MBB Game 1 - Canisius

[Polito]

This is absolute sh!t - they look aweful - they look completely spent, defeated, lazy, unprepared, and I am disgusted at this effort

Mid pack maac folks - expect a HELL of a lot better than what I'm seeing

[ProudofPride]

Seriously though, did they team work on ANYTHING in the offseason? They can't shoot, can't defend, and can't make free throws. Malcolm McMillan now has 30 points, because HU still hasn't figured out that they should guard him.

Elsewhere in the CAA, W&M is being NC State 41-35 at halftime, and JMU beat Richmond 87-75.

[Polito]

Holy s Koon MAKE A FRIGGIN BASKET - I mean give me a break, it was a FRIGGIN UNCONTESTED LAYUP

[ProudofPride]

Brian Bernardi broke the school record for threes in a game! He has 8 3's, a career high in points, and 2 players have double-doubles.

[ProudofPride]

Looks like winning was contagious tonight, despite some rough goings in a few of the games. WBB pulls out the tough win, MBB comes back from being down 18, VB beats Elon, and Men's Soccer beats JMU 2-0 in the semi-final game. The championship is 2:30 on Sunday on SNY.

If this team was able to score 96 on Canisius, I fully expect at least 100 against Molloy on Monday.

Not a bad Friday the 13th for the CAA as whole. WBB teams went 6-0, MBB is currently 7-0 with 2 games still going on. W&M had a huge win over NC State.

[daHUPride]

Bernardi - one of the better games I have seen him play
Green - not a great showing; saw him mouth "about time" after he finally hit a three late in the contest
Koon - not a great 1st outing and missed a BIG layup at a BIG time of the game but see he adds a different dimension to our normal players that we had at the "4" - knee looks a little gimpy
Gustys - typical lunch pail game from him fouls; rebounds; points in the paint - looks more athletic to me then last year
Tanksley - played terrible - looked lost - he is much better then what he showed tonight
Nicols - typical game, caused havoc on "D"; gave coaches fits with his ill-advised coast to coasts
Buie - hmmm - also adds a different look - comes in as Nesmith did - when pairs with Green; Green moves to the "2" - didn't get rattle had a few nice dishes
JWF - got a few minutes of game time - but he is a far better athlete then I thought (watching in pre game)
Walker - DNP - ???? - I am a fan not professional basketball anything so there most be a reason this kid gets no run - but man - IDK
Robinson - as previously stated most be redshirting - was there, not in the layup line
Team - terrible 1st half, better 2nd half...foul shooting terrible (more so in the 1st half)...turnovers way to many
Coaching - JAM gets on the refs from opening tip till the last light is out, I guess its his style but man
1st game the year - didn't look great; covered the spread - got be better then this

[joeg1]

A little troubling we couldn't defend this team man to man - had to switch to 1-3-1 zone or they would have put up 100 on us. Our superior talent won out in the end...fsu may score 120

[Polito]

Will try to stay calm as I write this - I am still livid at this teams performance - it was flat out terrible, and one of the worst wins I've seen in a while - negatives then will try to end with some positives

Team - I expected this team to come out with absolute FIRE in their eyes and like a heat seeking missile aim to destroy, to play with a chip on their shoulders, almost angry, ready to wreak havoc for the brutal end last yr - well got anything but that tonight - soft, lazy, tired - getting doubled up by a mid pack MAAC team (because that's what they are, don't get fooled here) at home is awful, and seems like nothing was accomplished in the offseason
Jaun'ye - you're the team leader and pre POY on the pre #1 team - if you didnt expect and prepare to play against double teams this yr then quite frankly you dont deserve either - cmon, youre a SR you HAVE to do a better job, and no, you dont get 10 games to figure it out - you should be performing from minute 1
Koon - holy crap...where to begin - I think I better just chalk this up to rust, because if we get real here you bricked more uncontested shots than any SR I've seen in YEARS - perhaps I overestimated you - that's not 'stabilizer' play - I won't even get into the layup for fear of breaking something
Tanskley - another poor SR performer - you don't get to play quietly this yr - this is it bud, you need to play BIG - there is no next game or next time or next yr - you're time is now, gotta play like it
Coaches - pls stop joking about your D, its not funny - and it's not what people want to pay to see - that is not exciting basketball, its embarrassing to play like that at home - you guys have no ground to complain about attendance when your team constantly plays like sh!t a home and allows lower teams to completely take the crowd out of it

