Eight Point Halftime Leads Are Never Safe on CAAHoops Pillow Fight Friday (Recap of CAA Tournament Friday Games).

Friday night was my first time at North Charleston Coliseum.   Despite having lived in Columbia, South Carolina for four and half years, I never had an opportunity to see an event at that venue until the chance came to see my tenth CAA Tournament, which was being hosted at the North Charleston Coliseum this weekend.

I can tell you that parking was a breeze, perhaps partly due to three northern CAA teams playing in Charleston on a Friday night.   But I can also tell you, the North Charleston Coliseum is a much better venue than the Richmond Coliseum, home to the CAA Tournament for years.  It was nice not to have to wear two sweatshirts at my seat for a CAA Tournament game.

Going into last night's two CAA Tournament Play In Games, you had two teams, Hofstra and James Madison, who had swept their respective opponents, Delaware and Drexel.  Even though the seeds were relatively close, it stood to reason that the tournament games would play to regular season form.

But that's what makes college basketball conference tournament play so special; the unexpected.   There's a reason why it's called "March Madness".  And we got that last night in front of what was a sparse crowd of 1889 on what's known to CAAHoops fans as "Pillow Fight Friday".

In the first game, #8 Hofstra took on #9 Delaware.  The Pride had won both games against the Blue Hens, but both were close games; two points at the BOB (the Bob Carpenter Center) and eight points at David Mack Arena.  Neither game was particularly high scoring.  Hofstra won the first game 58-56 and won the second game 73-65.  We should have known we were in for a different style game.

The Pride wasted no time taking an early 6-0 lead thanks to good ball movement, a couple of nice outlet passes by Rokas Gustys and two drained threes by Deron Powers and Eli Pemberton.  The Blue Hens would answer with eight straight points, a three pointer by Ryan Daly, an old fashioned three point play by Darian Bryant off an assist from Daly and a layup by Daly.    Daly shredded Hofstra with seventeen first half points.

Both teams would have no problem scoring as Hofstra took a 26-25 lead at the under eight media timeout,   The kicker was Hofstra's leading scorer, Justin Wright-Foreman had been held scoreless for the first thirteen and half minutes of the game.  After the Blue Hens took a 27-26 lead, Wright-Foreman would awaken with a vengeance, as two of his threes started a 12-2 run and the Pride would take a 39-29 lead.    The score would eventually be 47-39 Hofstra at the half.

But in the second half, Delaware's offense turned it up a notch, or perhaps several.  They would shoot SIXTY FIVE percent in the second half, mostly due to working the ball inside the paint (the Blue Hens only attempted two three pointers in the second half, hitting both).  The Blue Hens quickly pecked away at the lead, tying the game at fifty four on a Daly three pointer.  Delaware would finally take the lead, 65-62 on a three point play by Eric Carter with eight and a half minutes left.

Hofstra would answer regain the lead twice, the latest on a Deron Powers jumper that put the Pride up 72-71 with 4:24 left.  But that man Daly, who had twenty seven points and eleven rebounds on the night, would give the Blue Hens back the lead on a jumper.  A Daly free throw on a later possession would give Delaware a 74-72 lead.   Gustys would be fouled while hitting a layup to tie the game at 74 with 2:38 left.  But Gustys would miss the potential go ahead foul shot and the game would remained tied.  From there, Delaware outscored Hofstra 7-2 the rest of the way.  Hofstra had a chance to tie on a three point attempt by Powers with nine seconds left, but it was short.  Delaware had pulled off the comeback, winning 81-76.  Delaware now plays #1 seed UNCW at noon today.

For Hofstra, it was a fitting end to a very disappointing season.  For the twentieth time this season, Hofstra gave up more than seventy five points.  Their record in those games - 5-15.   When they give up less than seventy five points, 10-2.  Simply put, you cannot win if you cannot play defense.

In the second game,  #7 James Madison took on #10 Drexel.  It was as if both teams decided that they had seen enough offense in the first game and they wanted to kick it #CAAHoops old school, with the Dragons playing Bruiser Flint Drexel and James Madison playing a Ron Hunter led Georgia State squad in a seemingly low scoring affair.

To say the first half was a grind it out, CAAHoops rock fight was an understatement.   Each team's first possession resulted in an offensive foul.   Then both teams couldn't complete a pass, let alone take a shot that couldn't hit the side of a barn.    At the under 16 media, it was 4-2 Drexel.  At the under 12 media, it was 9-2 Drexel.

James Madison finally scored some points and at the under eight media, it was 19-10 Drexel.   The Dukes made a run and cut the deficit to two points, 25-23 on a jumper by Joey McLean.  Then after an offensive foul on Ramone Snowden, JMU coach Louis Rowe lost it and received a double technical foul.  Rowe was ejected from the game and suspended for the team's next game (which, spoiler alert, will be later today).   Drexel's Kari Jonsson would hit all four technical free throws to give Drexel a 29-23 lead.  Eventually, the Dragons would go up eight, 33-25 at the half.

