MBB Game 21 @William & Mary, Jan 24 (Sat) 12 PM - NEW TIME

[Flying Dutchmen]

I mean it’s a lost year, decent chance our next win is Feb 19th, or later, or next year.

Cruz has played all but one minute since the Columbia game, we’re running him into the ground for what reason. Nothing this staff does with their personnel makes sense to me, I would imagine the players feel similarly.

[Pbdutch]

Here I am coming back hoping this game would go our way and of course it doesn’t.

To reiterate, I spoke to a former opponents coach who said Hofstra is in the 2ND tier of money for basketball right below UNCW and Charleston. Hofstra is spending money on our bball team and this is unacceptable. Winning the big games earlier in the year and getting in to the top 20 of mid major rankings was great and all, but what we’ve witnessed over these last couple of games is straight up embarrassing.

I love speedy and really hope he turns this around, but if this ends up being another disappointing season I think it’s time to move on.

A guy I’ve mentioned before and have in mind is Greg Marshall. That dude is a coach, has energy, can recruit, and could get us to the big dance

[Jojogunne]

Here I am coming back hoping this game would go our way and of course it doesn’t.

To reiterate, I spoke to a former opponents coach who said Hofstra is in the 2ND tier of money for basketball right below UNCW and Charleston. Hofstra is spending money on our bball team and this is unacceptable. Winning the big games earlier in the year and getting in to the top 20 of mid major rankings was great and all, but what we’ve witnessed over these last couple of games is straight up embarrassing.

I love speedy and really hope he turns this around, but if this ends up being another disappointing season I think it’s time to move on.

A guy I’ve mentioned before and have in mind is Greg Marshall. That dude is a coach, has energy, can recruit, and could get us to the big dance

Is this who you want?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/214990 ... -behavior/

[Pbdutch]

Here I am coming back hoping this game would go our way and of course it doesn’t.

To reiterate, I spoke to a former opponents coach who said Hofstra is in the 2ND tier of money for basketball right below UNCW and Charleston. Hofstra is spending money on our bball team and this is unacceptable. Winning the big games earlier in the year and getting in to the top 20 of mid major rankings was great and all, but what we’ve witnessed over these last couple of games is straight up embarrassing.

I love speedy and really hope he turns this around, but if this ends up being another disappointing season I think it’s time to move on.

A guy I’ve mentioned before and have in mind is Greg Marshall. That dude is a coach, has energy, can recruit, and could get us to the big dance

Is this who you want?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/214990 ... -behavior/

I want to win

[cactus]

Huge struggle defensively last few games.

Any kind of momentum in this one was throttled by an open 3 or a blow by for an easy layup.

And when they clamped down a bit and got some stops towards the end of this one, their offense looked like last year's team where two guys would just go back and forth trying to break their guy down, then force up a bad shot.

Super frustrating to watch rn

[dutchPride86]

One more from me today....

Guess how many times Hofstra attempted 30+ threes in a game (against D1 opponents) this season before this current 4 game losing streak?

Zero.

Guess how many times Hofstra has attempted 30+ threes in a game during this current 4 game losing streak?

All four

[Wags]

One more from me today....

Guess how many times Hofstra attempted 30+ threes in a game (against D1 opponents) this season before this current 4 game losing streak?

Zero.

Guess how many times Hofstra has attempted 30+ threes in a game during this current 4 game losing streak?

All four

Interesting, but this slump has largely been at the other end of the floor. 78 at NC A&T, 82 at W&M should get you wins.

This was similar to the Elon loss. Granted, Elon and W&M can both score, but they scored over 80 yet allowed 89 in both games. Can't win that way.

Victory with 1 PF in 27 minutes. Hopefully, he's finally learned something there.

Reaves giving them 27 min with 3 3s and six boards was surprising and nice to see, but Edmead with the 4 PF and only 1 AST not so much.

Went from 4-0 to 4-4 and are somehow still a top-four seed, although they're in a six-way tie. Typical CAA parity. Eight teams within a game of each other from spots 4-11.

Gotta get home, stop the bleeding, and get right. A win over Charleston would help a lot right now. We'll see.

