MBB Game 19 @ Stony Brook, Jan 22 (Mon), 9 PM

[Jojogunne]

Here's the view from Stony Brook fans. Be sure to click on page 2 in the top left corner. It has the Coach Ford's post-game comments:

https://sbufan.createaforum.com/stony-b ... a-122-9pm/

[daHUPride]

DUBAR - having the year I always thought - hoped - he would have. Need him to keep it up - and hopefully gives us time to get Thomas on track.

[triplec2195]

Physically if he is 6ft8 as the program says then he has an NBA body
He is starting to remind me of Tobias Harris
Tobias is an inch taller and probably 20 lbs heavier but they seem to have similar games
Am wrong in this comparison

If Dubar is in the same league comparison wise as Harris we have an incredible player who's still developing. Harris after 12 years is still playing at a high level scoring almost 18 points a game 6 rebounds. Love to see D-Stone in the NBA obviously.

[Cards]

Physically if he is 6ft8 as the program says then he has an NBA body
He is starting to remind me of Tobias Harris
Tobias is an inch taller and probably 20 lbs heavier but they seem to have similar games
Am wrong in this comparison

If Dubar is in the same league comparison wise as Harris we have an incredible player who's still developing. Harris after 12 years is still playing at a high level scoring almost 18 points a game 6 rebounds. Love to see D-Stone in the NBA obviously.

Unfortunately for HU, if DD continues to play at this level, he will be tough to keep from jumping to a P5 program for his senior season

[HUSID80]

Physically if he is 6ft8 as the program says then he has an NBA body
He is starting to remind me of Tobias Harris
Tobias is an inch taller and probably 20 lbs heavier but they seem to have similar games
Am wrong in this comparison

If Dubar is in the same league comparison wise as Harris we have an incredible player who's still developing. Harris after 12 years is still playing at a high level scoring almost 18 points a game 6 rebounds. Love to see D-Stone in the NBA obviously.

Unfortunately for HU, if DD continues to play at this level, he will be tough to keep from jumping to a P5 program for his senior season

Sadly that is so true Cards...let's hope he has a GREAT YEAR this year leading us to a Championship...it will be TOUGH but still doable.

[Wags]

Did they try to double him or were they just defending him one on one?

They did both but he has become a strange player. Still capable of making a very difficult, impressive, well-contested turnaround jumper from the right elbow while moving left to right (as he did on a key, cluthch shot late last night), and yet still capable of hitting the side of the backboard on a pretty open, short baseline jumper (like in the first half last night) and missing everything (like a couple of times last night and as he's puzzlingly done several times over the past couple of weeks). I don't know if he starts over thinking too much at times instead of just reacting and playing and if the same confidence isn't always there on all of his shots, but if it's not, he shouldn't be firing away recklessly, and he should be more discerning in when he shoots and how much he shoots in that case (and the staff has to guide him with that).

I wonder how many people here thought Dubar was capable of having the year that he's having.

Been saying here since very early on that he needs to be the #1 option on this team but the old narratives persisted that Thomas had to remain that option and that Dubar somehow disappeared at times and wasn't consistent enough to be the #1. But that was really only the first half of the Princeton game. He's been pretty consistent since the very good second half of that game when Thomas didn't do much that half. I would say that Dubar's level of efficiency has been somewhat of a pleasant surprise, but his production was expected in the natural evolution of things with him being a year older and knowing he was going to get greater opportunity to produce with Estrada's departure. Would be nice if Thomas could take advantage of that opportunity in the same way, but aside from the flashes of great play sprinkled in here and there (like the second half against High Point as one example of a few), he has mostly regressed overall.

[Wags]

If Dubar is in the same league comparison wise as Harris we have an incredible player who's still developing. Harris after 12 years is still playing at a high level scoring almost 18 points a game 6 rebounds. Love to see D-Stone in the NBA obviously.

Unfortunately for HU, if DD continues to play at this level, he will be tough to keep from jumping to a P5 program for his senior season

Sadly that is so true Cards...let's hope he has a GREAT YEAR this year leading us to a Championship...it will be TOUGH but still doable.