So here we had our second eight point halftime lead of the night.   And just like the first game, the lead would disappear quickly.   Perhaps Coach Rowe should get ejected more often, because JMU came out like a house on fire after halftime.   The Dukes would go on an incredible 32-7 run over the first nine minutes of the second half, moving the ball around quickly and burying shot after shot, as the Dukes got balanced scoring.   James Madison nearly shot as well as Delaware did over the last twenty minutes of their game, shooting sixty two percent from the field.

After scoring only two points in the first eight and half minutes of the game, the Dukes scored SEVENTY EIGHT points over the final thirty one and a half minutes to win the game 80-70.  Five JMU players scored in double figures, led by Jackson Kent's twenty points. With the win, JMU plays College of Charleston at 6;00 PM today.

Two eight point halftime leads went up in smoke thanks to strong second half shooting.   Proof that once again, no lead is safe in March.

Certainly not in the CAA.

St Bonaventure Rallies Late and Defeats Hofstra 81-75

Last night in Hempstead, St Bonaventure, down four points, 72-68 with 5:15 left, outscored Hofstra 13-3 the rest of the way to win the game 81-75.  The Bonnies' win broke a three game winning streak for the Pride, while the Bonnies won their fifth game in the row.  It also avenged a home loss last season to the Pride up in Oleana, New York.

We're going to do a new segment here breaking down games on the College Hardwood.   It's called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly".

The Good - For St. Bonaventure, the dynamic duo of Jaylen Adams (31 points) and Matt Mobley (23 points) combined for fifty four points, twenty rebounds and shot seven of thirteen from beyond the arc.  This is a nightly occurrence for the two players, who both average over twenty points per game.  The Bonnies also out-rebounded the Pride 32-22.

For Hofstra, it was the return of Rokas Gustys' offensive game.  Gustys just missed a double double with twenty points and nine rebounds on nine of fourteen shooting from the field.  It was the most field goal attempts he had all season and only the third time this season where he had ten or more field goal attempts.   For someone who shot sixty six percent from the field last season and fifty one percent this season, that's just simply not enough field goal attempts for the big man.

Other than Gustys, freshman Eli Pemberton continues to impress, scoring fifteen points, his eighth double figure scoring game of the season.  Deron Powers had six assists and only two turnovers.  Also, Hofstra did a good job in the second half on defense, holding St Bonaventure to thirty three points and forcing sixteen turnovers the whole game.   However, see "The Ugly".

The Bad - For St Bonaventure, sixteen turnovers, compared to Hofstra only having eight, eliminated any advantage they had on the boards.  Consequently the Pride had seven more field goal attempts.  The Bonnies also had significant foul trouble last night with three players having four fouls, including their two starting front court players, Denzel Gregg and Josh Ayeni,  Fortunately, David Andoh gave St. Bonaventure good minutes off the bench, plus eleven points and five rebounds, along with the two starting guards Mobley and Adams combining for twenty boards.

For Hofstra, where to begin.  First, any time your assist-to-turnover ratio is 2-1 on the night, seventeen assists to eight turnovers, you should win the game.  Alas, the Pride went scoreless over the last five minutes and fifteen seconds of the game to negate that.

And it was easy to see why.  Shot selection. After Ty Greer's tip in made it 72-68 Hofstra with 5:15 left, the Pride were one of ten from the field to end the game.   Their next three shots were three point attempts, with Bernardi hitting one of them.  After that, it was either Deron Powers throwing up bad layup attempts (3 of 13 from the field) or the Pride taking three point attempts or outside jumpers.

After Rokas Gustys scored on a tip in with 6:44 left in the game, he touched the ball on offense only once the rest of the game, getting fouled on a put back attempt with less than a minute left in the game.  He missed both free throws, more on that later, but that's not the point.

This was eerily similar to the 2016 CAA Championship Game between Hofstra and UNCW.  In that game, with 12:30 left, Gustys made a layup to put Hofstra up 56-48.  It was his eighth field goal in only ten attempts at the time.  It was also his last field goal attempt of the second half and he didn't even get fouled and go to the foul line those last twelve and half minutes!  To me, that was the main reason why Hofstra lost in overtime to UNCW (Gustys would hit his only field goal attempt in overtime to finish with eighteen points in the championship game).

To be perfectly blunt, if you cannot get the ball to your leading scorer, a fifty percent plus field goal shooter, in the last six plus minutes of a close game, you deserve to lose.

The Ugly -  For the seventh time in ten games, Hofstra gave up eighty or more points.  It looked like it was going to be another ninety points plus allowed, as St. Bonaventure had forty eight at the half. Amazingly in these seven games, they are 3-4.  But given their record, that also means they are undefeated, 3-0, when they give up less than eighty points.  Simply put, you cannot win consistently night in and night out when seventy percent of the time you are giving up eighty plus points per game.

As aforementioned, I've been saying how Hofstra must get the ball in the hands of Gustys more.  Consequently, he needs to shoot MUCH better from the free throw line.   He has been simply awful, shooting eighteen percent from the charity stripe this season compared to forty three percent last season.  Gustys needs to get to at least shooting fifty percent from the line, otherwise he won't get the ball more down the stretch. 

St Bonaventure will give #CAAHoops folks a chance to compare the two teams from the 2016 CAA championship game, as they next host UNCW on Saturday.  As for Hofstra, they get Kentucky in the Barclays Center on Sunday.  