[triplec2195]

Was there any talk from anywhere why Wills didn't play? Curious why Reeves getting all those minutes even though he played well.

[dutchPride86]

Was there any talk from anywhere why Wills didn't play? Curious why Reeves getting all those minutes even though he played well.

9 of the 10 guys W&M played were 6'4 or taller, so my guess Speedy felt he needed a little more size when either DeCady or Biggie went to the bench. So with German out again Reaves got the call.

At the same time, that just does not excuse not giving Wills, one of our better defensive players, any run at all. There is just no justifiable reason for Cruz to play all 40 min every single game. Especially in a game like this where you were trying to play catchup against a team that is top 5 in the entire country in pace and plays 9 guys b/w 17-26 minutes a game.

[triplec2195]

Yeah must have been I keep forgetting that Wills is listed as 6' but in reality plays bigger then his size because he has a big vertical rise.

[HUSID74]

Edmead was getting abused inside by a taller guy. If you listened to Speedy's presser he said that the big kid NEVER shot the ball like that when he was scouted...tough loss with a depleted squad...hpefully we get Plotnikov back for Charleston. Need a statement CAA win.

[dutchPride86]

Edmead was getting abused inside by a taller guy. If you listened to Speedy's presser he said that the big kid NEVER shot the ball like that when he was scouted...tough loss with a depleted squad...hpefully we get Plotnikov back for Charleston. Need a statement CAA win.

Just listened to Speedy's presser. He's delusional. Brockoff has attempted 100 threes this season, after yesterday the most of anyone on the W&M roster. Hofstra has been REPEATEDLY burned by opposing big men making 3s over the course of Speedy's tenure (remember what the Stony Brook kid (who isnt even as good as Brockoff) did to us a couple weeks ago!). And you're telling me his gameplan was whatever let the dude shoot he's not that good he'll miss eventually?! I watched like 15 min of the W&M Towson game that was on TV back in late December cause I was curious to see if W&M was actually good and knew immediately their bigs were gonna give us problems. I went back and found what I posted about them in the CAA Outlook thread on 12/29...

"W&M is blowing the doors off Towson early in the 2nd half. Been watching this game... W&M super well coached on offense. Their lack of a star almost makes them more dangerous, good cuts and ball movement and shot can come from anyone and anywhere."

Wtf is Speedy watching?! Also concerning for anyone who didn't listen to Speedy's presser, apparently Edmead is battling an injury now too that he played through yesterday.

[Pbdutch]

Dutchpride-I have doubts and have lost confidence in speedy’s coaching. Like you said, William and Mary is very well coached. I don’t think any of our opponents are saying Hofstra is a well coached team. I think they say if we can limit their one or two big time players we can easily beat them. My opinion

[Wags]

Edmead was getting abused inside by a taller guy. If you listened to Speedy's presser he said that the big kid NEVER shot the ball like that when he was scouted...tough loss with a depleted squad...hpefully we get Plotnikov back for Charleston. Need a statement CAA win.

Just listened to Speedy's presser. He's delusional. Brockoff has attempted 100 threes this season, after yesterday the most of anyone on the W&M roster. Hofstra has been REPEATEDLY burned by opposing big men making 3s over the course of Speedy's tenure (remember what the Stony Brook kid (who isnt even as good as Brockoff) did to us a couple weeks ago!). And you're telling me his gameplan was whatever let the dude shoot he's not that good he'll miss eventually?! I watched like 15 min of the W&M Towson game that was on TV back in late December cause I was curious to see if W&M was actually good and knew immediately their bigs were gonna give us problems. I went back and found what I posted about them in the CAA Outlook thread on 12/29...

"W&M is blowing the doors off Towson early in the 2nd half. Been watching this game... W&M super well coached on offense. Their lack of a star almost makes them more dangerous, good cuts and ball movement and shot can come from anyone and anywhere."

Wtf is Speedy watching?! Also concerning for anyone who didn't listen to Speedy's presser, apparently Edmead is battling an injury now too that he played through yesterday.

