Game 16 - Elon

[Polito]

So, and I'm truly not looking to be negative at all, but when assessing the year halfway through, it should now be very clear to all why HU will once again not win the CAAT / make the NCAAT. Just stating facts. That's why I've been saying just taking every win, anyhow, no matter how it comes. This will just be a regular season to enjoy watching JWF play, nothing more. Frustrating obviously, but it's another team where there's 1 stud pro potential guard, and not enough around him to win anything really meaningful.

Not rocket science, simply won't win 3 in 3 to go dancing with a 1 man team that plays no D in the CAA.

Cool thing is at least there is a JWF, he is something else to watch. Love that kid, just wish and pray there was a full team around him to actually make real noise.

And do have to give props Rok, has put together some solid games recently - he has his limitations, but man 23 boards in any D1 game has to be recognized.

Unfortunately, when it takes overtime on a miracle 3 to win a game at home against the worst team in the league, the prognosis for the season obviously isn't good.

Hopefully some more fun to be had at least in the regular season, and perhaps JWF can continue to get this program some national attention to aid recruiting.

[Cards]

Just listened to the post game presser. Very interesting to hear JM talk about the defense, saying he's not sure if its the game plan, the execution, or the personnel, or all of the above. Kinda funny coming from a guy that for his entire coaching career has been an offense minded coach who overstressed getting points and under stressed giving up points. Five years in a row and on this board all we keep talking about are the defensive issues. Well, over those 5 years, the only common thread is the head coach. Results matter.

As many have already said, great efforts by JWF and RG - too bad they are wasted.

JR is a true talent - when he stops playing like a true freshman he will be a real impact player.

JA and KW should be used sparingly - basically to give the other guys a breather

Hope tomorrow is a better day - referring to Kupsas announcement of course!

[Hofstra]

Once again, which is weird, but I agree with Polito. This season is obviously lost. Our defense is non existent, and we don't have enough talent around JWF to put together a team that can win with consistency.

We can watch JWF ball out, and hopefully Rok compete for maybe a rebounding title, or who knows, best of all time. Other than that, this season another bust.

Sucks, but when you only play offense, and even that is average, you won't win many games. Defense needs to be established. Kind of like the movie Mighty Ducks, when Coach Bombay has the kids clearing out trash in front of the nets, we need something to change the defensive dynamic here. Its pitiful.

[HUSID74]

Once again, which is weird, but I agree with Polito. This season is obviously lost. Our defense is non existent, and we don't have enough talent around JWF to put together a team that can win with consistency.

We can watch JWF ball out, and hopefully Rok compete for maybe a rebounding title, or who knows, best of all time. Other than that, this season another bust.

Sucks, but when you only play offense, and even that is average, you won't win many games. Defense needs to be established. Kind of like the movie Mighty Ducks, when Coach Bombay has the kids clearing out trash in front of the nets, we need something to change the defensive dynamic here. Its pitiful.

Go away! The season lost????? you are clueless!!!!!The CAA Is wide open. The only team undefeated is W&M and we should have won thar game...The Elon game was a clunker...but you know they were picked ahead of us and it's clear we don't match up well with them. I was the SID in '76 when we lost at Dartmouth and we were 10-10. We went on to win the Conference tourney and go to the NCAA with an 18-11 recorded. We are as good as the top teams in the CAA and as bad as some of the lower teams on any given day. This league is wide open...Throw in the towel and you are not a true Hofstra fan...See Ya!

[Hofstra]

HUSID, if you think this team is or could win in March, I am selling bridges. I am not a true fan because I do not think we win the conference tourney? LOLOLOL.. We haven't won the CAA EVER. This is the year you think we are winning it? This year? The year we lose to Elon at home by a million? We had trouble, at home with the worst team in the conference. We needed a miracle 3 to tie the game to force overtime. We got WAXED at home vs. Elon, another team that is down this year. We allow teams to score 80 points a game like points are going out of style. Spare me the AD aspect of it all. We just are not an average team.

Is there a shot to win the CAA's, of course there is. But to think about even playing in that game is a pipe dream, and I am not setting myself up for that failure. In my heart of hearts, we won't be there, and it's ok to admit it. To say that I am not a real fan because I don't think we will be in that game is asinine. Your vision is clouded, you are wearing those Blue and Yellow glasses, and thats cool, but don't say I am not a real fan because I don't think we are winning the championship.