Back to Where It All Begins

Ten years and two days ago, my dear friend Tony Terentieff, known on this blog as Tieff, was driving another dear friend Mal Galletta, now head coach of the St John's University golf team, and I home from Richmond, Virginia.   We had just seen Hofstra rally from a halftime deficit to convincingly defeat George Mason in the 2006 CAA Semifinals.   The Pride had won their previous game in the quarterfinals against VCU basically on the Rams home court of the Richmond Coliseum.

Charles Jenkins FT - Feb 15, 2011

We were riding home, convinced that we had seen Hofstra, the alma mater of Tieff and I, at least get in the NCAA tournament as an at large.  They had a terrific RPI, a 14-4 conference record and swept the Patriots, another team in contention for an at large bid and once nationally ranked in the polls.   We couldn't stay for the CAA Tournament championship due to Tieff having an important meeting that Monday.

For those of you who follow college basketball religiously like I do, you know what happened.   Despite a heroic comeback by Hofstra after being down 23 points to come within 3 points late,  UNC Wilmington held on for the 78-67 victory and the CAA championship.   Hofstra was forced to wait to watch their fate on Selection Sunday.  And we all know what happened...

George Mason got an at large bid and ended up going to the Final Four.   Hofstra got snubbed and went to the NIT, winning two games there before losing to fellow CAA conference rival ODU in the NIT Quarterfinals.

That 2005-06 season was also the College Hardwood blog's first season of covering college basketball.  The site had a different name back then and it's evolved over the years.  Amazing that it is ten plus years later.  It was a terrific first season, albeit it had a bittersweet ending as far as being a Hofstra fan.

Matt with Hofstra Pride Club T-Shirt

The next season, 2006-07 was supposed to be OUR season.  The Pride were favored to win the CAA with Lethal Weapon 3, the superstar guard trio of Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio and Carlos Rivera leading the way to the championship.  

It never materialized as Tom Pecora never recruited a frontcourt to replace Adrian Uter and Aurimas Kieza, two key players on that 2005-06 team.   The season basically ended again on the Richmond Coliseum court, being unceremoniously knocked off by, who else, George Mason, in the CAA Quarterfinals 64-61, basically three weeks after knocking off the Patriots on their home court.

We were there again for that tournament and sat near the Hofstra basket for that quarterfinal game.  We watched Hofstra roar back from a fifteen point halftime deficit to cut the lead to three and had a chance to tie, only to see Greg Johnson vaper lock and try to drive in for a layup.  Somehow George Mason vaperlocked too and two Patriots' players went after Johnson.  We waited for the kickout to an open Hofstra player on the wing.  It never happened as Johnson actually TRIED hitting a layup and missed.

BracketBuster Game vs. Wright State - Feb 2011

Unlike the year before, where we had an ecstatic ride home, we drove home stunned, knowing there was again only the NIT bid.  For two Hofstra graduates, two long time Dutchmen basketball season ticket holders, it was the ultimate punch in the gut.  For me, 2007 actually hurt more than 2006.  Unlike 2006, where Hofstra seemingly had a chance to make the Tournament, but never truly was the favorite during the season, in 2007 Hofstra was the team favored to win the CAA.   2007 was supposed to be OUR time.

It turns out it would be another ten years before it was truly a chance to be our time again.

The man, the myth, the ultimate Hofstra fan, Defiantly Dutch,  poignantly wrote early this morning this paragraph on his terrific blog post "Tonight is What It Means To Be Young".

If we’re being honest, the only time in life it’s probably acceptable to invest any sort of self-identity in a college sports team is those four or five or six years we’re actually in college. Those are the years where the players are our peers, in which we attend class with them, eat lunch next to them in the cafeteria and throw back beers with them at the bars near campus.

And Dutch nailed that for the most part.   Unless you're someone who ended up working at his alma mater right after graduation for nearly a quarter of a century.  Someone like me.

Hofstra Winning at Drexel - January 2011

When I graduated with a computer science degree back in May 1988, I didn't plan that I would end up working at Hofstra for such a long time.   It just worked out that way.  An opening for a systems manager position at Axinn Library, where I had been a student assistant, led to my first full time job.  Nearly five years later, a director of IT position at the now Maurice A. Deane School of Law would continue my long standing relationship with Hempstead, New York.   I would later become an Assistant Dean there, proof positive that anyone can become an Assistant Dean.

For twenty eight straight years, four as an undergraduate student, twenty four as an administrator, Hofstra was my home.  I met my wife of nearly twenty years, Michelle, my first day at the School of Law.  Just about all my friends are directly or indirectly through Hofstra.

Along the way, I became a passionate supporter of Hofstra Men's basketball.  I was there in 2001 when the Dutchmen cut the nets for their second straight automatic NCAA Tournament bid in the America East, their last season in the conference.   And for the past 15 years, I have been a Hofstra season ticket holder, even after I moved down to South Carolina (more on that in a second).

Defiantly Dutch w "Hostra" Ticket

I've seen my share of lows and highs with the Dutchmen/Pride.   I've had so much fun on so many different road trips, trips for Delaware barbecue (Delaware played "Hostra" that day), a Bracketbuster trip to Wright State,  You always celebrated a win with a DQ blizzard!

