MBB Game 27 Sat, Feb 15 @Hampton 2 PM

[Wags]

0-3 in the black uniforms. Karma. Get rid of those and go back to the nice road blues they used to have with yellow in them, and the usually nice white and yellow ones for home.

[cactus]

0-3 in the black uniforms. Karma. Get rid of those and go back to the nice road blues they used to have with yellow in them, and the usually nice white and yellow ones for home.

They'd still be 0-3 unless the uniforms magically institute some more offensive sets and improve shot selection and shooting percentage

[cactus]

Such a strange season. From Sanders mysteriously disappearing from the rotation with no explanation even after we heard "he'll be fine" (although he did reappear a bit after that), to Speedy suddenly missing a game (hopefully he and his family are okay since then), to the blown leads and how everything has steadily spiraled downward to beng in 12th place with four games left after a 35-16 first half at Hampton.

NIL drastically hurt the season's prospects before it began, but then some odd things snowballed along the way and now it seems the season is doomed. They did beat UNCW and were up at Towson by 18, so who knows if that team could somehow appear and against all logic, sustain itself for four or five days in DC, but it looks more likely that as Speedy said recently, they won't win another game without finding some toughness (and at this point, even finding that may not be enough to get another win or two the rest of the way).

I'm already mentally on to next year. Assuming they return, Cruz Aranguren and Decady is a decent start. At minimum they need an Estrada-level home run transfer who can efficiently score 15+ a game to get back to being in the top 4 of the league. If some of those guys enter the portal, next year could be worse than this one.

[Wags]

0-3 in the black uniforms. Karma. Get rid of those and go back to the nice road blues they used to have with yellow in them, and the usually nice white and yellow ones for home.

They'd still be 0-3 unless the uniforms magically institute some more offensive sets and improve shot selection and shooting percentage

They certainly haven't helped. Might as well at least wear the correct colors. No need to play poorly AND look bad while doing it.

[Wags]

Such a strange season. From Sanders mysteriously disappearing from the rotation with no explanation even after we heard "he'll be fine" (although he did reappear a bit after that), to Speedy suddenly missing a game (hopefully he and his family are okay since then), to the blown leads and how everything has steadily spiraled downward to beng in 12th place with four games left after a 35-16 first half at Hampton.

NIL drastically hurt the season's prospects before it began, but then some odd things snowballed along the way and now it seems the season is doomed. They did beat UNCW and were up at Towson by 18, so who knows if that team could somehow appear and against all logic, sustain itself for four or five days in DC, but it looks more likely that as Speedy said recently, they won't win another game without finding some toughness (and at this point, even finding that may not be enough to get another win or two the rest of the way).

I'm already mentally on to next year. Assuming they return, Cruz Aranguren and Decady is a decent start. At minimum they need an Estrada-level home run transfer who can efficiently score 15+ a game to get back to being in the top 4 of the league. If some of those guys enter the portal, next year could be worse than this one.

I was on to next year three games prior. I waved the white flag at 4-7. Was still holding out hope at 4-6 that they could do something had they swept that homestand and got to 6-6, but we're long past that now. A guy like Estrada came here as a piece to try to put them over the top in the conference. That's going to be a lot tougher to acquire off of a season like this. Why would a guy like that want to come to a team that's 12th (or wherever they end up) in the CAA?

[HUSID74]

Agree with WAGS on those uniforms....horrible! Can't even see the numbers on TV. The Hampton announcers were constantly mis-identifying our players.

[stuball888]

Those black uniforms will be with us until March
So get used to them

[stuball888]

Softball has the black uniforms and I believe baseball also I wonder if the lacrosse teams will be wearing black uniforms for the rest of February

[cactus]

Such a strange season. From Sanders mysteriously disappearing from the rotation with no explanation even after we heard "he'll be fine" (although he did reappear a bit after that), to Speedy suddenly missing a game (hopefully he and his family are okay since then), to the blown leads and how everything has steadily spiraled downward to beng in 12th place with four games left after a 35-16 first half at Hampton.

NIL drastically hurt the season's prospects before it began, but then some odd things snowballed along the way and now it seems the season is doomed. They did beat UNCW and were up at Towson by 18, so who knows if that team could somehow appear and against all logic, sustain itself for four or five days in DC, but it looks more likely that as Speedy said recently, they won't win another game without finding some toughness (and at this point, even finding that may not be enough to get another win or two the rest of the way).

I'm already mentally on to next year. Assuming they return, Cruz Aranguren and Decady is a decent start. At minimum they need an Estrada-level home run transfer who can efficiently score 15+ a game to get back to being in the top 4 of the league. If some of those guys enter the portal, next year could be worse than this one.

