Mens basketball 2023-24

[triplec2195]

Time and time again mid majors have proven they can play with the big boys so why don't mid major schools create a fund to pay for a large mid major ONLY tournament for those schools that don't qualify for the NCAA tournament. I'm not suggesting another CBI BUT MAYBE SCHOOLS THAT would otherwise qualify for the NIT and just schools that have had a strong year. Is this a fanciful idea??

[mikey75]

Verbal Commits is reporting Joshua DeCady a 6'8" power forward from Queens has committed to Hofstra. Seems like he's gotten about 20 or so mid-major offers thus far.

[triplec2195]

I posted this under 2023-24 men's basketball recruits didn't know it was posted here but good find regardless.

[The Shadow]

According to ESPN, the 2024 NIT will no longer guarantee a NIT spot for regular season conference champions which are defeated in their conference championships. This will definitely affect the CAA, HU, and the other mid-major conferences.

[Polito]

This is awful news on the NIT change - literally just sniped out mid major bids specifically. Targeted attack. Disgusting. Really sucks.

I’ve been preaching it like a broken record, but unfortunately now more than ever it’s NCAA or bust. We need Speedy to be the man who turn this program into a dancing dynasty.

PS I see Wilmoth finally has his pic on the roster site, feels like good news.

Won’t be easy, but it’s doable.

[mikey75]

On the change to NIT selection, I think many mid-majors need to start thinking about dumping the NCAA. Its an organization rigged to make money for certain select schools as well as the principals of the NCAA. That's it. The kids are to be watched and sometimes treated as suspects and the sports themselves are secondary to the NCAA's mission - make as much money as it can. When the American philosopher Eric Hoffer said "every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket," he must have had the NCAA in mind. Anyway that shoe fits.

[stuball888]

I said this a while ago and I still see it happening. Eventually the NCAA tournament will expand to 96 teams. All of these teams will be from power five conferences.
The NIT will eventually be relegated to mid majors only they will be no mid majors in the NCAA tournament
It’s all about the NCAA making money

[triplec2195]

How sad is this indictment on mid major schools who IMO add a lot of excitement in the form of Cinderella scenarios in the NCAA Tourney and prove they belong.

[HUSID80]

The NCAA will kill the Golden Goose (NCAA Tournament) in its effort to curry favor with the Power 5...it won't happen so the NCAA loses, the Tournament will be done and mid-majors will need to find their own way...a real shame.

The Power 5 should just split with the NCAA...

[Cards]

HU typically plays a few preseason "secret scrimmages". Anyone heard anything?? Who have we played or how they went??

[triplec2195]

This question has been asked and NOT ANSWERED! I asked it on twitter and got no response. A real shocker!!

[Polito]

Yes, need a secret insider to give us some juice!! I sure would like to know how healthy we are ... every interview Speedy seems to hint at injuries, is this team going to be ready to start the year, or will they be a work in progress to get up to full roster??

Anticipation is building...

It just hit me yesterday that the last two games of the season are on the road at UNCW and CofC. That's one tough ending - they are definitely going to need the battle-testing of the OOC to be primed for that conference finish. Very likely the regular season champion will be decided over those 2 games one way or another.

This will be a very interesting season - extremely tough schedule all-around, replacing a 2-time POY, replacing the entire frontcourt, and navigating a leading CofC and rising UNCW. Conf stinks overall, but that top heavy aspect won't be easy - tough position to be in for year 3 when expections are and should be high.

Might be some tough sledding at times, saying that to remind myself lol, but I believe they'll be a hardened team when it's all said and done. *IF* this group can find their way and manage to get the job done this year, that will be one heck of a feather in the cap, and they could be extremely dangerous in the postseason - win this year and that could shape up to be one of the better accomplishments in program history.

They'll have a chance to do something special this season... even though it's dance or bust, taking into account all factors, dance or not next year could be even better with this senior core.

[HofstraMathew]

Hopefully we will get some answers at the season ticket holder Q&A on Thursday.