If Thomas doesn't change his role to be the #2 guy and pick it up, it's going to be impossible to compete for a title this year. And if they end up with a middle-of-the-pack seed and and an early CAA tourney exit, there's not much keeping Dubar from staying next year unless he just really loves it here. Even if they did overcome the current odds and win in DC, that may not be enough after seeing Estrada help lead this team to a 1 seed and within a whisper of the CAA title game. He could have come back to finish the job this year and still didn't, so why wouldn't Dubar leave?

[EvanJ]

If Dubar stays, he could average over 20 points, and be Player of the Year. He's already special. He averages 19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, a field goal percentage of .543, and a three-point field goal percentage of .395. According to the Sports-Reference College Basketball Play Index which goes back to 1992-1993, no guard has done all of those in one season. Among all players who don't lead their team in scoring, going by statistics while ignoring team and opponent quality, Dubar must be one of the best out of players on 362 teams.

The CAA has its top four scorers within 1 point with Thomas at 21.68, North Carolina A&T's Landon Glasper and Monmouth's Xander Rice tied at 21.26, and UNCW's Trazarien White tied at 20.72. The CAA has four of the top twenty on points per game, and the only other conferences with more than one are the Big Ten and Mid-American with two.

[triplec2195]

If Dubar stays, he could average over 20 points, and be Player of the Year. He's already special. He averages 19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, a field goal percentage of .543, and a three-point field goal percentage of .395. According to the Sports-Reference College Basketball Play Index which goes back to 1992-1993, no guard has done all of those in one season. Among all players who don't lead their team in scoring, going by statistics while ignoring team and opponent quality, Dubar must be one of the best out of players on 362 teams.

The CAA has its top four scorers within 1 point with Thomas at 21.68, North Carolina A&T's Landon Glasper and Monmouth's Xander Rice tied at 21.26, and UNCW's Trazarien White tied at 20.72. The CAA has four of the top twenty on points per game, and the only other conferences with more than one are the Big Ten and Mid-American with two.

Individual stats are great but just remember this is a team sport. I wonder how many of those CAA players will ever play in the NBA?? If Dubar should leave we would be in a major rebuild year the likes of something that hasn't happened here in a very long time. This is just the beginning of the NIL fallout and the potential free fall for a lot of mid-major schools.

[Wags]

If Dubar stays, he could average over 20 points, and be Player of the Year. He's already special. He averages 19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, a field goal percentage of .543, and a three-point field goal percentage of .395. According to the Sports-Reference College Basketball Play Index which goes back to 1992-1993, no guard has done all of those in one season. Among all players who don't lead their team in scoring, going by statistics while ignoring team and opponent quality, Dubar must be one of the best out of players on 362 teams.

The CAA has its top four scorers within 1 point with Thomas at 21.68, North Carolina A&T's Landon Glasper and Monmouth's Xander Rice tied at 21.26, and UNCW's Trazarien White tied at 20.72. The CAA has four of the top twenty on points per game, and the only other conferences with more than one are the Big Ten and Mid-American with two.

Individual stats are great but just remember this is a team sport. I wonder how many of those CAA players will ever play in the NBA?? If Dubar should leave we would be in a major rebuild year the likes of something that hasn't happened here in a very long time. This is just the beginning of the NIL fallout and the potential free fall for a lot of mid-major schools.

Exactly. Would love him to stay, of course, but if he has any NBA hopes at all (including the G League) or even (more likely) as good a situation as possible overseas, he'll enhance those hopes by getting noticed more at a bigger program. That and the chance at getting NIL $$$ make it an easy choice unless again, he just happens to love Hofstra and Hempstead. But if Estrada left as that on the table as a two-time CAA POY to go to a place like Alabama, you can bet Dubar must already be thinking it about. Plus, he's similar in Estrada in that he already thought of himself early on as deserving to be at that level, going to Iowa State (like Estrada going to Oregon) before building his game at Hofstra. He has to already at least be considering an Estrada-like path of big school (didn't work out), then mid-major to make enough noise, and ending at a big school before the career is done.

