CAA MBB Preseason Links

[Jojogunne]

Charleston picked #1:

https://caasports.com/news/2023/10/17/c ... -year.aspx

Somebody should have edited out the dead spots in this video before posting on YouTube. The conversation doesn't start until 4:25:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAs7o70_MAU

[triplec2195]

Somewhat predictable since other pre-season predictions had us at either 2nd or 3rd. All had COC 1st with some showing UNCW 2ND OR 3RD. I didn't see any showing Drexel higher then 4th. No matter like being the team that maybe some will say over performed. Also saw Tyler Thomas picked as the pre-season POY. Amari Williams is certainly a good player but Tyler could win this award if he has a good year. So can we get some feedback on the CAA pre-season predictions as now we're only a few weeks away. There should be a lot of us becoming anxious now to see this new team and hoping for great results.

[mikey75]

in my view, if the newcomers play up to expectations and guys like Farmer and Parnell develop. HU can take the CAA. We need to hold serve and dominate at home. No NC A&T like losses this year. Shame about Estrada. Don't think his move to Bama is going to give him that much more of a lift. My two cents.

[triplec2195]

Note that a lot of importance has been placed on Dubar' performance this year. Speedy has said this in no uncertain terms and also Speedy has said that with the injury bug right now Barrouk has really impressed the coaching staff. So maybe he will be one of the X factors this year. I was thinking possibly Farmer.

[mikey75]

The coaching staff must see something in Barrouk. He's still here despite numerous injuries and limited playing time. Hope Speedy is right about him.

[HUSID80]

speedy also putting some pressure on Carlos. Said he'd like to see him become a 10-15 point scorer. Said he's worked really hard over the summer to improve.

[triplec2195]

Carlos becoming a 10-15 point scorer is very attainable IMO after seeing what he did both against Rutgers and COC. He was a big scorer in HS and I believe he will step up.

[Polito]

As I said in my other post, it's year 3 - get to the dance. Follow up NIT ok, but would be a disappointing consolation. No postseason would be a huge letdown, even without AE. Toppling CofC is going to be a herculean task this year and every year that Kelsey is there. Cool we did it in a big regular season game, not taking away from that - but they won what matters. They have a top staff and are paying for top talent with their strong NIL that is currently blowing HU out of the water (we all need to get with it).

Here's how I think HU can do it:

- Carlos needs to become the star player he was recruited to be - all for the pressure, it's time.
- TT needs to just do his thing at a slightly higher level - we don't need another CPOY, we need to dance. If he wins it great, if not and they dance couldn't care less. Tired of the CPOY's watching the NCAAT instead of playing in it.
- Dubar plays at an all-conf level - he is THE X-factor IMO to HU winning it all.
- Plotnikov refines his game to A) stay IN the game as a better defender, and B) is more consistent on O.
- A newcomer shines, i.e. a Farmer or a Barrouk providing the vital bench spark.
- Fritz proves to be the glue that keeps it all together, proving to be a perfect compliment in the post.

A lot to go right - it can - will be pretty interesting to watch - and this OOC is going to test this group early and often - may take some time, but I'm banking the season on that top competition forging this team into steel come CAA time!

[EvanJ]

Charleston sold out their tickets for every game before the season started. Athletes who want to be seen by more people in person will choose Charleston or UNCW over us. If we go to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments with one win combined; and Charleston finishes second, third, and fourth in those three seasons; Charleston would still get higher attendance than us in the season after that. Even if our closed seats get reopened and things for kids are removed to have more seats, their capacity is more than ours.

[Wags]

As I said in my other post, it's year 3 - get to the dance. Follow up NIT ok, but would be a disappointing consolation. No postseason would be a huge letdown, even without AE. Toppling CofC is going to be a herculean task this year and every year that Kelsey is there. Cool we did it in a big regular season game, not taking away from that - but they won what matters.

Charleston struggled to win the CAA tourney last year. They were the best team in D.C. and deserved to cut the nets, but as seen in the semis and finals, they were very beatable, and the shame of it for Hofstra was I think HU had a very good shot at beating Charleston for the title just like they beat them on their home floor last year. BUT you can't get that chance if you don't first take care of business in the semis against UNCW (which was super disappointing after the way they absolutely dismantled W&M right from the start). I wonder if embarrassing W&M as easily as they did in the CAA quarters last year was the worst thing to happen to their season. They didn't seem to lose to UNCW because they were overconfident after crushing W&M, but there may have been some of that. Hopefully, if they're good enough to get the same opportunities this year, they'll learn from that and realize that to win it all, even if you're the top seed, even if you believe you're the best team to cut the nets, you have to get there first.

[Polito]

Extremely impressive fan support for CofC - pretty jealous of that. Kudos to them, they are ALL IN on their program, the entire CofC community (and that's a great example of what that means). Their fans aren't complaining about NIL or choosing not to participate, they are putting in all they can to help them succeed in it (another great example). And they don't have some massive millionaire fanbase either, they are just passionate and committed to the vision. We can and should be equally as.

