CAAT Monday, March 11 - Semifinals

[Wags]

So because I'm a glutton for punishment I went back through the box scores of Hofstras recent CAA tourney failures today, and this is what stands out to me:

- '24 Stony: Thomas takes 27 of 57 shots (Dubar 6). Outrebounded by 12.
- '23 Uncw: Estrada takes 20 of 58 shots (Dubar 6). Outrebounded by 12.
- '22 Charleston: They didn't show up for this one. But outrebounded by 14
- '19 Northeastern: JWF takes 22 of 59 shots

Compare that to the title game in '20: +12 on the boards. All 5 starters took b/w 7-17 shots (you know we didn't even have a single shot attempt off the bench that game?! Lol)


Numbers don't lie. Hofstra's 4 out, star guard plays hero system can win lots of regular season games in this league. But until they get serious about finding an elite big for this level and running a more balanced offense, fear this will continue to happen again and again

If you're not learning from your mistakes and growing, you're spinning your wheels or moving backward.

[Wags]

Good points, 86. A productive center would help immeasurably.

I'll say this in Dubar's defense: without him, we may not have made it out of the quarterfinal round this year. His upside is tantalizingly great, but he is sooooo inconsistent

I don't think it's him, it's his usage. Stony Brook made it a point to get the ball out of his hands last night. It's up to Hofstra adjust rather than moving to a Plan B of Thomas trying to win the game by himself and not trying to have everyone play a team game.

[triplec2195]

I didn't see this game but after looking at the stats and listening to Speedy how does Speedy say that Dubar had a bad game. Everybody has a bad game but it came at an inopportune time per Speedy. Was it a "BAD GAME" because he only scored 5 points or was it a bad game because he couldn't get himself open for shots. Combination of him not scoring and playing tough D. Why was this considered to be on Dubar when he only took 5 shots. Not like he went 2-20. Am I missing something here for those who saw this game?

[Wags]

I didn't see this game but after looking at the stats and listening to Speedy how does Speedy say that Dubar had a bad game. Everybody has a bad game but it came at an inopportune time per Speedy. Was it a "BAD GAME" because he only scored 5 points or was it a bad game because he couldn't get himself open for shots. Combination of him not scoring and playing tough D. Why was this considered to be on Dubar when he only took 5 shots. Not like he went 2-20. Am I missing something here for those who saw this game?

Exactly what I was saying earlier when I said 5/18 is a bad game, but 2/6 is being misused. This happened a few times during the regular season and every time it did, I warned that this would be their undoing in the tournament, if Dubar (and even Plotnikov) got very few shots and Thomas would score a lot of points (like the 32 in this case) inefficiently, on a lot of shots (like the 27 in this case). Sure enough, that's exactly what ended their season.

And Speedy remembers the 30 pts on 14 shots that Dubar had at Stony Brook, so to say this was some sort of "off night" for Dubar just didn't make sense to me when I heard that. When I asked Geno the same, he mentioned in detail about Dubar's game at Stony Brook, and this time, doubling him and forcing the ball out of his hands in the post and making him drive rather than shoot from the perimeter. That was great coaching to put that focus on Dubar rather than on Thomas (that was Delaware's mistake in the quarterfinals - the keyed on Thomas so he went 6/22, but they allowed Dubar and Carlos to beat them).

It doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that they recognize certain issues and know how to adjust to them when the response isn't in relation to what Geno said and rather passing it off as simply "an off night" on Dubar's part.