Flying Dutchmen Fans

stuball888 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 5:16 pm If the NCAA were to expand, they would go to 96 teams
The NIT will then go to 64 teams
Follow the money

There has been talk of 72, 76, and 96. Past expansions were all gradual (40 to 48, to 64, to 68), so 72 and 76 may occur first if they ultimately go to 96.

I don't think the NIT will expand. Although it was once the main tournament, it has been fading into relative anonymity with the rise of the NCAA tourney over the decades. It doesn't make anywhere near the money the NCAAT does. They play most of it at campus sites, and they've gone other way, with decreasing the field. It's more likely the NIT will disappear than expand if the NCAAT goes to 96.

I think we just need one giant 370-team postseason bracket... early spreads on Auburn (-57.5) against Mississippi Valley St.

CAA all conference teams were released. Neither Jean or Cruz could even crack 3rd team. In fact our opponent tomorrow is the only other team besides us not to land a single player on any of the all-conf teams. Tejada over Brzovic for player of the year also questionable, but I get it with Towsons record

https://caasports.com/news/2025/3/6/202 ... -year.aspx

dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:48 pm CAA all conference teams were released. Neither Jean or Cruz could even crack 3rd team.

When you're picked fourth and finish 11th...

dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:48 pm Tejada over Brzovic for player of the year also questionable, but I get it with Towsons record

Wouldn't have had a problem with Brzovic winning it at all but no problem either with selecting the best player on the best team.

I would expect that Tejada (who was a soph) will bolt to a bigger (aka richer) NIL program next year. I don't think we'll see him next year.

Tejada is the first sophomore Player of the Year since George Mason's George Evans in 1999.

I don't think it should go to the best player on the best team that often. Tejada was fourth with 16.84 points per game. He is an average shooter who made exactly half of his twos and exactly one-third of his threes. He did not contribute many rebounds (3.8) or assists (0.8). 16.8 points, not many rebounds or assists, and an average shooter is not good enough for Player of the Year. I would not even put him on the First Team, and a majority of my First Team did not make the First Team. I looked at the First and Second Teams. I would give Player of the Year to Ante Brzovic, with Rashad King (those two made the First Team), John Camden, Donovan Newby, and Gabe Dorsey above Tejada.

The CAA made a video that lasts 3:20. In previous seasons, they made a longer video that included showing every player for a few seconds on his own.

Delaware -5.5 (I think Stony Brook wins outright)
Hofstra -7.5 (I think Hofstra covers)

ESPN has us now at 8.5 pt favorites.

Any predictions on the tournament? I will go first

Friday
SB over Delaware
Hofstra over NCA&T

Saturday
Drexel over Elon
Campbell over SB
Hampton over NE
Hofstra over Monmouth

Quarter
Towson over Drexel
Campbell over W&M
UNCW over Hampton
Charleston over Hofstra

Semi
Towson over Campbell
Charleston over UNCW

Champ
Charleston over Towson

dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:48 pm In fact our opponent tomorrow is the only other team besides us not to land a single player on any of the all-conf teams.
https://caasports.com/news/2025/3/6/202 ... -year.aspx

I can't remember the last time we failed to place a single player on these post-season teams. If that's not motivation for our guys, I don't know what is.

Jojogunne wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:27 am

dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:48 pm In fact our opponent tomorrow is the only other team besides us not to land a single player on any of the all-conf teams.
https://caasports.com/news/2025/3/6/202 ... -year.aspx

I can't remember the last time we failed to place a single player on these post-season teams. If that's not motivation for our guys, I don't know what is.

Being motivated by this would imply they were snubbed from one of the all-conference teams, but how many players from 11 seeds make an all-CAA team?

Wags wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 12:35 pm

Jojogunne wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:27 am

dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 06, 2025 3:48 pm In fact our opponent tomorrow is the only other team besides us not to land a single player on any of the all-conf teams.
https://caasports.com/news/2025/3/6/202 ... -year.aspx

I can't remember the last time we failed to place a single player on these post-season teams. If that's not motivation for our guys, I don't know what is.

Being motivated by this would imply they were snubbed from one of the all-conference teams, but how many players from 11 seeds make an all-CAA team?

aranguren and davis both averaged something like 15 4 and 4. tyler tejada won player of the year averaging 17 4 and had a total of 19 assists on the year.

sure the team's success has a lot to do with it, but these are technically individual player awards. they should have a chip on their shoulders, at least.

Not long ago the CAA had ten teams, so it's hard to compare. The more teams, the fewer players honored per team. Aranguren and Davis being near equal could have made it less likely that either of them would be honored because voters who would be willing to honor a player on an 11th place team would have to pick one, and might not pick the same one as each other. Nobody can find out, but I am guessing that nobody voted for Aranguren and Davis on the Third Team or higher.

