Two weeks ago, the Flying Dutchmen produced one of the most
memorable regular season weekends in recent history by sweeping South Dakota
State, District of Columbia and Marshall—three teams likely to reach the NCAA
Tournament, albeit in two different divisions—and authored what the first
signature moment in this new era of Hofstra basketball.
It was likely the last, at least for this season.
Newsday reported this morning that four Hofstra
players—sophomore Shaquille Stokes and freshmen Jimmy Hall, Kentrell Washington
and Dallas Anglin—were arrested yesterday on multiple counts of burglary. Per a
university press release, all four players have been suspended immediately from
the team and school.
The incidents occurred on campus between Oct. 4 and Nov. 5.
According to Newsday, Stokes was arrested on five counts of second-degree
burglary and Hall was charged with four counts. Washington was arrested on two
counts of second-degree burglary and Anglin was charged with one count. The
players are scheduled to be arraigned today at First District Court in
Hempstead.
The indefinite suspensions will cripple the Dutchmen. Hall
earned comparisons, now sadly apt, to Kenny Adeleke by emerging as a nightly
double-double threat as a freshman and was already the Dutchmen’s best player
(12.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg). Stokes was averaging 10 ppg, fourth-highest on the team,
and hit clutch shots in the wins over South Dakota State and Marshall.
The Dutchmen’s already lean depth will take an unrecoverable
blow as well. With Stephen Nwaukoni (personal) out the last two games and UConn
transfer Jamal Coombs-McDaniel yet to play because of a knee injury, there’s a
good chance the Dutchmen will take the floor against SMU tomorrow with a grand
total of five scholarship players (seniors David Imes and Stevie Mejia,
sophomores Moussa Kone and Taran Buie and freshman Jordan Allen) available.
The arrests are also a staggering blow for a program, an
athletic department and a fan base that has absorbed plenty of punches in the
last three years. This was supposed to be the season in which Mo Cassara began
rebuilding a program decimated following the departure of Tom Pecora in 2010, and
the early results were encouraging. To say he didn’t need this, with a new
athletic director as well as a president who loathes any kind of bad publicity,
is an understatement of the grandest order.
News of the arrests broke a mere three days before the third
anniversary of Hofstra’s decision to kill football, which angered alums (you
don’t say). There had been some hope that a new day had dawned over the last
few months, during which the softball team came within a base hit of reaching
the College World Series and the women’s soccer and volleyball teams reached
the NCAA Tournament.
But this morning’s news prove that the black cloud still
hangs above us and the fates are still pulling the football away every time Hofstra
manages to mount a running start. Good grief.
1.) George Washington is 1-2, with a 72-59 win over Boston
University in the Mike Jarvis Bowl sandwiched around an 80-73 loss to
Youngstown State and a 65-48 loss to Notre Dame. The Colonials were 10-21 last
year and were picked 13th in the 16-team Atlantic 10 (MISNOMER
BIAS!) in this year’s preseason coaches poll. Their head coach is Mike
Lonergan, in his second year at George Washington after six years at Vermont,
where, after replacing the popular Tom Brennan, he led the Catamounts to one
NCAA Tournament and two NITs.
2.) George Washington and Dutchmen have two common opponents
this year: The Colonials face James Madison and Manhattan in consecutive games
Nov. 28 and Dec. 2. The Colonials also visit VCU on Feb. 16. Ha ha better you
than us!
3.) This is the second meeting between Hofstra and George
Washington. Thirty years ago, the Flying Dutchmen—WHO WERE ACTUALLY KNOWN AS
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN BACK THEN—beat the Colonials 82-67 in something called the
Juice Bowl Tournament. Per GW’s game notes, the Dutchmen are the only CAA team
against whom the Colonials have a losing record WHOO WHOO WE’RE NUMBER ONE!
George Washington is 82-42 all-time against current members of the CAA, including
38-25 against William & Mary.
