MBB Game 34 - CBI - Vermont - 3/18/15, 7 PM

[HofstraHockey]

It's really hard to blame the students, when they do show up and they have to watch a crappy performance from their team time after time. To be fair, how many of them truly follow the team during road games like we do? So all they know is what they see in person, and that hasn't been much.

[Jojogunne]

Newsday's blurb in today's paper said Hofstra lost to Vermont in the CIT. So much for brand identity.

They really said CIT?

Welp, I guess that's why it only got a blurb.

Laura Albanese was supposed to be covering for Newsday (not Mark Herrmann or Greg Logan, as usual), but I don't recall if I saw her.

My bad. They said CBI.

[HUSID80]

It's really hard to blame the students, when they do show up and they have to watch a crappy performance from their team time after time. To be fair, how many of them truly follow the team during road games like we do? So all they know is what they see in person, and that hasn't been much.

How many schools would beg to have a 20 win season...and they are well supported.

[Jojogunne]

The fact that we won 20 games is a hollow statistic. Six of our victories came against teams that won fewer than 10 games (Jacksonville, Wagner, Coppin State, Central Conn. State, and Charleston twice), and we played only three teams with Top 100 RPIs: NC State, NE and W&M. Had we played an even slightly more challenging schedule, we would probably have had only 16 or 17 wins.

[Dooku25]

It's really hard to blame the students, when they do show up and they have to watch a crappy performance from their team time after time. To be fair, how many of them truly follow the team during road games like we do? So all they know is what they see in person, and that hasn't been much.

How many schools would beg to have a 20 win season...and they are well supported.

Student turnout has been always been a problem. I can only speak from '98 on, when I was a student there. Not sure about before then. But Hofstra is a commuter school, so there will always be less students on campus. Also, when I was there, most sports oriented students didn't think about Hofstra basketball in a big way. They were thinking Yankees, Giants, Knicks. If they talked college basketball, it was Duke or Kentucky etc. It took even me awhile to become a fan. My first 2 years at Hofstra, I never attended a game on campus. When I finally went, I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised though. Then I would talk to some buddies in class who liked sports and I would tell them to go to a game, we have this guy Speedy Claxton, hes pretty good. I got laughed at and not taken seriously.

I think the 3 seasons prior to this one really set us back. Its tough getting the students to come. We need to get a big school to play at the Mack, or get a Charles Jenkins type player that will draw the students, or we just need to win BIGGGGGG. I like the last option. That arena was sold out in 2000, 2001, and in 2005 (St Johns) and in 06 (#25 ranked George Mason) and 3rd round NIT for ODU. So its not impossible. Its been done. I hope we are on the right track. If we win, they will come.

[HUSID80]

The fact that we won 20 games is a hollow statistic. Six of our victories came against teams that won fewer than 10 games (Jacksonville, Wagner, Coppin State, Central Conn. State, and Charleston twice), and we played only three teams with Top 100 RPIs: NC State, NE and W&M. Had we played an even slightly more challenging schedule, we would probably have had only 16 or 17 wins.

Call it what you want but it's a huge improvement over the previous year and our style of play is fun to watch...lots of scoring...no grinding it out here...the team deserves better support...can't deny it.

[HofstraHockey]

Again, the wins all came on the road. 8-7 at home, 12-7 away from the Mack.

And one of the biggest things I STILL hear from students (I'm around them all the time) is jokes about their laptops being stolen. There's still a stigma. It's going to take more than wins against Coppin St. to change that.

[HUSID80]

There's always an excuse for plain old APATHY...they don't complain about Coppin St when there's a free t-shirt or pizza to be had...Frankly I would go after the families in the neighboring communities hard...great value...great venue...everyone who comes enjoys the experience.

[Polito]

Always multiple angles on this topic, and valid

Look its not just apathy here, its COLLEGE athletics apathy that permeates throughout this region - it's going to take some serious noise to attack that - simply good value or a few wins just isn't enough - not here - here it takes national attention to increase local attention

I'm not looking to knock the team in yr 2 - that's just not fair - it's the second yr of a MAJOR overhaul of a program in danger - it could've easily taken 5 yrs to win 20 again after that - they are winning again, the players have been outstanding students and citizens, and hell Speedys back - they've gone from a complete embarrassment to a respectable like able program in basically 24 months - there's a LOT to appreciate and be excited about

That said, when you're own coaching staff repeatedly calls you out for being flat uninspired slow lazy and everything else at home, well that's not ok - the home fans got treated to CRAP ball - and it won't take long in this area for folks to turn disinterested - HU needs to make NATIONAL noise - beating no names on the road ain't gonna do it

(And here again we see another CAA level team do it in GSU in the tourney - UNCW, GMU, ODU, VCU, and even Manhattan and Iona have all done it before - the bar has been raised for HU to match)

If you're not going to come out passionate fired up and fiercely defend your home court, then you can't expect people to come out and support you - I grew up in college crazy VA as a Hokie fan, I understand loyalty and support in up and down times - but I'm also a father of 3 and a business owner, as is my wife - not going to take precious time (tickets are cheap isn't about $ for anyone) to watch a team consistently sh!t the bed against inferior teams - teams gotta show much better

If they want to fill the building then you gotta produce, end of story. HU has had years where attendance was pretty good and fans packed out the place - those teams won at home, those teams beat teams people know - this staff needs to up the SOS now and start showing out.

