Getting publicity from I-AA football with two alums headed to the playoffs as head coaches? Now that's what I call quirky!
The sun will rise, I’ll have lunch and Hofstra will record the CAA’s signature non-conference win. The Flying Dutchmen did it again Dec. 22, when they went to Richmond and upset the Atlantic 10 (that actually has 15) preseason favorites, 76-71. The Dutchmen will hope to start CAA play this afternoon with the opener (hopefully) of a two-game series against William & Mary at the Arena. Here’s a look back at the win over the Spiders and a look ahead to the series (this is still weird) against the Tribe.
THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Virginia native Jalen Ray made his homecoming a memorable one as he scored a game-high 23 points — including the 1,000th of his career — and finished with a team-high five assists as the Dutchmen overcame a nine-point second half deficit to stun Richmond. The Dutchmen took a nine-point lead in the first half and led 36-33 at the half despite getting just five points from Ray, who surpassed the 1,000-point milestone with his first basket. Richmond opened the second half on a 22-10 run before the veteran trio of Ray, Tareq Coburn and Issac Kante combined to score 25 points in a game-ending 30-16 run. Coburn opened the run with a pair of 3-pointers, Ray scored 12 of his points in the surge and Kante’s basket with 5:30 left put the Dutchmen ahead for good. Kante (16 points, 11 rebounds) posted his second straight double-double. Coburn finished with 15 points and KVonn Cramer, the only other player to score in the game-deciding run, had 12 points while going 6-of-6 from the field. The Dutchmen shot 60.4 percent (29-of-48), including a Villanova in 1985-esque 70 percent (14-of-20) in the second half.
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. Richmond 12/22)
3: Jalen Ray
2: Isaac Kante
1: Tareq Coburn
SEASON STANDINGS
Jalen Ray 14
Tareq Coburn 12
Isaac Kante 9
Caleb Burgess 3
KVonn Cramer 3
Kevin Schutte 1
COACHSPEAK: “Today we played a full 40. We’ve been preaching it. We finally got it. And I said to the guys after the game, I said ‘Look what happens when we do play that full 40, what we can accomplish, how good we can be, beating a nationally ranked team on the road.’”—acting head coach Mike Farrelly
CONDOLENCES TO ZION BETHEA
Condolences to Hofstra freshman guard Zion Bethea, whose Dad died Dec. 18. “Our thoughts have been with him a lot the last couple days,” Farrelly said following the win over Richmond. “Rest in peace to Mr. Bethea. Just a great, great man and father.”
WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?
No, but they are sending me deep into the record books lately, though. The 76-71 win was the first for the Flying Dutchmen since a victory over Muhlenberg during the 1969-70 season. That comes on the heels of the Dutchmen beating Monmouth for their first 96-88 win in almost 44 years.
The Dutchmen have yet to record a unicorn score this season. The Dutchmen recorded 13 unicorn score victories last season, three more than in 2018-19, which was when we first started tracking unicorn scores. The term unicorn score was coined by Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won.
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SEVEN GAMES
With the win over Richmond, the Dutchmen improved to 4-3, which is tied for the 28th-best start in school history. Twenty-seven other teams began 4-3, including each of the last four. That’s wild. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through seven games.
NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1975-76: 3-4
1976-77: 6-1
1999-2000: 3-4
2000-01: 5-2
2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 4-3
NIT TEAMS
1998-99: 3-4
2004-05: 7-0 (most recent 7-0 start)
2005-06: 5-2
2006-07: 4-3 (over .500 for good)
2015-16: 5-2 (most recent 5-2 start)
2018-19: 4-3 (marked first win in the 16-game winning streak)
NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT TEAMS
1958-59: 4-3
1961-62: 6-1
1962-63: 5-2
1963-64: 6-1
Some other notable seven-game starts:
2013-14: 2-5 (most recent 2-5 start)
2012-13: 3-4 (most recent 3-4 start, under .500 for good because…well, you know)
2011-12: 3-4 (under .500 for good)
2008-09: 6-1 (most recent 6-1 start)
2002-03: 1-6 (most recent 1-6 start)
1994-95: 2-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)
1993-94: 1-6 (VBK’s last team)
1982-83: 6-1 (first loss in 7th game)
1978-79: 3-4 (under .500 for good)
1973-74: 1-6 (win snapped the most recent season-opening six-game losing streak, the Dutchmen have never begun 0-7)
1960-61: 7-0
1959-60: 7-0
1955-56: 7-0
1947-48: 7-0
1943-44: 3-4 (under .500 for good)
Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1954-55, 1957-58.
This feature is inspired by Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.
