NCAA Tournament Thread

[HUSID74]

Great Newsday story on Preston and his family:
https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... m_term=sub

As predicted Newsday is jumping on the bandwagon!

[triplec2195]

Great Newsday story on Preston and his family:
https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... m_term=sub

As predicted Newsday is jumping on the bandwagon!

Great great article thanks for posting it!!

[Jojogunne]

Tom Rock is one of Newsday's best writers. He used to cover us a few years back.

Even though this article is dated March 14, it's not in today's newspaper. I think it's probably part of tomorrow's sports section -- maybe even the cover story.

[HUSID74]

Tom Rock is one of Newsday's best writers. He used to cover us a few years back.

Even though this article is dated March 14, it's not in today's newspaper. I think it's probably part of tomorrow's sports section -- maybe even the cover story.

Probably, it was posted on their sports enewsletter.

[dutchPride86]

Great Newsday story on Preston and his family:
https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... m_term=sub

As predicted Newsday is jumping on the bandwagon!

Thanks for posting a link of the article that wasnt paywalled! Couldn't read it when it came across my timeline this morning.

Whether we get 1-3 more years or just 1-3 more games of Edmead, I'm super grateful to have had the chance to watch him. He'll always have a fan here and a special place in Hofstra history

[dutchPride86]

I think our 13 seed is still safe, but a few bid stealers hanging around that could make it dicey. Wild ending in the A10 with Dayton this afternoon, if they win tomorrow and A10 gets 3 teams that might drop us a spot, though I guess Dayton maybe would just take the place of another 11 seed.

We could also use an assist from our friends at Penn. If they can upset Yale in the Ivy title game tomorrow that would remove a team from the 12 line in a 1-bid league and push us up. We also want to root for Toledo in the MAC title game tonight. If they beat Akron that should also help our seeding

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

I think we are a SOLID 13. To move up to a a 12 we need ALL 3 of the following teams to lose their conference finals: Utah Valley, Yale, Akron.

[JoeyBagODonuts1]

The latest ESPN bracketology has us playing Alabama. Who would Aaron Estrada root for?

[EvanJ]

I think we are a SOLID 13. To move up to a a 12 we need ALL 3 of the following teams to lose their conference finals: Utah Valley, Yale, Akron.

https://www.bracketmatrix.com/ has 132 brackets. We are third among 13 seeds with an average seed of 13.02. Toledo leads Akron 48-38. I wonder if it would be the first time that two teams went undefeated in their conference except for playing each other, but neither of them won the conference tournament. Utah Valley starts at 11:59 P.M. They announce 11:59 P.M. instead of 12:00 A.M. so that it can be listed as the last game of a day rather than the next morning, and it is at least one hour before midnight at every WAC team. Yale plays Penn tomorrow at 12:00 P.M., and Yale is favored by 9.5.

[Wags]

The latest ESPN bracketology has us playing Alabama. Who would Aaron Estrada root for?

Ha, tough one! Would love to ask him.

They now have it as (4) Gonzaga vs. (13) Hofstra in Portland... which would be an ironic start for Hofstra's 27-year Gonzaga-like run to come.

[Wags]

Kind of an aside:

Miami (Ohio) won all 31 of its games during the regular season and was projected as an 11 seed in the NCAAT. But today, the RedHawks lost in the Mid-American Conference tournament by 4 points to UMass and now face possible elimination from the Big Dance:

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-me ... rterfinals

With $2 million per game at stake, do you think the NCAA Selection Committee will award one of its precious 37 at-large slots to a mid-major program that has achieved what very few schools have accomplished? Or will the committee go strictly by the numbers and award the spot to yet another team from one of the power conferences?

This is a huge decision for the NCAAT, almost like a Supreme Court decision for March Madness, LOL. It would set a terrible precedent for the future if Miami (OH) is denied a bid tomorrow. It seems like they'll get an 11 seed, and I hope solidly in at 11, not a First Four game.

[Wags]

Great Newsday story on Preston and his family:
https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/ ... m_term=sub

As predicted Newsday is jumping on the bandwagon!

Thanks for posting a link of the article that wasnt paywalled! Couldn't read it when it came across my timeline this morning.

Whether we get 1-3 more years or just 1-3 more games of Edmead, I'm super grateful to have had the chance to watch him. He'll always have a fan here and a special place in Hofstra history

Really hope he'll stay, but let's enjoy the ride for now. Edmead is SO easy to root for though. It's been a joy to follow him this season.
And yes, thanks very much, HUSID, for posting this without the paywall!

It's been so much fun but really, unsurprising. When things about what he did in Massachusetts were posted, and the video clips were posted of him here in the offseason, I think we all knew we were getting a great one, fully capable of being the CAA ROY. Maybe the only part that was actually surprising was in the last two games of the CAA tournament - when you'd expect Davis to be THE guy - he struggled (even though he made the All-tourney team), and it was Edmead, the rookie, who stepped up and delivered the title with the way he played in the semis and championship game. Actually, that and one more surprising thing - his lack of turnovers. I remember noting about midway through the season - wow, he's a freshman playing all these minutes and he really keeps his TOs low. Sure enough, none in 45 min. in the semis vs. Towson and only four in 115 min. in the tourney. His poise has been amazing.

I love these parts of the article...

This one:

Hofstra tries to find recruits who fill what they call “The Three C’s” — character, competitiveness and commitment — but this particular point guard had added a fourth one.

“He’s not just committed, he’s compelled,” DePaoli said.

And this:

“I was a little bit of an over-the-top father with my older son in terms of basketball,” John said. “Very in-your-face, very forceful. But not so much with Preston. I mean, there is a 10-year difference. I wasn’t really like that at all. And Preston would look at me and say: ‘Cmon, you’re not going to yell at me?’

“What my oldest son probably couldn’t stand about me, Preston wanted all of that. He just loved what he saw and he wanted all of it, even the stuff you would think kids wouldn’t want. It was almost strange.”

He’s still like that. He wants to be coached. He wants to be criticized. He wants to work and be better.

[EvanJ]

Akron made a three with 6 seconds left to defeat Toledo 79-76 and make it harder for us to get a 12 seed.

[Wags]

Akron made a three with 6 seconds left to defeat Toledo 79-76 and make it harder for us to get a 12 seed.

Holy Toledo! Darn, they were down 12 at the half.

[Wags]

https://x.com/TomRock_Newsday/status/20 ... 1963567343

[HUSID74]

As of this morning Lunardi has us playing against Gonzaga in Portland...HORRIBLE!

[triplec2195]

https://x.com/TomRock_Newsday/status/20 ... 1963567343

Incredible video of 8th grader Preston showing him honing his skills that we now see on full display!! Awesome footage and how well he played back then against older kids.

[The Shadow]

How about this one, USA Today has #13 HU versus #4 St.John's in Philadelphia. The winner plays the victor of #12 Akron versus #5 Alabama.

[EvanJ]

Akron won 19 of their last 20 games, which is tied for the most wins of any team in their last 20 games. Their only loss during that time was at Troy, who won the Sun Belt regular season and tournament. I wonder how many times two teams from the same conference made the NCAA Tournament with at least 19 wins in their last 20 games, and if a mid-major conference has ever done that.

A 13 seed would tie 2000-2001 for our best seed in a tournament with at least 64 teams. The tournaments we were in in the 1970s had 32 teams.

[Wags]

As of this morning Lunardi has us playing against Gonzaga in Portland...HORRIBLE!

Lunardi now has it as (4) Vanderbilt vs. (13) Hofstra in Tampa.