Rokas Gustys

[ProudofPride]

Should be another player-of-the-week coming for RG. He had 25 pts 15 reb on Thursday and 18 pts 21 reb tonight. Averaged 21.5 pts and 18 rebs for the week. Mind Numbing!

Plus he averaged 76% from the field for the 2 games. POY is looking like a 4 way race between JG, RG, Ron Curry and Chris Flemmings. I'm biased, as I'm sure we all are, but both JG and RG are the best choices since the two do more than primarily score. Both are near or at the top in more categories that the other 2.

[HUSID80]

Best Hofstra big man EVER....IF he continues this way for his career

[Polito]

this is just remarkable - and I'm sorry, when you're Soph big coming off a yr injury plays like that in this conf, against the typical quality bigs here, he gets a little bit of a pass with the FT's right now - has without a doubt worked his way from unproven to legit POY candidate this year, and IMO, a LOCK for pre-POY next yr

he's not just playing well, he's nearly averaging 20 and 20, in a top 10 conf - I mean that is just incredible - he is literally unstoppable - I'll take a guy like this in every class please!!! The bar has been set Sabety!!


but yes, he will absolutely need to improve on that for next yr though

[stuball888]

So Polito would you if you were the coach experiment with Rokus shooting free throws underhanded in the off season.

[HUSID80]

Hey leave him alone, he made two BIG ones down the stretch yesterday. Shows that when he needs to focus he can knock them down.

[Dooku25]

There's a nice 3 page article in today's Newsday on Jameel Warney. Too bad he's not even the best big man on Long Island anymore thanks to the Rok. Of course, there was only a half page article on Hofstra's win yesterday. They did however give equal coverage to both Hofstra and SBU's baseball and softball teams in today's paper.

[stuball888]

Dookie they are giving Jamal the coverage because he is a senior and scouts have come to SBU games looking at him. When Rokus is in his senior year we will see the same type of coverage.

[HUSID80]

Dookie they are giving Jamal the coverage because he is a senior and scouts have come to SBU games looking at him. When Rokus is in his senior year we will see the same type of coverage.

Ok I can accept that but what about the half page preview for their game today vs perennial powerhouse New Hampshire...free advertising....when's the last time Newsday previewed a Hofstra game?

[Cards]

RG is now 4th in the nation in rebounding and JG is 5th in assists. Very, very nice - I'm happy for both of them.

Imagine if RG did not have some of the foul trouble issues early in the season......I think he would be leading the nation. He is currently around 12.5 rpg and the leader is 13.8.......so take out those early games and Rok is easily number 1.

[Wags]

HU has a lot of work to do to get there first, but Rok is the type of player that most guard-oriented, perimeter-oriented mid-majors lack when they reach the NCAAT. They often can't handle bigger, more physical front lines that power conference teams have and they get bounced out early because they simply don't have a big that can approach the type of bigs they'd go against in the NCAAT. IF (yes, big if still) HU can get there, Rok levels the playing field a little bit for a team like Hofstra, depending on the draw they might get. Just food for thought right now based on what he's doing this season. Obviously, much too soon to think about that yet.

[RollPride15]

Rokas is obviously a tremendous scorer and rebounder, but how do we feel about him defensively? I've never found him to be a dominant rim protector, though he has improved a lot this year. I always figured our go-to in future years would be Rokas as the prolific post scorer and then Andre could sub in as some rim-protector muscle, since he averages a block every 10 minutes. But is Rokas developing enough on defense to become a dominant two-way player?

[Wags]

Rokas is obviously a tremendous scorer and rebounder, but how do we feel about him defensively? I've never found him to be a dominant rim protector, though he has improved a lot this year. I always figured our go-to in future years would be Rokas as the prolific post scorer and then Andre could sub in as some rim-protector muscle, since he averages a block every 10 minutes. But is Rokas developing enough on defense to become a dominant two-way player?

I think he's fine defensively when he's not in foul trouble and doesn't have to play more passively defensively because he's worried about picking up that 3rd, 4th or 5th foul. And a big part of playing defense is grabbing all of the defensive boards he gets to limit other teams' second chances.

[Wags]

Rokas is obviously a tremendous scorer and rebounder, but how do we feel about him defensively? I've never found him to be a dominant rim protector, though he has improved a lot this year. I always figured our go-to in future years would be Rokas as the prolific post scorer and then Andre could sub in as some rim-protector muscle, since he averages a block every 10 minutes. But is Rokas developing enough on defense to become a dominant two-way player?

I think he's fine defensively when he's not in foul trouble and doesn't have to play more passively defensively because he's worried about picking up that 3rd, 4th or 5th foul. And a big part of playing defense is grabbing all of the defensive boards he gets to limit other teams' second chances.

Gustys is also fourth in the CAA this season with 1.3 blocks per game (the next two above him are at 1.4, and the leader is at 1.7).

[EvanJ]

Gustys is also fourth in the CAA this season with 1.3 blocks per game (the next two above him are at 1.4, and the leader is at 1.7).

This could be the third consecutive season that no CAA player averaged at least 2 blocked shots. Before that, in the eight seasons from 2005-2006 through 2012-2013, at least two CAA players averaged at least 2 blocked shots every season. In 2009-2010, Kanacevic was sixth in the CAA with 1.97 blocked shots.

[ProudofPride]

His name is spelled wrong on the NCAA website... Someone in our athletic department should get that fixed.

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[EvanJ]

His name is spelled wrong on the NCAA website... Someone in our athletic department should get that fixed.

I just e-mailed the NCAA to tell them.

[daHUPride]

RG is now 4th in the nation in rebounding and JG is 5th in assists. Very, very nice - I'm happy for both of them.

Imagine if RG did not have some of the foul trouble issues early in the season......I think he would be leading the nation. He is currently around 12.5 rpg and the leader is 13.8.......so take out those early games and Rok is easily number 1.

Was thinking the same thing - his early season foul trouble certainly cost him a rebound or two - and that bears noting - how much RG has improved his D more block shots and less fouls - admire his work and improvement

[stuball888]

HUSID80 SBU gets the newsday coverage because they have won 18 games in a row, are something like 21-4 and they did beat the CAA preseason favorite.

[ProudofPride]

HUSID80 SBU gets the newsday coverage because they have won 18 games in a row, are something like 21-4 and they did beat the CAA preseason favorite.

They deserved attention for beating us, I'll give them that. But winning 18 in a row by beating up on America East teams is nothing to write home about. It's one of the weakest conferences in the country. SBU's best wins are us and Princeton. Personally, I think UNCW's win streak is more impressive even though it's shorter because they actually beat teams with decent RPIs in that span. It's much more impressive to have a streak like that in the CAA than it is the America East. Check out the results of this poll that Mid-Major Madness tweeted about them. 82% of the voters don't think they'd get an at-large. They haven't done much to deserve one, a win streak over cupcakes is not sufficient. https://twitter.com/mid_madness/status/ ... 9554401280

Also, thanks for emailing them, Evan. I couldn't figure out how to contact someone to do it, but he's one of the best big men in the country and deserves to at least have his name correct on the website for the governing body of his sport.

[stuball888]

Evan I agree that UNCW is more impressive but one problem , Newsday covers Long Island and not North carolina. Last I looked at the map Stony Brook is on Long Island. Unless Obama signed another executive order, I thin k SBU is still on Long Island.