[HUSID74]

Hofstra,were you at the game? Who do you pick to win the CAA? I did not say we would win...but to bag it now is ludicrous!
If you were at the game you would have seen why Elon was picked AHEAD of us in the CAA...FYI! all their starters return and they are now 3-1 in the League...There is a long way to go this season...and if you are writing us off after four League games so far are NOT a true supporter of this program...Sorry

[Hofstra]

I wasn't at the game, I don't live within ear shot of Long Island. That being said, I go to my fair share of games home and away. Me not being a true supporter is the ludicrous statement. I wrote them off on a message board.. Doesn't mean I won't continue to root for them. Doesn't meant I won't continue to watch them. Doesn't mean I won't continue to go to the games when possible. Writing them off has nothing to do with being a supporter or not. If I wrote them off and didn't watch the games, or follow them the rest of the season, well than your statement is accurate. I will continue to watch, root, and support though. Truly, I will.

Who do I pick to win the CAA? Not sure, but it won't be us IMO. Maybe Towson, even though they always choke in March. Charleston?

[triplec2195]

[quote="Polito"]So, and I'm truly not looking to be negative at all, but when assessing the year halfway through, it should now be very clear to all why HU will once again not win the CAAT / make the NCAAT. Just stating facts. That's why I've been saying just taking every win, anyhow, no matter how it comes. This will just be a regular season to enjoy watching JWF play, nothing more. Frustrating obviously, but it's another team where there's 1 stud pro potential guard, and not enough around him to win anything really meaningful.

Not rocket science, simply won't win 3 in 3 to go dancing with a 1 man team that plays no D in the CAA.

Cool thing is at least there is a JWF, he is something else to watch. Love that kid, just wish and pray there was a full team around him to actually make real noise.

And do have to give props Rok, has put together some solid games recently - he has his limitations, but man 23 boards in any D1 game has to be recognized.

Unfortunately, when it takes overtime on a miracle 3 to win a game at home against the worst team in the league, the prognosis for the season obviously isn't good.


I unfortunately agree with a lot that's being said here. We do not match up well with Elon or any other team that has bigs who can shoot it from beyond the perimeter. We do however match up well with a lot of teams in the CAA who are guard oriented. Whether we can win this thing in March who knows we have to hope somebody knocks off Elon. After we play Towson this week we'll get a different perspective against a team that is built similar to ours. Again we start to see the writing on the wall. There will be more playing time for our freshmen players with JR getting a lot of minutes and ST and MR also soaking up minutes wasted on KW and DB. I don't want to throw DB under the bus because I have no idea what happened to his game? KW I just don't have anything good to say about that situation. Our best team on the floor is when we have more offensive options and that's what we get when JR is on the floor. I also think ST takes our defense up a notch and can score and rebound. I'm a big fan of JWF and like everyone else love to watch his play however I'm more interested in the team concept and one on one play creates a slippery slope. We will win some close games but will lose those same games on nights JWF is off.

[garyg]

JAM simply can not get this team to play a full 40 minutes, for whatever reasons

[HUSID74]

We also need Pemberton to step up...he has not been much of a factor recently...Saw him get more aggressive late in this game and hope it carries over to the rest of the season. W/O him everyone can key on JWF just like JMU did.

[HofstraMathew]

We also need Pemberton to step up...he has not been much of a factor recently...Saw him get more aggressive late in this game and hope it carries over to the rest of the season. W/O him everyone can key on JWF just like JMU did.

I agree; it seems like Pemberton plays with a lot of emotion and I feel like that might be hurting him a bit. I don't know if anyone else sees that but I think he needs to try and relax a little to help him get in a groove.

[joeg1]

IMO we have some very fundamental issues on both sides of the ball:

Offense: bad floor spacing, little in terms of fakes before passes or shots

Defense: Don't know how many times I've seen one of our defenders with his back completely to a play. See the ball, see your man.

Maybe instead of working on schemes, we just need to work on skills more in practice.

[Polito]

I would say figuring out is quite simple for every team - it's a 1 man show. I would bet teams are daring other guys to beat them, because they know it's not happening.

Agree fully on Pemba, I am pretty disappointed in his overall play. Salivated over his recruitment, potential is HUGE, just not putting it all together, and it's hurting this team. JWF desperately needs a compliment in order for this team to go anywhere. JR could be that guy, but that's a lot to expect of a frosh. Could see it more next year.

HUSID, I admire your staunch support of the program regardless of the results. To be fair to Hofstra though, even though he and I are not usually of the same mind, I would say he is very much an HU fan. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure he battled me some early in the year as my prognosis has been bad for quite some time. Hell I had this team written off in the OOC because I've seen this movie a million times before - and I'm not sorry about it, nor do I think I'm wrong. If anything, things have only strengthened the view. The weaknesses are glaring, the same for years, and they will once again block this team from winning 3 in the 3. I know you don't like it, and probably don't want to agree, but those are just the facts - the truth hurts sometimes.