FILE AWAY THIS RANKED WIN
Remember when I wrote Richmond was almost ranked? Well, while the Spiders weren’t ranked in the AP poll, which is the standard-bearer poll in the sport, they were ranked no. 23 in the coaches’ poll. And that’s good enough for us to count it! Plus, the last time the Flying Dutchmen beat a ranked team, George Mason was ranked no. 25 in the coaches’ poll prior to Hofstra’s 77-68 win on Feb. 23, 2006. So, you know, precedent, and stuff. (Please don’t punch any of our players in the privates in an NCAA Tournament rematch, Richmond)
The win is just the third all-time for Hofstra over a ranked opponent. The Flying Dutchmen edged no. 18 Southern Illinois, 67-66, as part of the Pittsburgh Classic on Dec. 11, 1976.
The win over Richmond improved the Dutchmen to 2-18 against top 25 teams in the DD Era (1993-present). This is the first time Hofstra’s played two ranked opponents since the 2009-10 season, when the Dutchmen fell to Kansas in the season opener before losing to UConn in the preseason NIT.
12/22/20: no. 23 Richmond 76-71 W
11/29/20: no. 24 Rutgers 70-56 L
12/22/17: no. 1 Villanova 95-71 L
12/11/16: no. 6 Kentucky 96-73 L
11/12/13: no. 3 Louisville 97-69 L
11/18/10: no. 8 North Carolina 107-63 L
11/13/09 no. 1 Kansas 101-65 L
11/17/09 no. 12 UConn 76-67 L
12/22/06 no. 23 Syracuse 85-60 L
2/23/06 no. 25 George Mason 77-68 W
12/30/04 no. 7 Syracuse 80-75 L
11/22/02 no. 21 Gonzaga 69-61 L
12/4/01 no. 9 Syracuse 91-65 L
3/15/01 no. 15 UCLA 61-48 L***
3/17/00 no. 14 Oklahoma State 86-66 L***
12/2/98 no. 25 St. John’s 70-49 L
11/20/98 no. 6 Maryland 89-59 L
11/27/97 no. 19 Louisville 75-66 L
12/14/96 no. 19 Xavier 79-43 L
12/28/95 no. 8 Villanova 91-57 L
COLLECTING THE HARDWARE
The win over Richmond resulted in the Dutchmen sweeping the CAA’s awards for the week ending last Sunday. Jalen Ray won his second straight Player of the Week award while KVonn Cramer was named the Rookie of the Week. Ray is the first player to win at least a share of two straight Player of the Week awards since Nathan Knight split the honor with Delaware’s Justyn Mutts for the week ending Dec. 2, 2019 before being named the sole winner the following week. The previous player to take home back-to-back awards by himself? Who else but Justin Wright-Foreman, who was named the Player of the Week for the weeks ending Dec. 31, 2018 and Jan. 7, 2019.
Cramer’s Rookie of the Week honor was his second following his victory for the week ending Dec. 6. He’s the first two-time Rookie of the Week this season.
ANOTHER BIG DAY FOR RAY
Jalen Ray joined the Hofstra 1,000-point club when he scored his first points of the game 10:15 into the first half. He recovered from a slow start to finish with 23 points, which allowed him to surge past John Irving and tie James Shaffer for 37th place on the all-time list at 1,022 points. Fun fact: Shaffer was not only the first Hofstra player to hit the 1,000-point mark during the DD era, he also did so after entering his milestone game with 999 points. Ray enters today 24 points shy of surpassing Percy Johnson for 36th place.
33.) Ameen Tanksley 1,090
34.) Derrick Flowers 1,069
35.) Darius Burton 1,060
36.) Percy Johnson 1,045
37t.) James Shaffer, 1,022
37t.) JALEN RAY, 1,022
39.) John Irving 1,018
Ray is the eighth player to reach 1,000 points in the Joe Mihalich era, which began in 2013. At least one Hofstra player has reached 1,000 career points in each of the last six seasons.
THE MIHALICH MACHINE
Jalen Ray is the eighth player to score 1,000 points since Joe Mihalich arrived at Hofstra prior to the 2013-14 season. While that officially ties Mihalich with Butch van Breda Kolff for the most 1,000-point scorers coached at Hofstra, Mihalich has for all intents and purposes, coached the most 1,000-point scorers in school history.
All eight of Mihalich’s 1,000-point scorers were recruited by him. While van Breda Kolff coached eight 1,000-point players, he had two stints as head coach and shared 1,000-point scorers with Frank Reilly (who coached Bill Thieben in his first two seasons), Dick Berg (who coached Frank Walker for his first three seasons and Derrick Flowers for his first season) and Jay Wright (who coached James Shaffer for his final season and Darius Burton for his last three seasons).
The only other coaches to have a hand in coaching more than five 1,000-point scorers are Tom Pecora (seven) and Paul Lynner (five). Pecora shared Rick Apodaca with Wright and Charles Jenkins and Nathaniel Lester with Mo Cassara while all five of Lynner’s 1,000-point scorers — Steve Nisenson, Barry White, Dave Bell, Mike Tilley and Wandy Williams — played their entire careers under him.