4.) The Dutchmen, meanwhile, are 32-95 all-time against
current members of the A-10, with winning records against only George
Washington and Duquesne (1-0). Damn! So close to Alanis-level irony. The bulk
of the Dutchmen’s games against current A-10 schools have come against local
rival Fordham and former ECC foes St. Joseph’s, Temple and LaSalle as well as
that VCU team that used to play in the CAA. No, really, you could look it up.
5.) With three freshmen in their projected starting lineup,
the Colonials have gone even younger than the Dutchmen. Like the Dutchmen with
Jimmy Hall, George Washington has its conference’s reigning rookie of the week
in freshman guard Joe McDonald, who is second on the Colonials in both scoring
(11.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.3 rpg) behind 6-foot-9 senior forward Isaiah
Armwood, who is averaging 12.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg.
6.) This is a big challenge for the Dutchmen, in a
figurative as well as a literal sense (that’s for loyal reader @GSorensen, who
loves the correct usage of the word “literal”). Mo Cassara was decidedly
displeased with how the Dutchmen’s continued road struggles during Wednesday’s
loss at Manhattan. The Dutchmen didn’t win a true non-conference road game last
year (their lone non-conference win was over Cleveland State at Rhode Island)
and haven’t won a non-conference road game at a school south of New Jersey
under Cassara. But a win here, in less-than-optimal conditions (day off
Thursday, travel day Friday, back after the game today), against a school from
a big-time conference, would go a long way towards restoring the good vibes the
Dutchmen generated last weekend. It won’t be easy, especially if Stephen Nwaukoni
didn’t travel to D.C. with the team. The Colonials have three starters who
stand at least 6-foot-5, but if Nwaukoni isn’t available, the Dutchmen will
have next to no depth behind starters Hall, David Imes and Moussa Kone.
Regardless of Nwaukoni’s availability, the Dutchmen will need to get far better
shooting performances from their guards, who are shooting just 26.2 percent in road
games.
Just as Mo Cassara feared, the soaring Flying Dutchmen were
grounded by a furious and overdue-for-a-win Manhattan squad Wednesday night,
when the Jaspers beat the Dutchmen 67-56 in the Bronx (what’s up with that
anyway, why isn’t there a Division I school called the Bronx in Manhattan?).
Three days after the Dutchmen capped one of the most stirring regular season
weekends in program history—and raised hopes for what looked to be another
rebuilding season—we, and Cassara, were reminded there will be at least as many
downs as ups this year as a young team undergoes the maturation process.
“I thought they were the more aggressive team and really
jumped us early, as we really anticipated,” Cassara said at the post-game press
conference. “We were a step slow tonight offensively and defensively.”
1.) Last night’s game evoked some of those bad memories of
2011-12 that we thought had been buried last weekend. After never trailing in
regulation in consecutive wins over the University of District of Columbia and
Marshall, the Dutchmen fell behind 13-2 last night and never led, though they
did tie the game early in the second half. The Dutchmen were prone to suffering
the untimely defensive breakdown: While the stats indicate they did a nice job
of defending Manhattan along the 3-point arc (7-of-28), the Jaspers’ Michael
Alvarado nailed three straight treys in a span of 3:09 late in the second half
to fuel an 11-4 run that basically ended the game. Unable to complete a
comeback and prone to late gaffes on defense that mar an otherwise solid
performance? That sound you hear is anyone who saw a lot of Hofstra games last
year shuddering.
2.) We were also reminded how thin the line is between
precociousness and inexperience, and how quickly a seemingly deep team can be
depleted. Moussa Kone, who emerged in the first two weeks as part of a 1-2
frontcourt punch we’ve rarely if ever seen at Hofstra, had no points and one
rebound in 28 minutes and punctuated the tough loss by missing a layup with 14
seconds to play. But with Stephen Nwaukoni unavailable for unspecified reasons,
and David Imes fighting foul trouble during an otherwise solid game (six
points, nine rebounds), Cassara had little choice but to leave Kone out there
and hope he snapped out of it. Along those lines: Last night marked the first
time this season that only seven players played as many as 13 minutes.
