Hofstra vs W&M 1/10/19

[HUSID74]

You can watch every game by going to caa.tv...all schools have a free feed...last night's W&M game telecast was VERY good.

[triplec2195]

You can watch every game by going to caa.tv...all schools have a free feed...last night's W&M game telecast was VERY good.

Yes SID this is what I use for all away games and a lot of times I just turn down the sound so I don't have to listen to biased commentating. If the commentating is fair I'll just go with it. BTW I listened to the post game interview with W&M coach Shaver and he really didn't compliment us too much or talk about Justin. He said we can beat this team I know it or something like that.

[Cards]

You can watch every game by going to caa.tv...all schools have a free feed...last night's W&M game telecast was VERY good.

Thats right HUSID - I watch all away games on caa.tv It can get a little annoying listening to the home team color commentary, but heck, its mid-major college ball (what do you want?)

All in all, the video feed and quality are pretty good - much better than a couple of years ago when half the games had blurry video.

Regarding student and winter break - yep, its a shame that roughly half of the conference games take place durings HU break, but no sense complaining about it, it is what it is. but hey, look at some of the big programs (like in the Big East) where lots of home games are played at off campus arenas (St johns at MSG, Nova at Wells Fargo, etc.) Even though school may be in session, not all the students are always keen on taking trains, buses, or uber and going off campus to catch a game. Much simpler to walk over to your on campus facility. My point is that some of the bigger programs (even when school is in session) lose student attendance because a "marginal" fan is unlikely to go too far out of his/her way to get to a game.


Look at Nova, they have close to 200 in a row sold out home games. The "Finn" holds about 6,000-7,000 (not a huge facility). When Nova plays in Philly at the Wells Fargo Center, they don't get the same level of student turnout. In addition, they lose the "Packed House" atmosphere. It would be akin to HU having typical attendance at the Mack in the 4,000 fan range (which would be fun and loud) and then playing those same games at the Nassau Coliseum. IMO, the atmosphere would not be nearly as good.

So, neglecting the impact of $$$, the best is to have a solid program playing on its own campus.

[Wags]

You can watch every game by going to caa.tv...all schools have a free feed...last night's W&M game telecast was VERY good.

Yes SID this is what I use for all away games and a lot of times I just turn down the sound so I don't have to listen to biased commentating. If the commentating is fair I'll just go with it. BTW I listened to the post game interview with W&M coach Shaver and he really didn't compliment us too much or talk about Justin. He said we can beat this team I know it or something like that.

He also said he didn't know how many overtimes they had just played (and I don't think he was joking).

[triplec2195]

Yes he did say that and when you look at him during the game he always seems so composed and enjoying the game. Whether he puts on a big facade is another thing.

[HUSID74]

There is no love lost between Shaver and Joe...not sure its all about Eli Pemberton decommitting from W&M and coming to Hofstra. Think it may go even deeper than that.

[Polito]

Thanks for the correction Evan, fair enough - BUT 6 points with some momentum and a chance to pull away, which they should have IMO and didn't. That was my main point... but hey, WM is a tough squad and they gave it their ALL to defend their home floor and take down the lead dog - agree with HUSID, when you are the lion, everyone will be gunning for you - HU and JWF are def going to get the best from every team all season long at this point.

Trying ST at the 5 is complete foolishness - when this staff does things like that it makes me question their intelligence and decision making process. I get that they may be looking to try something to help him add value, and to help shore things up there, but I do not see this as a good idea at all. And P.S., this nuttyness should tell you just how ineffective Schutte is, but I digress...

ST is a stretch 4, end of story. He hasn't played a lick of center with his back to the basket likely ever in his career. He is not physical or heavy enough to bang in the post. He does not have an ounce of center footwork or positioning. He is a 4, a 4, a 4, a 4! Now he may not be the 4 they want, but that's his game - and trying to make him a center right now is just silly and wasting time. How about instead of trying to teach him how to play an entirely new position, maybe just coach him on playing his NATURAL position better????? And if he isn't willing to hold up his end of the bargain (work, coachable, team-first, etc.) well then so be it. But putting a liability in a position that is already a liability halfway through the year does not seem smart to me... I think he's proven he can make a diff in his spot, but def needs more coaching and development, AND also needs to buy in and play nice in the sandbox. But moving him feels like it would only make things much harder on all.

For teams like UD, NU, and CofC, I do not believe this is what they are - I think things will start to normalize the way we all thought as we get deeper in the season - prob will switch lol - UD will be ok, but they are not winning the conf this yr - and NU and CofC will be beasts in the conf tourney, too much pedigree coaching and talent to not.

