MBB Game 29 - W&M - 2/22/15 - 4:30 - NBC Sports

[ProudofPride]

William and Mary's flight to NY was cancelled, so they're taking a bus from Williamsburg. That should be a nightmare in this weather. If I remember correctly, something similar happened on their trip here last year as well.

[EvanJ]

http://www.gohofstra.com/news/2015/2/19 ... ath=mbball is Hofstra's preview. Hofstra needs 8 three-pointers to break the team season record. I'm going to the game so maybe I will see history.
http://www.gohofstra.com/documents/2015 ... game29.pdf is Hofstra's Game Notes.
http://www.tribeathletics.com/ViewArtic ... M_ID=25100 is William & Mary's preview.
http://www.tribeathletics.com/fls/25100 ... fstra2.pdf is William & Mary's Game Notes.

[ZMAN3]

We open 4' point faves - if they make it.

[ProudofPride]

Update from a W&M reporter. The team will get here, but their practice/ shoot-around was scheduled for 7:15-9:30 tonight in the Mack, so they definitely missed that.
Dave Fairbank ‏@FairbankDP 17m17 minutes ago
Dispatch from W&M Dogsled Brigade north: Decent conditions. ETA for Long Island between 1-2 am, for Sunday pm game at Hofstra.

[HUSID80]

Won't make any difference. They will come to Hempstead ready to play. Will be a tough game but the Pride will pull it out for the very important win.

[EvanJ]

Dispatch from W&M Dogsled Brigade north: Decent conditions. ETA for Long Island between 1-2 am, for Sunday pm game at Hofstra.

http://csnbbs.com/thread-727827-page-3.html says William & Mary arrived at 3 A.M.

[Dooku25]

According to Twitter reports, Daniel Dixon is out with a hamstring injury. He was 6-6 from 3-point range in the last meeting. Considering this news and W&M travel issues, it seems we are catching a bit of break. But, they still need to go take care of business. We'll see.

[EvanJ]

If Hofstra loses, it will be very hard to get a 4 or better seed. Hofstra would be 2 games behind James Madison, William & Mary, Northeastern, and UNC Wilmington. Hofstra would need 2 wins and 2 losses by another school to move up:

UNC Wilmington split with Hofstra, but UNC Wilmington would win a tiebreaker against Hofstra based on record against Northeastern or record against James Madison. After head-to-head the tiebreaker is record against the top team, then the second best team and so on unless the tiebreakers changed. Hofstra and UNC Wilmington would have each lost both to William & Mary, so that couldn't break a tie.

William & Mary would have swept Hofstra.

Northeastern would have swept Hofstra.

James Madison would have split with Hofstra. Both of them would have been swept by William & Mary and Northeastern. James Madison lost to UNC Wilmington and would have a loss against them on Wednesday in this scenario, so Hofstra would win the tiebreaker based on record against UNC Wilmington. Of course if it goes into the last game, Hofstra at James Madison, with the winner getting the 4 seed and the loser getting the 5 seed, the game would be arguably irrelevant as the teams would meet in the CAA Quarterfinals either way.

[Cards]

Very exciting game to be at today. crowd was into it and the game could not have been closer. Its hard to tell from the stands, but it sure seemed that W&M got all the key foul calls and we did not. JAM was going ballistic most of the games, jawboning the refs.

We started Dion instead of Jamal. We were never in the lead, but we kept in striking distance and kept coming back every time W&M went up by 6 - 8 pts. Tie game with 3.7 seconds left and Thornton drives to the basket totally out of control. he throws up a prayer over his head not even looking at the basket. We get the rebound, but the ref call a blocking foul on Malik (questionable call). Thornton makes and we quickly move upcourt and Dion cannot convert on a drive to the basket. Hard to tell if he just lost the ball or was fouled, but JAM went nuts. The refs literally ran off the court.

Dion, Green played well. Bernardi had 5 3's for 15 pts, but did not otherwise contribute (played as an outside gunner). Tanksley played OK. Malik played with energy and generally played well. We got nothing from our bigs, Kone and Gustys were invisible (except for the passes they through away).

A loss is a loss, but it was definately an exciting game.

[EvanJ]

William & Mary won 80-78 when Thornton got fouled and made 2 free throws and Hofstra thought they got fouled but there was no call at the end. Hofstra never led. Hofstra made 13 out of 31 three-pointers (.419). Terry Tarpey and Green scored 21 each. Nine players scored in double-digits with Green, Nesmith (17), Bernardi (15), Nichols (12), and Tanksley (11) being five of them on Hofstra. Nesmsith had 9 assists which is his most assists since he had 10 when William & Mary went to Hofstra last year. Hofstra had only 2 points from players who didn't score in double-digits. Kone scored 2, Robinson didn't score, and Gustys didn't score. Robinson was in the original lineup but something changed and Nesmith started instead. Robinson tied a career-low with 4 minutes. Noboty on either team reached double-digits in rebounds or assists. I give player of the game to Tarpey, who made 4 out of 5 three-pointers and led all players with 8 rebounds. Hofstra had no blocked shots and only 3 steals. William & Mary had a great assist/turnover ratio of 3 with 21 assists and 7 turnovers. Hofstra had 13 turnovers and outrebounded William & Mary by 11. William & Mary had double the free throw attempts, 20 to 10, and each team missed 3. Hofstra avoided foul trouble with only 16 and nobody having more than 3.