3.) With the loss, the Dutchmen fell to 0-3 on the road, a disconcerting
development for anyone who saw last year’s squad go 2-12 in road or neutral
site games. And for the third time in as many road games, the Dutchmen fell
behind big, came back to make it competitive but ended up routed down the
stretch.
“We’ve got to find a way to get tougher and win on the
road,” Cassara said. “We were very good at home this weekend where we’re
comfortable. When we’re not comfortable, we’re not quite tough enough
physically or mentally to win on the road. And this is going to be a big
challenge for this young group.”
In addition, the Dutchmen guards—and Shaq Stokes in
particular—once again struggled from the field on the road. Dutchmen guards
were 10-of-28 shooting, a mark that was considerably impacted by Stokes’
2-of-10 performance. Hofstra guards are shooting 26.2 percent on the road
(22-of-84) and 41.3 percent (45-of-109) at home.
The good thing is Cassara feels much more comfortable being
direct with this group than he was last year, when he often felt as if he had
to speak in coaching tongues about the issues that haunted the Dutchmen. And
it’s also good the Dutchmen will get another opportunity right away to try and
record a win on a hurried road trip: After wolfing down some turkey and pumpkin
pie today, the Dutchmen will head to Washington D.C. to take on George
Washington on Saturday afternoon.
4.) There was some good news last night. Jimmy Hall remained
in beast mode by collecting the third double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) of
his young college career. His numbers through six games (14.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg)
compare very favorably to those of Kenny Adeleke, the best homegrown big man
Hofstra has had in the Defiantly Dutch Era, through the same period in 2001-02
(15.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg).
Taran Buie continued to provide instant offense and a
sustainable surge off the bench. Buie missed his first shot of the game for the
first time as a Dutchman, but he scored a career-high 22 points, including seven
unanswered in a 2:13 span in the first half to begin the Dutchmen’s first run.
Is he turning into the Dutchmen’s version of Chris Fouch, someone who provides
loads of offense in a reserve role?
And Dallas Anglin may have begun to regain his confidence
when he drained both his shots, including a 3-pointer, after entering the game
in the final four minutes. Anglin had as many field goals in two attempts last
night as he did in 24 attempts in his first four games.
5.) STAT AND MINUTIAE FUN! For the third straight year, the
winning team in the Hofstra-Manhattan game never trailed. The Dutchmen, alas,
are just 1-2 in those games, losing last year and winning in 2010…The Dutchmen
also went almost wire-to-wire in their 44-39 win over the Jaspers in December
2009…The Dutchmen are 3-3 for the fourth straight year and the 24th time
in program history…The Dutchmen fell to 0-5 all-time against Manhattan when
Stephen Gorchov is with the team in an official capacity. Gorchov, the new men’s
basketball SID, was the team manager in all four of his undergraduate years
from 1992-1996. GORCHOV HEX! (In the interest of fairness, he notes Hofstra has
won in plenty of other sports when he has represented the school in an official
capacity)
1.) Manhattan is 0-2, with losses to a pair of pretty good
teams in Louisville and Harvard. The Jaspers, who return all five starters from
last year’s team that went 21-13 under then-rookie head coach Steve Masiello,
were picked to finish second in the MAAC in the preseason coaches’ poll.
Manhattan should get a big boost tonight with the return of reigning MAAC
scoring champion George Beamon, who missed the first two games of the season with
an ankle injury.
2.) Manhattan is Hofstra’s most frequent non-conference foe,
by far. This is the 61st all-time meeting between the teams dating
all the way back to the second game of Hofstra’s second season in 1937-38, the
third-most games Hofstra has played against any opponent behind just Delaware
and Drexel. Manhattan leads the series 38-22 and beat the Dutchmen 68-59 at
Hofstra last year. This is the seventh straight year the two teams have met,
which makes it Hofstra’s longest active non-conference series.