Before the first game started, there is an unusual problem with the statistics. The CAA linked to https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=584115 which has the CAA banner on top, Stony Brook's logo, and Delaware's logo, but the rest of the page shows Kentucky leading Connecticut 31-24, and clicking on the Notes/Docs tab shows that that game was on October 18, 2023 at AT&T Stadium. Having only the images be correct reminds me of Back to the Future Part 2 when Marty thought he had the sports almanac, but he had its cover around another magazine. That date is before the season started. I checked the team's schedules and searched online, and I did not find anything about an exhibition then. Furthermore, the statistics show a 31-24 score without anybody missing a shot, which is not realistic. I hope that the statistics will work for the proper game by the time it starts. The statistics URL for our game is https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=584116 which is 1 higher than the previous game, which makes sense. If you are ever bored, start with a link that posted in one of our game topics, make up a six-digit number less than that number, change the end of the URL to that number, and you'll get statistics from an old game that could be from many sports. For example, changing the first number from 5 to 1 went to a Volleyball game from October 7, 2017.

Edit: The Stony Brook vs. Delaware statistics now have the lineups for the proper game.

Edit: The statistics did something that I disagree with, and I wonder if they normally do that without me noticing, or they do not normally do that. Before any subs, all players played the same amount of time, but each team had one player credited with 3 minutes, and four players credited with 2 minutes. I am assuming they did that so the sum of the player's minutes is as close as possible to the amount of minutes the game had at that point multiplied by five. For example, after 2:15 was played, the sum of the player's minutes should be 11.25, so 11 when rounded to the nearest whole number, and 3+2+2+2+2 = 11. However, I think they should have credited all players with 2 minutes at that point and not cared if the sum was close to 11.25. When a significant amount of time is played, it's not an issue, although after some games somebody's minutes need to be adjusted up 1 or down 1 to make the team add up to 200, and I added the players on one team on ESPN that added up to something ending with 99 because one of the games did not have an adjustment up to make 200. By an adjustment, I mean something like taking a player who played 19:21 and crediting him with 20 minutes rather than the 19 if you round to the nearest whole number.

Delaware led 6-0, and now they lead 11-7. Delaware's leading scorer, John Camden, has not scored, but he has 2 rebounds and 3 assists.

Edit: Delaware has their largest lead at 27-20. Delaware's Erik Timko leads all players with 8 points, and Camden scored 5. Delaware has a great ratio of 6 assists to 1 turnover.

cactus wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 2:29 pm

Wags wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 12:35 pm

Jojogunne wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 11:27 am

I can't remember the last time we failed to place a single player on these post-season teams. If that's not motivation for our guys, I don't know what is.

Being motivated by this would imply they were snubbed from one of the all-conference teams, but how many players from 11 seeds make an all-CAA team?

aranguren and davis both averaged something like 15 4 and 4. tyler tejada won player of the year averaging 17 4 and had a total of 19 assists on the year.

sure the team's success has a lot to do with it, but these are technically individual player awards. they should have a chip on their shoulders, at least.

They're individual player awards that go far beyond stats. Did you lift your team up? Were you clutch? Did you have a meaningful impact on your team's success relative to the rest of the conference? Did you help your team win or did you just get empty stats? Were you consistent or were your stats inflated by a few good games but you did little or not enough in a lot of other games? Forrest and Glasper were the second and third leading scorers in the CAA when they were suspended but NC A&T was in last place (and, of course, finished there), so what did that matter?

Separate from the games that Forrest and Glasper missed, Glasper was a bad shooter. He made 3.3 threes per game, and made exactly one-third. He shot threes better than twos, as he shot twos .329.

Delaware leads 30-26.

Edit: Delaware ended the first half on a 20-8 run, and leads 50-34. The double-digit scorers are Delaware's Erik Timko with 14, and Niels Lane with 10. Timko shot threes 4-5, and he is on pace to tie the CAA Tournament record for three made, which is 8 by Richmond's Jonathan Baker against George Mason on March 1, 1996. Delaware has five players with at least 7 points. Neither team showed depth, as they each used three subs who combined to play 14 minutes for Stony Brook, and 17 minutes for Delaware. Stony Brook had three players play the whole half, and Delaware had every starter play 15 to 18 minutes. John Camden has 8 points, 3 rebounds, and leads all players with 4 assists. Delaware committed only 5 fouls, and 4 of them were 2 each by subs Macon Emory and Houston Emory, who combined to play 7 minutes. Collin O'Connor leads Stony Brook with 9 points and 3 assists, and Stony Brook's Ben Wight leads all players with 4 rebounds. Stony Brook had four players score at least 5, so the game is on pace to have nine double-digit scorers. Delaware had 12 assists and 1 turnover. I wish I could find out how rare it is to have a half with at least 50 points, at least 8 made threes, at least 12 assists, and 0 or 1 turnover. Each team made 2 free throws, and Delaware scored 38 before they attempted a free throw. Stony Brook had no steals, blocks, points off turnovers, or fast break points.

