Flying Dutchmen Fans

We enter the final 10 days of the regular season having to play only two more games (this one and Drexel) and both are at home. Everyone else in the CAA has to play three games. Because there are 13 teams in the league, one team gets a "bye." This is our turn.

SBU (17-11, 9-6) has a challenging three games left. The Seawolves play at Monmouth on Thursday before facing us on Saturday. They finish by hosting Towson next week.

We have to play much better than we did in our first matchup with SBU. We let three players (Goods, Pratt and Shoshkikj) score 58 points.

A victory over SBU will be our 20th of the season.

MSG2 and FloCollege will carry our game.

I'm usually not a must-win guy, but this game really feels like one we have to win. There are two clear reasons: to reach 20 wins and secure better seeding next weekend.

I add this - we need to stop our neighbors from getting the upper hand. SB has been beating us lately, and since we're playing at home and mostly healthy, we have no excuse.

It's time to get this done.

This game will be OUR Super Bowl to paraphrase Speedy. We need to put them away, period...they've been a thron in our side lately.

I would argue it's Stony Brook that actually sees this as their super bowl, with Hofstra the ones making the big deal out of the "pride of long island", taking a shot at them announcing the new logo, 516 > 631 shirts, etc.

The last few of these games, the team seemed surprised by the intensity SB came out with right from the tip. Have to be ready for it this time.

cactus wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:00 am I would argue it's Stony Brook that actually sees this as their super bowl, with Hofstra the ones making the big deal out of the "pride of long island", taking a shot at them announcing the new logo, 516 > 631 shirts, etc.

Any mention of anyone else except your own school, most of all, your Long Island rival in Stony Brook, in announcing the new logo was dumb and totally unnecessary. I have no idea how they didn't think that through and give it a second look before deciding, "Yeah, that's perfect, let's go with it."

We can disagree, but I think the t-shirt thing is totally fine and all in good fun. And I wouldn't mind seeing more of it - BUT then they have to win.

The Pride of Long Island thing is also fine IF you back that up. The problem with that is once you paint it, you're probably leaving it there for a long time, and with the ebbs and flows of rivalries over time, you look stupid for that during the times when the rivalry doesn't go your way.

Getting to 20 wins doesn't mean much of anything, especially when it would only be 18 D-I wins. Even beating Stony Brook to end their streak in the rivalry isn't all that important, though stopping that streak would be nice.

There are only two real reasons this game means a lot. In order, those are:

1) Stony Brook just happens to be right on Hofstra's heals (in 4th place, only a half-game back) for a 3 seed, with Drexel and Monmouth each 1.5 games behind Hofstra, and a game with Drexel still left to end the regular season. If they want to put themselves in the best, most realistic position to win the title in DC, TCB and finish 3rd.

2) Along the same lines, to have the best shot in DC, don't stumble late and lose any confidence. After that five-game losing streak, finish 8-1 with the only loss being a close one on the top seed's floor. Only then can you make a reasonable claim that you're legitimately in the mix with UNCW and Charleston for a tile.

Jojogunne wrote: ↑Sat Feb 21, 2026 11:45 pm We enter the final 10 days of the regular season having to play only two more games (this one and Drexel) and both are at home. Everyone else in the CAA has to play three games. Because there are 13 teams in the league, one team gets a "bye." This is our turn.

After our bye, Drexel has a bye on Saturday before playing us, and Charleston has a bye on the last gameday.

I was thinking about if beating Stony Brook clinches a double bye, and the answer is yes. If that happens and we lose to Drexel, we will have 7 losses. Drexel could have as few as 7. The winner of Stony Brook at Monmouth could have as few as 7, and the loser will have at least 8. If Monmouth beats Stony Brook, we swept them, and Monmouth and us would have splits with Drexel, so we would win a two-way or three-way tie for third. If Stony Brook beats Monmouth, Stony Brook, Drexel, and us could have a three-way tie for third with every team 1-1 against every other team. Stony Brook would win the tiebreaker with a 1-0 record against Charleston and get the 3 seed. Our 1-1 against Charleston would be better than Drexel's best win, so we would get the 4.

Wags wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:54 pm We can disagree, but I think the t-shirt thing is totally fine and all in good fun. And I wouldn't mind seeing more of it - BUT then they have to win.

Does Stony Brook also do 631 > 516 shirts or something similar? Then it would be all in good fun. Their fans are aware of the shirts and whatever else Hofstra does. Seems very one sided to me, but maybe they are doing this kind of stuff too, and I'm just not aware of it.

cactus wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 10:05 pm

Wags wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 12:54 pm We can disagree, but I think the t-shirt thing is totally fine and all in good fun. And I wouldn't mind seeing more of it - BUT then they have to win.

