UPCOMING 2018-19 SEASON

[garyg]

New season rapidly approaching...so what does everyone think ???

If we can stay relatively healthy and JT, KS, and DD can cumulatively replace RG and HS up front I believe we have an excellent shot...

Looking for big things from Pemberton this season...when he is on he is virtually unstoppable, like JWF...

[Cards]

I'm going into this season with a clear view/memory of HU MBB in the Mahalich era. I have no doubt this team will put points on the board. They should be one of the best offensive teams in the CAA. That being said, at the end of the season, we will all look back and assess how well we did on defense. If JM, the staff, and the players can improve over past years, then we will be in very good shape. If not, we will be in the hunt but open to disappointment at any time during the season.

Many have mentioned an expected improvement in "in the paint" defense. Hopefully, JT and others can make that happen. But shot blocking is not the only piece of the defensive puzzle. Rok was an excellent rebounder but/and less than an excellent shot blocker. If JT and others cannot garner the defensive rebounds that Rok did, thier ability to block shots will be overshadowed by opponents getting offensive rebounds and second or third chances. HU bigs will have to be as physical as they can be, keeping guys like Cacock off the glass. For our bigs, clogging up the middle AND clearing the glass will be key. If they can do that, and the guards can play adequate perimeter D, then MBB should do very well.

[stuball888]

It was not all Roks fault. Our guards have to keep opposing guards out of the paint. You cant just guard them for two dribbles then let them blow by you.

[Cards]

"It was not all Roks fault. Our guards have to keep opposing guards out of the paint. You cant just guard them for two dribbles then let them blow by you."

Absolutely agree Stu. Guards have to do thier part.

[EvanJ]

In 2010-2011, Greg Washington was a senior and was second in the CAA in blocked shots at 2.2. In the seven seasons since then, our highest was 1.3 by Sabety in 2016-2017.

[garyg]

Greg Washington was a good shot blocker but not a good defensive player, there is a difference !!

[daHUPride]

"It was not all Roks fault. Our guards have to keep opposing guards out of the paint. You cant just guard them for two dribbles then let them blow by you."

Absolutely agree Stu. Guards have to do thier part.

I am thinking a front court of Truehart and Taylor ("TnT") should give us a better more athletic defensive presence.
I assuming that TnT will be backed up by Radovic and Dwyer - don't love our big men depth here unless they or someone else exceeds my expectations.
We are going make our bones with our deep offensively talented backcourt - starting JFW, Pemberton and Buie.
Our backcourt is backed up with some impressive and experienced players - Ray, Coburn and Wormley.
Schutte is an a big unknown entity, Klem our resident walk-on, Hughes will presumably be redshirted and Kante mandatorily sitting out.
We have talent, we have experience, we have depth.
I have hope.

[garyg]

Have practices officially started ??

[triplec2195]

Have practices officially started ??

After reading the 10/9 e-mail from the coach he opens that we have completed a weeks worth of practice. Official or unofficial don't know. I somewhat agree with the frontcourt configuration of this team with ST being the 4 and JT the 5 this appears to be a no brainer. As to who comes off the bench in what order is somewhat of a mystery since we know very little about the remaining players Schutte and Dwyer. I don't look at Radovic as a post player he seems to be a wing who wants to shoot the three ball so maybe Schutte is the guy who after sitting out a year will have developed himself as a rebounder and shot blocker will come in along with Dwyer to spell Taylor. Dwyer has never played a lot of college minutes so what we may get from him is an unknown. The backcourt appears to be set and guys like Ray, Coburn and Wormley will be fighting for minutes. We all assume that Desure will start over Wormley and I think this is the correct assumption but we'll see. Defense is the key so we will see if we can avoid a deja-vu of last year.

[EvanJ]

Our first 8 games include trips to Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Georgia. Our next 8 games are at home, Manhattan, or Stony Brook. I could look up Hofstra's record for consecutive games played in New York City and its suburbs.

