Best basketball team in Hofstra history?

[Hof_Judge99]

Now that my tears have stopped I thought we could discuss where this team ranks amongst the best in program history. I think you could make an argument that last year’s team was just as good if not better. Obviously NE was a much weaker finals opponent this year than last. 2010-2011 was pretty good and may have won the CAA if the Va teams were already gone. I don’t go back farther than that so I’d like to hear insight.

[Mikey77]

Pecora's 2006 team that beat George Mason twice (GM went to the final four that year) then beat Nebraska and St. Joe's in the NIT is right there. That team really got screwed by the NCAA.

[stuball888]

Mikey agree I think that team only had 5 losses before the CAA tournament That was the year of the Tony Skinn groin punch

[Wags]

Hard to say where it ranks, but this team was right up there as one of the best.

I was just thinking a little while ago, the bad luck now with a couple of their best teams not being able to showcase that to the nation, for different reasons - the 2005-06 team that deserved a bid before being snubbed and now this year's team. Shame. You expect the other one, it happens. But what's happening this year, you don't forsee. Really would've been cool to see this team on the big stage on CBS or one of the Turner networks battling next week. To have that never occur and forever wonder "what if" is extremely frustrating. Especially when they earned it.

[Captain]

The shaft that the 2006 team got was terrible. For those of you who are too young, the CAA semifinal playoff game with George Mason was over and the Mason guard Tony Skinn punches Player of the Year Loren Stokes in the groin with maybe 6 seconds left In the game and really hurts him.
Hofstra loses to UNCW in the final and despite 2 wins over George Mason, the NCAA gives Mason an at large bid to the NCAA and ignores Hofstra. (To make it smell worse, the George Mason Athletic Director was on the selection committee...sheesh!)
This team should be honored by Hofstra...next year is the 15 year anniversary for this special team. This was another great starting five. Each starter had at least one 25 point game. Adrian Uter was an undersized center who could run the floor well and block shots.
Auremas Kieza was a stretch 4 who was 6'8" and was a fine shooter. Then there were the guards... CAA player of the year Loren Stokes is maybe my favorite Hofstra player of all time. Antoine Agudio a great shooter and Carlos Rivera was a super point guard running the show. The team shared the ball and played good "D". What a lot of fun to watch this team. The whole league with Mason, ODU and UNCW had great guards but former Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said the Hofstra guards were his personal favorite. This group really earned the Hofstra label "In guards we trust". Tom Pecora's greatest coaching time. Bring this team back for homecoming and promote their halftime appearance and I think the Mack would be jammed to the rafters.
If not already inducted in the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame boy are they overdue. Their story of excellence and their unfair exclusion from the NCAA brought great attention to the program. Anybody else share my sentiments?

[Jojogunne]

While I applaud everything that this year's team achieved (and am saddened that they never got to show what they could have done in the postseason), I would have to say that Roger Gaeckler's NCAA teams (1976 and 1977) and Jay Wright's NCAA teams (2000 and 2001) were both better than this year's team. Both of those teams made back-to-back appearances in the NCAAT, had better frontcourts, and were led by first-round NBA picks (Rich Laurel and Speedy Claxton).

BTW, if you want to see an impressive coaching CV, check this out:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... ght-1.html

[cactus]

The 2005-06 team was the best team I've seen.
2010-11 would have been better if Pecora didn't leave.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[Wags]

The shaft that the 2006 team got was terrible. For those of you who are too young, the CAA semifinal playoff game with George Mason was over and the Mason guard Tony Skinn punches Player of the Year Loren Stokes in the groin with maybe 6 seconds left In the game and really hurts him.
Hofstra loses to UNCW in the final and despite 2 wins over George Mason, the NCAA gives Mason an at large bid to the NCAA and ignores Hofstra. (To make it smell worse, the George Mason Athletic Director was on the selection committee...sheesh!)
This team should be honored by Hofstra...next year is the 15 year anniversary for this special team. This was another great starting five. Each starter had at least one 25 point game. Adrian Uter was an undersized center who could run the floor well and block shots.
Auremas Kieza was a stretch 4 who was 6'8" and was a fine shooter. Then there were the guards... CAA player of the year Loren Stokes is maybe my favorite Hofstra player of all time. Antoine Agudio a great shooter and Carlos Rivera was a super point guard running the show. The team shared the ball and played good "D". What a lot of fun to watch this team. The whole league with Mason, ODU and UNCW had great guards but former Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said the Hofstra guards were his personal favorite. This group really earned the Hofstra label "In guards we trust". Tom Pecora's greatest coaching time. Bring this team back for homecoming and promote their halftime appearance and I think the Mack would be jammed to the rafters.
If not already inducted in the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame boy are they overdue. Their story of excellence and their unfair exclusion from the NCAA brought great attention to the program. Anybody else share my sentiments?

