MBB: Game 34 - CAA Finals

[Cards]

I'm guessing we get a Providence or a G'town in the NIT since it is somewhat geographically sensitive and they might even give us a home game.

Right now we are bracketed as a 6 seed (8 total seeds). That really sucks given that we will have one of the best records of the 32 teams in the NIT. What kills us is that we have one of the worst Strength of Schedules (SOS) of the 32 teams in the NIT. Recall that after a full season of play, it turns out that we actually had a pretty easy schedule. Bottom line is that I don't think we will be viewing any more games at the Mack this year!

Whose bracket has us a 6?

https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/

[Wags]

https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/

Davidson is listed as a 3. So, how about a 3/6 matchup against our old friend Bob McKillop?

[HUSID74]

https://www.dratings.com/predictor/bracketology/

Davidson is listed as a 3. So, how about a 3/6 matchup against our old friend Bob McKillop?

Would love it but it will more likely be a closer opponent....money talks with the new NIT

[Mikey77]

If the NIT selection committee knows the history a Davidson match up would be a good game especially at the Mack.

[Wags]

If the NIT selection committee knows the history a Davidson match up would be a good game especially at the Mack.

If they're a 6 seed, they'll be on the road (unless there's a facility scheduling issue which would force the game to the Mack).

[Flying Dutchmen]

How about against St. John's in the Garden after they lose tonight.

[Wags]

How about against St. John's in the Garden after they lose tonight.

They are in danger of falling out with a loss tonight, but that game wouldn't be there, it would be at Carnesecca.

[Polito]

Crap, if that were to happen I would LOVE it and have to come back and pretend like I'm not pissed, disappointed, and disheartened at this team and staff. I want SJU so bad, that's a fanbase that needs a shot right in the mouth.

But sheez, a projected 6 seed??? Really?? That seems pretty sucky and low to me for this team in an NIT field. If this team with 27 wins in the CAA really doesn't even get the respect to host a silly NIT game after dropping the CAA final, my goodness that would be sad.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Crap, if that were to happen I would LOVE it and have to come back and pretend like I'm not pissed, disappointed, and disheartened at this team and staff. I want SJU so bad, that's a fanbase that needs a shot right in the mouth.

But sheez, a projected 6 seed??? Really?? That seems pretty sucky and low to me for this team in an NIT field. If this team with 27 wins in the CAA really doesn't even get the respect to host a silly NIT game after dropping the CAA final, my goodness that would be sad.

The way I see it, there are a lot of valid issues that can be discussed in the off-season, and it sucks so much we're not in the dance, but we still have guaranteed hoops left, might as well enjoy that. Hopefully the team looks at it like that too, and is motivated to kick some ass, especially if it's St. John's.

As for NIT seeding, we might deserve a 4, maybe not, but they always weight the seeding towards the bigger schools to get the bigger attendance. Even though the game atmosphere would clearly be better at the smaller schools. Like if we got a home NIT game against a power team, local people would be pretty jacked up and fill the Mack.

[Wags]

Crap, if that were to happen I would LOVE it and have to come back and pretend like I'm not pissed, disappointed, and disheartened at this team and staff. I want SJU so bad, that's a fanbase that needs a shot right in the mouth.

But sheez, a projected 6 seed??? Really?? That seems pretty sucky and low to me for this team in an NIT field. If this team with 27 wins in the CAA really doesn't even get the respect to host a silly NIT game after dropping the CAA final, my goodness that would be sad.

The way I see it, there are a lot of valid issues that can be discussed in the off-season, and it sucks so much we're not in the dance, but we still have guaranteed hoops left, might as well enjoy that. Hopefully the team looks at it like that too, and is motivated to kick some ass, especially if it's St. John's.

As for NIT seeding, we might deserve a 4, maybe not, but they always weight the seeding towards the bigger schools to get the bigger attendance. Even though the game atmosphere would clearly be better at the smaller schools. Like if we got a home NIT game against a power team, local people would be pretty jacked up and fill the Mack.

The Nebraska game at the Mack was a good example of this.

[Wags]

Crap, if that were to happen I would LOVE it and have to come back and pretend like I'm not pissed, disappointed, and disheartened at this team and staff. I want SJU so bad, that's a fanbase that needs a shot right in the mouth.

But sheez, a projected 6 seed??? Really?? That seems pretty sucky and low to me for this team in an NIT field. If this team with 27 wins in the CAA really doesn't even get the respect to host a silly NIT game after dropping the CAA final, my goodness that would be sad.

The way I see it, there are a lot of valid issues that can be discussed in the off-season, and it sucks so much we're not in the dance, but we still have guaranteed hoops left, might as well enjoy that. Hopefully the team looks at it like that too, and is motivated to kick some ass, especially if it's St. John's.