The good
Rokas - like I said, this kid can be a star, and this was a game. Expected him to take full advantage of - he did - LOVED his aggressive play, keep it up
Nichols - I know he plays a bit Wild West a times, but he's was one of the only sparks on this team, and he also plays strong aggressive ball, something this team sorely needs more of
Bernardi - obviously have to give him props here, he carried the team - super display
Buie/JWF - these 2 are better ball handlers than nearly everyone on the team - jacked about the future of these guys, they can absolutely play - numbers weren't incredible or anything but you can just see it, when the get comfortable, watch out

This team best look hard in the mirror tonight and get their ish together, fast - what I saw tonight was exactly what I saw las yr - about a 4th place CAA team - they looked exactly the same - hope they realize they didn't do enough offseason, that its going to take a LOT better effort and performance than that to even be close to being champions - they better work their a$$es of these next couple of weeks get their heads on right

Until I see a FIRED UP team with a PLAN and appropriate performance and effort for a SR LADEN squad, my prediction has taken a huge hit - this is a mid pack CAA team until proven otherwise

Get it together fellas - this was awful - get it together - hate to see Molloy give you trouble, and good Lord help us if you play like this against FSU - there's still time to right is obviously, but my goodness the expectations are MUCH higher than what was seen tonight.

[HUSID80]

Hey guys we won the game by 11...bottom line is we beat the spread...what Hostra team in recent memory can come back from 18 down, then 11 down late in the second half and win by 11. Lots of firepower and more depth. Did anyone notice that Jamal Robinson did not dress. It's clear he is being red shirted which means the Clemson Toger will be back for the second semester...we need him in the paint! Right now our only defender in the paint is Nichols, but by not playing Walker we have NO shot blocking threat in the paint.

Nice to get the season underway at 1-0.

[joeg1]

no idea why walker didnt get in when gustys and nichols both had 4 fouls... even for a few minutes

[Polito]

All good that they won, thats obviously better than the alternative - but quite frankly, so? They were SUPPOSED to win, and in MUCH better fashion - this is an avg MAAC team, HU is supposedly loaded and at home - they NEVER, I mean N E V E R should've been in a blow out position like that at home - this HU squad should've beat this Griffin one by 20

And just for a quick reality check, JMU beat RICHMOND, and enemy #1 beat NCSTATE by more than that - both on the ROAD - and both those opponents are easily better/tougher than Canisius

My pt is, THAT'S how I expected HU to come out tonight, like a team on a mission - instead they damn near blew what would've been an awful loss - from what I saw, Canisius simply stopped sinking their wide open shots, because they had plenty all game - HU practically stepped out of the way for them on nearly every drive to the basket - it was ridiculous

Griffs keep making baskets and they win - I didn't see HU do anything to stop them - pretty scary for a team that's supposed to have it all together this yr and cut nets - pretty scary when the CAA just showed at least 2 teams that put up better showings against way better comp in their 1st games

I hope to high heaven this HU team doesn't think they've got this all in the bag, not playing like that - my frustration and lowered prediction stands until I see VAST improvement - like beating FSU by 10 improvement

There are NO moral victories this yr, no feel good Ws - not this yr - this is about going out there and beating teams into oblivion whenever possible, and at the very least performing as expected - considering how last season ended, this team should've come out firing on ALL cylinders from the word go - the FIRE should exploding out of them - didn't see that, or anything close to it

Honestly, they didn't give me any confidence tonight, they raised questions and made me concerned about their prep, focus, determination, and ability to get the job done. Best see a MAJOR improvement against a D2 school...

[stuball888]

For 36 minutes they played little or no defense. They did contest shots the last three minutes of the game when they put it away. The only guys playing any defense were Malik Nicoles and Bernardi.Also Hofstras final surge came when McMillan when to the locker room to take care of an eye issue. When he returned with 2 minutes left he wasnt the same player. Hopefully we will see another team that plays with urgency and a fire in their belly. One thing about Juanya green he was a different player with two minutes left. He wanted the ball in his hands and took over the game. The rotation was very short. Buie 13 and JFW only played 13 minutes and two minutes each. That means only 6 players got real playing time.