THRICE AS NICE
The 23-point effort against Richmond marked the third straight game in which Jalen Ray has scored at least 20 points. He is the first Hofstra player with three straight 20-point games since — who else? — Justin Wright-Foreman, who ended his career by scoring 42 points against Delaware in the CAA Tournament semifinals on Mar. 11, 2019 before scoring 29 points apiece in the title game loss to Northeastern on Mar. 12 and the NIT loss to North Carolina State on Mar. 19. Not surprisingly, Wright-Foreman is the most recent Hofstra with at least four straight 20-point games. He had six in a row from Feb. 9-Mar. 2, 2019.
DOUBLE THE FUN
Isaac Kante posted his second consecutive double-double against Richmond, when he had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Those two double-doubles are the only ones of the season for Kante, who nonetheless was one of just 24 players averaging a points-rebounds double-double entering play Friday. Only five of those players have played in more games than Kante’s seven. Kante is the lone CAA player averaging a points-rebounds double-double.
CAN’T-MISS CRAMER
KVonn Cramer came off the bench to score 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting against Richmond. He’s the first player to enjoy a perfect game for the Dutchmen (minimum five attempts) since Isaac Kante finished 6-for-6 in an 83-60 win over William & Mary on Feb. 1, 2020. Cramer is the first reserve to enjoy a perfect game (minimum five attempts) since Stephen Nwaukoni finished 5-for-5 in an 85-75 loss to Belmont on Nov. 24, 2013.
STILL NOT TWO UNDER .500
The win over Richmond gave the Dutchmen a little more margin for error as they look to continue to avoid falling two games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2016-17 season. Only 63 other Division I teams have gone as long or longer without falling two games under .500, including 54 programs whose streak predates the 2016-17 finale and nine others who were last two games under .500 as of the end of their ’16-17 season.
Among true mid-majors (defined by me as schools outside the Power 6, AAC, A-10, West Coast and Mountain West), Hofstra’s streak is exceeded by just 13 schools and matched by two more. Here’s the full list and the date the program was most recently two games under .500:
Louisiana Tech: 2/16/12
New Mexico State: 1/3/15
UAB: 1/17/15
Furman: end of ’14-15
Vermont: 12/8/15
Northern Kentucky: end of ’15-16
Loyola Chicago: end of ’15-16
Georgia Southern: 11/22/16
Belmont: 11/25/16
Liberty: 1/3/17
Buffalo: 1/31/17
Murray State: 2/25/17
South Dakota State: 2/18/17
HOFSTRA: end of ’16-17
Hawaii: end of ’16-17
Western Kentucky: end of ’16-17
WINNING THE NON-CONFERENCE SEASON
It’s been the strangest non-conference schedule of all-time, but at 4-3, the Dutchmen will once again enter CAA play with a winning record. This marks the seventh straight season in which the Dutchmen hit the CAA schedule with a winning record and the 14th time they’ve done so in 20 seasons in the CAA. (League games that were played in the middle of the non-conference schedule were not counted but are listed separately)
2004-05: 8-1 (.889) 1-0 CAA
2018-19: 10-3 (.769)
2005-06: 6-2 (.750) 2-0 CAA
2008-09: 8-3 (.727) 1-0 CAA
2019-20: 9-4 (.692)
2014-15: 9-4 (.692)
2015-16: 8-4 (.667)
2006-07: 7-4 (.636) 1-0 CAA
2016-17: 8-5 (.615)
2017-18: 7-5 (.583)
2009-10: 7-5 (.583) 1-0 CAA
2019-20: 4-3 (.571)
2010-11: 6-5 (.545) 1-0 CAA
OVER THE AIR
Hofstra will provide a video feed (with a FloHoops subscription) and radio feed of today’s game, as well as live stats, at the Pride Productions hub.
GOING BACK-TO-BACK
With the pandemic wrecking havoc everywhere, the CAA adjusted the league play schedule this season so that it mostly consists of teams playing Saturday-Sunday back-to-backs in one locale. The Dutchmen are scheduled to host William & Mary this weekend before (hopefully) hosting Towson the weekend of Jan 23-24, Drexel the weekend of Feb. 6-7 and Charleston the weekend of Feb. 20-21. The Dutchmen are scheduled to (hopefully) visit Delaware the weekend of Jan. 16-17, UNC Wilmington the weekend of Jan 30-31, James Madison the weekend of Feb. 13-14 and Elon the weekend of Feb. 27-28. Each team is assigned one travel partner, against whom it will play consecutive games in a home-and-home series. Hofstra is (hopefully) scheduled to host Northeastern on Thursday before visiting the Huskies next Saturday.