That said, I don't think a recruit is going to select them over HU just because of their fan support - we're not talking Duke here. It's still a small mid major. HU can and has actually put some fans in the seats, just don't do it as consistently. HU also has the NY market and media, which no one else in the CAA can touch (and no, not SBU), and Speedy is a tremendous draw for talent. All that to say despite my high respect for CofC, I think HU has its share of big advantages over others in the conf.


I'm not going to say CofC "struggled" to win the conf last year. It wasn't a cakewalk, but they were the team to beat after winning 30 games. Certainly wasn't a long shot for them. The surprise wasn't their NCAAT run, it was HU's failure to do so.

HU's loss to the W was immensely disappointing, and pretty inexcusable - but no more on that, in the past - they redeemed slightly with a big road W for the program over Rutgers in the NIT, and I have committed to being more measured in my engagement going forward

What I am excited about is that Speedy and the team seem to have a healthy perspective going into this year - they are not shying away from that failure, acknowledging it for what it was, and seem very focused to erase that letdown with a big year. Hopefully using it as fuel for the fire. That's the impression I get so far, and I like it.

I am also extremely encouraged by Speedy's willingness to learn and adapt as a head coach - having confidence and checking ego are not always easy to do - he is very proactive with recognizing needed change in order to succeed. That is a great sign. I maintain that year 3 is a big one in today's game. They may be even better poised next season, but this a key year, need to show out.

[Wags]

I'm not going to say CofC "struggled" to win the conf last year. It wasn't a cakewalk, but they were the team to beat after winning 30 games. Certainly wasn't a long shot for them. The surprise wasn't their NCAAT run, it was HU's failure to do so.

Going into the tourney, after Hofstra won at Charleston and grabbed the top seed, and especially after Hofstra obliterated W&M the way it did, I thought HU had become the team to beat. I expected a tough battle from UNCW and wasn't completely stunned that they lost, but I was surprised that they couldn't find a way to finish that one off like they had in many other games when challenged during the regular season.

As far as CofC, after an easy quarterfinal win against Stony Brook, Charleston had its hands full in both the semis (against Towson) and in the finals (against UNCW) and really had to gut both of those out. They were primed to be beat in DC last year, but to their credit, no one could quite finish that off. They could have just as easily lost in the semis as much as win the title, just as Hofstra could have just as easily cut the nets as losing in OT in the semis. It's all timing. Play that tourney over again a week later, and that may very well have been the scenario for both CofC and HU. Or maybe UNCW would have won it all a week later. It was really splitting hairs with those three teams and even with Towson too, which was very close to beating CofC in a hard-fought semis game. But no do-overs lol, that's why you must take advantage of those fleeting chances when you have them.

[Polito]

All fair points. Your last line is nearly my motto on this board.

At any rate, CofC loses some talent with a lot of new guys in, will be interesting to see how they gel. Kelsey is a top coach, so that alone makes them dangerous. But I do think HU still can match up well with them. The W might be the more stable/dangerous of the top 3 in terms of returnees, perhaps why Lindy's picked them. HU is going to be a force to be reckoned with IMO as the year progresses.

Looking like one heckuva battle at the top.

[EvanJ]

HU also has the NY market and media, which no one else in the CAA can touch (and no, not SBU)

Do we have enough fans for the NY market to help? Newspapers and radio can start by talking about St. John's, Seton Hall, Rutgers, Connecticut (which the area sometimes considers to be an area team), and maybe Fordham. On a Saturday when most teams play Men's Basketball, the area could have 15 or more games to give scores of. Furthermore, if the market was so valuable, how come 2022-2023 average attendance includes 346 by Long Island, 222 by St. Francis Brooklyn, 881 by Manhattan, 766 by Wagner, 1,135 by Fordham, and 1,004 by Columbia? Those six schools add to 4,354, and Charleston topped that with 4,631. Even St. John's had 7,379 which was a lower average than these nine teams not in the richest six conferences: Boise State, Brigham Young (BYU), Cincinnati, Houston (now in the Big 12, but were not in 2022-2023), Memphis, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego State, and Utah State. In the 2022-2023 Men's Basketball Conference NET, the Mountain West was fifth. It was above the Pac-12 and ACC, but I'm sure the Pac-12 and ACC made a lot more revenue than the Mountain West did. Utah State is in Logan. According to Wikipedia, that is the 277th largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and New York-Newark-Jersey City has 126 times as many people. Utah State is over four hours away from the closest Mountain West school, and Salt Lake City is the only big city within seven hours. It's easy to say that NCAA sports are not as popular in the area because of pro teams, but what about the millions of people who can't afford to go to pro games, or who live in a suburb and don't like when the the round-trip travel time to a game and how early fans want to arrive to get through security and seated in time is longer than the length of the game? In terms of the players, being in the NY market means there are many high schoolers that can be recruited without flying, and cheap recruiting is important for mid-majors, so that is an advantage even if the area doesn't have as many fans as it should.

[Polito]

Not about fans IMO, my point was more it's about audience - the NY media market reaches more than anyone else in the CAA and it isn't close. So one article in the Post, or Daily, or Times, etc trumps just about anything else others do. We don't need millions of fans, just millions of audience reach when content is produced. HU brings that, no others in the CAA do. When HU is good, the press is fantastic and superior in the CAA.