There's no love lost between the fans either, one of the worst message board fan bases in this conf IMO - I'm sure they have some great folks too, but the forum people are ridiculously arrogant, always hating on HU for some reason, never give respect, it's laughable really - little napoleons, it is always a happy day when HU beats them.

LOVE that their battle cry now is that they can beat HU - I mean, that's awesome! Prob trying to or think they are dogging HU with that, but that's a compliment. The new standard

HU took their best, on their floor, played pretty poorly for large portions of the game, and still came out with an emotional W - great feeling.

Now, in the future HU, impose your will and don't let up until it's final. Do that, and cutting nets gets real. Let's goooooo!

[daHUPride]

There is no love lost between Shaver and Joe...not sure its all about Eli Pemberton decommitting from W&M and coming to Hofstra. Think it may go even deeper than that.

I forgot that we got EP when he decommitted fro W&M. Explains the lack of warmth shared between JAM and Shavers at the post game handshake.

[daHUPride]

Thanks for the correction Evan, fair enough - BUT 6 points with some momentum and a chance to pull away, which they should have IMO and didn't. That was my main point... but hey, WM is a tough squad and they gave it their ALL to defend their home floor and take down the lead dog - agree with HUSID, when you are the lion, everyone will be gunning for you - HU and JWF are def going to get the best from every team all season long at this point.

Trying ST at the 5 is complete foolishness - when this staff does things like that it makes me question their intelligence and decision making process. I get that they may be looking to try something to help him add value, and to help shore things up there, but I do not see this as a good idea at all. And P.S., this nuttyness should tell you just how ineffective Schutte is, but I digress...

ST is a stretch 4, end of story. He hasn't played a lick of center with his back to the basket likely ever in his career. He is not physical or heavy enough to bang in the post. He does not have an ounce of center footwork or positioning. He is a 4, a 4, a 4, a 4! Now he may not be the 4 they want, but that's his game - and trying to make him a center right now is just silly and wasting time. How about instead of trying to teach him how to play an entirely new position, maybe just coach him on playing his NATURAL position better????? And if he isn't willing to hold up his end of the bargain (work, coachable, team-first, etc.) well then so be it. But putting a liability in a position that is already a liability halfway through the year does not seem smart to me... I think he's proven he can make a diff in his spot, but def needs more coaching and development, AND also needs to buy in and play nice in the sandbox. But moving him feels like it would only make things much harder on all.

For teams like UD, NU, and CofC, I do not believe this is what they are - I think things will start to normalize the way we all thought as we get deeper in the season - prob will switch lol - UD will be ok, but they are not winning the conf this yr - and NU and CofC will be beasts in the conf tourney, too much pedigree coaching and talent to not.

There's no love lost between the fans either, one of the worst message board fan bases in this conf IMO - I'm sure they have some great folks too, but the forum people are ridiculously arrogant, always hating on HU for some reason, never give respect, it's laughable really - little napoleons, it is always a happy day when HU beats them.

LOVE that their battle cry now is that they can beat HU - I mean, that's awesome! Prob trying to or think they are dogging HU with that, but that's a compliment. The new standard

HU took their best, on their floor, played pretty poorly for large portions of the game, and still came out with an emotional W - great feeling.

Now, in the future HU, impose your will and don't let up until it's final. Do that, and cutting nets gets real. Let's goooooo!

Polito is 100% right about ST.
IF we continue to play him as a 5 against another teams true 5 it is not going to work. Play him against smaller lineups 5 OK. Play as a stretch 4 (Ive said it all along he is more of a 3 if anything)...he should’ve have been in at the end of the game defending the ball coming in or in front of the man receiving the ball. I feel there are situations that ST could’ve given us valuable minutes.

[HUSID74]

Right now ST is a nothing! Getting him in the game to play some DEFENSE for a minute or two is fine if he plays. He's 6-8 and can jump, is quicker than Dwyer so why not get him in there.

As for Schutte he will ultimately get some time. He's a big body and he can get up and down the floor. Why not get him in in certain situations where you need a body to give some could.

Hopefully we will have some games where we can extend this rotation...right now we're playing with essentially seven guys...too short IMO.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Polito is 100% right about ST.
IF we continue to play him as a 5 against another teams true 5 it is not going to work. Play him against smaller lineups 5 OK. Play as a stretch 4 (Ive said it all along he is more of a 3 if anything)...he should’ve have been in at the end of the game defending the ball coming in or in front of the man receiving the ball. I feel there are situations that ST could’ve given us valuable minutes.

