MBB Game 28 Thu, Feb 20 vs Monmouth 7 PM

[Jojogunne]

In the postgame presser, Assistant Coach Mike DePaoli blamed the loss on aggressive defense that created too many free-throw opportunities. Monmouth went to the line 35 times and scored 26 points; we went to the line 20 times and scored just 12.

DePaoli also complimented our two centers on their performance. Silas Sunday was 5-for-5 from the floor and Michael Graham was 3-for-3. DePaoli also said that Graham ranks fourth in the country in "offensive rebounding percentage," but I couldn't find that stat.

No mention of Coach Speedy wearing a boot in the second half. I don't see him making the trip to UD tomorrow.

[Hof_Judge99]

Claxton is 9-17 in his last 26 games against D1 teams. He might get one more year but things have to change.

Actually 10-16 but same point.

Also, he was 24-3 in his first three Februarys as head coach. This year, he's 0-6 this month.

False, he didn’t coach the UNCW game this year and I’m including the loss to Stony in the CAA semis last year. 9-17.

[Wags]

Claxton is 9-17 in his last 26 games against D1 teams. He might get one more year but things have to change.

Actually 10-16 but same point.

Also, he was 24-3 in his first three Februarys as head coach. This year, he's 0-6 this month.

False, he didn’t coach the UNCW game this year and I’m including the loss to Stony in the CAA semis last year. 9-17.

You're right, I wasn't thinking about the UNCW game.

[Pbdutch]

Claxton is 9-17 in his last 26 games against D1 teams. He might get one more year but things have to change.

The problem is Hofstra doesn’t care to win. It’s obvious and if they don’t care to win nothing is going to change. All of these smaller schools that were way behind Hofstra years and years ago are now bigger, better, and far ahead. I guess Hofstra chose to go more towards education and I certainly don’t want to offend anyone, but Hofstra isn’t an Ivy League school so it’s not like the academics has made Hofstra so prestigious.

I’m sure I’ll get a lot of slack on here about this and even though I love speedy and was excited about the hire, he doesn’t seem like a coach to me. He’s a recruiter and a developer (we need a coach to win). I want to FINALLY GET TO THE DANCE

[Wags]

I’m sure I’ll get a lot of slack on here about this and even though I love speedy and was excited about the hire, he doesn’t seem like a coach to me. He’s a recruiter and a developer (we need a coach to win). I want to FINALLY GET TO THE DANCE

I don't think Rick Pitino would've had a much better record with this roster. If you can't shoot, you can't shoot. They started 12/17 last night and finished 10/33 after that (and went 12/20 at the foul line).

Although, KiJan Robinson, who only played one minute last night, was on the floor by himself long after the game ended, with the machine that automatically feeds the ball back to the shooter, making 7, 8, 9 3-pointers in a row from different spots on the floor. And yet, he's shooting 37% for his career in games. So yes, some of it's coaching and putting players in better positions to succeed, but the have struggled to shoot the ball, even open shots, all season long.

[Pbdutch]

Good point Wags. Maybe Rick pitino wouldn’t be able to win with this roster. I guess my frustration and disappoint stems from the last 5-6 years where we had the team to win and could never do it. The last 3 years especially and maybe that’s where I don’t believe in speedy as a coach…

[Wags]

Good point Wags. Maybe Rick pitino wouldn’t be able to win with this roster. I guess my frustration and disappoint stems from the last 5-6 years where we had the team to win and could never do it. The last 3 years especially and maybe that’s where I don’t believe in speedy as a coach…

Although conference tournaments are crapshoots and judging on that versus whole seasons can be harsh, it still ultimately comes down to that, so if you want to argue the final results based on having the top 3 seed (including the 1 seed once) and losing to a seed that was at least three spots lower each of the last three years, that's a fair conversation to have.

But I think this season was just one of those rare, crazy perfect storm years where everything goes wrong and spirals out of control. Yes, they were in the same boat as hundreds of other schools, but losing what they lost and having to scramble to basically assemble a pickup team in the offseason because of NIL, then whatever went on with Sanders that changed his role from a guy that seemingly one of the top three scoring options to someone who could barely get significant playing time, to whatever happened that cause Speedy to miss the UNCW game, to blowing all of the big leads that turned what should've been at minimum 9-6 in the league to 4-11 so far, to Speedy ending up in a boot for the second half last night. It's just been a Murphy's Law kind of year. That happens sometimes.