3.) Manhattan is the only MAAC school Hofstra is scheduled
to face this year, the first time since 2005-06 the Dutchmen have faced only
one MAAC foe. That year, the Dutchmen actually weren’t scheduled to face anyone
from the MAAC but drew Siena in the Bracketbuster. Thank goodness we don’t have
to worry about THAT anymore!
4.) This is a dangerous game for the Dutchmen, who are
justifiably feeling pretty good about themselves after stunningly winning three
games in as many days at home last weekend. Manhattan is in the spot the
Dutchmen were in just five days ago—0-2 and mad—and Mo Cassara recognized on
Sunday the task ahead of the Dutchmen tonight.
“They’re 0-2 sitting on us, just like we were 0-2 sitting on
South Dakota State,” Cassara said. “So they’re going to be hungry.”
5.) The Dutchmen unveiled a pretty sturdy eight-man rotation
against Marshall on Sunday, when Jimmy Hall, David Imes. Moussa Kone, Stevie
Mejia, Shaq Stokes and reserves Taran Buie and Stephen Nwaukoni combined to
play 186 of 200 minutes in regulation before Kentrell Washington provided some
much-needed depth (and free throws) in the second overtime. Washington looks to
have settled into a reliable role as a backup guard-of-all-trades, so it’ll be
interesting to see if Jordan Allen, who played just nine minutes on Sunday,
gets more time and if Dallas Anglin, who recorded the first DNP-CD of his career,
gets another shot to find his, uhh, shot.
Mo Cassara plopped himself down at the podium late Sunday
afternoon and promptly realized he was just as stuck for adjectives as those
seated before him.
“Get it started with a statement,” Hofstra sports info guru
Brian Bohl said.
Cassara rubbed his right eye with his right hand before
pulling his right hand down and rubbing both eyes and the bridge of his nose.
“If you can,” Bohl said.
Finally Cassara came up with some words to begin describing
what he’d just seen: The Flying Dutchmen’s 103-100 double overtime victory over
Marshall that will be remembered as one of the greatest regular season
basketball games ever played at Calkins Hall, the PFC, the Arena or whatever
building my beautiful daughter Molly (the sleeping good luck charm who is now
3-0 in home games) sees the Dutchmen in come the fall of 2030.
“What a difference a week makes, you know?” Cassara said
with a tired laugh. “A week ago right now we’re 0-2, we’re in West Lafayette,
Indiana, we couldn’t make a basket. We lost two games by 29 points. We were
just almost in disarray, if that’s a word I could use to describe us. Credit to
these guys, I’ve never seen a team in a week come back and play the way that we
did.
“So proud of our guys. What an incredible win. To complete a
3-0 weekend is almost a marvel.”
It was one of those games which demands context and appreciation,
even if the facts and the stats say more than any pontifications from a wordy
windbag ever could. So why don’t we start there?
1.) Less than 24 hours after the Dutchmen put six players
into double figures for the first time since I started paying attention—that’s
a long time—they had four players with at least 14 points and two more with
nine apiece. The Dutchmen never trailed in regulation but squandered a 12-point
lead in the final 6:57 and surrendered a pair of game-tying 3-pointers in the
final 91 seconds, including Elijah Pittman’s open 3-pointer that forced
overtime with seven seconds left. The Dutchmen finally fell behind by three
more than midway through the first overtime, crawled back to tie the game with
three free throws 56 seconds apart and held Marshall scoreless the rest of the
period (and survived three missed shots, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer).
Shaq Stokes (more on him shortly) scored the first six points of overtime as
the Dutchmen never trailed, but Marshall got within a basket an incredible four
times in the final minute. Freshman Kentrell Washington, who played just nine
minutes in regulation, drained three of four free throws in the last 38 seconds
before Stokes put the Dutchmen over 100 against a Division I opponent for the
first time in 21 seasons with four free throws in the final seven seconds.