That's nonsense.

We're playing 2-3 zone nearly 100% of the time. If ST is ever playing the 5, he should have have help all over the court to protect isolations inside. The problem with Trueheart is he's constantly out of position, whatever position he's playing, and he's gotten burned frequently. That's why he's lost so much playing time, IMO. We're playing 4 guards at all times, clearly traditional defensive roles mean nothing to how we play the zone. I mean I rather have JT in the middle at all times, but our zone should be protecting back to basket moves and isolations on the center regardless.

I'd argue, we have to get ST time at 5 to get Dwyer off the court. Dwyer is so rough offensively, and can't be worse defensively than anybody at the 5. Can we teach one forward how to get moving on the pick and roll? The last three games we've had no offensive presence inside. Our offense has been moving around the perimeter too much to be sustainable. We need a forward to step up and make good decisions with the ball in the paint, even just to keep the ball moving.

Our center position is not asked to do heavy lifting on either side of the ball, we just need guys who can be positionally strong on defense, and can run the pick and roll on offense. I literally couldn't care less whether it's ST or Schutte, or whoever, we need someone to step up in the frontcourt.

[The Shadow]

To Polito, Why are the W&M fans the "Little Napoleons?" What is the basis for all the bad feelings towards the W&M fans?

[stuball888]

They are arrogant self centered they feel superior toward us in other words. They are putzes

[ProudofPride]

Most of it stems from when Pemba decomitted from W&M and signed with Hofstra instead. They when on a whole rant about how Hofstra is basically a community college compared to W&M, and how our basketball program sucks and the coach is bad (ironic that their basketball program is the laughing stock of the country for having never made it to the big dance, and Tony Shaver probably has the safest job in America since he still hasn’t taken the next step with the team despite being there forever). It’s basically just because of their Napoleon Complex. Stu’s adjectives pretty much say it all, at least about the fans in their message board.

[triplec2195]

To Polito, Why are the W&M fans the "Little Napoleons?" What is the basis for all the bad feelings towards the W&M fans?

I know I asked this question a while ago and forgot the answer but I just like the reference since Bill and Mary has left us hurting on more then one occasion with their last second heroics with plays that would be difficult to replicate. They seem to have an air of arrogance except maybe for their coach who appears to be a likable guy. I'm not sure how we revisited the ST for the 5 position argument. It's ludicrous and a complete no brainer. We apparently are quick to forget how we lost to COC at home last year with the ball going down low to Brantley who muscled ST out of the way for an easy layup. It was like he blew on him and he went backwards three feet and an easy bank shot cost us the game. The coaches problem with ST is a tough one compounded by the play of Coburn who clearly is an all around better player who plays harder shoots better and plays bigger then his size. That's not to say that there isn't a place for Stafford on this team. I think Trueheart would have been a better matchup against Pierce but we don't play much man to man. In the inbound play that Knight scored on Justin fronted Knight and Coburn was behind him. Justin had the ball but Knight took it away and made that shot. Coburn offered little resistance figuring no foul this guy can't make this shot with the clock running out. The fact that this happened boggles the mind and should have never happened. We could of had Trueheart fronting Knight and the ball would have never gotten into Knight's hands. Just water under the bridge but I think Stafford's major problem is that he seems lackadaisical when he's on the court. Just seems to loose focus and will get burned on a layup or miss an assignment and give up a wide open three. Stafford has upside. He can jump, block shots and score. Last year he also showed he was respectable from the foul line unlike if we have Schutte in the game. We need to be careful when we put him in the game and under no circumstances get into a situation where we put him on the foul line in a close game. We all but concede the points there worse then ROK.

[HUSID74]

To Polito, Why are the W&M fans the "Little Napoleons?" What is the basis for all the bad feelings towards the W&M fans?

