MBB Game 1 - San Jose State, 11/6/19, 7 PM

[EvanJ]

I absolutely hate our 4 guard lineups but I'm convinced JM can't coach 2 or 3 bigs on the floor at one time.

Hofstra doesn't need 2 bigs like Taylor who don't shoot any threes, but Kante and another big who rebounds and shoots threes better than Trueheart would help. In 2015-2016, Denton Koon had 46.9 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, but he still got 6.6 rebounds, which was great for the second leading rebounder on a team with Gustys. In 2005-2006, Aurimas Kieza had 36.0 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 7.3 rebounds. Last season Elon's Tyler Seibring had 47.2 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 5.9 rebounds.

[Wags]

I absolutely hate our 4 guard lineups but I'm convinced JM can't coach 2 or 3 bigs on the floor at one time.

Hofstra doesn't need 2 bigs like Taylor who don't shoot any threes, but Kante and another big who rebounds and shoots threes better than Trueheart would help. In 2015-2016, Denton Koon had 46.9 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, but he still got 6.6 rebounds, which was great for the second leading rebounder on a team with Gustys. In 2005-2006, Aurimas Kieza had 36.0 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 7.3 rebounds. Last season Elon's Tyler Seibring had 47.2 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 5.9 rebounds.

Depends on who you're playing and how efficient your offense is. If the 4-guard lineup is scoring efficiently, enough to mask defensive issues, then fine. But in a game like this first one against San Jose State, in which Hofstra didn't shoot a great percentage overall, shot poorly from 3 and barely got to the free throw line the whole game, it presents a problem, because with four guards, you're very small trying to often guard a bigger team (especially when they get to CAA play). San Jose didn't just use its size down low and on the offensive glass to gain advantages, but at other spots, like on the wings, to get past or pass over smaller defenders to set up shooters, was a help to SJSU. So, if you're going to go with the 4-guard lineup, you better hit your shots at an efficient rate and get to the FT line a lot more. Otherwise, you're opening yourself up to some hurtful size disadvantages at the other end of the floor. And I think that was a big reason why SJSU was able to stay in the game from the start and to go on that big game-ending 26-10 run to rally from 8 down to win by the same.

[daHUPride]

I absolutely hate our 4 guard lineups but I'm convinced JM can't coach 2 or 3 bigs on the floor at one time.

Hofstra doesn't need 2 bigs like Taylor who don't shoot any threes, but Kante and another big who rebounds and shoots threes better than Trueheart would help. In 2015-2016, Denton Koon had 46.9 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, but he still got 6.6 rebounds, which was great for the second leading rebounder on a team with Gustys. In 2005-2006, Aurimas Kieza had 36.0 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 7.3 rebounds. Last season Elon's Tyler Seibring had 47.2 percent of his field goal attempts be threes, and he got 5.9 rebounds.

Quality; true bigs (4 or 5) are hard gets for most mid-majors - that is why we and many mid-majors go with 4 guards system...that said I am not a big fan of it either.
But IF we had Taylor and Kante available in the same year - I would be disappointed IF we didn't start them and use them often together - even if we had all the quality guards we had last year and have this year

[ZMAN3]

Evan - Koon and Kieza were 6'8" - not 6'4-6'5" like our current wings - Taylor 6'9" with Big 10 experience - Kante 6'7" inexperienced - and don't expect us to shoot 3's as in previous years - moving the line back 1+ feet was for a reason - without an inside game to compensate our "O" will suffer.

[Mikey77]

ZMan is spot on. As I've said before the "In Guards We Trust" mentality was great for America East and when we had Rokas G and JT in the CAA, but we get killed on the boards when we compete against a team in a higher conference. I don't understand the inability to recruit "bigs" or to develop them. Stony Brook is able, Vermont too. What's with Hughes? What's the point in recruiting these guys if they are just going to be glued to the bench. From what I saw the other night this team will struggle all year.

[Polito]

Because it’s baloney, just like the no P5 is ever willing to play at the Mack nonsense (ps UNC AT UNCW, and Illinois AT Grand Canyon tonight - amazing - miraculous only seems to be HU that cant overcome this )

The CAA is known for bigs - CofC and NU recruit quality bigs on a routine basis - and HU has already done it themselves with Rok and Hunter - mids can absolutely recruit and land quality bigs - just not a roster full of them - but HUs challenge isn’t the recruiting, it’s the coaching.

I don’t expect every player to play, plenty of guys are simply role players or deep backups for emergencies only - but as I’ve said, this staffs strength for the most part is recruiting relatively ready talent, not developing and coaching it up

Challenge we all saw game 1 is that this teams power in its guards was not impressive - talented seniors who somehow don’t understand game flow and the need to drive and get to the line is pretty terrible - and even worse, the staff doesn’t seem to right the ship in game.

