UPCOMING 2018-19 SEASON

[triplec2195]

We could beat Mount Saint Mary's and North Carolina A&T without Pemberton. Marshall was 14-2 at home last season, but only 2 of those wins were against the Top 150 of the RPI, and 8 of them were against Bottom 100 of the RPI.

Let's not get too confident just yet remember we lost to Siena last year and Manhattan. These were ugly losses in retrospect both outside of the Mack though. The games you are expected to win sometimes the toughest to get up for. If we had to go without EP then I like Jalen and possibly Coburn to fill the void. There r unknowns with this team that will be answered shortly.

[garyg]

This is season # 6 for JAM. The time is now !!!!!!!!!!!

[daHUPride]

This is season # 6 for JAM. The time is now !!!!!!!!!!!

Hear, hear!
Speaking of Season VI....where is Polito???? Come back man. Your passion SHOULD always be welcome here.

[triplec2195]

This is season # 6 for JAM. The time is now !!!!!!!!!!!

Hear, hear!
Speaking of Season VI....where is Polito???? Come back man. Your passion SHOULD always be welcome here.

Some of the guys here killed him for sure MIA!

[daHUPride]

This is season # 6 for JAM. The time is now !!!!!!!!!!!

Hear, hear!
Speaking of Season VI....where is Polito???? Come back man. Your passion SHOULD always be welcome here.

Some of the guys here killed him for sure MIA!

Well HU Basketball can certainly use more devoted fans - like Polito - whether you like or dislike someones opinion or not we need fans - the Mack is filled up enough to pick and choose who we take on as fans.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Hear, hear!
Speaking of Season VI....where is Polito???? Come back man. Your passion SHOULD always be welcome here.

Who's saying Polito's opinion isn't welcome here? When your shtick is negativity veiled as passion though, you're going to elicit a certain response.

[Hofstra]

This is season # 6 for JAM. The time is now !!!!!!!!!!!

Hear, hear!
Speaking of Season VI....where is Polito???? Come back man. Your passion SHOULD always be welcome here.

Not enough "real fans" bought t shirts last year.. Might have been the last straw. lol

[triplec2195]

Comments about Polito mostly accurate a very passionate person re HU sports sometimes his opinions a bit misguided but I don't think he masked negativity with passion. He called it the way he saw it at least thru his eyes. He also has said that he worked for the basketball program when Jay Wright was here so he has a certain amount of insight into the inner workings of running the program. Where r u Polito we need someone playing The Devils Advocate here! Lol

[joeg1]

Any detail on the nature of the Pemberton or Trueheart injury?

[HUSID74]

Pemba should be ok by now, sprained ankle...Trueheart banged his head, should be ok as well.

[Cards]

That's great news regarding the injuries. Key guys gotta stay healthy!

Re Polito - True, knowledgeable fan of the HU MBB program. Like myself, Polito wants the MBB program to rise to be a year-in year-out mid major force. Unlike many other universities and program supporters, annually finishing in the upper third of a conference is simply not enough for us. We want success in the classroom and on the court - not necessarily mutually exclusive goals. We view success on the court as being the "feared" opponent in the conference who routinely makes the NCAA or NIT. We both consider reaching that goal with a view of accountability at the university, athletic department, coaching staff, and player levels as integral. If all four of these groups truly subscribe to this common goal, it can happen. Sometimes performing an honest assessment of performance/support of these four groups is not easy, nor is it easy to hold those groups accountable when goals are not reached. When appropriate, and in light of the common goal, accountability demands that on occasion changes are required.


I, and I'll take the liberty of speaking on behalf of Polito (and hope I'm not mis-stating his position) share this vision for the MBB program.


I've got my seasons tickets, I'm psyched for the season, and I'm ready to go! Anything less than the dance (or NIT [under extenuating circumstances]) is not acceptable.