And there were so many crazy games.  There was the 2010 blizzard game against Drexel where there were more 3.0 scholar athletes in attendance than the rest of the fans. And finally, one of the best birthday presents I ever got, an overtime win on my birthday, courtesy of The Wolf, Charles Jenkins.  That game was the beginning of my older son Matthew's love of basketball.

There were so many #CAAHoops Tournament road trips to Richmond, nine in total.  In fact, there was one  #CAAHoops road trip which I did with that crazy Defiantly Dutch fellow, the only one that I ever covered from press row (experience of a lifetime).  

Hofstra vs. ODU - 2011 CAA Semifinals

But you can't be a Hofstra fan without your share of heartache.  And there was so much heartache in the CAA tournaments.  As mentioned, 2006 and 2007 come to mind.  There's also 2010 with Hofstra blowing a late lead and losing to Northeastern in the quarterfinals.  Oh yeah, the last second loss in 2009 to ODU in the CAA Quarterfinals, the only CAA tournament I didn't go to in the span of ten years, due to my younger son's surgery.   And 2011 was tough too, because it was the last tournament with The Wolf.




March 2012 was the last time that I was in attendance for a CAAHoops Tournament.   During the summer of 2012, I accepted my current position as Assistant Dean for Academic Technology for the University of South Carolina School of Law.   I moved down to Columbia, South Carolina in August 2012.

Matthew pitching Sunday in USSSA Travel Ball Tourney

Since then, my life has changed radically, albeit for the better.  Since he was two years old, Matthew has loved baseball and thank goodness for him, he has a lot more talent than his equally baseball loving father ever had.   I've been fortunate to coach him and his younger brother Jonathan these past few years.
Baseball just happens to start in February in South Carolina and the fall season runs through November.  I've become very involved in our local little league down here, Trenholm Little League and currently, I am the league president.  In the span of barely three years, I have countless memories of the games and experiences of my two sons.

Gustys layup  as Hofstra defeats Sacred Heart

With all the responsibilities of being a league board member and a coach for ten months of the year, other than my full time work responsibilities, I don't have time for other things.  Thus my college basketball writing has been little to non-existent.   I find time when I can to cover basketball, like when I was in NY for the holidays for the "Jordan Allen Invitational", where the Pride didn't look anything like the eventual 2015-16 CAA Regular Season Champions.

So when the CAA Tournament started this weekend with Hofstra as the #1 seed, unlike years prior, where I would have a prime seat at Richmond Coliseum for three days straight, I was in a ballpark in West Columbia, South Carolina with Matthew and ten of his equally talented and wonderful teammates.

Thus I never got to see any of Hofstra's quarterfinal win on Saturday as I was in a dugout keeping score in our second win of the day, a 10-2 victory.  But I was literally wearing Hofstra on my sleeve, as underneath my Columbia Thunder travel ball coach's shirt, I was wearing my long sleeve Hofstra basketball shirt.

The combination had brought us such good luck that I wore the same combination, albeit after a washing, yesterday.   Matthew started at pitcher in our third game of the tournament.  Playing one of the better AA teams in the state, Matthew only gave up two runs on two hits in three innings, struck out three with one walk.  We would eventually win the game 6-5.

Since we had a long break before our championship game, we were able to go home and watch a good part of the William and Mary/Hofstra CAA Semifinal game on NBCSN.   It was like being in the stands, screaming happily at times, other times yelling angrily when the Pride failed to cover an open Tribe shooter.

But we had to leave for the ballpark with the Pride trailing by two.  On the twenty minute drive there, I had the phone mounted on the dashboard with the ESPN play by play gamecast on my screen.   I gave Matthew updates as we got close to the field.  Then Koon gave the Pride a 69-67 lead.  As I parked the CRV, the final came across.  Hofstra won 70-67.  Matthew and I high fived and then went to our game.

Hofstra wasn't the only team that won yesterday.  We won our championship game 8-3.  It was our second tournament title of the Fall 2015-Spring 2016 10U AA season.  It's a wonderful group of players, all of them from our Trenholm Little League and the core of them have played together since their District 3 winning Coach Pitch Baseball All Star team back in Spring 2014.

I have never been to a #CAAHoops championship game.  All those years I went to the CAA Tournament, I never stuck around till Monday.   So when Defiantly Dutch asked me today if I was coming up to Baltimore, I told him that I couldn't.  Too much going on here.   But I will be my home in Forest Acres at 7:00 PM, wearing my Hofstra basketball long sleeve shirt underneath my Columbia Thunder coach shirt.   I have learned if it ain't broke, don't change a thing.

Next year, the CAA Tournament comes to my neck of the woods, Charleston, which is 90 minutes way from me.  Guaranteed I will be there for that tournament and likely the championship.  But that's then, this is now.  .

We're "Back to Where It All Begins". Back to when the College Hardwood first started.  Back to Pride vs. Seahawks for the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  Figures the only two times Hofstra has been in the finals, UNCW has stood in the way.

May this time be a different, happier ending for the Pride. The Pride owe the Seahawks one.  As Moonlight Graham so eloquently said in Field of Dreams "Win one for me, boys".

GO HOFSTRA!