Absolutely share it, Captain. Loved that team. Rivera also played all 120 minutes of Hofstra's three games in that CAA tournament without a single turnover!
To this day, I still tell people that Stokes should be considered up there with Speedy, Charles Jenkins, JWF, etc. I think people see him as a notch below that, but I don't. He was great (except as a foul shooter - he struggled there).

Also, I thought Mason and Hofstra both deserved a bid. If it came down to one or the other, Hofstra deserved it, having beaten Mason twice in 11 days, with the second time in that CAA semifinal. I had a much bigger problem with Air Force and Utah State both receiving undeserved at-large bids with much weaker profiles than Missouri State (an even worse snub than HU, one of the worst of all-time), Hofstra and George Mason. Those three should have all been in the tournament, in that order, with Air Force and Utah State out.

[Wags]

While I applaud everything that this year's team achieved (and am saddened that they never got to show what they could have done in the postseason), I would have to say that Roger Gaeckler's NCAA teams (1976 and 1977) and Jay Wright's NCAA teams (2000 and 2001) were both better than this year's team. Both of those teams made back-to-back appearances in the NCAAT, had better frontcourts, and were led by first-round NBA picks (Rich Laurel and Speedy Claxton).

BTW, if you want to see an impressive coaching CV, check this out:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/co ... ght-1.html

Good points here, Jojo.

This is where the NCAAT could've helped separate some of this. Had the 2005-06 and this year's team had the chance to play in the NCAAT, we would've known more about this, but it's all kind of left as an unknown without those teams ever having the chance on the big stage. Otherwise, it's all subjective, and perhaps no one answer is more correct than any other - although you make good arguments. The teams in the 70s, I never saw, so I can't say. But I know their history and how good they were. I think the 2001 team might've been even stronger than the 2000 team. They lost Speedy (and so, were less talented), but they had another year of experience which maybe made them better in a "sum is greater than the parts" type of way. I think that's why we saw the 2000 team get blown out against a very good Oklahoma State team in the NCAAT, but the 2001 team with a legit chance to shock UCLA late before ultimately losing down the stretch.

Maybe they should bring back everyone they can from all of these teams one day and celebrate them all on the same day, in one big HU hoops celebration, to help HU fans forget the missed opportunity this year's team is going through now.

[Dooku25]

I think this year's team and last year's are right up there. 53 wins combined. That's a TON of W's.. This 2 year stretch is very similar to 2000 and 2001. The 01 and 20 teams were stronger teams after losing their top player the year before (Speedy, JWF). Speedy and Jay Wright were definitely the best player/coach combo we've had. But Speedy was almost a one man show. He had Stormin Norman as his sidekick with a little bit of Gittens but not much else. The following year was a more balanced team, won 26 games and had 6 point lead with 10 minutes left in the NCAA tourney against UCLA who had 4 future NBA players on its team (Watson, Barnes, Kapono and Gadzuric)

Agree with Cactus on the best team that "could have been" was the 2011 team. If Pecora had stayed another year we would have had a starting 5 of Chaz, Jenkins, Mike Moore, Kanecevic and GW. That team would have been hard to beat.

But have to agree with Captain. The best team has to 2006 and will always go down as one of the biggest at large snubs in NCAA tourney history. All 5 starters had 25 pt games as previously stated. Team beat St John's and Mason twice. Team gave Hofstra it's first postseason wins in the school's history with 2 wins in the NIT. Unfortunately Hofstra bad luck struck again having to face ODU to get to NIT final 4 at the Garden but couldn't beat them for a third time that year. However the 06 team had to have registered the highest RPI out of any Hofstra team ever.

[Wags]

I think this year's team and last year's are right up there. 53 wins combined. That's a TON of W's..

Last year's team was essentially this year's team, but with one of the great players in Hofstra history (JWF, of course), Dwyer and Kante instead of Taylor.

So, although it didn't get it done in the CAA finals, it should be right up there in Hofstra history as well - especially since it set a school record with 27 wins and had that great 16-game winning streak.

[daHUPride]

The 2005-06 team was the best team I've seen.
2010-11 would have been better if Pecora didn't leave.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I agree Cactus -

2005-06 - was the best team I saw
2010-11 - had potential to be real good if Chaz and Halil didnt leave
2015-16 - was very solid - and without a late injury to Nichols and better use of a bench (Buie and JFW)...could have did some damage
2018-19 - was a more solid team (talent-JFW and JT and bench DD and JR) then this year
2019-20 - the most special TEAM. DB was a leader like few others/ on any given night JR, TC, EP could be get us 25+/ IK imroved by every minute of every game

We've been through some tough times - but looking back we have had some really good talent come through the Mack.