I know I asked this question a while ago and forgot the answer but I just like the reference since Bill and Mary has left us hurting on more then one occasion with their last second heroics with plays that would be difficult to replicate. They seem to have an air of arrogance except maybe for their coach who appears to be a likable guy. I'm not sure how we revisited the ST for the 5 position argument. It's ludicrous and a complete no brainer. We apparently are quick to forget how we lost to COC at home last year with the ball going down low to Brantley who muscled ST out of the way for an easy layup. It was like he blew on him and he went backwards three feet and an easy bank shot cost us the game. The coaches problem with ST is a tough one compounded by the play of Coburn who clearly is an all around better player who plays harder shoots better and plays bigger then his size. That's not to say that there isn't a place for Stafford on this team. I think Trueheart would have been a better matchup against Pierce but we don't play much man to man. In the inbound play that Knight scored on Justin fronted Knight and Coburn was behind him. Justin had the ball but Knight took it away and made that shot. Coburn offered little resistance figuring no foul this guy can't make this shot with the clock running out. The fact that this happened boggles the mind and should have never happened. We could of had Trueheart fronting Knight and the ball would have never gotten into Knight's hands. Just water under the bridge but I think Stafford's major problem is that he seems lackadaisical when he's on the court. Just seems to loose focus and will get burned on a layup or miss an assignment and give up a wide open three. Stafford has upside. He can jump, block shots and score. Last year he also showed he was respectable from the foul line unlike if we have Schutte in the game. We need to be careful when we put him in the game and under no circumstances get into a situation where we put him on the foul line in a close game. We all but concede the points there worse then ROK.

First of all read Flying Dutchmen's response above, agree with him totally re: Stafford and the zone we play. Secondly NO ONE is suggesting that Schutte in in close games. He is a big body and if he can give us 3-5 minutes, play some defense and give some fouls that would help us...same with Trueheart...we are essentially playing a seven man rotation with Dwyer not adding much of anything although Joe lauded his blocked shot against the Marys.

[daHUPride]

To Polito, Why are the W&M fans the "Little Napoleons?" What is the basis for all the bad feelings towards the W&M fans?

I know I asked this question a while ago and forgot the answer but I just like the reference since Bill and Mary has left us hurting on more then one occasion with their last second heroics with plays that would be difficult to replicate. They seem to have an air of arrogance except maybe for their coach who appears to be a likable guy. I'm not sure how we revisited the ST for the 5 position argument. It's ludicrous and a complete no brainer. We apparently are quick to forget how we lost to COC at home last year with the ball going down low to Brantley who muscled ST out of the way for an easy layup. It was like he blew on him and he went backwards three feet and an easy bank shot cost us the game. The coaches problem with ST is a tough one compounded by the play of Coburn who clearly is an all around better player who plays harder shoots better and plays bigger then his size. That's not to say that there isn't a place for Stafford on this team. I think Trueheart would have been a better matchup against Pierce but we don't play much man to man. In the inbound play that Knight scored on Justin fronted Knight and Coburn was behind him. Justin had the ball but Knight took it away and made that shot. Coburn offered little resistance figuring no foul this guy can't make this shot with the clock running out. The fact that this happened boggles the mind and should have never happened. We could of had Trueheart fronting Knight and the ball would have never gotten into Knight's hands. Just water under the bridge but I think Stafford's major problem is that he seems lackadaisical when he's on the court. Just seems to loose focus and will get burned on a layup or miss an assignment and give up a wide open three. Stafford has upside. He can jump, block shots and score. Last year he also showed he was respectable from the foul line unlike if we have Schutte in the game. We need to be careful when we put him in the game and under no circumstances get into a situation where we put him on the foul line in a close game. We all but concede the points there worse then ROK.

First of all read Flying Dutchmen's response above, agree with him totally re: Stafford and the zone we play. Secondly NO ONE is suggesting that Schutte in in close games. He is a big body and if he can give us 3-5 minutes, play some defense and give some fouls that would help us...same with Trueheart...we are essentially playing a seven man rotation with Dwyer not adding much of anything although Joe lauded his blocked shot against the Marys.

I think that is all I am saying about ST.
Play him where he can excel - situationaly. If we dont use him in a situation (on or off the ball) - like the Knights buzzer-tier - then when?
I like ST - but I am not blind - I know he seems aloof and I certainly expect more, much more from him this year - but like ST we need to be able develop those 6'8" athletes to our advantage (I fear another Walker or Payne situation) - those are our big athletes types that we dont get develop and to use to their potential. Especially in a season like this and our recent games - when we are running out 7 guys, 5 of them guards - for 98% of the minutes are going to those 7 - teams are going to start forcing inside abasing JT and trying to foul him out.

[EvanJ]

You can watch every game by going to caa.tv...all schools have a free feed...last night's W&M game telecast was VERY good.

Yes SID this is what I use for all away games and a lot of times I just turn down the sound so I don't have to listen to biased commentating. If the commentating is fair I'll just go with it. BTW I listened to the post game interview with W&M coach Shaver and he really didn't compliment us too much or talk about Justin. He said we can beat this team I know it or something like that.