I was on to next year three games prior. I waved the white flag at 4-7. Was still holding out hope at 4-6 that they could do something had they swept that homestand and got to 6-6, but we're long past that now. A guy like Estrada came here as a piece to try to put them over the top in the conference. That's going to be a lot tougher to acquire off of a season like this. Why would a guy like that want to come to a team that's 12th (or wherever they end up) in the CAA?

estrada was barely playing at all at oregon. lots of playing time available here next year.

recruiting is speedy's best skill. they need to identify that diamond in the rough and leverage the estrada path - not just the playing time, but the conference player of year, the 500k NIL deal, and the final four appearance off of that playing time and speedy's mentorship.

[Wags]

I'm already mentally on to next year. Assuming they return, Cruz Aranguren and Decady is a decent start. At minimum they need an Estrada-level home run transfer who can efficiently score 15+ a game to get back to being in the top 4 of the league. If some of those guys enter the portal, next year could be worse than this one.

I was on to next year three games prior. I waved the white flag at 4-7. Was still holding out hope at 4-6 that they could do something had they swept that homestand and got to 6-6, but we're long past that now. A guy like Estrada came here as a piece to try to put them over the top in the conference. That's going to be a lot tougher to acquire off of a season like this. Why would a guy like that want to come to a team that's 12th (or wherever they end up) in the CAA?

estrada was barely playing at all at oregon. lots of playing time available here next year.

recruiting is speedy's best skill. they need to identify that diamond in the rough and leverage the estrada path - not just the playing time, but the conference player of year, the 500k NIL deal, and the final four appearance off of that playing time and speedy's mentorship.

Estrada came here at a very different time. It was much easier to land someone like him at that time than it is now, with the portal blowing up a lot more (creating more alternative options for players, and for Hofstra to compete with) since then and with NIL offers from other programs that Hofstra didn't have to compete with at the level they have to compete with now. Throw in that they could possibly finish in the bottom four of the CAA and be out very quickly in the CAA tourney next month, and it's not as easy at all as saying, "Well, they landed guys like that before, so why not now?" Still possible, but much tougher now, even with the good things that you mentioned which they can leverage.

[cactus]

Yes, the landscape is certainly different, but for Hofstra, NIL or not, it has to be a guy who did very little the previous year who doesn't draw much attention from the majors but who can blossom right away.

At Oregon, Estrada played 12 minutes a game and scored 3.1 pts per. He wasn't getting a NIL deal off of that. (although in today's landscape, maybe he already has a NIL deal to go there from St. Peters)
The following year at Hofstra he won conference player of the year.

Honestly, I don't think it's that much tougher than it was before, but even before it was extremely, extremely tough. How many of those guys are even available? The portal has more and more guys every year, offset by the new disadvantages that you mentioned. But this is where Speedy needs to shine.

[The Shadow]

I recently saw an article in the NY Times that mentioned that Petino at St.John's was nor recruiting any high school players for 2025-2026. He was going to get NIL transfers to fill out the roster. It is the idea that a known 21 year old players can compete much better than an 18 year old just out of high school. Mid-majors will probably continue as the proving area for players to then get larger NIL money.

[Jojogunne]

Speaking of NIL, the scourge of college basketball, here's what the big boys are making:

https://www.on3.com/nil/rankings/player/nil-valuations/

Cooper Flagg leads the list of MBB players with a sweet $4.8 million this year. He's thinking of staying a second year at Duke.

[Wags]

Yes, the landscape is certainly different, but for Hofstra, NIL or not, it has to be a guy who did very little the previous year who doesn't draw much attention from the majors but who can blossom right away.

At Oregon, Estrada played 12 minutes a game and scored 3.1 pts per. He wasn't getting a NIL deal off of that. (although in today's landscape, maybe he already has a NIL deal to go there from St. Peters)
The following year at Hofstra he won conference player of the year.

Honestly, I don't think it's that much tougher than it was before, but even before it was extremely, extremely tough. How many of those guys are even available? The portal has more and more guys every year, offset by the new disadvantages that you mentioned. But this is where Speedy needs to shine.

If a school like Charleston sees the same potential in a player like the Estrada example (not doing much at Oregon before shining at Hofstra), that school will simply outbid Hofstra with NIL money and grab him first. Maybe it won't be a lot of money but it could be enough to keep Hofstra from getting him. That wasn't an issue at the time Estrada left Oregon. back then, Speedy was able leverage other things to get him. But without the NIL dollars that competing schools have, it's naturally going to be more difficult for Speedy going forward to leverage the same types of things as he did to get someone like Estrada.

[dutchPride86]

Yes, the landscape is certainly different, but for Hofstra, NIL or not, it has to be a guy who did very little the previous year who doesn't draw much attention from the majors but who can blossom right away.