[Wags]

Should be an exciting season. With four starters returning, including the reigning CAA POY now the preseason CAA POY as a senior and another coming back as a preseason Second Team selection, and with the team picked third, anything less than a top 4 finish in the league and anything worse than the CAA semifinals would be unacceptable. Beyond that, we'll see how it goes. They should be one of the 2 or 3, maybe 4 legit contenders for both the CAA regular season and CAA tourney titles. But at a minimum, no early exits in the CAA tourney. Better be playing in the semis as a 2, 3, or 4 seed, or it's a disappointing year. And there better be some CONSISTENT DEFENSE this year. Can't all be about outscoring the other team and trying to win every game 85-82 (obviously, some of that is the pace of play, and that's fine if the opposing FG% is acceptable... but if the scores are often that way because HU is only playing on one end of the floor while neglecting the other end of the floor for most of the season, that is NOT acceptable - we'll see how that goes, too).

Also, the first three CAA games, and 5 of the first 7 in the league are at home. So no excuses for not getting off to a good start within the conference. The schedule makers handed HU a big favor at the start. Better not squander that. Need to take full advantage of that and come out of the gates fast and make the rest of the league chase HU through conference play rather than HU chasing others. How about THIS year, HU learns from the past and doesn't have past issues spring up to bite them again as in the past - how about THIS year, play consistent, solid defense (just needs to be solid, not great, with the way HU can score) from the start, and pile up the CAA home wins from the start, rather than regretting later on (if only we didn't let those one or two home games get away early in the year, etc, etc). Learn from the past and make it a great season. They're set up well to do so from a talent and CAA schedule perspective. So take advantage of it.

[Cards]

Just listened to JM interview. Most unfortunate to hear that 3 of the 6 top players have been dealing with injuries and did not participate in the last team practice. JM also said that one of the players has yet to practice due to injury. He later said that EP is one of the guys dealing with injury. I hope all of this quickly goes away so that we can start the season healthy.


JM mentioned trying to replace Rok would be a team effort with everyone being more aware of rebounding. Indicated that JT and DD would likely tag team and try to concentrate on rebounds. No mention of KS.


Did not hear anything else of interest from JM that was not typical coaches speak.

[garyg]

Where did you hear JM interview ??

[garyg]

Where did you hear JM interview ??

[ProudofPride]

Where did you hear JM interview ??

https://caasports.com/news/2018/10/16/l ... rence.aspx

[The Shadow]

To Proud of Pride, Thanks for the link, I think we all hope for a great start to the season in November. Good luck to Coach Joe and the players in 2018-2019.

[cactus]

Just listened to JM interview. Most unfortunate to hear that 3 of the 6 top players have been dealing with injuries

I believe pemberton is the one who hasn't practiced yet.

from previous video these guys were practicing recently:
coburn
buie
jwf
schutte
ray
wormley
radovic
hughes
kante

trueheart, dwyer, and taylor suited up for the first practice but it seems at least two of them are banged up at this time

[triplec2195]

Just listened to JM interview. Most unfortunate to hear that 3 of the 6 top players have been dealing with injuries

I believe pemberton is the one who hasn't practiced yet.

from previous video these guys were practicing recently:
coburn
buie
jwf
schutte
ray
wormley
radovic
hughes
kante

trueheart, dwyer, and taylor suited up for the first practice but it seems at least two of them are banged up at this time

I don't think I've seen EP in any of the videos that are around highlighting JWF. Losing any of our starters obviously problematic but I hope we don't go into the season without a number 1 PG like last year. I'm hoping that we don't have a re-occurrence of a Buie injury. Also need to keep our fingers crossed on JT who has had a major history of college injuries keeping him off the court.

[Flying Dutchmen]

From what I heard, Pemba's injury isn't very serious, and the staff seems to expect him game 1, but who knows, he hasn't practiced yet. Personally I wouldn't be surprised if he missed a few games early. I think Trueheart will be healthy for Mt. St. Mary's though.

Hopefully we're 100% by the opener though. I really want to get down to the Maryland game, but I'm not sure I can stomach another 4 hour drive for an ass-kicking, which will be guaranteed if we don't have Pemberton.

[EvanJ]

We could beat Mount Saint Mary's and North Carolina A&T without Pemberton. Marshall was 14-2 at home last season, but only 2 of those wins were against the Top 150 of the RPI, and 8 of them were against Bottom 100 of the RPI.