guys should be making down the stretch of these tight games, and they're not. And it's not because they played too many minutes or because certain guys in the bench didn't get enough time. It's a lack of MENTAL FOCUS more than anything physical. Just make the damn plays! It happened twice against JMU and again, against UNCW, during a half in which they were way colder than they'd ever be normally (that just happens sometime). THAT is the VERY FINE LINE right now between 8-4 and 11-1 and a VERY different outlook on the entire season from the sky-is-falling, we're-not-winning-enough-because-we don't-play-our-bench theorists.

Totally agree with this...it is a razor thin line between winning and losing these game due to our depth issue...but come on, Green Makes that free throw at the 1:39 mark and we win the frighten game...our guys need to make one or two more plays a GAME...and for any of us to quit on this team now is RIDICULOUS....none of the teams in the CAA are unbeatable...and were right there with the best of them...this team can use all the support we can give them down the stretch.

[HUSID80]

We have only 9 players next year. Unless we add 3 more I see us shorthanded again next year.

obviously, next year is when it might matter a lot more since they won't have guys like Green (especially), Tanskley and Koon to carry the team along with Gustys and Bernardi (who will obviously be returning). So that's when it'll matter a lot more to spread out the the minutes and have a much deeper team and a longer rotation. Could be a much bigger issue next year unless some others who aren't part of the rotation or who aren't here yet step up. I know that's where some will say that's why some on the bench needed to be developed more this year, but when you have a shot to win it all while JG/AT/DT are still here, you go for it with them and worry about the development next year.

I'm sure that after this year we will have a full roster. With JR they took a calculated risk and they made a mistake. They told him if he were to sit out he would have a much bigger role for the next two years without Green, Tanksley and Koon.
Then when Djambo was a no show they couldn't or wouldn't go back to JR and ask him to burn the redshirt.

The strategy of going after transfers, graduates, etc can be risky and we have seen it this year. We have three guys sitting out who are on full scholarship and can't play....too tight in my opinion. Going forward I would like to see us dress at least 11 scholarship players and what's wrong with a walk on or two?

Let's have a well publicized open tryout next season for our twelfth man....good pr for the program and it would give the team a "real" student for the kids to cheer for.

[Wags]

We have only 9 players next year. Unless we add 3 more I see us shorthanded again next year.

obviously, next year is when it might matter a lot more since they won't have guys like Green (especially), Tanskley and Koon to carry the team along with Gustys and Bernardi (who will obviously be returning). So that's when it'll matter a lot more to spread out the the minutes and have a much deeper team and a longer rotation. Could be a much bigger issue next year unless some others who aren't part of the rotation or who aren't here yet step up. I know that's where some will say that's why some on the bench needed to be developed more this year, but when you have a shot to win it all while JG/AT/DT are still here, you go for it with them and worry about the development next year.

Let's have a well publicized open tryout next season for our twelfth man....good pr for the program and it would give the team a "real" student for the kids to cheer for.

I like it, but if JAM doesn't trust who he has on his bench right now, there's no way a guy like that would ever play -- unless by, "to cheer for" you meant only to make the team and that's it.

[stuball888]

can you imagine if Hofstra discovers the next Vince Pappale. Oops wrong sport.

[ProudofPride]

Hi guys....as a Niagara grad ('94) I'm finding your comments about JM to be very similar to the complaints we had about him when he was our coach . His teams always played poor defense and relied upon the 3pt shot way too much . I'm pulling for you guys , however , with porous defense winning the tournament is going to be real tough . It seems that just like at Niagara , JM can't beat teams that are his equal or better .

I laughed when one poster talked about an opponent always having a career day , it was the same at Niagara . JM is a good guy , but honestly I think he is a horrible coach from the standpoint of fundamentals and minutes allocation .

We've all been saying the past 3 seasons that it doesn't seem like much has changed from his Niagara days. It's frustrating now becausesomething has to change, the CAA is the 9th ranked conference in the country, while the MAAC is currently 19th. This season he's facing much better overall opponents in conference than he did at Niagara, and it's time to realize that while offense is great, defense is also very necessary. More frustrating is that the team has shown an improvement on defense, but they generally only play good defense for 1 half of the game. Other people on this board pointed out that that's due to lack of depth, and the players being told not to foul, so they have to choice but to let a player blow past them and score.

[RollPride15]

Purple Eagle, good to have your input on the issue. Seems like Joe is a good coach but his ceiling is limited because he refuses to change factors of his coaching that are problematic. I remember going to a Siena board when we played them this year, and they were saying this was a classic Joe team, for better or for worse. I think Joe is definitely the right choice for us, he brings a degree of stability that this program definitely needed. That said, I think we're waking up to the fact that he's not going to ever be leaps and bounds better than he was before. I think with him we can expect to be competitive, maybe snag a CAA title every once in a while, but any Hofstra fans dreams of building a powerhouse bball program out here on LI, however farfetched they were then, seem even less realistic now.

I like this team a lot and I hope they can bounce back and LEARN from this. Like I said earlier on this thread, at this point it's all about the tournament. Win there and none of this matters. The potential is still there with this team.

[dutchiedoright]

Other than Calvin Murphy, what else is NU known for ? JM filled that place with banners, wins, and respect. What were they before he got there? and then after ??
He had 2 losing seasons in that god-forsaken hell hole in 15 years.

