MBB Game 10 @Pitt, Dec. 7 (Sun) 4 PM

[dutchPride86]

Towson trailed by 20 at halftime and lost 86-61 at Central Florida, so they did 21 points worse than we did there.

It's always difficult to read too much into these things, but it's possible that this comparison may be at least one good sign for Hofstra's chances in the CAA this year.

Agreed. For now I'd still put Towson and UNCW into their own tier 1. But we've clearly moved into a solid tier 2 contender for a top 4 spot along with William and Mary and Charleston (injury woes have knocked them out of tier 1); and maybe an Elon/Monmouth/Campbell type emerges as well

[EvanJ]

One of the people in the studio at halftime was Luke Hancock, who you might remember for playing for George Mason in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, which were Charles Jenkins' last two seasons. I knew Hancock transferred, but I did not remember where. Since he was on ACC Network, I assumed that he transferred to the ACC, but I was wrong. After a redshirt season that transfers used to have to have, he played for Louisville for two seasons, which were their last in the Big East, and their only season in the American Athletic before they joined the ACC.

Not only was he on Louisvile, he was the 2013 Final Most Outstanding Player for them and the first non-starter to win the award. He started a trend of sorts. Three other reserves after him won the MOP - Villanova's Donte DiVincenzo (2018), Virginia's Kyle Guy (2019), and Baylor's Jared Butler (2021).

I remember DiVincenzo from when we lost to Villanova 95-71 at Nassau Coliseum, and we had a higher field goal percentage in a loss by 24. I remember Guy because I picked Virginia to win the NCAA Tournament (for the second consecutive season and the previous time they became the first 1 to lose to a 16), they did, I went to see Florida State (who I like and had never seen in person in any sport) blow out Murray State in Ja Morant's last NCAA game, I got 15 of 16 Second Round games correct, my bracket was in ESPN's 96.5th percentile, and I won money.

Here are the Analytics leaders. In efficiency, Brandin Cummings led with 35, Davis was second with 31, and Barry Dunning Jr. was third with 18. In game score, Cummings led with 29.4, Davis was second with 26.7, and Dunning Jr. was third with 12.2. In net points (which is negative for all players combined), Cummings led with 20.6, Davis was second with 11.9, and Sunday was third with 4.9. Plotnikov was third on us in efficiency and game score, but our worst player in net points. Cummings was Pittsburgh's only player with positive net points. Net points added up to -18.7 for us, and -23.6 for Pittsburgh, so there was not a big difference. I wonder how rare it is for a player on the winning team to score at least 34 and a player on the losing team to lead all players in efficiency, game score, and net points. Cummings had 34 points and 15 field goal attempts, which is an amazing ratio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCGhgEcO1S0 has highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UZoIbjG70 is Claxton's press conference.

https://gohofstra.com/news/2025/12/8/me ... night.aspx is our recap titled "Hofstra Takes Down Pittsburgh Behind Davis' Career Night."

https://gohofstra.com/sports/mens-baske ... core/13837 is the box score. The attendance was 4,660. Last season their average home attendance was 8,004.

https://pittsburghpanthers.com/news/202 ... -73-defeat is Pittsburgh's recap titled "Cummings Scores Career-High 34 In 80-73 Defeat." Cummings scored the second most points by a Pittsburgh player at the Petersen Events Center, and Davis scored the fourth most points by an opponent at the Petersen Events Center. Cummings broke his team's record for points by a bench player.

Pittsburgh provided a 19 page PDF at https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... 1208121732 that includex the box score for each half, play-by-play, shot locations, and statistics when a player was and was not playing. Pittsburgh scored 2.05 points per minute with Cummings on the court, and 0.89 points per minute with him on the bench. Projected to 40 minutes, they would have scored 82 points if he played the whole game, and 36 points if he never played.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/side ... 1208123016 is what Coach Jeff Capel said. He said that Pittsburgh is not good at defending the paint.

Because of our opponent, the AP wrote an article that was longer than when they have AI write or do not write about some mid-major games. It is at https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... /401817448 and titled "Davis' career-hight 36 points sends Hofstra careening past stunned Pitt 80-73." It says that we are in the "Colonial Athletic Association."

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... /401817448 has highlights.