As for NIT seeding, we might deserve a 4, maybe not, but they always weight the seeding towards the bigger schools to get the bigger attendance. Even though the game atmosphere would clearly be better at the smaller schools. Like if we got a home NIT game against a power team, local people would be pretty jacked up and fill the Mack.

St. John's will be in the NCAAT. They beat DePaul tonight by the same score Northeastern beat HU by last night.

[EvanJ]

St. John's is 64th in the NET. They're a bubble team if they lose to Marquette. I'm not saying they won't get in, but they shouldn't be confident. As for us, I have no problem with the CAA saying we have no chance at an-large bid. UNC Greensboro, Furman, Belmont, and Lipscomb are mid-majors above us in the NET who didn't win their tournaments, and probably no more than one of them will get in. If New Mexico State doesn't win the WAC, they will join that group. Memphis is 53rd in NET from the sixth best conference, and has never even made ESPN's Bubble Watch. We're 74th, and we didn't make the Bubble Watch during our win streak. If NIT seeds were done from the NET, in order for 74th to get a top 4 seed, meaning 16th or better among NIT teams, at least 58 of the 68 NCAA Tournament teams would have to be above us in the NET, or teams above us in the NET would have to not make the NCAA or NIT. There are already 17 automatic bids (a majority of 32) that have gone to teams worse than us in the NET or come from tournaments where every team is worse than us.

[hualum]

we aren't getting an at large- not even .5% who did we beat??? In fact our record against "Good" teams (Maryland, VCU, Charleston, Stoney Brook, Northeastern) is 4-4; we are 23-3 in other games. those loses to UNCW and JMU did us in. at 29-5 we are in the conversation. not 27-7 with those loses. Don't even get your hopes up- won't happen

[cactus]

Couple of days now to process and I think the general sentiment here is correct - Northeastern was the better team. Hofstra has more talent, and won a lot of games this year on talent. They showed earlier in the season an ability to play a better team game, but not recently. I'm disappointed, very sad for Justin and Jacquil, but not mad. The game went as expected for me really, despite my hopes otherwise.

The turning point in the game was their typical defensive zone breakdown after they tied it at 54, with NE overloading one side and leaving one guy defending two guys on that side of the arc. Pusica faked the pass to the open guy in the corner and drained the 3, followed by two straight effective turnovers (in what should have been an advantage for Hofstra) by missing two front ends of 1 and 1s, mixed between a 3 pt play from Northeastern. I give them a ton of credit for coming all the way back, but it took too much out of them by that point. Still, and after I watched it again on TV and some of Pusica's 2nd half 3's were a little deeper than I thought watching live, they have to run something out there to give a different look on D when he hits 5 3's in a half and is left wide open for the nail in the coffin. Wright Foreman never got open looks like either of those shots all game. But if they didn't make those adjustments in the first 33 games, not going to start in game 34.

Charleston was not a bad spot, affordable easy flight. The arena is basically in a mess of highways and hotels around an airport, and have to travel to see the sights, but glad I did it. Good trip other than the end result. Enjoyed meeting a bunch of die hards. We flew back with the team Wednesday morning, that would have been quite the environment had they won.

Definitely hoping for an NIT home game to see these guys play one more time.

[triplec2195]

Couple of days now to process and I think the general sentiment here is correct - Northeastern was the better team. Hofstra has more talent, and won a lot of games this year on talent. They showed earlier in the season an ability to play a better team game, but not recently. I'm disappointed, very sad for Justin and Jacquil, but not mad. The game went as expected for me really, despite my hopes otherwise.

The turning point in the game was their typical defensive zone breakdown after they tied it at 54, with NE overloading one side and leaving one guy defending two guys on that side of the arc. Pusica faked the pass to the open guy in the corner and drained the 3, followed by two straight effective turnovers (in what should have been an advantage for Hofstra) by missing two front ends of 1 and 1s, mixed between a 3 pt play from Northeastern. I give them a ton of credit for coming all the way back, but it took too much out of them by that point. Still, and after I watched it again on TV and some of Pusica's 2nd half 3's were a little deeper than I thought watching live, they have to run something out there to give a different look on D when he hits 5 3's in a half and is left wide open for the nail in the coffin. Wright Foreman never got open looks like either of those shots all game. But if they didn't make those adjustments in the first 33 games, not going to start in game 34.

Charleston was not a bad spot, affordable easy flight. The arena is basically in a mess of highways and hotels around an airport, and have to travel to see the sights, but glad I did it. Good trip other than the end result. Enjoyed meeting a bunch of die hards. We flew back with the team Wednesday morning, that would have been quite the environment had they won.

Definitely hoping for an NIT home game to see these guys play one more time.