A tournament win ! A home NIT game !! An All-America......Gimme a break!! Pretty damn good track record.......

He won there. Period. He'll get it done here too.

The CAA is the 9th conference and our RPI is 78. We have 15 wins and hopefully a few more to come. 311 career wins. Are you kidding me ?!

Baltimore will be a war. I am so fired-up for it. It would be difficult no matter what the seed. We can win that thing and these guys can/will !!!

[ProudofPride]

Other than Calvin Murphy, what else is NU known for ? JM filled that place with banners, wins, and respect. What were they before he got there? and then after ??
He had 2 losing seasons in that god-forsaken hell hole in 15 years.

A tournament win ! A home NIT game !! An All-America......Gimme a break!! Pretty damn good track record.......

He won there. Period. He'll get it done here too.

The CAA is the 9th conference and our RPI is 78. We have 15 wins and hopefully a few more to come. 311 career wins. Are you kidding me ?!

Baltimore will be a war. I am so fired-up for it. It would be difficult no matter what the seed. We can win that thing and these guys can/will !!!

I completely agree with you, I wasn't saying he's a bad coach. I was trying to say that this year this a big difference between the level of the CAA and the level of the MAAC, and usually the 2 conferences are fairly close, only a couple spots away from each other. Normally he'd be able to get away with the primarily offensive game he played at Niagara, but because we're in a significantly better conference this year than what he's used to, it would be nice if we could step it up defensively. That's hard to do though now that MN is out for the rest of season, and we have almost no depth. The last 2 games showed how hard it is to beat the better teams without MN. There's definitely still hope for Baltimore though, a lot more games left to be played, and still time for adjustments to be made. Let's hope the team enjoys Baltimore this year and performs well, because I have a feeling there will be more Hofstra fans there than there will be in Charleston the next 3 years, but that could change with a nice title run this year.

[HUSID80]

Don't you think that he knows the difference between CAA play and the MAAC, especially this year? He has said time and time again that this conference is a battle every game with teams so evenly matched...fact is we gambled on a few personnel decisions and it has backfired on us...Just think if we had Djambo and JR right now....I believe we would be leading the League at around 10-2. And even now we are in the hunt for the CAA title and a strong run in Baltimore.

[ProudofPride]

I just listened to this week's coaches report, and he did mention that the team needs to start feeding the bench players some minutes, adding that they've been playing well. Let's hope this happens on Thursday, now that he admitted it need to happen. The second half against W&M in the first game was probably the best second half I've seen the team play, and a whole team effort is needed to play like that again. It's very possible though if the bench is used correctly and the teams plays smart the whole game.

[cactus]

I just listened to this week's coaches report, and he did mention that the team needs to start feeding the bench players some minutes, adding that they've been playing well. Let's hope this happens on Thursday, now that he admitted it need to happen. The second half against W&M in the first game was probably the best second half I've seen the team play, and a whole team effort is needed to play like that again. It's very possible though if the bench is used correctly and the teams plays smart the whole game.

His exact quote was, "I gotta do a much better job of that, I gotta force feed them some minutes especially in the second half". He went on to say that it's difficult because he wants his starters in there to regain control of the game once the lead starts slipping away, and that the team needs to reinvent itself after the Malik Nichols injury.

[daHUPride]

I just listened to this week's coaches report, and he did mention that the team needs to start feeding the bench players some minutes, adding that they've been playing well. Let's hope this happens on Thursday, now that he admitted it need to happen. The second half against W&M in the first game was probably the best second half I've seen the team play, and a whole team effort is needed to play like that again. It's very possible though if the bench is used correctly and the teams plays smart the whole game.

His exact quote was, "I gotta do a much better job of that, I gotta force feed them some minutes especially in the second half". He went on to say that it's difficult because he wants his starters in there to regain control of the game once the lead starts slipping away, and that the team needs to reinvent itself after the Malik Nichols injury.

JAM wouldn't need to force feed them (as much) if he'd given them minutes during the early part of the year - that was a missed opportunity in my opinion

it also sounds like his (secret) plan of keeping the main five wasn't other then praying they don't get tired or foul trouble - every opponent is going to pressure us with hope of running us down

MN is a big loss - especially when none of the other three - DB, JFW, AW - were getting any on the job training -
although I really do believe these boys are giving their all - and then some - and they are gassed by the end of the game - but I agree with coach a bit that he wants the "starters in there to regain control..once the lead starts slipping away" - but I do think the starters, the very experienced starters, need to do a much better and smarter job when we have those leads - fatigued or not

[Polito]

Amen to that!!

I am ecstatic that this is all FINALLY coming to light, and the facts are being faced - first big step to fixing

This stuff is not unforgivable or anything, it's just not excusable - it needs to be corrected - it does not good to keep defending something that is clearly off, so I'm very thankful we seem to be at that point - there's a LOT on the line here folks, and I know everyone in the program wants dearly to win - when I make an issue of something it's to bring awareness and potentially change for the better - I rarely just complain, this ain't my first rodeo folks

Very big of the coach to make the statements publicly and to the fans - really upped my already solid respect for him even more - I may not understand every thing he does, but the guy is a class act - real proud to have him at HU

NOW, the key is, to DO SOMETHING about it. Tonight is that chance. Go get 'em fellas