Edit: Timko had a three-point play to start the second half and give Delaware a 53-34, but Stony Brook responded with a 17-6 run to go down 59-51. Stony Brook scored 17 in 3:54 including shooting field goals 7-7.

cactus wrote: ↑Fri Mar 07, 2025 10:26 am Any predictions on the tournament? I will go first

Friday
SB over Delaware
Hofstra over NCA&T

Saturday
Drexel over Elon
Campbell over SB
Hampton over NE
Hofstra over Monmouth

Quarter
Towson over Drexel
Campbell over W&M
UNCW over Hampton
Charleston over Hofstra

Semi
Towson over Campbell
Charleston over UNCW

Champ
Charleston over Towson

First Round:
To be fair, I'll stick with my original pick of Stony Brook (even though it looks like Delaware will win, up 50-34, at halftime).
Hofstra > NC A&T

Second Round:
Drexel > Elon (Elon won at Drexel by 11, but Elon enters the tourney with three straight losses, Drexel with four straight wins).
Campbell > Stony Brook (probably Delaware now)
Northeastern > Hampton (Huskies won at Hampton and should beat them again)
Monmouth > Hofstra (Pride couldn't beat them even up 16 at home; won't lead like that this time and haven't won consecutive games since Dec. 9)

Quarterfinals:
Towson > Drexel
Campbell > William & Mary (It was with Sinani, who's out now, and was maybe just an off day, but W&M lost by 41 and Campbell and shot terribly)
UNCW > Northeastern
Charleston > Monmouth (as much as I wanted Hawks vs. Seahawks in the semis, I'm taking the Cougars in a pseudo home game for them)

Semifinals:
Towson > Campbell
UNCW > Charleston (Seahawks won at Charleston and crushed them at home; they're simply better this year and will beat them again)

Finals:
UNCW > Towson (I think this is a coin flip; Towson held UNCW down defensively and won there in OT in the CAA opener for both teams, so the crowd didn't help UNCW then; it should ironically help them more this time - ironically because 1) Towson should have a better crowd being closer to DC and should have an motivated fanbase to travel there as 1 seed that just recently set an attendance record at home, but I still think they won't travel as well as they should and UNCW will have a better and louder crowd, and 2) as great as the Trask crowds always are, the CAA season opener, even there, doesn't generate the kind of excitement and noise that a championship game crowd will, even well away from Trask. Towson has been the most consistent and UNCW did have concerning consecutive losses late (to Elon and Hampton) but they closed with three strong wins after that. These two are probably too even for one team to sweep the other, so UNCW wins to make it a split, with their crowd traveling and helping them out. Also, we know all too well (see 2023) that UNCW is good at taking down 1 seeds in DC who dominated as the class of the conference. But it should be another one that goes down to the end, even maybe OT again.

Delaware committed 3 fouls in 22 seconds including their sixth with 13:55 left, and a lot of fouls will make the game take longer, and make us start later. This game will not be over by 4:00 P.M. Stony Brook went down 59-53, Delaware scored 4, and Stony Brook will shoot free throws after the media timeout with 11:48 left.

Edit: Stony Brook came back from down 19 to tie the game at 70, but Delaware won 80-76. Delaware shot threes 0-7 in the second half. Erik Timko led Delaware with 19 points, but he went 19:14 between points. Delaware had five players score double-digits. Stony Brook was led by CJ Luster's 31 points. Nobody had a double-double, and Stony Brook's Ben Wight came closest with 9 points and 9 rebounds, which led all players in rebounds. The teams combined to attempt 6 free throws in the first half, and 33 in the second half. Delaware blocked 5 shots, and Stony Brook did not block any.

The over/under of 123.5 in our game is the lowest of today's 31 games. The line and over/under combine to make a score of 66.5-57. KenPom expects us to win 69-62 with a 74 percent chance of winning.

https://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/202 ... tgame.html is Jerry Beach's "Keep It Perky: North Carolina A&T postgame." The 70-49 win over NC A&T was a unicorn score, meaning the first time we won by that score. Our seven unicorn scores this season ties last season.

https://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/202 ... olina.html is Jerry Beach's "I'll Be Quirky: Hofstra vs. North Carolina A&T (CAA first round)." It was the first time we did not have a player honored by the CAA, and the second time we did not have a player on the First or Second Team. In 2012-2013, Stevie Mejia made the Defensive Team.

Jerry wrote that NC A&T might be down to five players, and the lineup makes him look right because point guard Camian Shell is not starting. Jalal McKie is starting instead. We are starting the same players, so whether Gadsden and/or Sanders are available, they are not starting. There will not be a way of finding out, but I wonder if the teams could combine to break the CAA Tournament record for most players that played the whole game.

The Blue Hens hang on, 80-76. Luster probably played himself into some good NIL money and a step up somewhere else next year. He almost brought Stony Brook back all the way. Fighting Camels vs. Blue Hens tomorrow.

Farmer, Aranguren, Davis, Plotnikov, Graham starting for Hofstra today, same five as last game.

Davis 3 to start the scoring, and we're off...