He and most others know full well how this is going to go. It's the same crap every year. They will win some games, enough to keep them mid-pack and a glimmer of hope for a few diehards, and then get bounced in the CAAT in some heartbreaking fashion. Deep down, you know it too. Whether or not you allow yourself to fall into the trap is up to you. Mens hoops has gone very much the way of Mens Lax - most understand that program is going nowhere too under the current leadership, but a few hang on to false hope - hey, to each his own.

I don't want to be negative, and I don't enjoy being frustrated nearly every game every year. But I also refuse to accept mediocrity or worse from this program. I don't think blind support or continuing to brush things under the carpet is real 'fandom' - quite the opposite IMO. That's called enabling, and it's 10 times worse.

And I think we need to differentiate winning CAA games, which HU can and will absolutely do, and actually winning the CAAT 3 games in 3 days, which HU has never been able to do and is again not built to do so this year. So yeah, the league is open, but not in regards to the tournament. There are only a couple of teams who are built to win that, and HU still isn't one of them. Disagree? Prove it - name one tourney they have won in 5 years. ANY weekend tourney they've won. I'll wait.

This staff has never shown the ability to win 3 games in consecutive days. Never.

The difference is, most of us are no longer going to allow ourselves to be bamboozled anymore. It's too painful. This isn't being negative, or hating on them, it's simply being real about the actual situation. Not going to be blindsided by the failure anymore - it's clear as day when you look at it objectively.

JM seems like a good guy who cares about the kids and the game, so my heart goes out to him. He helped save this program. But he has shown very little ability to be an NCAAT program in the CAA. I mean with no Keatts this program should've been poised for domination after 5 years. Yet this feel like the ceiling. And that's not good enough. When the HC admits to having no insight or solution to fix HIS team, it's time for change.

And by the end of this year, it will be time to be loud about it.

P.S. And if by some miracle I am wrong, I WILL EAT MY CROW, loudly and publicly with apologies galore. I will sing their praises from the mountain tops. Like me or hate me, I'm a mans man and will back up every bit of what I say.

So let's go JM, staff, and team, SHOW ME.

[garyg]

Like I have said before JAM is a nice man and adequate to good recruiter...but in 5 years he has not proven himself as a game coach...player developer...or motivator

[triplec2195]

Having said all of the above the coach and the Athletic director still feed us the same line that our only objective here is to compete for the championship of the CAA year in and year out, NOTHING LESS. That sounds like there is no room for rebuilding years. A great plan on paper. Lots of pie in the sky dreamers!!

[joeg1]

Exactly. You need to walk the talk. Frankly I don't know whether to think we're badly prepared or just not good enough. My impression is we're athletic and talented, but we don't play soundly and well as a team. And who's fault is that? We don't look like championship contenders, although I believe we should.

[Flying Dutchmen]

That was the most demoralizing L of the year, no doubt.

We hustled back hard in the 1st half after getting down 9 out of the gate. Had no answers in the second half, we're a bad, passive, defensive team.

Offensively, we got stagnant, 6 assists on 28 made shots pretty much sums it up. JWF did a bad job as the point guard yesterday, 35% team shooting. Frontcourt was rough, no authority offensively. Ray can score, but he can't score if you don't give him the ball in the second half.

We were picked 4th for a reason, the reason is we suck defensively. While I do think Elon is a bad matchup for us, they're not a particularly athletic team and we can matchup defensively if we play more aggressively. We allowed Elon (and pretty much every other team this year) to get comfortable in their offensive set, and they destroyed us. We have to get more pressure on the ball handler. I don't think any team is particularly great in the CAA, but every conference game is going to be a grind because the only truly bad team is UNCW, and they already have a 20 point win in CAA play.

The bench is currently getting 31% of minutes played which is a tremendous positive, so I'm still holding out hope that as we continue to get more continuity, we continue to improve defensively to a point where we can at least sustain a lead.

But is the reality that we're not a great team? Yeah. Was that the case all along? Yes. Have we just become the equivalent of Niagara in the CAA? Pretty much. Is that good enough to get over the top in the CAA? Doesn't seem likely at this point.