Speedy was actually correct to say that Brockhoff hadn't shot like that this year. He entered the game 31.7% from 3 (27/85). Not that great, and nothing close to his 53% yesterday percentage-wise. He also hadn't attempted more than seven 3s nor made more than four 3s in a game all season, and then went 8/15 from 3 yesterday.

And then Miller, 0/2 from 3 in the first half yesterday, and just 28.6% (22/77) from 3 on the season to that point, and hadn't made more than three 3s nor attempted more than seven 3s in a game all season, suddenly goes 4/6 from 3 in the second half.

So the real question is: what is it about Hofstra's defensive approach that allowed Brockhoff and Miller to see that they were both able to get off and make a lot more 3s than they normally would against anyone else W&M played this year? That's something the staff should look at in film, not only in yesterday's game but in film of other W&M games this season.

"We played the percentages" (as he chalked it up to) is not a strategy or an adjustment. When Brockhoff goes 4/8 in the first half from 3, you start guarding him more closely, you don't allow him to go an additional 4/7 from 3 in the second half. When Miller makes a couple in the second half, you get on him and make sure he shoots like he normally does from 3 or just not get so many second-half 3s off, like usual for him.

At the other end of the floor, when you rely on only three scorers in the first half in building a 15-point lead at NC A&T, and NC A&T takes that away in the second half, and suddenly the trio of Davis, Edmead, and Roberts are no longer scoring with ease, you make a counter-adjustment to NC A&T's defensive adjustment. That never happened, and it's why they went from a 53-point first-half and a 15-point lead to a 25-point second half and a one-point loss.

He's says he's not worried at all about the team if they're healthy, that when healthy, they can compete with anyone. They have shown that and that may prove to be true later when it matters most. But you still have to get there. They're not fully healthy yet and you can't go to DC as say, a 7 seed or lower, without playing consistently winning ball and building some good momentum toward that. You realistically need a top-four seed to avoid the extra day and before you're healthy, you have to start making adjustments and counter-adjustments to start winning again in the meantime. That MUST start on Thursday with a very tough test against Charleston. Appropriately, with today's weather, healthy or not, they cannot continue to let this snowball and for the losses to keep mounting.

[Polito]

Yikes. This isn’t a tough loss, it’s a bad losing streak against weak teams. Gotta call it like it is. And it may very well get worse.

This team, and coaching staff, have once again been exposed. Speedy was supposed to prove last year was a fluke… ??

As I’ve said, this is the ‘grindy’ part of the season that is not very exciting, not immediately tangible to the post-season, but is actually the very key part of the year that has a huge impact on its outcome.

Now there’s more to play, and the CAAT is all that truly matters, but that top 4 spot is huge, and Speedy hasn’t exactly shown he’s going to do anything in the conf tournament except lose it. He’s shown ZERO reason to believe. The complete aloofness, the delusion, the stubborness, the cluelessness, this staff continues to go down with the sinking ship and will still scream from the grave they were right and it was the oceans fault. This staff is always defending losing. No one has done less with more.

I really thought this staff had turned a corner - yet here we are again making loads of excuses - taking a zillion 3’s, playing poor D, and make little to no 2nd half adjustments. Blaming a new role player each game, then the schedule, then the travel, then injuries and depth, then it’s the rivals ‘superbowl’, then some dude has a rare performance, I mean enough already. Every team in America has hurdles. It’s year 5, figure it out.

I ask again like every year, when are we ‘allowed’ to actually expect this program to win and dance? Sadly everyone deep down knows HU will once again be sitting at home on their asses in March despite having talent. And yes of course the players have to perform - it's not only the coaching. Biggie and German need to make shots, Cruz and Edmead need to stop the TO's, etc. Just like the student has to study outside of class.

But see the buck stops at the top. That's how life works. The result is 100% on the staff, period. And I gotta tell ya, it’s become REALLY tiresome.

[Captain]

One thing I have noticed around the league is that coaches are using their bench more. Whether I am right or wrong about this, I believe we have seen some good minutes from Wills and Reaves. Give Cruz a blow there and there. Use Reaves and Wills and anybody else for some pressure defense.
Overplaying your top 8 has not proven to work in the 3 day tourney. Legs have vanished on these guys every year. Can't keep losing the same way.
Try some new stuff and keep the top guys as fresh as you can.
With Wills and Reaves plus the top 8, you have 2 five man rotations if you like. Worth a try?

