Game 2 @ Rutgers, 11/29/20, 4 PM on BTN

[Jojogunne]

Moving on to Rutgers ... looks like that game and Monday's home opener vs. FDU are part of the 2020 New Jersey Hoop Group Classic.

I wonder if the Monmouth game will be rescheduled?

[Wags]

Moving on to Rutgers ... looks like that game and Monday's home opener vs. FDU are part of the 2020 New Jersey Hoop Group Classic.

I wonder if the Monmouth game will be rescheduled?

Possible, but doubtful. This is the second pause for Monmouth due to Covid, so I'm not sure they're going to risk a third with OOC games now.

Quarantining for 14 days, Monmouth can't return to the practice court until at least Dec. 9 and then the Hawks start their MAAC schedule at Iona on 12/11 and 12/12.

It's possible they could reschedule with Hofstra, but I think once they start conference play, they will have moved on from any ideas of playing OOC games this season.

[Polito]

Do teams still have to do a 14 day quarantine, or is there a different approach in play now? Am I making this up in my head that this may change?

[Wags]

Do teams still have to do a 14 day quarantine, or is there a different approach in play now? Am I making this up in my head that this may change?

May change, but right now, they have the 14-day quarantine - Monmouth, for instance, can't practice now until Dec. 9 at the earliest. So, when a bunch of games aren't played (like the 34 canceled/postponed yesterday), that's a lot of teams that have to cancel/postpone other games and at the least, will be rusty with no practice for two weeks. It could be a mess to get through the season, and if they do, with some potentially bad basketball at times if practice time is cut short.

[Polito]

Gotcha, thanks Wags.

It will definitely be messy, no doubt, but the season is on and will continue through to an NCAAT.

[Wags]

Gotcha, thanks Wags.

It will definitely be messy, no doubt, but the season is on and will continue through to an NCAAT.

I'll always take an ugly season over no season at all!

[Cards]

Game broadcast on Big 10 Network.
For those with Optimum cable, its channel 247.
I do not subscribe to all kinds of channel packages, yet BTN is included with basic stuff I do get. So I would assume most of those using optimum will get the game.
Enjoy!

GO HU!

[triplec2195]

Game broadcast on Big 10 Network.
For those with Optimum cable, its channel 247.
I do not subscribe to all kinds of channel packages, yet BTN is included with basic stuff I do get. So I would assume most of those using optimum will get the game.
Enjoy!

GO HU!

Conversely channel 585 for those of us who have FIOS.

[CTDutch]

Ch 764 for those in CT with Spectrum

[triplec2195]

I was watching FDU playing Rutgers last night and for most of the first half I was thinking Rutgers is not that good. FDU doing a good job of hanging around a sloppy game with a lot of turnovers. FDU was actually winning the game down around near the 5 minute mark left in the half.I was thinking this is the FDU team that lost to Quinnipiac by 18 points. But as it so often happens the sleeping GIANT woke up and before you knew they had a double digit lead. They actually were up 14 points at the half. They have good physical guard play and bigs, two that are 6'11. That in and of itself is going to create big problems for us. They had 9 block shots in this game. A big physical team that are very athletic. It will be quite a challenge playing them although their starting PG is out and won't play Geo Baker but they have backups for everyone.

[Polito]

Ok, so some thoughts heading into the now first game of the year for HU:

I really wish HU would've had a chance to play Monmouth, this is a tough opener with no game under their belts. As noted Gio Baker will not play, he's out indefinitely after rolling his ankle in game 1. RU has not been challenged yet, playing 2 NEC teams so far - FDU is picked to win the NEC, and they have a nice guard and 'big', but really no match for RU.

RU is very athletic, plays very quick, runs fast, and attacks. They love to play above the rim, and can with their size. Even without Baker they have some nice depth including another Sr guard Young, a very talented 4 Harper, and a plenty serviceable 3 Mathis. I felt this would be a very difficult game for HU to win, and it still will be, but no Baker makes things more interesting.

RU is not perfect though of course, and are susceptible to a few things that I'm hopeful HU can take full advantage of, including slow starts, giving up 3's, turning the ball over, and perhaps some early season COVID impacting conditioning playing so many games in just a few days. HU may get lucky in that regard catching them still building up to this crazy year.

For HU, I know they like to run, but RU is extremely quick and can run plays before you even know what's going on, esp on the fast break. They can turn things on you in a hurry, as tc noted. With that I think HU might be best to slow this game down a bit, don't play into their hands, be more deliberate. Also need to play strong D to disrupt their flow a bit and cause some TO's. I suspect HU will want and need to drain 3's / long shots due to RU's size, so if their shots are falling HU could take advantage and jump out early and/or keep this winnable. If not, rebounding will be KEY in order to keep the ball out of RU hands and to grab those crucial second offensive chances. Wouldn't surprise me to see RU press full court often, so this team needs to be crisp with the ball.

Kante will have a big job ahead of him as he will be largely outsized - BUT I believe Kante is more skilled than their 5's, so I'm hoping to see him play sharp, with confidence, and for HU to do some work in the post. The guards can attack, RU is sometimes open to that, but they will have to go HIGH off the glass / floaters in order to navigate the shot blocking size down low. Also will be watching the 4 matchup, another big challenge, Harper vs Cramer - these 2 could prob produce a game highlight reel on their own!