But predicting Hofstra won't get into the NCAAT this year will have made you correct 17 years in a row now, congratulations for going out on a limb. The reality for this program has been the same for the last four seasons, the hope has been that slight tweaks to the system gets us over the top. The fact people want to be more negative, or perhaps just more realistic about it now just frankly confuses me. Despite some of the tough L's, it's been a fun season! Enjoy the ride!

Ultimately, this program has two ceilings, the limit the coaching staff can take the players they bring in, and the limit put on the program by the University administration in terms of emphasis and financial support. I'm honestly not sure which one is holding us back more. We can move on from Mihalich and bring in the next Jay Wright, but ultimately we'll still be a one and done school at best because the University does not care about athletics. Not saying people shouldn't want more, more like, it's clearly not just the coaching staff.

[EvanJ]

Our coach at his wits end decided he had tried everything in this game other then begging Speedy to suit up did the unthinkable and put our two bigs in the game at the same time. You know this game was out of hand when u saw this and desperation didn't help our cause. I thought together they didn't bring much if anything to the mix.

They were both on the court for 1:54, which is 4.75% of the game.

We got WAXED at home vs. Elon, another team that is down this year.

We played poorly against Elon, but they're not "down this year." They're 96 RPI spots better than they were last season.

[HUSID74]

That was the most demoralizing L of the year, no doubt.

We hustled back hard in the 1st half after getting down 9 out of the gate. Had no answers in the second half, we're a bad, passive, defensive team.

Offensively, we got stagnant, 6 assists on 28 made shots pretty much sums it up. JWF did a bad job as the point guard yesterday, 35% team shooting. Frontcourt was rough, no authority offensively. Ray can score, but he can't score if you don't give him the ball in the second half.

We were picked 4th for a reason, the reason is we suck defensively. While I do think Elon is a bad matchup for us, they're not a particularly athletic team and we can matchup defensively if we play more aggressively. We allowed Elon (and pretty much every other team this year) to get comfortable in their offensive set, and they destroyed us. We have to get more pressure on the ball handler. I don't think any team is particularly great in the CAA, but every conference game is going to be a grind because the only truly bad team is UNCW, and they already have a 20 point win in CAA play.

The bench is currently getting 31% of minutes played which is a tremendous positive, so I'm still holding out hope that as we continue to get more continuity, we continue to improve defensively to a point where we can at least sustain a lead.

But is the reality that we're not a great team? Yeah. Was that the case all along? Yes. Have we just become the equivalent of Niagara in the CAA? Pretty much. Is that good enough to get over the top in the CAA? Doesn't seem likely at this point.

But predicting Hofstra won't get into the NCAAT this year will have made you correct 17 years in a row now, congratulations for going out on a limb. The reality for this program has been the same for the last four seasons, the hope has been that slight tweaks to the system gets us over the top. The fact people want to be more negative, or perhaps just more realistic about it now just frankly confuses me. Despite some of the tough L's, it's been a fun season! Enjoy the ride!

Ultimately, this program has two ceilings, the limit the coaching staff can take the players they bring in, and the limit put on the program by the University administration in terms of emphasis and financial support. I'm honestly not sure which one is holding us back more. We can move on from Mihalich and bring in the next Jay Wright, but ultimately we'll still be a one and done school at best because the University does not care about athletics. Not saying people shouldn't want more, more like, it's clearly not just the coaching staff.

This is perhaps the most thoughtful and reasonable post I have read all year... well said Flying Dutchman.... we are a flawed team but we have some pretty good pieces and... you never know.... we should have beaten the only undefeated team in the League and beat IMO one of the top four... we'll know alot more after this weekend... and now not getting Kupsas makes for an even more sobering week

[triplec2195]

I like this post as well except for the comment"Offensively, we got stagnant, 6 assists on 28 made shots pretty much sums it up. JWF did a bad job as the point guard yesterday, 35% team shooting. Frontcourt was rough, no authority offensively. Ray can score, but he can't score if you don't give him the ball in the second half. First while it was true that we were offensively stagnant let's not blame this on JWF who was not our PG in this game and although he did play the point at times KW still had 12 minutes of wanna be PG in this game. What's his numbers look like? OK I'll tell u, 3 personal fouls no points and not 1 assist no steals etc He was taking up space on the court! JWF who again had to try and carry the load had 6 assists but this is not his job on this team after being down big numbers in the second half. His job is to score plain and simple. I don't know the last time one of our point guards had at least 6 assists and how often did it happen? It would be easier to look at Boogie Brososki's stats on the women's team. Maybe she should play the point for us. Let's not throw one of our only stars under the bus because he's being forced into a position that he shouldn't be in. That's all I'm saying it's not on JWF.