2015-16 Hofstra Pride Preview - It's All About The Frontcourt

Coming off a 20-15 season, their first winning season since the 2010-11 season, the Hofstra Pride under head coach Joe Mihalich are the fashionable pick to win the CAA and head to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.  They are lead by one of the best returning guard trios in the country; Juan'ya Green, Ameen Tanksley and Brian Bernardi.  The Pride are the most talented, experienced group returning to #CAAHoops this season after Northeastern and William and Mary, the 2014-15 CAA champion and the CAA runnerup respectively lost key players to graduation.

Does that sound familiar? It should.

The 2006-07 Hofstra Pride were picked to finish first in the CAA that season.  The Pride were coming off a terrific 2005-06 season where they went 26-7 and reached the CAA Tournament Finals.  Despite beating George Mason in both their matchups, including a resounding 58-49 defeat of the Patriots in the CAA Tournament semifinals, the Pride were snubbed from the CAA Tournament.  Undaunted, the Pride knocked off Nebraska and St Joseph's in the NIT Tournament before losing to fellow CAA member Old Dominion in the NIT Quarterfinals.

It made sense that the 2006-07 Pride would be the CAA favorites the following season. They were also returning their star guard trio of Loren Stokes, Antoine Agudio and Carlos Rivera.  UNC Wilmington, George Mason and Old Dominion, the other top three teams from the season before, also lost key players to graduation.  It seemed to be Hofstra's time.

It wasn't.  Hofstra stumbled out of the game in the 2006-07 season, losing their first three games. Though the Pride would finish third in the CAA in the regular season, they would lose in the CAA Tournament Quarterfinals to none other than George Mason.   Hofstra made the NIT again, but lost by 12 points at DePaul finishing the season with a disappointing 22-10 record.

So why did the 2006-07 Pride not live up to the billing despite Stokes, Agudio and Rivera combining for nearly 54 points per game and the team shooting 45 percent from the field?

The answer was the frontcourt.

In 2005-06, the Pride were more than just Stokes, Agudio and Rivera.  Starting Senior forwards Adrian Uter and Auremis Kieza by themselves combined to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game.

In 2006-07, Chris Gadley, Zygas Sestokas, Arminas Urbutis and Mike Davis Sabb, the entire Hofstra forward rotation that were reserves the previous season (and combined to average 5 points and 6 rebounds per game in 2005-06), combined to average 17 points and 15 rebounds per game.

So in total, the 2006-07 frontcourt averaged eight less points and six less rebounds per game than the season before. It showed on scoring defense. The 2006-07 Pride gave up 2.6 more points per game, 69.8 in 2006-07 than they did in 2005-06, 67.2, even though their scoring offense was basically the same as the season before (73.1 in 2006-07, 72.9 in 2005-06).  Their rebounding margin in 2005-06 was +2.1.  In 2006-07, it was - 0.7.  Both categories were the difference in several games.

The 2014-15 Pride's leading scorers were Green, Tanksley and Bernardi. They combined to average 45 points and 13 rebounds per game.  They also combined to hit 230 three pointers.  That's not a misprint.  Two Hundred and Thirty.  Ridiculous.

But the 2014-15 Pride were much more than that trio.  Two now graduated key members were the fourth and fifth leading scorers, Dion Nesmith and Moussa Kone, who combined to average 20 points and nine rebounds per game.

Again, sounds pretty familiar, right.

The difference between this upcoming season and the 2006-07 season though might be that there is more scoring and rebounding ability in this team with returning players Malik Nichols and Rokas Gustys.  Nichols and Gustys combined to average 11 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, while each player averaged only about 17 minutes per game. The pride also have another guard returning, Jamall Robinson, a six foot five junior, who averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds per game in seventeen minutes per game.

Throw into the mix a returning six foot ten Andre Walker, who averaged double digit minutes in 7 of the first 9 games last season before being relegated to the bench.  Walker should see more action this season and hopefully live up to the billing he had coming out of The Bullis School in Maryland.   The Pride sorely need his shot blocking ability on defense.

Also, the Pride have added graduate transfer student Denton Koon, who played for Princeton and averaged 10.5 points per game as a sophomore and 7.7 points per game as a sophomore. The six foot eight Koon missed the entire 2014-15 season due to a knee injury.  The Pride also added six foot ten Ibrahim Djambo, a transfer player from Clemson.  However, Djambo is missing the entire fall semester due to having to go home to his native Mali for family reasons.  It remains to be seen if Djambo will return for the spring semester for Hofstra.

The Pride are also adding two highly touted freshmen guards in Justin Wright-Foreman and Desure Buie.

There will be no question that the Pride will score.  They led the CAA in scoring at 78 points per game.  They can also rebound, as they had a + 2.3 rebounding margin, good for third in the CAA.  The question is defense, as Hofstra was eighth out of ten teams in scoring defense, as they allowed an average of 70.2 points per game.

However, the new NCAA rules changes, the new 30 second shot clock and the new hand check and bumping rules, if strictly enforced, should open up more scoring.  This should only help teams like Hofstra that are built on offense.