[Captain]

Following up on this;
How about a starting lineup of Davis Wills Plotnikov when healthy, Decady and
Onuetu.
A Second team of Edmead and Roberts, Patterson, Reaves and Sunday. Bring this team on court in both halves for a decent run. Start to subtract tired leg fouls and can sustain quality defensive effort.
3 capable scoring options on both lineups. Trying to have either Edmead and Cruz in each lineup. Of course Edmead and Davis will continue to get major minutes together but get the other 2 (reaves and Wills) used to consistent playing time now so you can count on them more in March.

[Wags]

Overplaying your top 8 has not proven to work in the 3 day tourney.

This is a myth that despite what we've actually seen, annually perpetuates on this board, I guess, because people here like to see everyone play. Or maybe it's because fantasy sports have created a lot of wanna-be GMs. Who knows?

But as one reminder, the reality was that Hofstra played 8, 7, and 8, and relied extremely little on its bench while winning the 2020 tournament:

Quarterfinals - Starters played 33, 36, 39, 28, and 39 min, and scored all 61 pts; three reserves played 7, 6, and 5 min.
Semifinals - Starters played 38, 39, 37, 28, and 40 min, and scored 73 of 75 pts; two bench players played 12 and 5 min.
Finals - Starters played 37, 40, 40, 37, and 40 min, and scored all 70 pts; one bench player played 3 min.

As another reminder, here's Delaware while winning the 2014 CAA tournament:

Quarterfinals - Starters played 24, 37, 38, 35, and 38 min, and scored 85 of 87 pts; three reserves played 7, 10, and 11 min.
Semifinals - Starters played 16, 37, 36, 38, and 38 min, scored 80 of 87 pts; eight reserves played but five were mop-up duty, three played 18, 5, and 6 min
Finals - Starters played 34, 40, 34, 40, and 40 min, and scored all 75 pts; three reserves played 6, 4, and 2 min.

It's always helpful to have a strong bench if it goes that way, but the idea that "NO team" or that at least Hofstra "can't win" a CAA tournament without a real bench is a fallacy that's already been proven twice. So, I'm not sure why we continue to perpetuate that myth year after year.

[Captain]

Hi Wags
Hofstra for many years has had a short bench and I believe often justifiably so. In all those many years with multiple players of the year how many CAA tourneys have we won?
We all know the answer.
What I am saying is this year we seem to have a few more capable players. Does Cruz Davis need to be playing 40 minutes a night fighting through double teams? I also know that Preston needs to start. The 2 five man rotations won’t happen but I do believe if we spell Preston and Cruz with the capable back ups they may play collectively better D than what we are seeing recently. Speedy might not say as often the tougher team won. We might not settle for extra threes and maybe our legs will last a bit better. I believe this team has another gear and I think the bench guys can improve the whole.

[Wags]

Hi Wags
Hofstra for many years has had a short bench and I believe often justifiably so. In all those many years with multiple players of the year how many CAA tourneys have we won?
We all know the answer.
What I am saying is this year we seem to have a few more capable players. Does Cruz Davis need to be playing 40 minutes a night fighting through double teams? I also know that Preston needs to start. The 2 five man rotations won’t happen but I do believe if we spell Preston and Cruz with the capable back ups they may play collectively better D than what we are seeing recently. Speedy might not say as often the tougher team won. We might not settle for extra threes and maybe our legs will last a bit better. I believe this team has another gear and I think the bench guys can improve the whole.

I agree with giving Davis more of a rest, and if other guys can contribute more now than they had before, great. All for it.

But let's not pretend that the biggest thing holding Hofstra back from winning titles in the past was always it's lack of depth. That had more to do with their starters not being good enough in a way that no amount of depth would've helped them. Yet, we, for whatever reason, completely dismiss the idea that a team can win the CAA tourney without a bench when it's already been done multiple times, including once by Hofstra.