[Wags]

Well the pressure on Hofstra to win the conference tourney just increased even more.... NIT instituting a HORRIBLE rule change for this season and no longer giving automatic bids to regular season conference champs. Instead the 2 highest ranked NET teams from the power conferences that don't make the tourney get autobids, regardless of the records. Just absolutely screwing over the mid majors, hofstra likely wouldn't have gotten in under this criteria last season


https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-me ... ntal-rules

Any college basketball fan (forget being an HU fan specifically, but simply as a fan of the sport), maybe even Rutgers fans (aside from the final outcome) would have enjoyed Hofstra's win at Rutgers last year. It's a shame that because of money, the opportunities for teams in the situation Hofstra was in last year and the chances to have NIT games like HU's win at RU last will now decrease.

[Wags]

I said this a while ago and I still see it happening. Eventually the NCAA tournament will expand to 96 teams. All of these teams will be from power five conferences.
The NIT will eventually be relegated to mid majors only they will be no mid majors in the NCAA tournament
It’s all about the NCAA making money

Expansion to 96 feels inevitable, although I hope not. However, I don't see them discarding mids from the NCAAT. Big school names work best monetarily for Final Fours, maybe even for Elite 8s and Sweet 16s, but what still makes the most money, what is still the biggest allure and what they build their brand on every march are when lower seeds shock top seeds. Without that, they're no longer selling March Madness. They'll mess with that for the NIT because that's different. They need better known schools to make money there. But they will always need Cinderellas to pull off major early-round upsets and make deep runs to keep the NCAAT as exciting, interesting, and as profitable as it's always been.

[mikey75]

Don't count on that Wags. To the NCAA greed is good and they frankly couldn't give a hoot about the St. Peter's and FAU's making deep runs.

[triplec2195]

Article from the Daily Dose of hoops. I hope we don't put all our hopes in just Tyler Thomas. https://dalydoseofhoops.blogspot.com/20 ... -this.html

[Polito]

Nice article... I didn't get that impression tc, feels like all involved are approaching as a full team effort. They are going to need every impact player to play a bigger role.


As far as the NCAA and the NIT, I am in the camp that the NCAA will expand and keep a light level of mids involved. March Madness and Cinderella's are synonymous - I think that's good for biz and it stays intact for the time being. I do think the P5 / eventual P2 or P3 will break away from football-only and form their own entity for that sport. Pretty confident that's what they want to do at least. We'll see...

On the other hand, I don't see the NIT allowing themselves to be 'relegated' to mids only. Why on earth would they do that? There's no money in it. It is more likely they will be the one to go all bigs because they are in a weaker position and could feel they need to shift in order to maintain or gain financial market share.

And that would be really crappy - but from a business perspective I understand the thought if that's what this latest change is about. It just means that my incessant calls for this program to elevate and become a more consistent NCAA player stand truer than ever. All college programs, esp mids, are being put into position to go on full survival mode. I love business and making money as much as most, but man the greed in college athletics is on track to ruin it all sadly...

Side note, I fully agree the NIT should always be at MSG! Just where it belongs!

[triplec2195]

I'm concerned with all the attention being placed on Thomas that if he gets shut down that we won't have enough offensive output from this team. Of course that remains to be seen but the writing is on the wall for both Carlos and D Stone to up their offensive output. We probably will pick up substantial more scoring from the post with Fritz and Sunday but we don't know what we have with Wilmoth.

[Wags]

Don't count on that Wags. To the NCAA greed is good and they frankly couldn't give a hoot about the St. Peter's and FAU's making deep runs.

Without those runs, they are no longer selling March Madness, just... March. They don't want those teams in the Elite 8 or Final Four, but they cannot market the tournament the same way, and interest and ratings would plummet if the only teams that make surprising deep runs are 10th-seeded Syracuse or 11th-seeded UCLA. It's a mix. They want the shockers from mids early on and then the big names later in the tournament. That's always been their formula and they know it has worked well for decades.