There were 69 total fouls, 99 free throws attempted, 143
field goals attempted and 203 total points (duh) as both teams reached the
century mark for the first time in Hofstra history. Four players fouled out,
and at one point, Marshall had five players on the court with five fouls. The
Thundering Herd’s DeAndre Kane had a triple-double in defeat (33 points, 11
rebounds, 10 assists).
It was awesome to watch, if a bit nerve-wracking to
participate in as a player or a coach.
“I’m shot,” Moussa Kone said.
“I’m 23,” Stevie Mejia said. “I’m finished.”
“I tell you what, I’m exhausted,” Cassara said earlier. “I
mean, I’m exhausted. There were more end of game situations in that game than
I’ve ever been a part of. We had an opportunity to foul in regulation, we didn’t,
we gave up a three. We lost our man on a switch and in overtime they hit
another three. So I’m over there killing myself.”
2.) Jimmy Hall had his second double-double in five
collegiate games, and it was even better than the boxscore would indicate. He
had 10 rebounds alone in the first half, as the Dutchmen asserted themselves
against the far bigger Thundering Herd, and finished with 14 boards and 16
points in an amazing 44 minutes. This is a FRESHMAN playing 44 minutes 15 days
after he was benched for the first half OF AN EXHIBITION. for goodness sakes.
We haven’t seen a freshmen big man like this since Kenny Adeleke, and if you
root for Hofstra, join us in praying we aren’t discussing Adeleke similarities
when Hall is a senior somewhere else.
And we haven’t seen a pair of underclassmen big men at
Hofstra like Hall and Moussa Kone since, well, ever. Kone also had a
double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds) before fouling out. He has matched or
exceeded his freshman year high in points (six) four times and matched or
exceeded last year’s high in rebounds (nine) twice. All caveats about small
sample sizes apply, but through five games, Hall and Kone are averaging a
combined 21.6 points and 16.4 rebounds per game. Hello.
3.) The misery of last year only makes it seem like forever
since the Dutchmen had a player as clutch as Stokes. The statistical revolution
in sports has led to much debate about clutch play and how it is impossible to
measure. Maybe so, but the eyes don’t lie, and Stokes has the Jenkins and
Speedy clutch gene. Who else would find his legs in the second overtime, after
shooting 4-of-17 in the first 45 minutes, and score 10 points in the SECOND
overtime and drain seven of eight free throws, thereby making up for missing
the free throw in the final minute of regulation that likely would have sealed
the victory? All less than 48 hours after draining a game-winning 3-pointer
with three seconds to play? Everything is going so well, I fully expect the
NCAA to declare he has to go back to Hawaii at any moment.
4.) The Dutchmen have now won two games they would have lost
last year, when they were (as you no doubt know and/or remember by now) 1-4 in
games decided by three points or less and 2-8 in games decided by six points or
less. Better depth is surely a factor (eight players have played at least 13
minutes in all five games, something that happened just six times all of last
season) but the Dutchmen have the intestinal fortitude and intangibles they
lacked a year ago. Last season’s team loses this game because it couldn’t get
the momentum back late in the second half (the first game against James
Madison), or because it missed key free throws late (the first game against
Delaware) or because it suffered breakdowns on every defensive possession down
the stretch (pick a loss, any loss). This year’s team has a bunch of
players—Hall, Stokes and Taran Buie, the latter of whom hit his first shot of
the game for the third straight game) clearly have that edge that infuses the
Dutchmen with a layer of late-game toughness, as does Mejia, who is finally
healthy and able to impart his will upon the team. Mejia scored a career-high
22 points and earned sub-regional MVP honors
“When you have three games in three days, guys are tired,
and you could just see the physical and the mental exhaustion,” Cassara said.
“To be honest with you, we were in a little better shape and we were able to
kind of hang in there and get some fouls down the stretch and get to the line.
How about Kentrell Washington stepping up and hitting three out of four free
throws as a true freshman who didn’t play very many minutes?”