[ProudofPride]

NYC Buckets recap.
http://www.nycbuckets.com/2015/11/three ... nisius-85/

[daHUPride]

Bernardi - one of the better games I have seen him play
Green - not a great showing; saw him mouth "about time" after he finally hit a three late in the contest
Koon - not a great 1st outing and missed a BIG layup at a BIG time of the game but see he adds a different dimension to our normal players that we had at the "4" - knee looks a little gimpy
Gustys - typical lunch pail game from him fouls; rebounds; points in the paint - looks more athletic to me then last year
Tanksley - played terrible - looked lost - he is much better then what he showed tonight
Nicols - typical game, caused havoc on "D"; gave coaches fits with his ill-advised coast to coasts
Buie - hmmm - also adds a different look - comes in as Nesmith did - when pairs with Green; Green moves to the "2" - didn't get rattle had a few nice dishes
JWF - got a few minutes of game time - but he is a far better athlete then I thought (watching in pre game)
Walker - DNP - ???? - I am a fan not professional basketball anything so there most be a reason this kid gets no run - but man - IDK
Robinson - as previously stated must be redshirting - was there, not in the layup line
Team - terrible 1st half, better 2nd half...foul shooting terrible (more so in the 1st half)...turnovers way to many
Coaching - JAM gets on the refs from opening tip till the last light is out, I guess its his style but man
1st game the year - didn't look great; covered the spread - got be better then this

[ProudofPride]

Despite a rough outing, in the end this was probably of the most balanced team efforts in a while. 6 players had double figures out of the 7 who scored, and 3 had double-doubles. HU also ended the night shooting over 50% of the field. And although they shouldn't have had to make a comeback, a 29 point turnaround is pretty impressive. The team still found a way to win.
I'd like to hope that most of the roughness in the game can be attributed to first-game jitters, but we'll find that out in the coming games. The game on Monday against Molloy is the last home game this semester.

[HUSID80]

Oh and another thing, the attendance was listed as 2100, pitiful. Where are the students? First game on a Friday night, expected at least 3500.

The team must be disappointed to play in front of more empty seats than full ones...something needs to be done!

[stuball888]

HUSID80 I have almost given up on the students. What Hofstra needs to do is get out into the community more than 5 minutes away from Hofstra.Go into East meadow, Hicksville, Mineola, Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford and Massapequa etc. Go to their street fairs, put up posters in stores and restaurants, approach the Chambers of Commerce in each of these towns. The schools should also be approached. Hofstra has little all no exposure once you leave Hempstead Turnpike.

[cactus]

NYC Buckets recap.
http://www.nycbuckets.com/2015/11/three ... nisius-85/

Couple of mistakes in this. Buie was not held scoreless, he hit free throws after the lane violation

They are 0-1 without Bernardi's shooting, every time they got down big he hit 3 after 3, it was pretty incredible, especially with watching the Canisius asst pulling his hair out each time. Mcmillan leaving for a stretch helped as well as the Griffin offense became stagnated without him.

The defense needs a lot of work. They can't keep guys in front of them in the mtm and they just chase guys around the 3 point line in zone. They'll never beat a good team playing d like that.

[Polito]

Attendance def horrid but I'm sorry they play like sh!t at home - you're not going to win people over letting opponents walk all over you every game - it's gotten to be ridiculous now - DEFEND YOUR DAMN HOME COURT

Also, HUs marketing continues to be a DISGRACE - where was the promotion for this game??? I have not seen a single ad, billboard, TV spot, anything promoting this program or it's stars or it's preseason accolades or its potential - The social media side of things has been fantastic from the program and the school, but official marketing and branding in the community in region?? It's absolutely awful, and it needs to change - when is someone going to be held accountable for this?

Because the reality is, if this team can't perform better they're going to need a tremendous amount of promotion to get people to these games – I'll be honest, I have no interest in taking my precious time and watching the type a basketball we've seen at home recently - so something has got to give, something has to change

Next day and I am still very concerned about this team – watching other schools have monster upsets like Monmouth over UCLA and Belmont over Marquette, WOW... And here is HU getting beat like a mule at home in their own transition game - I watched veteran players literally stand out of the way opening up a free lane and just haphazardly slapping at the basketball as the opponent blows buy them for an easy layup

They better get it together and go out there and start performing like a team with a purpose – there is no excuse for that kind of poor play from a veteran group - other 'lower' mids seem to be having no trouble making statements and gaining signature wins, and this HU squad is fully expected to do the same - and that includes a win over FSU, the A10s, and others – no excuses this year, none.

[Dooku25]

My thoughts on the game.. I saw several trends from last year come true again last night. Bad free throw shooting, no defense, and Juan'ye Green starts slow and then dominates late.

This team has tremendous firepower. No opponents lead is safe. We are going to put points on the board one way or another. To be down 18 in the first half and end up winning by double digits shows you that. Last night Bernardi was spectacular. Maybe next game it will be Tanksley or Green. They apparently are never going to try to play shut down defense, they are just going to make their opponents try to outscore them.

Bottom line, last night was a struggle. But at the end of the night, you look up and see 96 points on the board. Nobody is going to want to play this team. If they can find a way to even play average team defense, they can do special things this year!