Does Stony Brook also do 631 > 516 shirts or something similar? Then it would be all in good fun. Their fans are aware of the shirts and whatever else Hofstra does. Seems very one sided to me, but maybe they are doing this kind of stuff too, and I'm just not aware of it.

I'm not aware of what Stony Brook may or may not be doing with those types of things. If they do something similar, then it's definitely fine for Hofstra to do it. But even if not, I still it's fine with the 516 > 631 t-shirts. That's really small stuff. I would bet other, much bigger rivalries (Duke-UNC, etc.,) have stuff like that which pokes fun at the opposing rival way more than that.

Huge game guys. Has a SBU - Hofstra MBB ever had such massive implications?

Can't wait.

(and before I get banned. I'm a graduate of both schools - Stony Brook UG, Hofstra MBA. I come in peace. lol)

ecasadoSBU wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:38 pm Huge game guys. Has a SBU - Hofstra MBB ever had such massive implications?

Welcome!

Well, yes. The biggest one was SBU beating Hofstra in the CAA semis two years ago. But this will probably their biggest regular season meeting.

ecasadoSBU wrote: ↑Sun Feb 22, 2026 11:38 pm (and before I get banned. I'm a graduate of both schools - Stony Brook UG, Hofstra MBA. I come in peace. lol)

Ha, you wouldn't be, and we welcome you in peace.

Welcome ecasadoSBU, good to have you come through - you're not gonna be banned for that whatsoever lol - shoot even I haven't been banned yet, and that's saying something you're in good hands here, and we'll take some fun banter, this is the place for true HU passion - stick around

I dig the things HU does to try and make this a real rivalry - it should be - I think SBU and HU should do more to promote it - good to have some bad blood with someone, that's how it's supposed to be in sports - LI needs a lot more college sports passion, so I think it's all good

The problem for HU is they've tried to make themselves sound like the clear winner and then Speedy (or ST or whoever) goes out and choke multiple times and we look like doofuses. And then he's out there trying to downplay it - it's so stupid - we should be UP-PLAYING it, we should be making this a big deal - we have ZERO rivals in the CAA, or anywhere else, it's the only one that makes any sense for the time being.


This is absolutely a must-win for HU, not up for debate - I don"t care whether it's mathematically a must, this is a must-win for reasons outside of math. And just squeaking by won't cut it. This needs to be a statement game from Speedy and the team. No excuses. Payback time. Get it done.

Polito wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 12:25 pm Welcome ecasadoSBU, good to have you come through - you're not gonna be banned for that whatsoever lol - shoot even I haven't been banned yet, and that's saying something you're in good hands here, and we'll take some fun banter, this is the place for true HU passion - stick around

I dig the things HU does to try and make this a real rivalry - it should be - I think SBU and HU should do more to promote it - good to have some bad blood with someone, that's how it's supposed to be in sports - LI needs a lot more college sports passion, so I think it's all good

The problem for HU is they've tried to make themselves sound like the clear winner and then Speedy (or ST or whoever) goes out and choke multiple times and we look like doofuses. And then he's out there trying to downplay it - it's so stupid - we should be UP-PLAYING it, we should be making this a big deal - we have ZERO rivals in the CAA, or anywhere else, it's the only one that makes any sense for the time being.


This is absolutely a must-win for HU, not up for debate - I don"t care whether it's mathematically a must, this is a must-win for reasons outside of math. And just squeaking by won't cut it. This needs to be a statement game from Speedy and the team. No excuses. Payback time. Get it done.

I always thought that Hofstra was a more natural long-term rival for Stony Brook than UAlbany. The geographic proximity - the county lines, the area codes (just found out that was even a thing in this thread. lol!!), the similar LI/downstate culture, the two main U's in LI. It just makes sense.

But truth is that Hofstra has had a much more established D1 athletic tradition and I don't blame them for downplaying it for much of the past.

Now that we are in the same league and in the NIL era we should put the past aside - admins from both schools should really sit down and try to blow this up and make as much hype out of this as possible. The potential to engage the 3M (Nassau/Suffolk) Long Island population and make some $$$ out of this is huge. How does the majority of the Hofstra fan base feel about this?

---->

With that said. Really hyped for this upcoming game. You couldn't have scripted this any better. Stony Brook fighting for a double-bye and needs to win 2 out of 3 to have a chance (@Monmouth, @Hofstra, v. Drexel). Hofstra with the upper hand finds itself in 3rd place and closing out at home against the 4SB/5Drexel. There could be some interesting tiebreaker scenarios...