5.) Some more stats and minutiae: The Dutchmen are 3-2 for
the 23rd time in program history…Stokes’ 46 minutes were the most by
a Dutchmen since Jenkins (49 minutes) and Cornelius Vines (48 minutes) were
ironmen in the Dutchmen’s last double overtime game, a loss to Northeastern in
the 2010 CAA Tournament. And Hall’s 44 minutes were the most by a freshman
since Jenkins played 44 minutes against Manhattan in the second game of his
career in 2007…The Dutchmen improved to 17-6 in overtime games and 5-2 in
multi-overtime since the 2000-01 season…This was the second time in four years
the Dutchmen have won an overtime game in which they didn’t trail UNTIL
overtime. The Dutchmen edged UNC Wilmington in similar fashion in the 2008-09 regular season finale…Washington’s performance at the free throw line in the
second overtime conjured up memories of Mike Davis-Sabb against James Madison
in the Dutchmen’s most recent double-overtime win in February 2009. Because of
disqualifications, Davis-Sabb was pressed into duty in the final minute of the
second overtime after sitting since the first half and promptly drained two
free throws to seal the game.
The Flying Dutchmen made some history and led wire-to-wire
Saturday, but didn’t get to .500 in the most artful of fashions in their 74-59
win over Division II foe University of District of Columbia. But just getting
to .500 was good enough for a team that six days earlier looked as if it might
send certain stat dorks diving into media guides in search of the worst
season-opening losing streak in program history.
“We’ve got Marshall at home [today], a NCAA Tournament-type
team, a chance to win three games in a row,” Mo Cassara said. “If you would
have told me that last Monday, I would have said you’re absolutely crazy.”
1.) This may have been the most balanced game ever played by
a Hofstra basketball team. Six Dutchmen reached double figures—almost certainly
the first time that’s happened in the Defiantly Dutch Era, I will research and
report back to you ASAP—and all six scored between 11 and 13 points. Five
players had between seven and nine rebounds. And six players played between 21
and 29 minutes. It all happened against a Division II foe, of course, but
that’s still pretty impressive.
2.) The Dutchmen were never seriously threatened after
opening the game on an 11-0 run—District of Columbia twice had a chance to
close within four or five points in the second half—but they never really
buried the Firebirds either after opening a 20-point lead 15 minutes into the
contest. Cassara, recognizing the Dutchmen were battling fatigue after an
emotional win over South Dakota State less than 24 hours earlier, fiddled with
the lineup in the second half in hopes of finding a cohesive mix.
“We just didn’t have that zip today, we didn’t have the
energy,” Cassara said. “We had a chance to really put them away midway through
the first half and kind of end the game and we didn’t. And that’s something
that we have to learn from, we have to continue to get better, continue to find
ways that we don’t let that happen.”
3.) The Dutchmen got what they needed out of their handful
of veterans. Stevie Mejia had another solid game (11 points and seven rebounds,
his second straight game with seven boards, in 29 minutes) while David Imes had
11 points—including the historic jumper that provided the Dutchmen’s final
points with 43 seconds left—seven rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes. And
Stephen Nwaukoni turned 21 years old in impressive fashion as he scored nine of
his career-high 13 points and grabbed five of his nine rebounds in just nine
second half minutes. Upperclassmen accounted for 75 of the 200 minutes played
by the Dutchmen, the most this season.
4.) Nwaukoni wasn’t the only projected starter to provide a
boost off the bench. For the second straight game, Taran Buie jumpstarted the
Dutchmen by draining a 3-pointer on his first shot of the game. Buie’s
3-pointer began a 26-12 run by the Dutchmen in which he scored all 12 of his
points as the Dutchmen took their biggest lead at 39-19.
Buie’s production and pedigree suggests he’ll start sooner
than later as long as he can stay out of trouble, but for the moment Cassara is
happy with him serving as the Dutchmen’s Vinnie Johnson (GOOGLE IT EVERYONE
EXCEPT GARY MOORE)—even if Buie, in a moment of refreshing honesty by both
player and coach, admitted he’d rather start.