At Oregon, Estrada played 12 minutes a game and scored 3.1 pts per. He wasn't getting a NIL deal off of that. (although in today's landscape, maybe he already has a NIL deal to go there from St. Peters)
The following year at Hofstra he won conference player of the year.

Honestly, I don't think it's that much tougher than it was before, but even before it was extremely, extremely tough. How many of those guys are even available? The portal has more and more guys every year, offset by the new disadvantages that you mentioned. But this is where Speedy needs to shine.

If a school like Charleston sees the same potential in a player like the Estrada example (not doing much at Oregon before shining at Hofstra), that school will simply outbid Hofstra with NIL money and grab him first. Maybe it won't be a lot of money but it could be enough to keep Hofstra from getting him. That wasn't an issue at the time Estrada left Oregon. back then, Speedy was able leverage other things to get him. But without the NIL dollars that competing schools have, it's naturally going to be more difficult for Speedy going forward to leverage the same types of things as he did to get someone like Estrada.

Hofstra couldn't afford to retain Dubar and Carlos, Charleston was able to keep Brzovic despite a coaching change. That's the $$ disparity right there

[Wags]

Yes, the landscape is certainly different, but for Hofstra, NIL or not, it has to be a guy who did very little the previous year who doesn't draw much attention from the majors but who can blossom right away.

At Oregon, Estrada played 12 minutes a game and scored 3.1 pts per. He wasn't getting a NIL deal off of that. (although in today's landscape, maybe he already has a NIL deal to go there from St. Peters)
The following year at Hofstra he won conference player of the year.

Honestly, I don't think it's that much tougher than it was before, but even before it was extremely, extremely tough. How many of those guys are even available? The portal has more and more guys every year, offset by the new disadvantages that you mentioned. But this is where Speedy needs to shine.

If a school like Charleston sees the same potential in a player like the Estrada example (not doing much at Oregon before shining at Hofstra), that school will simply outbid Hofstra with NIL money and grab him first. Maybe it won't be a lot of money but it could be enough to keep Hofstra from getting him. That wasn't an issue at the time Estrada left Oregon. back then, Speedy was able leverage other things to get him. But without the NIL dollars that competing schools have, it's naturally going to be more difficult for Speedy going forward to leverage the same types of things as he did to get someone like Estrada.

Hofstra couldn't afford to retain Dubar and Carlos, Charleston was able to keep Brzovic despite a coaching change. That's the $$ disparity right there

Exactly, and that too. So not only that it'll be tougher to land the Estradas in this landscape vs. before but also simply keeping what you have vs. your conference rivals' ability to do the same. And then there's the added possibility that some who could've otherwise further developed (like Farmer) goes elsewhere to further develop (like Amar'e Marshall). So, it's tough for them unless they somehow get some impactful NIL money.

[cactus]

I am not discounting that the whole NIL thing is a disaster for Hofstra. But Estrada wasn't getting appreciable NIL money off what he did at Oregon. That's the pool they need to swim in. The NIL money at the next stop (following the Estrada path) is the sell. Yes, there wasn't NIL deals being made when they got Estrada, but they didn't have that path to sell, either. Charleston might have way more NIL money to hand out but they don't have a guy that went there and blossomed and later got 500K, a final four appearance, and is now with an NBA org. They brought in Jaquan Sanders in from Seton Hall this year, really nice shooting percentages in his 10 minutes a game - much better than what Estrada had at Oregon...Pac 12 and Big East not that dissimilar...just wasn't the right guy. Cruz Davis too from the Big East, who was impressive as a freshman 2 years ago, and hopefully will return. There will be like 2000 players in the portal. Extremely difficult but not impossible to find a diamond in the rough. Speedy had great foresight to push Estrada to Alabama, for that reason and that reason only.

[triplec2195]

Just like was emphasized in the Pride Lounge before the NC game by Colin Curtin when somebody asked what recruits have we signed for next season. I'm sure in a private setting Colin would have had some choice words replying to this question but in the lounge said sarcastically that we just signed 5 5 STAR recruits. Then kind of paused and said in the first instance our major goal is to "re-recruit" the players we now have. We have to hold on to as many players as possible. So does that mean EVERYONE?? Clearly the writing is on the wall.

As for the conversation regarding $$$$ recently we were in the paper as the wealthiest school on LONG ISLAND in terms of our endowment value somewhere near 900 MIL. Stony Brook was second hundreds of millions behind us. Now I realize that this money is earmarked for education and rightfully so since we're an academic institution but IDK why some trickling of this money can't find its way to support the sports programs here. Am I being fanciful here or is there some possibility of this money finding its way to our sports programs??

[Mikey77]

With respect to Stony Brook's endowment, state schools often have comparatively small endowments as they have state backing.

[stuball888]

Yes 90% of their athletic budget comes from State funding
Apples and Oranges