This is a great test for HU, ranked local team expected to do big things this year, if HU can come out strong and keep this game close they may have a chance to 'steal' one that will look really darn good later on. But if they struggle, RU could turn this into a boat race pretty quickly. Let's see if Burgess is ready for prime time. HU will be RU's toughest opponent so far in this very early / shortened OOC, so there is a chance here, albeit a small one IMO. I don't expect a win, but pulling off a W here would be a big deal.

Very excited to have this on the BTN for all to watch, will be tuned in, win or lose, finally HU Hoops has returned!

[triplec2195]

As I look at my favorite newspaper Newsday(not) I see we are 14.5 point DOGS against Rutgers? IDK what to think about that but maybe very sobering considering they have played two games and we haven't played any and the fact that we are replacing our backcourt which produced almost 36 points a game. The 36 points only begins to tell the story of what we have lost so just sit back and be thankful we have a game and college basketball to watch once again!!

[RollPride15]

As I look at my favorite newspaper Newsday(not) I see we are 14.5 point DOGS against Rutgers? IDK what to think about that but maybe very sobering considering they have played two games and we haven't played any and the fact that we are replacing our backcourt which produced almost 36 points a game.

I believe this roster has the best potential, depth and talent of any HU team I've seen (for the next couple years as well) but losing your 5-year PG and your most reliable scoring wing are huge blows in the short term, especially with limited practice, so this skepticism is warranted. No doubt we'll see some scrambling as the team finds an identity and figures out who is going to make up that 36 point loss. I'm really curious to see PG minutes, Cramer/Green and how they fit into the offense, and if Ray or Coburn can make a senior statement. Should be fun.

[Polito]

Agree on the potential, this HU team can be extremely good in time. But they will need a couple of key guys to step up and prove their leadership and ability to take over and win games.

Not worried about the spread, that's reflective of some unknowns with HU, the lost scoring from last year, and of course how good RU is projected to be - this is a ranked team for a reason. Again no Baker will make a big impact on them, esp in B10 play, but they will still be a very formidable challenge for HU - they are extremely athletic, and remember Pikiell knows HU well so he won't be taken by surprise.

But HU has a few things going for them, RU is still a bit unpolished and dealing with being forced into a new game plan sans GB, HU has some guys un-scouted in this system that could really make a difference if they perform as they can, and Farrelly running the show which could have a few different wrinkles (although nothing vastly different). Keep this game close and anything can happen - upsets are flying right now with all the craziness.

No pressure here for HU, go out there in a tough game 1 and let's see where things stand, and win or lose the goal is to get better from this baseline.

[EvanJ]

http://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/2020 ... rs_29.html is Jerry Beach's "I'll Be Quirky: Rutgers."

http://defiantlydutch.blogspot.com/2020 ... begun.html is Jerry Beach's "It started before we knew it'd begun" about the end of last season.

https://scarletknights.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary will have statistics.

[Wags]

Game broadcast on Big 10 Network.
For those with Optimum cable, its channel 247.
I do not subscribe to all kinds of channel packages, yet BTN is included with basic stuff I do get. So I would assume most of those using optimum will get the game.
Enjoy!

GO HU!

Thank you, Cards! I was wondering! Usually, college hoops is in the lower 200s. I knew if any place would know, it would be this board. Funny, because I've watched games there before but I guess I forgot since the last eight months have seemed like eight years.

[Pride97]

Game broadcast on Big 10 Network.
For those with Optimum cable, its channel 247.
I do not subscribe to all kinds of channel packages, yet BTN is included with basic stuff I do get. So I would assume most of those using optimum will get the game.
Enjoy!

GO HU!

Thank you, Cards! I was wondering! Usually, college hoops is in the lower 200s. I knew if any place would know, it would be this board. Funny, because I've watched games there before but I guess I forgot since the last eight months have seemed like eight years.

I have basic Optimum and i don't get 247 so i guess its not all all packages. Fortunately BTN is on YOuTube TV, so that is an option.

[EvanJ]

We're one of eight teams to win at least 26 games in the last two seasons. Florida State, who I like, also did that, and they won their first ACC regular season title in 2019-2020. The only teams in the top six conferences to win at least 26 games in the last two seasons are Kansas and Florida State, albeit more teams would have done it if they completed their conference tournaments and had postseason tournaments. Utah State (a kind of mid-major in the Mountain West), Gonzaga, Vermont, Liberty, and Belmont also did that.

While we have been in the CAA, 9 of 19 CAA Tournaments were won by the team picked first in the Preseason Poll.

Jerry Beach said we went 263 consecutive days without playing, which is our longest gap since 263 days in between their loss to VCU in the CAA Semifinals (we got the 10 seed and beat 7 seed Towson and shocked 2 seed George Mason) to when we started 2002-2003 at Gonzaga. It's the latest date for our first game of a season since December 1, 1992.

It's our first game with our head coach unavailable since Butch van Breda Kolff was hospitalized in February 1994.

We won five consecutive openers before a disappointing loss hosting San Jose State to start last season.

It is the first time we opened away since 2012-2013. I wonder what the next longest streak by a CAA team is. CAA teams normally play a majority of their out of conference games away, and even more so if you take out hosting non-Division I teams.

Hofstra is 1-17 against ranked teams in the Defiantly Dutch era, which started in 1993. The only win was against George Mason in 2006 when they were Number 25 in the Coaches Poll and unranked in the AP Poll. They weren't ranked again until after they went to the Final Four.

We are 3-2 against Rutgers, and we haven't played them since we joined the CAA.

[cactus]

Ugly first half for the good guys on the offensive end. Defense not bad

[triplec2195]

Ugly first half for the good guys on the offensive end. Defense not bad

Agree no offense other then Ray 12 points