With all that said though - Before this game - SBU needs to travel to the Jersey Shore Thursday in hopes of beating Monmouth. Its a must win for the Brook.

ecasadoSBU wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 1:42 pm

Polito wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 12:25 pm Welcome ecasadoSBU, good to have you come through - you're not gonna be banned for that whatsoever lol - shoot even I haven't been banned yet, and that's saying something you're in good hands here, and we'll take some fun banter, this is the place for true HU passion - stick around

I dig the things HU does to try and make this a real rivalry - it should be - I think SBU and HU should do more to promote it - good to have some bad blood with someone, that's how it's supposed to be in sports - LI needs a lot more college sports passion, so I think it's all good

The problem for HU is they've tried to make themselves sound like the clear winner and then Speedy (or ST or whoever) goes out and choke multiple times and we look like doofuses. And then he's out there trying to downplay it - it's so stupid - we should be UP-PLAYING it, we should be making this a big deal - we have ZERO rivals in the CAA, or anywhere else, it's the only one that makes any sense for the time being.


This is absolutely a must-win for HU, not up for debate - I don"t care whether it's mathematically a must, this is a must-win for reasons outside of math. And just squeaking by won't cut it. This needs to be a statement game from Speedy and the team. No excuses. Payback time. Get it done.

I always thought that Hofstra was a more natural long-term rival for Stony Brook than UAlbany. The geographic proximity - the county lines, the area codes (just found out that was even a thing in this thread. lol!!), the similar LI/downstate culture, the two main U's in LI. It just makes sense.

But truth is that Hofstra has had a much more established D1 athletic tradition and I don't blame them for downplaying it for much of the past.

Now that we are in the same league and in the NIL era we should put the past aside - admins from both schools should really sit down and try to blow this up and make as much hype out of this as possible. The potential to engage the 3M (Nassau/Suffolk) Long Island population and make some $$$ out of this is huge. How does the majority of the Hofstra fan base feel about this?

---->

With that said. Really hyped for this upcoming game. You couldn't have scripted this any better. Stony Brook fighting for a double-bye and needs to win 2 out of 3 to have a chance (@Monmouth, @Hofstra, v. Drexel). Hofstra with the upper hand finds itself in 3rd place and closing out at home against the 4SB/5Drexel. There could be some interesting tiebreaker scenarios...

With all that said though - Before this game - SBU needs to travel to the Jersey Shore Thursday in hopes of beating Monmouth. Its a must win for the Brook.

I wish it did NOT mean a thing for SB - lol!

I have been pushing for a LI Cup between SB and Hofstra...the winner of the Cup will be determined by all the sports we play against each other. If anyone has ideas on a SPONSOR, we can make it work.

Jon how about Northwell
They are the largest employer on Long Island
And we have a relationship with them through the medical school
Also, both universities have medical schools

How about the Canon USA Cup. Canon sits in Melville on the border of the two counties.

It's a super idea HUSID, and one, or similar ones, this board has promoted for YEARS. It's a no-brainer. What would be cool is if any of our actual "leaders" took this and did something with it. Finding a sponsor should be a piece of cake for any fundraiser / business leader with an ounce of experience. These are 2 major universities in a major metro area, I mean get it done. Not rocket science. The lack of action is just mind-blowing.

Or the Newsday Cup, except the only school that would get any coverage would be St. John's. And if its "piece of cake" to quote Polito, how about the Entenmann's Cup?

My Dad says that when HU football played Post on Thanksgiving Day, they were playing for the Fortunoff Cup Trophy. Well, both Fortunoff's and HU Football do not exist any longer, but a HU-SBU LI Expressway Trophy should exist. How about a Teddy Roosevelt Trophy, or a Sunscreen-Jones Beach Trophy?

Northrop Grumman is located in both counties (Bethpage and Ronkonkoma) and has a market cap of over $103 billion. They could probably spare some money to sponsor a cup with some Nassau and Suffolk alternate uniforms with each county's colors, and with county names listed on the jerseys (one of the few times I wouldn't mind breaking away from traditional school colors). Could also have doubleheaders with top Nassau and Suffolk based high school teams playing on the same floors before and after Hofstra and Stony Brook, to bring in those crowds, as well.

Kansas and Missouri have their Border War between states. No reason why we can't have a Long Island Border War, especially if they create high school and CAA one on the same day.

Give something a name, get sponsors involved, have alternate uniforms, advertise it as a rivalry, it takes on a life of its own. And as long as it's competitive on the floor each year (as it has been recently), it sustains.

How would a cup work though in the cases when Hofstra and Stony Brook play twice and split during the regular season? Maybe keep carrying the cup over to the following year until someone finishes a season series with an advantage instead of a split?