[Cards]

Polito - could not have said it better!

HU is investing in the program and we should expect to see those results. Given university backing, there is no reason the program should not be a local and CAA powerhouse. The only local teams that should be tough matchups for us should be Seton Hall and St Johns. We should routinely handle teams like Iona, Manhattan, and Stony Brook (this is the tier of teams that should worry when they have to play us). Other locals should not be able to regularly compete. We should be in the top tier of CAA and either winning the conference or at least getting an NIT bid out of it.

That is the vision I see for the HU program. I assume (hope) we all do. A team with this consistent level of success will put fans in the seats.

[HofstraPride1]

The commuter school excuse is nonsense since half the students at Hofstra now live on campus and even the ones who don't are in the area so no reason they can't also be engaged with the team.

It's really hard to blame the students, when they do show up and they have to watch a crappy performance from their team time after time. To be fair, how many of them truly follow the team during road games like we do? So all they know is what they see in person, and that hasn't been much.

How many schools would beg to have a 20 win season...and they are well supported.

Student turnout has been always been a problem. I can only speak from '98 on, when I was a student there. Not sure about before then. But Hofstra is a commuter school, so there will always be less students on campus. Also, when I was there, most sports oriented students didn't think about Hofstra basketball in a big way. They were thinking Yankees, Giants, Knicks. If they talked college basketball, it was Duke or Kentucky etc. It took even me awhile to become a fan. My first 2 years at Hofstra, I never attended a game on campus. When I finally went, I wasn't expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised though. Then I would talk to some buddies in class who liked sports and I would tell them to go to a game, we have this guy Speedy Claxton, hes pretty good. I got laughed at and not taken seriously.

I think the 3 seasons prior to this one really set us back. Its tough getting the students to come. We need to get a big school to play at the Mack, or get a Charles Jenkins type player that will draw the students, or we just need to win BIGGGGGG. I like the last option. That arena was sold out in 2000, 2001, and in 2005 (St Johns) and in 06 (#25 ranked George Mason) and 3rd round NIT for ODU. So its not impossible. Its been done. I hope we are on the right track. If we win, they will come.

[HofstraHockey]

69% of freshmen live on campus now. It's 47% overall (and I'm pretty sure that includes grad students), but that's because, like he said, many get houses off campus or are older professionals/ part time students.

I disagree that the student apathy exists as much as it did in the early 2000s- I think that the students WANT to be engaged. But they don't have their star player yet (let's be honest, nobody on this team is Speedy or Loren or Charles or even Antoine), they haven't had any REAL success, they are still coming off of dismal years combined with dishonesty towards their own student body, the coach, while I have a lot of positive things to say about him, isn't the same kind of student draw type that TP or Mo were (they had their shortcomings, but student interaction wasn't one of them) - and that's not a knock against him, it just is who he is - so there's a lot of little things that have to go with it. Do you need to give them free t-shirts to get them there? Sure. But when they're there, blow a team out for once and get them coming back because they want to see you play.

[Dooku25]

HH, there are plenty of smaller schools with less talent that draw more students and more students with enthusiasm. Juan'ya Green might not be in that class of Hofstra guards you mentioned, but he's only a notch below. And he was spectacular in Baltimore. But the students wouldn't know that because they weren't there! The first thing I said when I got to my seat in the semifinal was wow we have 10 students in our student section. That's pathetic. We were 1 win away from a game that could put us in the NCAA tournament, and we had 10 students there. And guess what? The team played their hearts out. They missed clutch free throws yes, but their effort and heart could not be questioned. It was the 2nd most incredible game in any sport I've ever attended. If I was a student at that game, the team would have won me over with the way they played. And I'd be excited about next season. But unfortunately that performance will be forgotten. Well maybe except for the 10 students who witnessed it.

[HUSID80]

HH, there are plenty of smaller schools with less talent that draw more students and more students with enthusiasm. Juan'ya Green might not be in that class of Hofstra guards you mentioned, but he's only a notch below. And he was spectacular in Baltimore. But the students wouldn't know that because they weren't there! The first thing I said when I got to my seat in the semifinal was wow we have 10 students in our student section. That's pathetic. We were 1 win away from a game that could put us in the NCAA tournament, and we had 10 students there. And guess what? The team played their hearts out. They missed clutch free throws yes, but their effort and heart could not be questioned. It was the 2nd most incredible game in any sport I've ever attended. If I was a student at that game, the team would have won me over with the way they played. And I'd be excited about next season. But unfortunately that performance will be forgotten. Well maybe except for the 10 students who witnessed it.

Well said... I was there as well and it was one of the most incredible performances by a Hofstra team that I have ever witnessed and I've been around as a student, depth employee, fan and booster since 1970. It was discounting to see so few students rooting our team on, especially compared to William and Mary who brought thousands.