Edit: Responding to Cards who posted before me, Bernardi shot the ball well, had 3 assists, and tied his season-high with 6 rebounds.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400597910 is the Associated Press recap titled "William & Mary beats Hofstra 80-78, in four-way tie atop CAA."
http://www.gohofstra.com/news/2015/2/22 ... 54819.aspx is Hofstra's recap.
http://www.gohofstra.com/boxscore.aspx? ... ll&id=6433 is the box score. The attendance was 3,148, which was Hofstra's home season-high. I've been to Hofstra two most attended home games. The other one was against James Madison. It raises Hofstra's home attendance average from 1,823 to 1,925.

[stuball888]

There has to be rule change next year. I believe W&M had another player who when he went up for a jumper kicked his legs out. Nichols was just standing straight up when Thortons feet hit him and Nichols gets called for the foul. refs were brutal down the stretch.

[Hofstra]

Having the advantage of replay, I think the refs were fine down the stretch. Thornton drew the foul on the 3 whether we want to believe it was a foul or not, it was the proper call. Late in the game, Nichols slid way to late under Thornton, and that was a foul as well. Nesmith got destroyed off the dribble, so if it wasn't for Nichols sliding over, I am sure Thornton lays it in with ease. Last play of the game, the defender was running away from Nesmith, not even close to a foul. Sucks none of the calls went our way though. This was a tough game to swallow.

Less jawing from JAM, more coaching in timeouts

[EvanJ]

Hofstra set a team record with 262 three-pointers made. That's sixth in CAA history. Fifth is 267, fourth is 270, third is 281, second is 295, and first is 339 by the 2010-2011 Virginia Commonwealth team that went to the Final Four.

Edit: Green made only 2 free throws today. He's 30 short of the CAA season record of 215.

[Wags]

Very exciting game to be at today. crowd was into it and the game could not have been closer.

The final result was very close, but William & Mary led for more 37 minutes and HU never led. So HU ultimately got what it deserved even though they showed a lot of fight late. At some point, you'e got to consistently take control and play from in front in games you're favored to win on you home floor. You can't keep playing uphill at home.

I still don't get why the urgency seems to be greater on the than at home this season. I think they have a tendency to relax at home (you see it defensively and with things like a lazy pass Green made at a crucial point, at 65-60, which went the other way for an easy bucket by Tarpey). But maybe that greater focus away from Hempstead will translate well to Baltimore. Strangely, I think it will, especialy if HU wins its last regular season game at JMU. On Baltimore, I like that Coach and the team is staying in a very positive frame of mind even after a gut-wrenching loss like today and feels they can win in Baltimore. Having that belief going in will be half the battle.

The 3-ball got HU back in the game late, but live by the 3, die by it. HU was just 5-16 and only 1-2 at the line in the first half, and at one point in the second half, when Nesmith was 3-4 from 3, his teammates were a combined 4-18 while taking all of five FT's. Coach tried to explain that way by saying they tried to drive and didn't get calls, so they settled for 3s. I did have a good look at a few instances where that was the case on not getting some whistles, but that doesn't mean you simply settle for 3s instead.

HU shot the 3 well in the second half (8-15), but still... HU: 31 3-pointers and 10 FT's attempted. If they think they're going to win that way in Baltimore, they better have the best 3-point shooting tournament the CAA has ever seen.

Compare that with William & Mary's far better balance today... 10 3-pt FGA, 10 FTA in the first half, and once again, 10 3-pt FGA, 10 FTA in the second half. That's the approach it takes to win a the conference tournament.

I also thought Green went right back to his old habits of forcing things (missed his first 6 shots) and only had one assist in the first half. He finished with a good game overall because he started to get hot from 3 in the second half. But again, that's not his strength and that likely won't cut it in Baltimore because he is generally not that type of perimeter shooter on a regular basis. Let the game come to you and set your shooters up.

In the big picture, this is a tough loss that won't matter all that much in such a wide open league. They'll avoid Friday to give themselves a chance, and then it's simply about playing the right way for three straight days against as many as three teams (whomever they'll be) that they are just as capable of losing to or beating. From a confidence standpoint though, it'd be nice to get these last two W's in Feb. before March comes.

[Cards]

Edit: Responding to Cards who posted before me, Bernardi shot the ball well, had 3 assists, and tied his season-high with 6 rebounds.