I understand Kante, but my gosh, expecting a lot more from the rest and the staff - and I sure as heck hope they expect more of themselves.

[EvanJ]

Evan - Koon and Kieza were 6'8" - not 6'4-6'5" like our current wings - Taylor 6'9" with Big 10 experience - Kante 6'7" inexperienced - and don't expect us to shoot 3's as in previous years - moving the line back 1+ feet was for a reason - without an inside game to compensate our "O" will suffer.

I wasn't saying our current wings are as tall as Koon and Kieza. I'm saying that it would be better if we had one of them rather than starting four guards. Since we don't have one of them, starting four guards could be the best we can do, but not good enough to win the CAA.

Because it’s baloney, just like the no P5 is ever willing to play at the Mack nonsense (ps UNC AT UNCW, and Illinois AT Grand Canyon tonight - amazing - miraculous only seems to be HU that cant overcome this )

What I think is ridiculous is that we played at Nassau Coliseum and Villanova was the "home" team. The fact that Villanova was "home" was good for our RPI and any other ratings that factor in location, but the NCAA should still make a rule that a "home" game must be within 10 miles of the home team. Even if most of the fans were rooting for Villanova, that shouldn't matter. The Yankees play 81 home games and 81 away games every year. Games at Tampa Bay don't count as home games even if there are more Yankees fans than Rays fans. NCAA sports should be the same way.

[Wags]

This is so far making HU's season-opening loss look a little better:

San Jose State, at home, hanging tough with 25th-ranked Utah State. Up 21-19 after 13 minutes, on ESPN 2 right now.

[triplec2195]

This is so far making HU's season-opening loss look a little better:

San Jose State, at home, hanging tough with 25th-ranked Utah State. Up 21-19 after 13 minutes, on ESPN 2 right now.

I don't think there's anything going to really soften that loss other then the fact that it was the first game. San Jose State is 3-6 and have gotten blown out by Arizona State by 38, Portland state by 26, Oregon State by 25, UCLA by 29 points and they lost last night as well. You're on shaky ground here Wags and groping for straws I'm afraid. We need to suck this up as first game jitters or whatever excuse we can come up with. We're moving on and finding ways to win. That's a good thing. Lets beat St Bonaventure in their own cozy little packed house den. That would be a nice win!

[Wags]

This is so far making HU's season-opening loss look a little better:

San Jose State, at home, hanging tough with 25th-ranked Utah State. Up 21-19 after 13 minutes, on ESPN 2 right now.

I don't think there's anything going to really soften that loss other then the fact that is was the first game. San Jose State is 3-6 and have gotten blown out by Arizona State by 38, Portland state by 26, Oregon State by 25, UCLA by 29 points and they lost last night as well. You're on shaky ground here Wags and groping for straws I'm afraid. We need to suck this up as first game jitters or whatever excuse we can come up with. We're moving on and finding ways to win. That's a good thing. Lets beat St Bonaventure in their own cozy little packed house den. That would be a nice win!

Don't get me wrong, that was HU's worst loss of the season, no doubt. And I think by the end of the year, it will remain that way. I'm also well aware of those SJSU losses (I actually posted the info. here, right after it happened, about the loss to Arizona - not Arizona State, actually). I just thought for whoever was up last night and wanted to watch, it might be interesting to see how SJSU was competing against the #25 team in the nation relative to how they beat Hofstra.

[triplec2195]

Probably a game we should have could have won and like the loss to Bucknell we weren't good down the stretch when it really counts. We're a work in progress and we're progressing. I just hope we get quality minutes from our bench not what we saw from Silverio the other night.

[Wags]

Probably a game we should have could have won and like the loss to Bucknell we weren't good down the stretch when it really counts. We're a work in progress and we're progressing. I just hope we get quality minutes from our bench not what we saw from Silverio the other night.

We say this every year, and though it would be nice to rely on the bench, the bench often is what it is. Seems to not much different this year. So, although guys like Shutte and Silverio, maybe even Burgess, might have their moments in certain games, I wouldn't count on the bench being a significant factor in determining how the season will go or how it will end.

This team will go as far as these three things take it, especially for the three days in D.C.:

1) How well the starting guards can shoot on a consistent basis (as we saw in San Diego, that's not just from 3, but from 2 as well).
2) How much the starting guards can get to the FT line (they generally have done a very good job at doing that frequently that so far this year).
3) How much the team (including the bench here, but mainly this will be on the starters) can consistently play good enough defense to stay in or win games with numbers 1) and 2). There's certainly room for improvement with the D, but it has generally been okay on the whole so far this year.