Of course it's water under the bridge but ....... if we convert those 4 FT'S this game takes on a different complexion because a one possession game I'll put my money on Justin. It just changes the complexion of the game. They also needed to play Pusica closer with someone getting a hand in his face, I know 20/20 hindsight but very pleased with the comeback and no one is really talking about it so much but Joe inferred it in his post presser that coming back and tying this game left us very little in the tank. Maybe the reason we shorted/ missed the FT's but its all history now. Thanks for everyone who made the trip and supported the team a great effort and an incredible year. I was very happy to see it all unfold. I take back the little left in the tank comment since I now see it mentioned in another topic sorry but spot on comments.

[Wags]

we aren't getting an at large- not even .5% who did we beat??? In fact our record against "Good" teams (Maryland, VCU, Charleston, Stoney Brook, Northeastern) is 4-4; we are 23-3 in other games. those loses to UNCW and JMU did us in. at 29-5 we are in the conversation. not 27-7 with those loses. Don't even get your hopes up- won't happen

Point is, we all know what it is realistically (which is - forget at-large, they likely won't even get an NIT home game), but your own league (which is supposed to advocate for you) should be the last ones putting it in an article as absolute fact before it's official. No one should actually write an article that way, but least of all your own conference.

[Polito]

The CAA front office is nonexistent. This conf has and has had ZERO attention and awareness all year. ZERO. Yeager may have been VA biased, he fully was, but that man promoted the CAA like it was his job - because low and behold it is!!! He advocated like nobody's business. No clue what the current commish is doing - looks like a lot of nothing. Joe has been noting it every week, good conf but no one knows about it, we need to get the word out - reading between the lines it really feels like this is a 'hey CAA people, do something'

Look, NU made their shots and HU didn't. My biggest source of frustration disappointment and yes anger (I don't think there's anything wrong with being mad at what happened), is NOT the loss. It is that they simply did not give their best ball. That's actually all I really asked for, I hoped and believed for a win, but all I actually asked for was for them to play their true best ball.

And they didn't. I know I know, they made a valiant comeback, not taking away from that - they displayed some great heart for sure. But they stunk for literally an entire half - that is not their best, and not HU ball. They looked awful, sloppy, disconnected, timid, on and on. A loss of course still stings, BUT a loss knowing that this team gave their absolute best is much easier to take. Yes, NU still prob would've won because they are the better team as I said 2 months ago, but it would've been a much more inspiring loss. This one just sucked. Same as Green playing like crap. Neither team was beat at their best, and it's extremely annoying. And I'm sure they feel it 10x what I feel, not pretending it's not bad for them. I know it's eating them up. Great kids all around, but that's my primary source of pain.

NU played with fire, confident and hungry, ready to kill. Big difference. Really disappointed in Buie and Pemba as upper classmen leaders - hell Buie's played in a champ game before, and he was totally flat all conf. I read a quote from JWF about his teammates picking him up telling him there's still at least one more game to play - all good and true, BUT what they should've been saying is apologizing profusely for playing unfocused and like crap in the most important games of the season leaving JWF alone to try and win it all by himself.

Those two in particular really disappointed me with their dejected behavior on the court all game. Hanging heads, throwing hands up, complaining instead of owning and playing. I expect them to turn that crap around and play the way they are capable of as leaders in the NIT and next season. They owe it to themselves, their teammates, and coaches.

The twitter post of JM talking about and trying to inspire them the night before about cutting nets was really telling to me - even though I didn't want to admit it at the time. That team was totally dejected. No one was fired up. They were all still pissy about barely squeaking by UD. You can see and feel it. You could see it on DB and Pemba faces walking off the court. I get it, they were mad they played bad. Us too. But hell they WON! Leaders need to act differently. Only JWF even acknowledged the comments, only one standing. Pretty telling scene now that I look back. This team somewhere I think lost some swagger confidence and belief that they were actually going to do it.

And doubt is an absolute killer. So yeah, I'm sad for them, frustrated, and sure angry. I hope they all are too - they didn't play their best, they know it, and they paid the price for it with a low consolation prize. BUT they do also now still have a chance to show what their best really looks like. Hope they send JWF out much better in the NIT and finish this season on a proper strong note!

[The Shadow]

A question for all the posters on the board, out of the 27 wins in 2018-19, were any gained over a higher ranked opponent at the time of the game? I am aware that some of the defeats, including to NU in the CAAT, were to a higher ranked team.

[daHUPride]

A question for all the posters on the board, out of the 27 wins in 2018-19, were any gained over a higher ranked opponent at the time of the game? I am aware that some of the defeats, including to NU in the CAAT, were to a higher ranked team.

I don't think so - but we also won all (almost all) the games we were supposed

[HUSID74]

A question for all the posters on the board, out of the 27 wins in 2018-19, were any gained over a higher ranked opponent at the time of the game? I am aware that some of the defeats, including to NU in the CAAT, were to a higher ranked team.

Yes, Charleston was favored over us in Charleston.