But having a change in the NCAA rules won't make it easy for Hofstra, as a lot of the other top CAA contenders return a significant number of starters from last season.  Northeastern returns four of their starting five from last season's CAA championship team;  Quincy Ford, David Walker, T.J. Williams and Zach Stahl.   William and Mary returns double digit scorers Omar Prewitt, Terry Tarpey and Daniel Dixon.  James Madison returns its three top scorers from last season - Ron Curry, Yohanny Dalembert and Jackson Kent.

We'll know pretty quickly how good Hofstra really is when the Pride go to the Paradise Jam on November 20, with their first opponent being Florida State.  You can find the Hofstra schedule here.

Green, 17.1 points per game, and Tanksley, 16.2 points per game, are the two leading returning scorers from the CAA (W&M's Marcus Thornton graduated and Drexel's Damion Lee graduate transferred to Louisville). Those will be givens again, as well as Bernardi averaging 11.6 points per game.

The question will be can Gustys, Nichols, Robinson and Koon, along with others, not only makeup for the loss of Kone and Nesmith, but actually improve the numbers on scoring and defense.  If so, then Hofstra will have its first NCAA appearance in fifteen years.

For those who bleed blue and gold, that's a long time coming.

Can Hofstra Get Back on the Track?

I lived on Long Island, New York for forty six years.  If you live or have lived on Long Island, you are no doubt familiar with the LIRR, the much aligned Long Island Railroad that takes thousands of passengers on a daily basis to and from New York City, Brooklyn, Queens and various stops, via various train branches on Long Island.  The last twenty years of my life I lived on the south shore of Long Island, first in Seaford and then in Bellmore when we bought our house.  Those are two stops on the Babylon Line.

I moved to Columbia, South Carolina in August of 2012.   The LIRR trains have been replaced by freight trains which seem to run as often as the LIRR, but probably more reliable and more on time. The one difference is that you don't want to be caught at a railroad crossing with a freight train coming through.  Some of them are really a "Long Train Running".

On Saturday, January 10, I drove to Elon, North Carolina to watch Hofstra take on Elon in a #CAAHoops contest, as us CAA bloggers affectionately term Colonial Athletic Association Conference games.   Elon is about a three hour trip from my home in Columbia, South Carolina.  My friend Tieff would join me, as he drove separately and we met up in a parking lot across from Alumni Gym,



It was our first time ever at Alumni Gym on what looks to be a very pretty campus. Elon's Alumni Gym was built in 1949, which from other than the old style ceiling with the metal lamps hanging from the ceiling, you could not tell it was built in 1949.  That's because the gym was recently renovated for stadium style seating and electronic scoreboard in each of the four corners of the gym.   It's more like an intimate arena, which seats 1,607 fans.   It's one of the nicest venues I have seen in my ten years of covering college basketball for this blog. Well done, Elon, well done.


Elon entered the contest at 2-1 conference play, which included an 85-79 home win over William and Mary Thursday night.    Hofstra entered the game at 3-0 in conference play, after their come from behind win over the College of Charleston on Thursday night, another game Tieff and I attended .   After an absolutely terrific version of the Star Spangled Banner by the all female Elon University a cappella group, Sweet Signatures, the start of the game saw Elon take an early 4-0 lead on baskets by Ryan Winters and Austin Hamilton.  The Pride would finally score their first basket a little more than three and half minutes into the game on a layup by Dion Nesmith.

The Phoenix would maintain the lead for the first nine plus minutes of the half as Tony Sabato led the way with a three point play and two assists.   Elon held Hofstra to five of twenty one shooting during that time span as the Pride simply couldn't get anything going on offense.

Finally Hofstra broke through on Elon and it was their dynamic Niagara duo of  Juan'ya Green and Ameen Tanksley, leading the way. Tanksley and Green buried several threes to help put Hofstra up ten, 25-15.

The Pride would add to their lead as the fouls mounted on the Phoenix, much to the chagrin of the Elon fans, who let the referees know their displeasure with the calls.   A Brian Bernardi three pointer extended the Hofstra lead to sixteen, 36-20.    The Pride would cap their first half with three more free throws to take a 39-25 lead at the halftime.

In the second half, Hofstra was still up fourteen, 51-37 with about thirteen minutes left.  But the Phoenix finally arose, starting a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to seven, 53-46.   Alumni Gym suddenly got very loud as the Elon fans showed how well the intimate arena holds sound.

However, the Pride responded with an 11-0 run, which put Hofstra up 64-46 with 7:45 left in the game.  The run was highlighted by excellent ball movement by the Pride as they did a great job of rotating the ball around to find the open man.  From there, Elon could get no closer than fifteen the rest of the way.  Similar to the way they ended the College of Charleston game, the Pride were very solid from the line down the stretch, hitting seven of their eight free throws for the very impressive 79-61 road win over the Phoenix.   The Pride again showed their three point prowess as they went fourteen of thirty two from beyond the arc.

Hofstra had left North Carolina in first place in the CAA at 4-0 and 13-4 overall.  They were ranked high in KenPom, 72 after the win over Elon, a team that has only won one CAA conference game since.  Everything was going Hofstra's way, especially having won three of their four conference games on the road.  The Pride had a large contingent of fans at the game vs. the Phoenix.  I have no doubt that Hofstra's faithful happily drove home back to New York that night thinking that the Pride would end that fourteen year drought of not making the NCAA Tournament.  The Flying Dutchmen train was riding at full speed down the Colonial Athletic Conference tracks.

