Around the CAA

[Jojogunne]

Don't look now, but Monmouth just moved into third place in the CAA standings -- ahead of us:

https://caasports.com/sports/mens-basketball

[triplec2195]

Yeah but they have to play UNCW, Charleston, Stony Brook Elon and Norteastern. While we play Hampton, Northeastern, SB and Drexel. Our schedule is obviously far easier.

[dutchPride86]

With Stony and Drexel still on our schedule (the only other 6 loss teams in the league) and playing each other tonight to boot, we will finish in the top 4 IF we win out and finish 12-6. Its that simple.

We'd also finish 3rd and avoid UNCW before the title game in that case as long as Monmouth loses once (since we have the head to head tiebreaker).

But if we lose once all bets are off. With the addition of McClain wouldn't expect Monmouth to finish any worse than 11-7 now. W&M toughest remaining game is at Campbell, they could easily win out and get to 11-7. If tonight's Drexel Stony winner also beats us, that team should be no worse than 11-7.

Basically the tldr of this post... we need to win out. Period end of story.

[triplec2195]

I would expect our toughest game to be SB and that’s at home. Like our odds!

[dutchPride86]

McClain just won player of the week. Pretty wild ncaa/court rulings just completed flipped the fortunes of two CAA teams in mid-Feb. Monmouth may very well be a legit contender now.

https://caasports.com/news/2026/2/16/ca ... -2026.aspx

[Pbdutch]

I think we can all agree that King Rice is a great coach. He knows what to do with the talent he gets. I remember it was probably 10 years ago or so when Monmouth knocked off some big names and really got screwed out of an at large bid.

We can’t take Monmouth lightly. That’s a dangerous team

[Wags]

I think we can all agree that King Rice is a great coach. He knows what to do with the talent he gets. I remember it was probably 10 years ago or so when Monmouth knocked off some big names and really got screwed out of an at large bid.

We can’t take Monmouth lightly. That’s a dangerous team

Considering Monmouth is 0-2 against Hofstra (including a 16-point home loss the second time around, after an OT game in the first meeting), but is 8-3 against the rest of the CAA, it's safe to say that Hofstra hasn't taken Monmouth lightly at all.

[Jojogunne]

FYI, Stony Brook and Drexel, our final two opponents of the regular season, face off tonight on the CBS Sports Network at 8:00.

[EvanJ]

Stony Brook won 72-69. The last six CAA games were decided by 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, and 5 points, and they were all at different times. That was the last Monday game until the CAA Semifinals.

[Jojogunne]

King Rice has a .500 career coaching record and has led his teams to the NIT twice. Maybe this will be his year to make it to the NCAAT.

[Wags]

Stony Brook won 72-69. The last six CAA games were decided by 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, and 5 points, and they were all at different times. That was the last Monday game until the CAA Semifinals.

Seawolves' win tonight drops Hofstra to 5th place for the moment. Even more reason to win out in their last four. Don't take any chances with a single slip-up, the way Monmouth and Stony Brook are battling down the stretch.

UNCW 11-2
Charleston 10-4
Monmouth 8-5
Stony Brook 8-6
---------------------
Hofstra 8-6
Drexel 7-7
William & Mary 7-7

[triplec2195]

Yeah too bad was hoping for an SB loss. Huge game against them before Drexel need to seal the deal there hoping no mishaps against Hampton or NE!

[Polito]

Monmouth has admittedly been a nice addition to the CAA in hoops I think, King has done a good job there, and they run a respectable program - not world beaters, but not bottom-feeders either - always seem to be a solid mid major.

Under no circumstances should SBU be finishing above HU in hoops in a conf we have more than a decade head start in - if Speedy can't even 'win' Long Island 5 years in, which is shockingly still in question, he should be sent packing and go head up a low level AE team to figure his life out.

These last 4 games are absolutely must wins for this program - the W is one thing, no excuses to finish this out and head into the CAAT with positive momentum.

Get it done.

[Wags]

Under no circumstances should SBU be finishing above HU in hoops in a conf we have more than a decade head start in

Funny that this is mentioned here now because when Hofstra was in the CAA for only about half as long as today, and I used to mention back then that the head starts other successful CAA programs had over Hofstra mattered a lot, it was dismissed as non-factor by some here (or maybe it was on CAAZone back then). Good to see that at least it's not only me who acknowledges that conference head starts over newer conference rivals actually do matter.

[The Shadow]

I am sorry to post this.....but, in this time of NIL's long time CAA membership does not matter. How many CAA players are on the 25-26 UNCW basketball roster from other CAA programs in 2024-25? Did long time CAA membership matter to those student athletes, or was it the amount of NIL payment? In men's lacrosse, does HU starting a program in 1949 matter to those players who go to programs that are not as old such as Richmond, BU, Michigan, LIU, Jacksonville, Utah, Denver, Fairfield, etc. Ask a 17 or 18 year old what a long time ago means, and I'll bet you get an answer closer to 5 years as compared to 20+. The CAA has a large recognition problem. How many New York residents
even know what states Campbell, Elon, or Hampton are located? You have to use Flo to see a majority of CAA games instead of the much better known ESPN+. The only founding member of the 1979 ECAC South conference (what the CAA came from through many name changes) is William & Mary. Does that really matter in 2026?


.

[Pbdutch]

I agree shadow. In this day and age it’s all about NIL. However, Monmouth is no where near the brand of school Hofstra is and you can see that even over these last couple of years they’ve done pretty well. King Rice certainly knows what he’s doing and did so before the NIL was present. Again, this was at Monmouth and not a lot of people know about Monmouth. I lot more people know about Hofstra and recognize the name.

Hofstra should really get rid of the lacrosse program at this point and invest the money into basketball and literally give it everything we have. I’d like to see Hofstra get to the A10. Pipe dream I know, but I’d love to see that

[Polito]

Fully agree guys, but just a note that wasn't my point. Same page that players haven't cared about playing the CAA in really forever - it's not a major conference. Even with the VA 3 it was mid major, and always will be until it implodes one day. And absolutely NIL is the major factor today.

To clarify, my point is that HU as an athletic dept and a program has NO BUSINESS being behind SBU having been playing this CAA game much longer. Nothing to do with players, that's all on HU for falling behind / hitting a wall and stalling. HU has failed in many ways because our 'leadership' has been, and still is, very unqualified to properly manage and position the U and the AD to win in modern college athletics.

Lots of mids have navigated the sport well and had plenty of repeated success over the years. This isn't some secret miracle that only special people with CIA ties are allowed to know. It's just that HU has sucked at it. 2020 was great. Not nearly enough. Which I know many of us agree.

[Pbdutch]

Totally agree Polito. In all honesty, with the extra time Hofstra has spent being in the CAA compared to a lot of these other schools we should really be dominating another school like Stony Brook. But we aren’t…

And to your point of Hampton I totally agree on the fact that Hofstra should annihilate a team like that. I’ve said this previously, but Hofstra plays down to their opponents and when they get up big they don’t continue to get up bigger. I understand a win is a win, but I’d like to see some dominance.

I honestly can’t believe we are even in the same conference as Hampton and NC A&T and hell, even Elon. Just goes to show us all that Hofstra should have dominated or at least done something in the CAA when they had the chance so we could’ve ditched this conference. I mean really, Hampton lol. Would’ve never thought…

[HUSID74]

Ken Pom rankings, Hofstra 105, Stony Brook 214.

[triplec2195]

Ken Pom rankings, Hofstra 105, Stony Brook 214.

Need to have this converted in real time to a win on the court. A lot of numbers and predictions but the game is not played on paper. Would like a decisive win against this team.