The ACC Digital Network posts long highlights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMzRj2GUyy4 is called condensed game and lasts 9:11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipnjcDRFO8c is called highlights and lasts 5:53.

[Wags]

https://x.com/PaulBiancardi/status/1997846395928105208

[stuball888]

Who is Speedy Clayton?

[Wags]

Who is Speedy Clayton?

Ha! I didn't even catch that! My eyes instinctively read Claxton. I'm hoping that's a phone auto-correct thing. If not, that's even worse than the AP saying Hofstra still playing in the Colonial.

[ZMAN3]

Some observations having watched all the games
I don't see anything in DeCady - he's completely out of control. Really can't shoot or handle. Lots of effort.
Edmead has potential but not being able to score a FG is alarming - not much of a defender.
Plotnikov needs more shots!
Would like to see more of Roberts - needs more work on D - but I like what I saw offensively + his size
Victory up and down but yesterday his best game
Sunday is serviceable but commentator said he has good hands - laughable.
Davis has been terrific - especially yesterday - however he keeps playing like that you can kiss his you know what good bye. Capel must have been in the stands collecting $ for next year's PG - Cruz Davis. Same team colors - just a different cat

[Wags]

Plotnikov needs more shots!

Thank you! I've been saying this since two seasons ago!

Same team colors - just a different cat

Yes! Said this too! And Columbia was also lions vs. Lions.

And, good to see ya, Z. Was wondering lately when we'd see you chime in here.

[triplec2195]

Some observations having watched all the games
I don't see anything in DeCady - he's completely out of control. Really can't shoot or handle. Lots of effort.
Edmead has potential but not being able to score a FG is alarming - not much of a defender.
Plotnikov needs more shots!
Would like to see more of Roberts - needs more work on D - but I like what I saw offensively + his size
Victory up and down but yesterday his best game
Sunday is serviceable but commentator said he has good hands - laughable.
Davis has been terrific - especially yesterday - however he keeps playing like that you can kiss his you know what good bye. Capel must have been in the stands collecting $ for next year's PG - Cruz Davis. Same team colors - just a different cat

One thing for sure Z can always count on you to cloud a bit our "ROSE COLORED GLASSES". I would have agreed about DeCady but he's starting to win me over maybe more about his toughness and sheer determination than his skill level. I feel he definitely has upside. Just remember that Preston is a freshman and we'll be judging him like a seasoned vet the way he plays. JWF in his freshman and sophomore years was always knocked for his lack of D so Preston will have to work on this but 10 games in averaging 14 points and over 5 assists is nothing to sneeze at. He's way ahead of both Carlos and Buie at this stage of his college career. Really like the comment on Roberts so now hopefully he will add some well needed depth to this team and provide another source of offense. Your best comment though was the one about Sunday and his slippery hands. Recently someone told me he had "good hands" I had the same reaction after watching time and again him losing rebounds that went right thru his hands. I wonder if he could apply some kind of pine tar to his hands lol!!

A lot of people are talking already about what we can be next year with Swann coming in but like Colin Curtin once said in a Pride Lounge talk that our biggest goal in the off season is not who we're recruiting but how many of our players we can retain. Is retaining Cruz Davis even realistic in this NIL world??

[stuball888]

I say back up the Brinks truck now
We have to keep Davis by any means necessary, even if it means kidnapping him at the end of the season, throwing him in a black van, keeping him tied up and releasing him the first game next season

[cactus]

That's not the world they play in anymore. They are in the minor leagues of a feeder system.
Speedy let Estrada go to Alabama to sell the path of coming here then making a lot of money elsewhere, when Estrada wanted to stay.
If Davis goes and gets 500K somewhere else, they can sell that to keep getting the 4 star freshmen.

[Wags]

Chances are always greater in this NIL era that good players will leave schools like Hofstra, but there's a chance that Davis may just like it here and want to stay. When Aranguren left, Davis certainly could have too, since he was better, and he didn't. The money will talk, for sure (especially when he'll have even bigger production to sell, like his career-high at Pitt plus more of what's to come from him this season), but if he already stayed when he could have left once, maybe he'd do that again. Not likely, but possible.

[cactus]

It's still early in this era so less reasons to lose hope but it would be a miracle if they're able to keep everyone they want from this years team. And maybe they make a business decision and push Davis to leave like they did with Estrada. Or do the same with Preston - hey look, a freshman came here, was able to start right away, and made a boatload of money to play in front of big crowds at a p5 school by year 2.