Once I tried to use Hofstra's audio with the home team's video, but they weren't in sync. In multiple CAA teams' videos there were times when an announcer was slightly ahead of the video.

ST is a stretch 4, end of story. He hasn't played a lick of center with his back to the basket likely ever in his career. He is not physical or heavy enough to bang in the post. He does not have an ounce of center footwork or positioning. He is a 4, a 4, a 4, a 4! Now he may not be the 4 they want, but that's his game - and trying to make him a center right now is just silly and wasting time. How about instead of trying to teach him how to play an entirely new position, maybe just coach him on playing his NATURAL position better?????

Taylor is good enough that there's no sense in teaching Trueheart or anybody else to be a 5 during the season. As long as Taylor and Dwyer are available, even if Trueheart could play the 5, he wouldn't play there more than 10 minutes a game. It reminds me of a Yankees podcast talking about Gary Sanchez. One guy said that he should move to first base because he's a bad defensive catcher. The other guy said that he was hitting worse than expected and he could hit worse if you made him learn a new position.

Trueheart has had almost half of attempts be threes. Some teams have all five starters able to shoot threes, but the starter with the lowest percentage of his attempts as threes is normally very low. Knight has had just over 10 percent of his attempts be threes, Drexel's James Butler has had 5 of 117 attempts be threes, Delaware's Eric Carter has had 3 of 183 attempts be threes, and UNC Wilmington's Devontae Cacok has attempted 1 three of 158 field goals. Elon is the only team where every starters attempts a significant amount of threes. Chuck Hannah at 23 of 67 (34.7 percent) is their only starter who has had under 47 percent of his attempts be threes. Hannah is tied with Karolis Kundrotas for the fifth most starts on Elon with 9, but Hannah is starting and Kundrotas's playing time went down like Trueheart's. In Elon's first 9 games, Kundrotas played 149 minutes, which is very low for a starter. In Elon's last 9 games, Kundrotas played in 7 and totaled 13 minutes. Half of the CAA teams have a starter who has not attempted any threes, which are us, James Madison, Charleston, Northeastern, and Towson.

On CSNBBS there is a William & Mary fan who is nice and sends me private messages. I'm the only Hofstra fan there. Only three CAA teams have many fans there. I like fans of UNC Wilmington better than fans of William & Mary better than fans of James Madison. The amount of fans of each team their is in the opposite order, with James Madison having the most and William & Mary the second most. A James Madison fan said our Softball title was meaningless because both teams entered the CAA Tournament as locks for the NCAA Tournament and James Madison's regular season title mattered more than the CAA Tournament because it gave them the right to host the 2019 CAA Tournament.

They do a contest to pick every CAA game on CSNBBS. On Thursday, a Charleston fan got all four games right, including predicting his team to lose as 14 point favorites. That's to lose the game, not just to lose against the spread.

[The Shadow]

To All the Posters, Thanks for the responses. I had no knowledge of the W&M fan base thinking so little of HU. Well, I guess that makes the 3OT win even sweeter. By the way, does any poster recall if any HU recruit changed his mind and signed with another program? Also, on the Knight play, why not use Schutte to front or back the center along with ST and not guard the player inbounding the ball?

[Cards]

I thought the entire ST issue was closed. He is not nor will he ever be a 5. In very rare and specific circumstances he may be inserted into a game to play the "5", but those are and should be rare.

Don't know what ST looks like in practices, but as someone already posted, in games he seems to many times be out of position on D. That just burns JMs biscuits, and he promptly removes ST. So not playing good consistent D, and taking too many 3s while not being aggressive on O, leaves him little playing time. Combine that with good play by TC, and ST is left out. Now, ST can't control how TC plays, but he certainly can adjust his own play. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be willing to do it, and until that happens (if ever) he will continue to see little playing time. It's unfortunate, because he does have talent enough to contribute.


I, like some others, would like to see the KS experiment. Give him 3-4 minutes of DDs playing time and see what happens. This is especially true when DD is size overmatched. It could not have been worse against WM to have KS on Knight for a couple of minutes than DD. I would think that even if Knight would have scored off KS he would have had to work a little harder for his points. Knight simply did whatever he wanted to against DD - and the drive down the middle followed by a dunk with DD right in front of him the entire way was thoroughly embarrassing. Totally overmatched simply because of size and speed. I can't imagine that when JT is off the floor, that for certain matchups, KS would be a downgrade from DD. Try it Joe.