The CAA is one of 17 leagues implementing a back-to-back schedule, though some of the leagues have a day off in between games and/or are scheduling back-to-backs as home-and-homes. The back-to-back schedules really kicked in Friday, when 23 of the 24 games between Division I foes were the front ends of league back-to-backs.
BACK-TO-BACKS BRING OUT THE BROOMS
Of the 62 completed back-to-backs between Division I foes this season, 37 have ended in a sweep and 25 have ended with a split. League play comprised 55 of those back-to-backs, with 37 ending in sweeps and 22 ending with a split.
A NEW EXPERIENCE
Not surprisingly, this appears to be the first time in program history the Flying Dutchmen are scheduled to play the same opponent on back-to-back days. If my research is correct, the Dutchmen have played the same opponent in back-to-back regular season games just once. Hofstra College (!!!) beat Queens 40-37 on Mar. 3, 1945 before falling to Queens, 60-50, in the rematch six days later. The Flying Dutchmen also beat Kings Point twice in a five-day span in February 1950 (59-44 on Feb. 17 and 64-44 on Feb. 22) but beat Bridgeport in between (63-51 on Feb. 18).
HOFSTRA AND THE CAA
This is Hofstra’s 20th season in the CAA (and it’s first as the defending champion, but you probably knew that already). Remarkably, the 20-year tenure in the CAA is either the longest Hofstra has been in one league in Division I or tied for the longest. (Hofstra was still considered a member of the ECC in 1992-93, along with Central Connecticut State, though the two teams played independent schedules) In between, the Flying Dutchmen spent seven years in the North Atlantic Conference/America East.
THE DUTCHMEN IN CAA OPENERS
The Dutchmen are 1-8 in the first game of league play since joining the CAA in 2001-02, including 5-2 since Joe Mihalich took over as head coach in 2013-14. An 82-76 win over James Madison on Dec, 28, 2019 extended Hofstra’s winning streak in CAA openers to three games.
The Dutchmen are playing William & Mary in the CAA opener for the second time The Tribe earned a 90-87 win on Dec. 30, 2017.
SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY
The Tribe, under second-year head coach Dane Fischer, are 2-3 this season. William & Mary also last played Dec. 22 in Virginia, when it fell to Virginia, 76-40.
The Dutchmen and Tribe had no common foes in non-league play.
The Dutchmen, who were picked first in the CAA preseason poll, are ranked 140th at KenPom.com. The Tribe, which was picked 10th after losing the great Nathan Knight as well as two other starters to graduation, is ranked 296th.
According to KenPom.com, the Dutchmen rank first in the CAA in offensive efficiency (104.2) and third in defensive efficiency (101.9). The Tribe rank ninth in the CAA in offensive efficiency (98.3) and 10th in defensive efficiency (109.1).
Senior guard Luke Loewe, who was one of six players listed among the preseason all-CAA honorable mentions, leads the Tribe with 15.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. Freshmen Yuri Covington (12.6 ppg) and Connor Kochera (10.0 ppg) are also averaging in double figures while junior Quinn Blair leads William & Mary with 6.6 rebounds per game.
KenPom.com predicts a 78-66 win for the Dutchmen. (He also has a 78-66 win predicted for Sunday, so I’m curious how the forecasts change once he has league data at his disposal) Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only, the Dutchmen are 11.5-point favorites. The Dutchmen are 5-2 against the spread this season.
SCOUT SEZ
For the second straight season, a well-embedded CAA mole has agreed to provide his thoughts on each Hofstra league game (well, each series this year). Here’s how he sees this weekend:
“Pace of game will be important. William & Mary needs a possession game. Loewe will guard Ray — that’s the key matchup. William & Mary’s attack vs. the Hofstra zone will be interesting to see. And Kante will be the most dominant guy on the floor. Hofstra will win, I think, by double digits.”
ALL-TIME VS. WILLIAM & MARY
Hofstra is 23-14 against William & Mary in a series that began when the Dutchmen joined the CAA prior to the 2001-02 season. The teams traded lopsided wins in 2019-20, when the Tribe cruised to an 88-61 victory on Long Island a year ago tonight before the Dutchmen notched an 83-60 win on Feb. 1.
Prior to last season’s routs, the previous four games between the teams and 10 of the last 15 were decided by six points or fewer or in overtime, including back-to-back barnburners in the CAA Tournament in 2015 (shudders) and 2016.
THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY
You’ll be getting publicity for your I-AA football team in the playoffs again this year bias! (As always, a true story)
Dominique Wilkins bias! (The great Nathan Knight is now with the Atlanta Hawks)
Daniel Dixon doesn’t hurt us anymore bias! (Last year made everything better…well, mostly)
Dan Henning bias! (The former Falcons and Chargers head coach and longtime NFL assistant coach played quarterback at William & Mary)
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