MBB Game 14 William & Mary Jan. 2 (Thu) 7 PM

[RainDelay]

Didn’t realize we were facing the Golden State Warriors.

[Wags]

Make it a 28-3 run for W&M. HU needs some answers in a hurry.

[RainDelay]

Seriously? 9 threes in less than a half?

They average 11.5 a game. Granted that’s 5th in the nation but come on

[dutchPride86]

In his first CAA game, Brian Earl is coaching the pants off of Speedy.

Mentioned earlier defending the 3 could be a problem tonight, the test for me was if Hofstra could score against one of the easier defenses they'll face. And getting killed on the boards again

Could get late real early for this team with the upcoming schedule

Edit: 48-18 I'm turning this off. On the 25th anniversary of the Arena maybe the most disgraceful half they've ever played in it

[RainDelay]

Down 48–18 at home is a horrible look

Allowing 10 threes and getting outrebounded 21-8

[Wags]

Not sure I've ever seen a team do something like have separate 10-0 and 9-0 runs in a half and still trail by 21.

48-8 otherwise.

[dutchPride86]

So trying to take the emotion out of it... Hofstra still somehow held W&M 9 pts below their season average and basically even on their made 3s/g (at of course stupidly high percentage). But W&M gives up on average 77 pts, 11 offensive rebounds, and 21 FT attempts a game. We scored 56, had all of 1 offensive rebound, and attempted 7 FTs. Cruz and Jean were a laughable 1-16 combined from 3 and attempted all of 3 FTs.

This is a broken, poorly coached offense that the players seem to get worse at executing by the game. Tonight it bled over and I think affected their defensive intensity in the 1st half, and they deservedly got embarrassed.

Season is on life support. Let's see what Speedy and the coaching staff are made of without a conference player of the year to bail them out, and/or if this group of kids will even listen

[triplec2195]

Embarrassing indeed I don't think I've seen in recent memory a game so lopsided. W&M hit one three after another and we didn't guard the 3 point line I don't think we tried. We have been spoiled for a lot of seasons but this may come full circle on us this year. Inept offense very poor rebounding and no POTY candidate as has been already mentioned. This looks like it will be a very long dismal season.

[Pride97]

Nothing really to add - horrid game to watch. Thought German, Decady and TJ showed some energy and heart but they aren’t supposed to be leaned on for the heavy lifting. The rest of the team looked awful.

Not sure why I watch the post game pressers - same every loss. Congratulate the opponent, find a positive, and say they’ll be fine. Wash and repeat.


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[Wags]

If Aranguren's game is driving, why is he green-lighted to go 1/12 from 3 on 16 total shots?

Play to your strengths rather than what analytics says you must do whether you're capable of it or not.

[cactus]

I've been to hundreds of games at the Mack, and the last two games might be the two worst games I've ever seen at the building.

Has the NIL killed Hofstra basketball for good?

[HUSID74]

We were schooled by a first year coach....whatever happened to rebounding...Our game plan was to chuck an ill-advised three then send all five players back on defense! Not EVEN AN ATTEMPT at an offensive rebound until Decadycame in and at least TRIED.
W&M DARED us to beat them with the three, packing in a tight zone and we obliged by chucking more threes...horrible offense and no real effort, especially in the first half.
If I'm Speedy I play guys who WANT TO BE OUT THERE and that includes Decady and Plotnikov...I like Cruz and Aranguren but Cruz seems a bit off since his flu bug...Sanders must be RELEGATED to the BENCH!
This team is in TROUBLE! We have regressed the last three games.

[Mikey77]

This season started on a good note and has gone south fast. Think Speedy needs to rethink things. I think he needs to start Graham and DeCady to stop the rebounding disaster. There is no point in starting four guards if you are not getting production. And maybe split time between Gadsden and German. HUSID74 you are right - no attempt by HU for offensive boards and there is no excuse for the poor shooting on our home court. The last three games, Temple, Q and W&M have been three of the worst in the Speedy era.