Then the train got briefly stopped at a northeast station.   Hofstra suffered a tough eight point loss, 81-73 at Northeastern. The game, which was a battle for first place at the time, was tied at the half and Hofstra was up 69-68 with nine minutes left before the Huskies went on an 11-0 run to win the game. No shame in losing to one of the preseason favorites in the CAA.

Then the Hofstra train came back to Hempstead for the game at home vs. UNC Wilmington, a team they had beat only a few weeks prior.  A little repair work at the Mack Center and the Flying Dutchmen train would be back on a roll.

And for a while, it sure seemed that way.  The Pride were up five at the half, 38-33 and led by six, 69-63 with 5:42 left in the game.   The Seahawks then went on an 11-1 run over the span of four minutes and forty seconds.  The Hofstra D became non-existent, while their offense, which consisted mainly of three point shooting, went ice cold.    The Pride still had a chance to tie late, but Green missed a crucial free throw that would have tied the game at 75 with thirty four seconds left.  Forced to foul, the Pride would go on to lose the game 79-74.

Head Hofstra Train Engineer Joe Mihalich made some adjustments for the next home game vs. Drexel and the Pride responded with possibly their most balanced offensive game of the season, an 86-58 pasting of the Dragons. The Pride made a more conscientious effort to work the ball to their bigs, which resulted in Hofstra shooting twenty six of forty four from two point range.  Combine that with fifteen steals and thus a twenty eight point win.

With the train seemingly back on track, Hofstra had another home game vs. James Madison.  For the first twenty minutes, the Pride offensive locomotive was chugging away at full speed.  The Pride had a 45-33 lead at the half and still led by twelve, 52-40 with 16:30 left in the game.

Then the Dukes made a run, while the Pride, content to chuck shots from beyond the arc, went frigid.   The result was a 14-0 JMU run over nearly five minutes that put them up 54-52.   Moussa Kone would get the Pride back up later 61-59 with four and a half minutes left.  He would also score their final basket to tie the game at 63.  But JMU would score the last six points of the game while Hofstra continued to clank shots from the outside, missing their last six shots, all three point attempts.  The Dukes would win 69-63.

From there, the train would completely derail.  Hofstra would get hammered in Williamsburg by the first place Tribe of William and Mary, 100-79.  From there, the train limped back home to Hempstead.  Perhaps, the Pride locomotive should have stayed in the shop instead of playing the Towson Tigers.   Up one, 38-37 at the break, Hofstra wilted under the dominance of Towson's frontcourt.  The Tigers scored fifty second half points, shot fifty eight percent from the field, including sixty two percent from two point range and outrebounded Hofstra 41-23.   The result was another home loss 86-72.

After a 4-0 start, the Pride had lost five of their last six games to become .500 in conference.  What had been a great beginning to their conference season had now seemingly gone up in flames.  From 13-4 to 14-9 just like that.  The question was, could Hofstra show the mark of a good team and respond to adversity.

Hofstra did rebound to win their next two games, a ten point road win at Delaware and an eleven point win at home over Elon.   Then they had a golden opportunity, a win at home on national TV (NBC Sports Network) vs. Northeastern and they would be in a tied for third with the Huskies and the Dukes of James Madison.

But despite shooting fifty percent from the field, hitting the same number of two point and three point field goals as the Huskies, the Pride lost 79-68.   Despite FIFTEEN steals, Hofstra couldn't stop Northeastern late on Huskies' possessions.  They also got killed again on the boards 33-17, allowing eleven offensive rebounds and numerous second chances for the Huskies.

So after thirteen games, the Hofstra train is stalled at the Hempstead station at 7-6 in conference, sixth in the CAA and 16-10 overall.  Their KenPom ranking had dropped to nearly double of what it was after the Elon game, 142.

So what happened?  Why is such an offensive juggernaut, the Pride, first in CAA scoring, second in three point FG percentage, first in assists per game and first in turnover margin, which includes first in the CAA in steals per game, struggled so much over the past nine games?

When you look under the hood, it's three things.

One, it is clearly the defense, especially the interior defense.   You didn't really see these issues during the non conference season and that was partly due to the non conference schedule the Pride played.   Only North Carolina State (55) and LaSalle (81) have rankings in the Kenpom top 100 in Hofstra's non conference opponents (William and Mary is the only conference opponent in the top 100 in Ken Pom at currently #89).  The Wolfpack defeated the Pride by twelve, 76-64, while the Explorers defeated the Pride 83-74.  Their other two non conference losses came at USF 71-70 after blowing a late second half double digit lead and an 82-77 loss at Columbia where the Lions hit thirteen three pointers.

So I have looked at their ten losses and for the most part, there is a common thread.  In seven of the ten losses, Hofstra has been outscored in points in the paint, often by large margins.  Only in two of the losses, Columbia and Towson, did Hofstra outscore its opponent in the paint, while in Thursday's game, both Hofstra and Northeastern scored forty four points in the paint.