Staying to be a CAA POY candidate wouldn't be enough because if he's the only great player carrying a mid-pack or bottom-half CAA team, he can be as great as he wants and still not be the POY. He would have to do what's very rare, like the year Jenkins was SO good on a 7th-place Hofstra team, he still won the award.

[dutchPride86]

In conference only games Dubar is now:

-4th in scoring
-1st in reb/g (and 4th in offense rebounds)
-3rd in FG%
-4th in 3pt FG%
-3rd in steals
-3rd in blocks

Always felt from day 1 three seasons ago that he was the most physically gifted player we've ever had, it's been wonderful to see him grow into his potential and find the consistency he had been lacking in prior seasons.

The team is slowly starting to come around to him being the #1 - Tyler only attempting 2 more shots and 1 less 3 than Dubar yesterday certainly a step in the right direction.

Hopefully as Dubar continues to shoulder more of the load it'll free up some of the defensive attention Tyler's been facing and he can find the confidence in his shot again. I think Tyler's issues yesterday were much more confidence than forcing shots, Speedy even said in his presser he was pleased guys weren't playing "hero ball."

As for next year, transfer portal is what it is at this point. If Dubar gets a power 5 offer he can't refuse, just opens the door for Speedy to grab the next Estrada or Dubar type looking to transfer down for more playing time that Hofstra would then suddenly have the room for. Just the nature of the beast

[Wags]

I think Tyler's issues yesterday were much more confidence than forcing shots

I think so too, as I alluded to a few posts above, saying that last night, that he seemed to just be overthinking it and hesitating before letting a bad shot go (like the one off the side of the backboard that was a decent look and a fairly short mid-range shot). But I just don't get that at this point in his career. If indeed it is lack of confidence as it seemed to be last night and in certain moments in other games this year, how does a guy who has already accomplished what he has as a fifth-year player, and with the confidence and ability later in the same game to take and make an elbow jumper with a high degree of difficulty at a key, later point in the game, also not have confidence and hesitate on some other basic shots at other times?

[Wags]

Both are 9-9 overall and 2-3 in the CAA.

I wonder if Jerry Beach or anybody else can find another conference game we played where both teams entered with the same overall record and conference record other than 0-0.

This will happen again on Saturday if Hofstra and Monmouth both win or both lose on Thursday, since going into Thursday, Hofstra and Monmouth are both 3-3 and 10-9.

Also, as much as Hofstra struggled, there is still a lot of opportunity if they can fix their issues. They start the second third of league play only one game out of the 2 seed in a very bunched up CAA. They're one of five teams at 3-3, with four teams only a game ahead of them and two others a game behind them. Aside from Drexel at 7-0, Elon at 1-5, and Hampton at 0-7, the 11 other teams are all within two games of each other through the first third of CAA play.

[daHUPride]

I am a huge fan of DD - and if he plays another year - I get the idea of him considering a P5 team - for better competition and money - but as big of a fan I am of his I am not sure his outside game converts well against the better P5 teams and players

I think DD outside shot is easy for those better teams/players to defend - as I think he comes from to low and would guess that he'd have his shot blocked more often - that said I think that is a flaw Id see NBA/pro scouts being consider about too

I know he'd have little else to accomplish here at HU - but that scenario reminds me of Tarique Coburn a few year ago when he left to go to StJ for a final year - TC was a similar type player for HU and just didn't blend in with StJ

That said - love DD game so MUCH and, again, is having the year I always though him having here

[triplec2195]

I understand what you're saying about getting his shot blocked but if you saw him hit that line drive shot against SB where he just stepped to the side of the defender you're looking at a different player this year who has really fined tuned his three point shot.

As for a comparison to Coburn DD is bigger, stronger and more athletic then Coburn. Coburn's game took a nosedive just like Bernardi's years ago when teams discovered they were just catch and shoot three point shooters. Neither was that efficient shooting off the dribble. Dubar can put it on the floor and score in the paint at will he also is a leaper who can get his own O rebound and score off a miss. IMO Coburn didn't get that many minutes with STJ because to be honest there were better players then him on that team. Coburn was a good player Dubar right now is a VERY GOOD PLAYER.