[dutchPride86]

Numbers don't lie anymore. Look at where we rank nationally out of 364 D1 teams in some key statistics (and these stats are inflated by the two D3 games so in reality even worse):

- 354th in off reb/g
- 317th in ppg
- 287th in fg%
- 313th in OPPONENTS 3pt fg%
- 304th in FT attempts/g
- 280th in fouls/g

I don't know how they fix this. But I agree experimenting with more of the 2 bigs lineup with DeCady at the 4 is a good place to start

[The Shadow]

To quote Bill Parcells, "You are what your record says you are." DutchPride86, those numbers are a revelation on the real state of how poorly HU has performed. I agree that a change has to be tried. This lack of rebounding and poor shot selection really cannot proceed.

[Wags]

Numbers don't lie anymore. Look at where we rank nationally out of 364 D1 teams in some key statistics (and these stats are inflated by the two D3 games so in reality even worse):

- 354th in off reb/g
- 317th in ppg
- 287th in fg%
- 313th in OPPONENTS 3pt fg%
- 304th in FT attempts/g
- 280th in fouls/g

I don't know how they fix this. But I agree experimenting with more of the 2 bigs lineup with DeCady at the 4 is a good place to start

Move without the ball instead of having guys standing stationary on the wings and in the corners, just waiting for a pass while watching someone else dribble, dribble, dribble... set screens, attack the paint, post up sometimes. But mainly, they are very stagnant. They need to MOVE, like Mihalich used to say: move the ball and move people. They are making it very easy for the opposition to defend them. Defenses love offenses that don't move much because they'll have to expend a lot less energy defending - and then that gives them fresher legs to run their own offense and to shoot at the other end (like W&M did last night).

[triplec2195]

I don't know if there can be any comparisons drawn from prior teams since any of us who have been around a long time watching HU basketball will agree that this is up there with the ugliest losses they have witnessed over the years. In the 2019-20 NCAA year our first meeting against W&M resulted in a 61-88 loss and we were down by 22 points at the half. I'll remind all of us that the 2020 team was a very good team far better then this team with Pemberton,Ray, Buie, Coburn and Kante. We weren't getting blown away on the boards though that team. This team did turn it around and beat W&M in the second meeting on the road by a score of 83-60. They also that year got blown out by St Bonaventure 45-73.

I know I'm groping for straws but just trying to find that "Ray of Hope" in what we're seeing. Can this team turn it around? Do we have the talent to compete for a title in the CAA. We did beat two really good mid major teams in Norfolk State and Arkansas State so there seems to be a glitter of optimism possible!

[Wags]

I know I'm groping for straws but just trying to find that "Ray of Hope" in what we're seeing. Can this team turn it around? Do we have the talent to compete for a title in the CAA. We did beat two really good mid major teams in Norfolk State and Arkansas State so there seems to be a glitter of optimism possible!

They were definitely playing a lot better when they had these wins than they have more recently. I think the two-week break and the illnesses (which limited them with practice) threw them off. Now that they've started the conference schedule and everyone's healthy again, maybe they can get back to what they showed like in the wins you mentioned above. But the problem is they have very little time to do that before early CAA losses may mount and confidence may decline. With the quick turnaround at noon in Boston tomorrow after losing last night, then Charleston and UNCW after that, it's not like they can ease into conference play against the weaker part of the CAA to figure how to get back to what they showed against Norfolk State, Arkansas State, Rice. This schedule does them no favors in these first four CAA games. There's really no time to figure it out. It'll be more, can they somehow immediately flip a switch?

[Mikey77]

Hofstra seems to have lost something in the Temple game and has not gotten it back or figured it out. Totally out of sync on both ends of the court. I don't get it at all.

[Wags]

Hofstra seems to have lost something in the Temple game and has not gotten it back or figured it out. Totally out of sync on both ends of the court. I don't get it at all.

It coincides with the illnesses, Sanders' knee tendonitis, and the two-week layoff, some guys not being able to practice, etc. That could definitely throw a team out of sync, however 46-8 run isn't a 20-4 run. So, it may be more than simply that. Now that we're in CAA play and the regular schedule of playing twice a week, we'll know very soon if it was just being out of sync with those things and if they'll get it back or if there are bigger issues.

p.s. They should ask the CAA to send anyone but W&M here for the 30th anniversary.