We'll have to see what kind of roster they can assemble and what the CAA competition can assemble in comparison next year, and see what Speedy can do with it. I think he still deserves that chance but he has to get back into the top four and try again (like his first three years). Otherwise, the doubts you're raising will probably be shared by more people than who share them now.

[Mark19th]

At this point, seeing what we’re seeing from this team, do we want Speedy to bring ANY of these guys back next year? I’d say keep Decady and Sunday and maybe Davis and Arunguren. The latter two have regressed badly over the second half of the season, for reasons I can’t even fathom. KJ…no, Saunders…no, Farmer?…maybe. Lopez and Williams red shirted, so who knows. Parnell didn’t play much. They may ALL transfer, which wouldn’t be a surprise. Then again, will Speedy decide he’s had enough and hang it up? I wouldn’t be shocked.


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[Wags]

At this point, seeing what we’re seeing from this team, do we want Speedy to bring ANY of these guys back next year? I’d say keep Decady and Sunday and maybe Davis and Arunguren. The latter two have regressed badly over the second half of the season, for reasons I can’t even fathom. KJ…no, Saunders…no, Farmer?…maybe. Lopez and Williams red shirted, so who knows. Parnell didn’t play much. They may ALL transfer, which wouldn’t be a surprise. Then again, will Speedy decide he’s had enough and hang it up? I wouldn’t be shocked.

I think it depends on who else they may or may bot be able to land. Davis and/or Aranguren may be good in other roles if they're key parts of a supporting cast alongside other go-to options if those can be brought in. If not, we're maybe looking at more of the same as this year.

As for Speedy, I don't think he's a fan of this new landscape at all and he may decide (like other coaches have) it's either enough or that he may want to be an assistant again somewhere else which has the NIL resources to compete. However, there's also still the pull of him being home and really wanting to make it work as a head coach where he starred as a player, and wanting to keep giving that a shot despite all of the new NIL-era challenges. The only thing that's certain in this NIL/portal world is uncertainty.

[HUSID74]

Ok let's tell it like it is...Speedy is going nowhere...he wants to be here and he will do his best to right this ship....one bad year out of four is not bad for a mid-major program...look at Pat Skerry at Towson. How many losing seasons has he had?
As for the players, we would be CRAZY not to try and keep Arrunguren and Davis, they are only sophomores for God's sake and Decady, who I believe has star potential...not blown away by anyone else although I would keep Farmer....Sunday you get the good with the bad....he is ok down on the blocks but he gets USED everywhere else.
Now that the LaSalle coach has retired, maybe Joe Mihalich will come back to help Speedy out.

[HUSID74]

Also lost in all this hand-wringing are the two absolutely horrendous calls that went against us down the stretch. Those calls go the other way and we probably win....They were so bad that I got a text from a friend in New Mexico unsolicited, saying they were terrible calls. I guess the good news is that on CBSSN you can watch us self-destruct across the country!

[Wags]

Also lost in all this hand-wringing are the two absolutely horrendous calls that went against us down the stretch. Those calls go the other way and we probably win....They were so bad that I got a text from a friend in New Mexico unsolicited, saying they were terrible calls.

True, but if they do go the other way, are we sure they wouldn't have found a different way to lose anyway? Bottom line, they're up 16 at home, they can't allow it to get to the point where a bad call or two late can help decide it. Put the game away (especially when they've already blown a few other leads you they should've have held). And the comeback started with yet another bad end to the first half to give some life. At what point do they finally learn from that stuff?

I guess the good news is that on CBSSN you can watch us self-destruct across the country!

[stuball888]

As magneto said to Wolverine
You never learn

[dutchPride86]

DeCady played 1 minute last night. 1! I wouldn't be shocked at all if he transfered out nor honestly would I blame him. He's just not big enough to be a center at this level or higher, but since our system doesn't allow for two interior players on offense the staff has tried to turn himself into a spot up 3pt shooter instead of developing his low post game. It's like Kvonn Cramer 2.0.

For DeCady to stay and start next year, staff really needs to find a veteran impact PG in the portal who's a lights out 3pt shooter. Of course that type of player is likely impossible to get with our NIL constraints.