[ProudofPride]

HH, there are plenty of smaller schools with less talent that draw more students and more students with enthusiasm. Juan'ya Green might not be in that class of Hofstra guards you mentioned, but he's only a notch below. And he was spectacular in Baltimore. But the students wouldn't know that because they weren't there! The first thing I said when I got to my seat in the semifinal was wow we have 10 students in our student section. That's pathetic. We were 1 win away from a game that could put us in the NCAA tournament, and we had 10 students there. And guess what? The team played their hearts out. They missed clutch free throws yes, but their effort and heart could not be questioned. It was the 2nd most incredible game in any sport I've ever attended. If I was a student at that game, the team would have won me over with the way they played. And I'd be excited about next season. But unfortunately that performance will be forgotten. Well maybe except for the 10 students who witnessed it.

There was a bus trip for students to Baltimore, but it wasn't well advertised at all. I only because I saw one flyer in a dorm, but it wasn't prominently displayed or anything. The trip was through SGA, so the majority of those 10 students were SGA members and their friends, since most students didn't know they could sign up to go. They should've worked with athletics to advertise the trip However, the 10 or so students that were there is still a lot better than the zero students that went last year.

[Dooku25]

POP, that's frustrating to read. And to me, advertising on and off campus is our biggest problem. I like Hathaway as AD so far. But I hope they ramp up their efforts in this department next season.

[HofstraHockey]

I disagree- they needed three buses not all that long ago, and that was for a much less exciting trip than to Baltimore. It's not like it's never happened, or that it hasn't happened recently. But it took a few years of building it up to get to that level. This team needs to win back the students themselves. You all were complaining about the t-shirts and hats and stuff, but that's advertising right there. And that worked. And then the product on the court stunk, and students didn't want to come back.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nA651WF4kg8/T ... ofstra.jpg I can't find myself, but I'm somewhere in that mess.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uT_wn4juybI/T ... C03622.JPG You can't tell me that, as of today, Juan'ya's last game is going to look like this.

[Polito]

HU has had better support before and they will again - gotta give it some time guys, this program was DEAD for 3 yrs and had more then one scandal associated with it thx to Welsh

This team needed a true star and doesn't have it yet - that can be ok but then they also need to win at home, beat some good name teams, and make some national noise - and I've ALWAYS felt the advertising and marketing has been VERY poor

I agree students should always be there and this team should have more support in general - but you have to be realistic - this team, yeah they're back to winning again, but they had a crap schedule, lost to every name/strong quality team they played, played awful at home, finished *5th* when many picked them first, failed to get to at least the champ game (which was really the expectation if not winning it all), etc etc

They're on the right road again thankfully, but a lot more to do and prove in order to pack out your place - I've already detailed in other posts why to simply takes more effort here than other places - that's how it is - HU simply needs to STEP UP

[Wags]

Newsday's blurb in today's paper said Hofstra lost to Vermont in the CIT. So much for brand identity.

They really said CIT?

Welp, I guess that's why it only got a blurb.

Laura Albanese was supposed to be covering for Newsday (not Mark Herrmann or Greg Logan, as usual), but I don't recall if I saw her.

My bad. They said CBI.

Goes to show that I trust you more than them.

[Wags]

HU has had better support before and they will again - gotta give it some time guys, this program was DEAD for 3 yrs and had more then one scandal associated with it thx to Welsh

This team needed a true star and doesn't have it yet - that can be ok but then they also need to win at home, beat some good name teams, and make some national noise - and I've ALWAYS felt the advertising and marketing has been VERY poor

I agree students should always be there and this team should have more support in general - but you have to be realistic - this team, yeah they're back to winning again, but they had a crap schedule, lost to every name/strong quality team they played, played awful at home, finished *5th* when many picked them first, failed to get to at least the champ game (which was really the expectation if not winning it all), etc etc

They're on the right road again thankfully, but a lot more to do and prove in order to pack out your place - I've already detailed in other posts why to simply takes more effort here than other places - that's how it is - HU simply needs to STEP UP

Fully agree - you don't go from 10, 7 and 10 wins in three seasons, plus a new coach getting fired for being passed out drunk at a red light right up the road from the campus only a month into the job, followed by as many player arrests as D-I wins during the middle of those 3 years, to suddenly packing the the building in the fourth year, especially when you cough up winnable games at home and because of it, finish in fifth place during that fourth year. What do people realistically expect around here??? When you take all of that into account over the past four years -- especially over the first three -- they're lucky they had the attendance they did, in the Lion's Den and otherwise.

What this year was about was simply putting an awful three-year period to rest and turning the ship around and providing something on which to build next year. On that, mission accomplished.

That puts HU Hoops at a crossroads next year. HU should be either the CAA favorite or close to it next year. Get the job done, win a regular season title and be the favorite going into Baltimore next year, and they will show up. More of the same from this past season, and you'll get more of the same type of crowd from this past season. To expect any more than that isn't being honest about where the program has been recently, where it is and where it's going (which hopefully, and potentially, is toward much bigger things as we get further into the Mihalich era, in Year 3 and beyond).