[garyg]

Well put Cards...I am on the same page

[RIP_HOFUSA]

Everyone saying Hofstra needs better defense is totally right. As a student, Coach Mihalich gave a speech to a select group of us before the beginning of the school year, using the team's propensity to not play defense and only score as an incentive to get students to go. "You guys know, we don't play defense," I believe were the exact words. As a fan of the team I cringed. I always respect the heck out of good defensive basketball teams like Virginia, seeing as scoring is so prevalent in a sport like basketball. I get his tactic though, and hopefully it'll work. I'd love to see a packed Mack this year. I know the sports department have definitely made an effort to outreach to the students but it's tough to reach all of them. We'll see but I'm excited for the season!

[EvanJ]

USA Today picked Northeastern first, Charleston second, and us third. I didn't memorize the list. Their POY and First Team are the same as the CAA's.

[stuball888]

That’s lazy journalism Evan how was their preview of each team

[triplec2195]

Northeastern an easy pick for first but we'll see who's worse off us without Rok or CoC without Chealey??

[HUSID74]

I truly believe that we will be fine if our two big grad students can stay healthy...plus we have more depth all around...need to see this team on the floor but I think we'll be better than last year and a serious contender for the CAA title.

[Flying Dutchmen]

Re Polito - True, knowledgeable fan of the HU MBB program. Like myself, Polito wants the MBB program to rise to be a year-in year-out mid major force. Unlike many other universities and program supporters, annually finishing in the upper third of a conference is simply not enough for us. We want success in the classroom and on the court - not necessarily mutually exclusive goals. We view success on the court as being the "feared" opponent in the conference who routinely makes the NCAA or NIT. We both consider reaching that goal with a view of accountability at the university, athletic department, coaching staff, and player levels as integral. If all four of these groups truly subscribe to this common goal, it can happen. Sometimes performing an honest assessment of performance/support of these four groups is not easy, nor is it easy to hold those groups accountable when goals are not reached. When appropriate, and in light of the common goal, accountability demands that on occasion changes are required.

We obviously all want that, Hofstra Basketball is just not a SEC football team, there are different ways of achieving that goal.

I've been critical of how the team plays defense, and the voids in recruiting we've seen during the Mihalich era, but we're clearly moving in the right direction. The CAA is the best it's been since the Big 3 left, this is definitely our deepest team, probably our most talented team we've had with Mihalich as well. But the reality was when he inherited the program, we were the bottom of the barrel, marred by our players stealing dozens of laptops from their fellow students.

I compare our laptop scandal to Binghamton, when they had player issues in '09 after they made the dance. It's been 10 seasons up there, they have been one of the worst programs in D-1 for a decade straight. Didn't even qualify for AE Conference Tournament last year. That school would kill for the job Joe has done here. Not that we should be comparing ourselves to the likes of the worst program in D-1, but Hofstra has never had the student/community support Binghamton has, and they still can't get it turned around in a vastly inferior conference. Their failures have given me perspective on how good of a job has been done at Hofstra the past 5 years.

Stability wins at Hofstra because frankly there is no demand for the program from the students or community. There is also no demand from excellent players, the players it takes to be a "feared" opponent, to come to Hofstra. To break that cycle, Joe has stabilized the program, to get the students and community involved, to get better players (athletic and academic) in the door.

Blowing it up because we didn't achieve an unrealistic standard never makes Hofstra Basketball better, because there's not enough inherent interest in the program. Losing Joe would be like going back to square one, it's just not like switching a coach at an elite program. It even took the best coach in D-1 years to get it turned around here, against inferior competition to what we face today, and he never won a postseason tournament game here. There is no precedent of us being "feared" ever.

We have a new AD who knows the area, we have a great group of players who are totally deserving of being supported by the students and community. It's time to build this thing right, we finally have all the pieces together. I'm generally optimistic on the program, so I usually feel that way, but we have a perfect roster to maintain success for years, and we have the right personalities on the team to endear them to the community. It's time to bring the title home the right way.

[garyg]

I truly believe that we will be fine if our two big grad students can stay healthy...plus we have more depth all around...need to see this team on the floor but I think we'll be better than last year and a serious contender for the CAA title.

That is a mighty big IF based on their histories...hope you are right !!!

[Cards]

Anyone have an update or info regarding "secret Scrimmages". As I recall, HU was supposed to play Hartford this past weekend.