Ive seen enough now from Aranguren and Davis to be convinced that neither is either a real PG or should be counted on to ever be the #1 option. But if they were the Jalen Ray and Tarqiq Coburns of a starting 5 we'd be in great shape. But again they'd have to truly land the next Estrada/JWF level talent in the portal for that to happen

C - Average veteran transfer tbd
F - DeCady (or transfer if he leaves or they find someone waaaaaay better than Gadsden. Tyler Thomas brother maybe?)
G - Jean
G - Cruz
G - transfer tbd has to be a home run who can shoot to have a chance

Bench - Farmer, Sunday (unfortunately), Carlos Lopez and Amir Williams?, next underutilized freshman who doesn't redshirt?. Hopefully Robinson and Sanders leave

[HU87]

Ok let's tell it like it is...Speedy is going nowhere...he wants to be here and he will do his best to right this ship....one bad year out of four is not bad for a mid-major program...look at Pat Skerry at Towson. How many losing seasons has he had?
As for the players, we would be CRAZY not to try and keep Arrunguren and Davis, they are only sophomores for God's sake and Decady, who I believe has star potential...not blown away by anyone else although I would keep Farmer....Sunday you get the good with the bad....he is ok down on the blocks but he gets USED everywhere else.
Now that the LaSalle coach has retired, maybe Joe Mihalich will come back to help Speedy out.

A voice of reason! Thank you HUSID...

Speedy has put together 3 separate 20 win seasons. He's 78-48 overall and 45-22 in CAA play. Coming into this year we were very worried about losing him to the next level after another successful season. What he's doing with the lack of resources and NIL at his disposal has been very impressive... Hofstra is NOT an easy landscape to win in.

Do I think he's without faults? Of course not... that's why he's a first time coach at the mid-major level.

His biggest strength is recruiting, which is the hardest and most important part of college basketball, and will only get harder and more important.

This year is a disgrace, but he didn't go and grab senior transfers, he grabbed sophomores and juniors. Let's give it another fully supported year to build on this... If we can keep Jean and Cruz, continue to develop Decady and Sunday, and add someone new/impactful in Jaquan's spot/NIL bucket, this could be a great team next year. We have an incredible defense and just need maturation and more talent on the offensive side.

I've been watching for 30 years now... We can call it the laptop season part 2, but it's really closer to something like the 2007/2008 season when we had talent ( senior Agudio, freshmen Jenkins and Nat Lester) but they just weren't ready and didn't click yet. It was a 12-18 season nestled between multiple 20 win seasons. I'd bet this similarly an exception on his resume rather than the new normal.

[Wags]

Ok let's tell it like it is...Speedy is going nowhere...he wants to be here and he will do his best to right this ship....one bad year out of four is not bad for a mid-major program...look at Pat Skerry at Towson. How many losing seasons has he had?
As for the players, we would be CRAZY not to try and keep Arrunguren and Davis, they are only sophomores for God's sake and Decady, who I believe has star potential...not blown away by anyone else although I would keep Farmer....Sunday you get the good with the bad....he is ok down on the blocks but he gets USED everywhere else.
Now that the LaSalle coach has retired, maybe Joe Mihalich will come back to help Speedy out.

A voice of reason! Thank you HUSID...

Speedy has put together 3 separate 20 win seasons. He's 78-48 overall and 45-22 in CAA play. Coming into this year we were very worried about losing him to the next level after another successful season. What he's doing with the lack of resources and NIL at his disposal has been very impressive... Hofstra is NOT an easy landscape to win in.

Do I think he's without faults? Of course not... that's why he's a first time coach at the mid-major level.

His biggest strength is recruiting, which is the hardest and most important part of college basketball, and will only get harder and more important.

This year is a disgrace, but he didn't go and grab senior transfers, he grabbed sophomores and juniors. Let's give it another fully supported year to build on this... If we can keep Jean and Cruz, continue to develop Decady and Sunday, and add someone new/impactful in Jaquan's spot/NIL bucket, this could be a great team next year. We have an incredible defense and just need maturation and more talent on the offensive side.

I've been watching for 30 years now... We can call it the laptop season part 2, but it's really closer to something like the 2007/2008 season when we had talent ( senior Agudio, freshmen Jenkins and Nat Lester) but they just weren't ready and didn't click yet. It was a 12-18 season nestled between multiple 20 win seasons. I'd bet this similarly an exception on his resume rather than the new normal.

That's all fair except for the "incredible defense" part of late. It WAS great for much of the year, but during the recent six-game losing streak, even that started to show some cracks. They started to suddenly show a trend of continuing to hold teams down in the first half but then lose games while allowing 41 twice and 49 in the second half. Hopefully, those were aberrations, but they'll need to play D next year (with whatever roster they'll have) on a consistent basis. I would keep Farmer (if they can) and try to actively develop him. I think there's something there if given a larger role and placed in the right situations to succeed (his two best games this season, including today, were when he played his most minutes, 38 and 40).