Asked if he liked coming off the bench, Buie paused and
looked at Cassara, who grinned. “You can answer it honestly, it’s OK,” Cassara
said.
“No, I’m not really too thrilled about coming off the
bench,” Buie said as those in the room laughed. “But like I said, I’m just
going to do anything to help this team get towards the win.”
5.) FUN STATS! The Dutchmen are 2-2 for the 27th
time in program history and for the second year in a row. They are 2-2 after an
0-2 start for the fifth time in program history and the first since 1990-91. I
was a high school senior back then! #OLD…The Dutchmen have had at least five
players score in double figures 11 times in their last 82 games dating back to
a 93-54 win over UNC Wilmington on Jan. 27, 2010. That game snapped a 122-game
streak in which the Dutchmen never had five players score in double figures,
dating back to the epic win over George Mason on Feb. 23, 2006. Hey, did that
win catapult the Dutchmen into the NCAA Tournament?...This is the second
straight year in which Nwaukoni has set his career high for points in the
middle game of a Gazelle Group tournament. He scored 12 points against Cleveland State last Nov. 26. Hey, at least someone likes the Gazelle Group!
3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. University of District of Columbia,
11/16)
1.) Marshall is 2-2 and coming off a last-second, 78-77 loss
to South Dakota State (HOFSTRA CONNECTION!) in the opener to yesterday’s
doubleheader. The Thundering Herd have beaten District of Columbia (HOFSTRA
CONNECTION!) and Longwood and fallen to Villanova (HOFSTRA CONNECTION!). Look
at all these Hofstra connections. It’s like they’re all playing in the same
tournament or something!
2.) Marshall is coached by Tom Herrion, the brother of New
Hampshire coach Bill Herrion, who was Drexel’s coach when the Dragons dominated
the Dutchmen and the rest of the NAC with the SHAQ OF THE NAC, Malik Rose. Bill
Herrion is 9-5 all-time against Hofstra—9-3 with Drexel and 0-2 with New
Hampshire.
3.) Hofstra is 0-1 all-time against Marshall. The Thundering
Herd beat the Dutchmen, 73-70, during the Great Alaska Shootout in November
2006. Marshall is a member of Conference USA, the future home of Old Dominion
(snort) and about 72 other schools located around the world. Marshall is also
the first of three C-USA teams Hofstra will face this year. The Dutchmen host
SMU on Dec. 1 and play Tulane at the Barclays Center on Dec. 22. Tulane is the
only current C-USA school that Hofstra has beaten. The Dutchmen are 1-5
all-time against current C-USA schools, though the conference may have added
102 teams in the time it took me to write this.
4.) If you are of a certain age—i.e. mine—you correlate
Marshall with Hofstra football and not Hofstra basketball. Marshall was the
first game I ever boarded a plane to cover back in November 1995, when the 10-0
Dutchmen went to West Virginia and blew a late lead in a 30-28 loss to Chad
Pennington and the Thundering Herd. Alas, the very cool credential that I saved
is buried in a box somewhere at my Dad’s, I’m sure. The Dutchmen went 0-3
all-time against Marshall in football before any existence of football at
Hofstra was wiped from the permanent record. (Hey I told you this stuff was
only semi-useful)
5.) Mo Cassara said last night that Marshall may be the
biggest team the Dutchmen face this year. The Thundering Herd has a remarkable
seven players who stand at least 6-foot-8, which means the Dutchmen will need,
pardon the pun, big games from their burgeoning front court duo of Jimmy Hall
and Moussa Kone. Veterans David Imes and Stephen Nwaukoni will also need to
build on the momentum they created yesterday. It will also be interesting to
see if Cassara sticks with the eight-man rotation he played yesterday—when Hall,
Kone, Imes, Nwaukoni, Stevie Mejia, Shaq Stokes, Taran Buie and Kentrell
Washington all played between 14 and 29 minutes—or if Jordan Allen and/or
Dallas Anglin can wrangle their way into some extended playing time.