[Cards]

Cruz is currently 10th in D1 scoring average at 21.2 ppg. If he keeps up this pace, it will be almost impossible to keep him at HU next season.
Enjoy it while it lasts!

[Wags]

It's still early in this era so less reasons to lose hope but it would be a miracle if they're able to keep everyone they want from this years team. And maybe they make a business decision and push Davis to leave like they did with Estrada. Or do the same with Preston - hey look, a freshman came here, was able to start right away, and made a boatload of money to play in front of big crowds at a p5 school by year 2.

In Estrada's case, I think Speedy was looking out for Estrada more than for Hofstra Basketball or even his own job, which is commendable. The by-product of the business decision you mention is a win-win for the departing player and for the program, but I think that by-product is secondary to Speedy (and the program) looking out for the best interests of the player they groomed. It would be that way with others like Edmead or Davis, too.

The final result is the same either way, but I think they do seem to be looking out for their players first. Doing that helps them sort of akin to how a pro team would try to trade a departing free agent to get as much value as possible rather than losing that player for little or nothing. It's obviously easier to sell to an incoming player the example of Estrada starting and starring on a Final Four Alabama team than say, Aranguren, taking a lesser role at GW than what he had at Hofstra. So, the more you can help a player who's going to leave anyway, the more it helps you. But again, they seem to look at the player's interests first, because from what we heard, Estrada wanted to stay and had to be convinced what was ultimately best for him.

[Jojogunne]

Cruz is currently 10th in D1 scoring average at 21.2 ppg. If he keeps up this pace, it will be almost impossible to keep him at HU next season.
Enjoy it while it lasts!

Pitino probably wishes he had kept Cruz.

[Wags]

Cruz is currently 10th in D1 scoring average at 21.2 ppg. If he keeps up this pace, it will be almost impossible to keep him at HU next season.
Enjoy it while it lasts!

Pitino probably wishes he had kept Cruz.

There wasn't room for him there. He wouldn't have played and had the same opportunity for him to shine.

[ZMAN3]

I thought you guys wanted to make the NCAA's -how's that gonna happen if we push our best players out the door ? We aren't that talent rich.

[dutchPride86]

Im gonna try to enjoy every moment from Cruz and not worry about it, because there is next to NO chance he stays if he keeps this up and don't want to cloud what could turn out to be a surprise enjoyable season.

And honestly if he continues to go off like he did against Pitt and wins CAA player of the year why should he stay? Kid had power 5 level talent, now starting to realize it. Get paid while you can and play somewhere that actually cares about college basketball

Maybe if Edmead keeps shooting under 40% we have a miracle prayer of retaining him. But he could easily wind up in like the a10 next year and then jump to power 5 for jr or sr year if he wants to go that route

Does the system suck and do i hate it? Absolutely. But its not changing and at least with Edmead this year, Swann coming in, and the super late signing of Victory it seems like Hofstra may be starting to come up with a viable plan to stay competitive at this level

[cactus]

I thought you guys wanted to make the NCAA's -how's that gonna happen if we push our best players out the door ? We aren't that talent rich.

always the goal each season.

but there's also a long term goal of having a pipeline of cheap talent to stay competitive year in and year out.

[Wags]

I thought you guys wanted to make the NCAA's -how's that gonna happen if we push our best players out the door ?

Of course, we all do. But we have to be realistic. That's why I mentioned the analogy of a pro team trading a free agent star for the most value that team can get back instead of losing that star for nothing or for very little. They're sort of doing the same, indirectly. In an ideal world, Hofstra pays its best players enough to stay. In the real world, they win as much as they can while they have their best players and then help move those players to the best possible situation, and use that to lure as good replacements as possible.

We aren't that talent rich.

For the CAA, they kind of have been. Seven straight top-four CAA finishes before last year and a record seven different CAA POYs winning a record nine CAA POY awards. Now they have yet another CAA POY candidate in Davis and (already) a three-time CAA ROW winner in Edmead. They've had a pipeline like no other CAA program (even if it may have been more top-heavy than other CAA champions) and with the example of Edmead and maybe finding Oneutu (jury's out, but has shown ability), they continue to bring in some good talent now to perpetuate that pipeline.