[fiftiespride]

Thanks Wags for posting your fine article and all on this board for your support of alma mater and the links you provide and info on recruiting. With athletics being shut down I kind of feel like this is a good-by for a while. It was a heartbreaking end to a great season. As a student I suffered when our 1 loss was to Wagner by a point I believe. They were undefeated in our conference so we were shut out from the Div. 3 National championships which I believe we would have won. 23+1 with no place to run was the headline, I believe in 59. Very tough defensively and incredibly well coached by VBK with talents like Teddy Jackson, Brant Alyea, Bobby Stowers, Ritchie Schwarz and others with less talent but who knew their limitations and played accordingly like Steve Dunn and Steve Balber,
Turning 83 shortly with some issues I said in a thank you and congratulatory e-mail to some of the coaches and staff, that after 19 years I wasn't sure I was going to live long enough to see us dance again. Ouch.
With respect to next year we should be really solid up front with IK, KS,TC,ST,KC+DG but will need a couple of our back up guards to step up and am hopeful ZB can play a big role although Joe is reluctant to make heavy use of frosh. Go Pride.

[Wags]

Thanks Wags for posting your fine article and all on this board for your support of alma mater and the links you provide and info on recruiting. With athletics being shut down I kind of feel like this is a good-by for a while. It was a heartbreaking end to a great season. As a student I suffered when our 1 loss was to Wagner by a point I believe. They were undefeated in our conference so we were shut out from the Div. 3 National championships which I believe we would have won. 23+1 with no place to run was the headline, I believe in 59. Very tough defensively and incredibly well coached by VBK with talents like Teddy Jackson, Brant Alyea, Bobby Stowers, Ritchie Schwarz and others with less talent but who knew their limitations and played accordingly like Steve Dunn and Steve Balber,
Turning 83 shortly with some issues I said in a thank you and congratulatory e-mail to some of the coaches and staff, that after 19 years I wasn't sure I was going to live long enough to see us dance again. Ouch.
With respect to next year we should be really solid up front with IK, KS,TC,ST,KC+DG but will need a couple of our back up guards to step up and am hopeful ZB can play a big role although Joe is reluctant to make heavy use of frosh. Go Pride.

Thanks, fifties. Glad you liked it. I don't mention too much on recruiting. I generally leave that for others here, who provide good info. Hope to see you post a lot more next season after all this craziness calms down. Stay well and be safe out there! At least HU men's hoops goes out champions this year.

[HUSID74]

As a long time Hofstra guy I have been up close and involved with our basketball program since I was the SID here from 1975-80.

I must say that our TWO best teams were the first NCAA Div. One team from 75-77 with THREE NBA draft choices, Rich Laurel, John Irving and Ken Rood. I also agree with many that our 2005-06 team was right up there as well and should have gone dancing.

[EvanJ]

By the RPI, 2005-2006 was our best team in the AE or CAA. This season and 2005-2006 both rarely used the bench. There are at least three big differences. In 2005-2006, assists were balanced between guards Rivera (117), Stokes (93), and Agudio (90), whereas Buie had more assists than our next five highest players combined. We had a horrible .648 free throw percentage then and shot free throws .783 this season. We blocked 4.6 shots per game in 2005-2006 and 2.1 this season.

[triplec2195]

I go back to HUSID days and we both saw the two years that HU went to the NCAA tourney with Gaeckler at the helm. I saw both those teams play the NCAA games and the UCONN game particularly painful a game we should have won. The Notre Dame game a bit more challenging and if Irving didn't foul out in that game well who knows these teams are up there if not the best teams ever in HU history. Its an argument that everyone could make a case for. My memory which may or may not be accurate had HU ranked in the the 20's. The RPI probably not in force then but with Laurel one of the top scorers in the country over 30 a game and Irving one of the leading rebounders then you throw in Tomlin, Rood and Kammerer. These were very good teams but don't know how that translates to current times with kids stronger and quite possibly more athletic certainly the technology now is light years ahead. Maybe the current kids were better if we could have a virtual reality game we could find this out now that would be awesome.

[Jojogunne]

I was there, too, for the UConn and ND games. What I remember most is when the teams in Providence were introduced. Those of us in the Hofstra corner of the arena (I think there were 250) screamed our heads off when Hofstra came on to the floor. But when the Huskies were introduced, everybody else in the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin' Donuts Civic Center) stood up and cheered even louder. Talk about David and Goliath! We were up by 15 or 16 points at the half, and should have won, but couldn't keep the lead.

[triplec2195]

I was there, too, for the UConn and ND games. What I remember most is when the teams in Providence were introduced. Those of us in the Hofstra corner of the arena (I think there were 250) screamed our heads off when Hofstra came on to the floor. But when the Huskies were introduced, everybody else in the Providence Civic Center (now the Dunkin' Donuts Civic Center) stood up and cheered even louder. Talk about David and Goliath! We were up by 15 or 16 points at the half, and should have won, but couldn't keep the lead.

Quite a few of us had the pleasure to see these teams in action. I did a bit more traveling back then to see away games then now. Just like watching JWF was always pretty exciting it was awesome watching Rich Laurel do his thing and Ken Rood had that high arcing shot a bit like Buie's but no three pointers back then. An entirely different era of basketball.

[Mikey77]

This morning ESPN has the results for projected first round games of this years NCAA tourney. They have Hofstra upsetting 'Nova in the first round. I'll take it. Put it in the books as some local broadcaster is known to say.