[Wags]

I am a huge fan of DD - and if he plays another year - I get the idea of him considering a P5 team - for better competition and money - but as big of a fan I am of his I am not sure his outside game converts well against the better P5 teams and players

Very possible, but the perception that has stuck with Dubar (in general) seems to undercut the reality for whatever reason, and the 3-point shooting is just another example. For instance:

Thomas from 3:
Year 1 (Sacred Heart) - 27.4%
Year 2 (Sacred Heart) - 33.1%
Year 3 (Sacred Heart) - 33.7%
Year 4 (Hofstra) - 40.5%
Year 5 (Hofstra) - 36.4%
Career - 35.1%

Dubar from 3:
Year 1 (Iowa State) - 30.0%
Year 2 (Hofstra) - 33.9%
Year 3 (Hofstra) - 40.4%
Year 4 (Hofstra) - 39.5%
Career - 37.7%

[Polito]

Agree with much that has been said here, and much I've been onboard with for awhile. I'm happy HU found a way to win the last two games... but I'm not going to gush about it. Those two are terrible teams, and HU struggled to beat both - HU is not a good team, and right now this is still the worst HU team in a decade.

wags, you said it great, Dubar must take the #1 position on this team, and let TT slip back into #2. TT has fallen into the realm of awful. A complete liability. I legit turned the game off after he missed a layup. I can't and will not watch garbage basketball. It's embarrassing. And I don't really care that they won - this team looks extremely poor 30 min of every game. It's really not ok.

I'm not going to ignore this entire season and pretend like all will be fine just because I don't want to face reality. This team as it is has zero chance of winning this conf and going dancing - they're that bad. That said, I can also appreciate it isn't over yet - this team could turn themselves around if the staff makes the adjustment we all know they need to make. Perhaps flowing the O through Dubar will help TT get back on track.

That is the only way this team has even a shot at doing anything. If they continue to force this, they are going nowhere.

Dubar is showing out, and it's awesome to see - kid is a baller with size - this is exactly the kind of player he should be. And this is why I absolutely love the wing in college. The X factor position at this level, and it's clear. And I've said before, the biggest recruiting job Speed will have is somehow hanging on to Dubar. Everyone in this community better start taking NIL seriously, because it's going to take a bag.

Speedy will need that PLUS need to show Dubar that he's going to actually put together a team that will dance. And so far, haven't seen it. Otherwise, zero reason to stay, and tons of green reasons to leave. But that's for the offseason...

The challenge right now is he still isn't enough. If he can carry the top dog spot, AND TT can find himself again, they may have something. If not, it's over. This team has NO ONE else. I can't get over just how bad this team is - zero depth. JC I have always been big on, but he's just not consistent enough O to be counted on as one of the 3 scorers you need to win. But if he only has to be an extra to Dubar and TT, that works. Just a huge if right now.

I agree with fully with those calling for Speedy to take accountability - he NEVER says he and his staff need to do better - not sure if he's just not thinking about it, or if he really has an ego that big to think this isn't on him and his staff - but I'd like to hear it. YOU need to do better Speedy, not just your players. Own it. That's what a leader does. I can't stand when coaches blame other factors and excuse themselves - not cool.

To end on a positive, I will say, it is awesome that the worst HU team I've seen in years still beat SBU - always a good thing

[Wags]

If only the team were having as good a season as its X (Twitter) account is having with graphics this year:

https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 9254837397

https://twitter.com/HofstraMBB/status/1 ... 0761855126

[HUSID80]

Agreed the social media stuff is fun and creative...if only they would give us some real information like, "WHERE IS TOMASCO?'

[Polito]

I'm onboard with the social media, happy to give Gorchov his credit there, very nice work! And has been for a long time!

Now quit babying the HC in interviews. Just get some media training done for him to help smooth out the delivery, and we'll be straight. Thanks in advance SG!