EvanJ - Don't get me wrong, I like Bernardi. His 3 point shooting adds excitement to the game. And i will say that he has increased his going to the basket over earlier in the season (when he never drove). That being said, he is still pretty much just a 3 point gunner. Yes, his overall game is improving, but the facts are the facts. He is more of a complimentary player who does not create his own shots. As far as rebounding - it's not like he is a typical gaurd playing defense at the top of the key and getting 6 boards (that would be impressive) - rather, when we go to the 1-3-1, many time he is the guy under the basket. If he was not getting at least some boards from that position, he would be failing miserably (and all six of his boards today were on defense).

Again - I'm glad he's on the team, he plays hard, and is easy to like. But thats how I see it.

[ZMAN3]

I was blocked out of critical calls so I'll go with whoever saw them clearly. My beef is with Coach on a number of points. How is Kone not in the game for the last defensive possession ? He's the only rim protector when it's pretty obvious Thornton is going to the basket. If somebody beats us with a 15-20 footer off a pass - so be it. Can't let him get to the basket basically unimpeded. Since we gave a foul with 10 secs to go - and it was obvious they were. How about in the timeout where he discussed giving the foul plan on switching defenses. They would have had only 10 secs to get off a shot against the 1-3-1 and once again - maybe they do stick one but it beats an uncontested layup. Another complaint is a season long one - they've gotten very little out of the center spot - while a very talented kid wastes away on bench - he certainly couldn't have played any worse than Kone and Gustys. How is it Mary can play 3 frosh and Walker sits. If I were him I'd transfer my butt out cause he ain't playin next year either unless he pushes past Gusty's cause you know the Clemson kid is going to play. I've watched Walker in warmups and he can stick a jumper - Gusty's hit the side of the backboard from 5 feet, fumbles away or makes bad passes and gets lost on D. He's one step behind constantly!
Last but not least - can I see Nichols for 30 mins. He plays with more energy than anyone and defends multiple positions. He does make mistakes but he makes more positive plays than negative. Coach has his pets (Bernardi, Green and Tanksley) so don't think anything is going to change. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees!

[stuball888]

again I ask those on the board, why is a jump shot allowed when the shooter kicks his legs forward to make contact.Shouldnt a jump shot be when a player goes straight up or if going to the basket his upper body leans forward not his legs.

[Hofstra]

ZMAN I agree with you on many points. Malik is a defensive machine right now. He was face guarding Thornton for a while and really slowed him down when he was in the game. Also, how are we going to roll with 4 guards late in the game when we know they were going to go to the hole to draw the foul or even get up a shot. Just a bad coaching error.

[Cards]

I am also concerned about losing Walker. I know he is the first in his family to attend college and maybe he is just happy to be there and plans a four year education with some basketball mixed in and then he is gone. I don't know. Maybe he is frustrated enough to leave. I don't know.

I would love to see Walker and Gustys splitting time at center next year, with Djambo getting lots of time playing the 4. Coach can then shuffle all his guards in and out of the other three spots with someone like Malik and sometimes Tanksley playing the 4. Do I think that will happen - who knows....coach really seems to like going small.

[Dooku25]

It seems like ever since we joined the CAA we never get the calls. Any questionable calls always seem to go to our opponents. I don't recall having that problem in the America East days. From my seat, the last 2 calls that Thornton got were very questionable. He kicked his leg out on the 3, and he was out of control and got bailed out by the refs on the drive. I haven't checked the replay yet. I will agree that Mihalich complains way too much to the refs. I usually like that in a coach, but he takes it to the extreme and never lets up. Not sure that act is helping us get more calls.

I thought this was a coming out party in a losing effort for Green. He really took over this game for us in the clutch. I've been waiting for him to play like a Speedy, or a Jenkins, or a Stokes down the stretch of these games, and finally he did. It wasn't enough today, but hopefully its a sign of things to come.

Agree on points about Nichols and Walker. Nichols should be out there whenever we need defensive stops, and he needs to be on the other team's best player every time. They have started to do this more often, but it needs to happen every time. And Gustys is regressing. Freshman bigs are always a crap shoot. They go through ups and downs. Right now he looks bad. Certainly Walker could do just as bad. It's ridiculous he hasn't seen any minutes, not even in garbage time.

This was a fun game to watch and be at. It was a frustrating loss, because W&M plays a crisp game, and we are a sloppy team. Yet it was 78-78 at the end. If we could just clean up a few things, I still think we have a chance to do big things in Baltimore. It's looking like the 5 seed for us, so with a 4-way tie for 1st, who will finish in that 4 spot? I'm hoping to avoid NE and WM on that Saturday. I'd prefer a UNCW matchup, and would settle for JMU. But if we win that first game, we'd probably end up playing the 1 seed in the semi's at this point.