Points in the Paint in Losses

Hofstra	PIP	Opponent	PIP
Pride	18	NC State	30
Pride	16	USF	36
Pride	20	Columbia	18
Pride	28	LaSalle	44
Pride	36	Northeastern	44
Pride	18	UNCW	40
Pride	34	William and Mary	48
Pride	20	James Madison	24
Pride	32	Towson	30
Pride	44	Northeastern	44

Five times Hofstra has been outscored in the paint by ten or more points.  Five times, Hofstra has allowed forty or more points in the paint.  Only once did Hofstra score more than forty points in the paint in their losses (last game vs. Northeastern).

Two, over reliance on the three point shot.   Hofstra is second in the CAA in three point shooting at 37 percent.  But when the Pride goes cold from beyond the arc, their offense struggles.  In their ten losses, outside of the one point loss to USG and their first game against Northeastern, the Pride have not shot their season average from beyond the arc, often times not even close. Often it's very cold second halves that do Hofstra in. Against James Madison, they shot 2 of 15 in the second half from three point range. Against Towson, they shot 1 of 11 in the second half from beyond the arc.

Three Point Shooting Percentage in Losses

Opponent	Three Pt %
NC State	32% (9 of 28)
USF	42% (11 of 26)
Columbia	33% (8 of 24)
LaSalle	29% (6 of 21)
Northeastern	39% (10 of 26)
UNCW	29% (6 of 21)
James Madison	35% (11 of 31)
William and Mary	31% (9 of 29)
Towson	23% (6 of 26)
Northeastern	33% (4 of 12)

In only one game did they shoot less than twenty 3-point attempts.  In seven games they attempted twenty four or more three pointers,  Hofstra has BY FAR attempted the most three pointers in the CAA, with six hundred and thirty one, ninety six more than the next closest, William and Mary with five hundred and thirty five (Hofstra has played one less game in conference).   Hofstra averages twenty four 3-point attempts per game.   It's the old adage, you live by the three, you die by the three.

Three, Size Matchups

The Pride, having so many talented guards, will often play a four guard set of Green, Dion Nesmith or Jamall Robinson, Brian Bernardi and Ameen Tanksley. Tanksley will play the four and one of their forwards, Rokas Gustys, Moussa Kone or Malik Nichols playing the five.  Now while that creates matchup problems for opponents when Hofstra spreads the floor, it also creates problems for the Pride when it comes to, as noted, interior defense but also rebounding.

Opponent	Opponents Offensive Rebounds	Rebounding Margin	Opponents Second Chance Pts
NC State	16	-4	12
USF	6	+2	4
Columbia	13	-6	12
LaSalle	7	-1	12
Northeastern	4	-17	4
UNCW	12	-3	17
James Madison	11	-8	13
William and Mary	4	+7	2
Towson	12	-18	17
Northeastern	11	-16	9

In only three of the games, USF, the road game vs. Northeastern and William and Mary did Hofstra have more second chance points than their opponent. As noted, they had a double digit lead against the Bulls with four minutes left in the game before losing a game they never should have lost. In the road game vs. the Huskies, Northeastern didn't have many second chance points, since they shot nearly sixty four percent from the field. Likewise, William and Mary shot sixty five percent from the field against Hofstra.

Conclusion
There is hope.  Hofstra scored forty four points in the paint in their loss to Northeastern, which was the third most on the season (Hofstra scored forty six points in the paint vs. Jacksonville and fifty points against Drexel).  The Pride made a concerted effort to work the ball inside to Gustys, Kone and Nichols.  Gustys had his best all around game as a member of Hofstra with thirteen points, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks in twenty four minutes of action.  Nichols added twelve points and Kone chipped in with seven points.   They combined to score thirty two points, fourteen more than their season average.

Watching the Northeastern game on television, Hofstra at times played very good defense.  They had fifteen steals and were often very active and aggressive against the Huskies.   But as the announcers noted, they would let up towards the end of the possession, not communicate well at times on defense, as defenders failed to step out on ball screens and they didn't play help defense when Scott Eatherton got the ball in the post.  Eatherton was eight of ten from the field.  If they play Northeastern again in the CAA tourney, Hofstra needs to double down on Eatherton when he gets it in the post.

Brian Bernardi is a terrific shooter, but if he is not hitting the three pointer, the Pride are much better off defensively with a rotation of Green, Nesmith at the three, Nichols at the four and Kone or Gustys at the five.  This is due to Nichols being much quicker than Bernardi on defense and having more length than Tanksley at the four.  Nichols was much more of a matchup problem for six foot six Northeastern guard David Walker than Bernardi.  Walker had a field day when Bernardi was guarding him.

The Pride have enough offensive firepower to offset Bernardi being on the bench more.  Plus they showed that Gustys is capable of giving them double digit scoring against a good front line like Northeastern's, which, to be honest, is rare in the CAA.   It gives them better balance and better defense. Keep feeding the paint, Hofstra.

The good thing about the CAA is now there are only ten teams, which means six teams now get a bye in the first round as opposed to a few years ago, when only four teams got a bye.   Hofstra is right now in the sixth spot and can right itself for the CAA tournament.  They will likely have to face both William and Mary and Northeastern in the the tourney to get to the NCAA Tournament anyway.  It's going to be defense that gets them there.

They can start that defensive trend against Drexel today.   Let's see if they can get the train rolling again.