By Ed Morrone
Hofstra men's basketball Associate Head Coach Van Macon described the first three games on the Pride's schedule as a "mini-season." Luckily for Hofstra and its fans, that mini-season is long gone.
It started with a blowout at Holy Cross, which wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility, considering the Crusaders' 18-game home winning streak and all. A week later, the Pride got pushed to the absolute limit in its home opener, an overtime squeaker over the Manhattan Jaspers. Then came the biggest punch in the gut.
On Thanksgiving eve, Hofstra traveled to St. Francis College, a team that came into the Mack Sports Complex last December with an 0-10 record, and, while facing a 17-point deficit in the second half, the Terriers still had a chance to send the game into overtime on a last-second three-point attempt that just missed.
Last Wednesday (minus Loren Stokes and Carlos Rivera, but you already knew that by now), with a new cast of characters, the Pride looked to be well on their way to exacting revenge on St. Francis for last season's nearly embarrassing defeat. With Antoine Agudio facing double teams and struggling mightily to get open, guys like Zygis Sestokas, Dane Johnson, Nathaniel Lester and Daren Townes led Hofstra to one of the best halves of basketball these eyes have seen them play in almost four years.
Hofstra only went into the break with a 34-26 lead, but the point differential didn't seem to matter, mainly because the Pride had a swagger about them heading into the locker room's at tiny Peter Aquilone Court. Then, something awful and unexpected happened.
The swagger disappeared.
The smooth shooting and solid defense that seemed to bury St. Francis in the first stanza was gone, just like that . Despite its best player (Robert Hines) saddled with four fouls, the Terriers came out determined and loose. Hofstra, meanwhile, looked suddenly tight and uncomfortable, allowing St. Francis coming to come the back and earn a 60-57 victory, even while shooting 33 percent from the field.
After the game, Hofstra head coach Tom Pecora questioned his staff on whether or not the Pride possessed the maturity to provide the knockout punch and put the Terriers away. As it turns out, Pecora's skepticism was warranted.
"We're a young team," Agudio said after one of his worst performances in a Pride uniform (4-for-16, 10 points). "We've got to learn how to put teams away."
Consider it a rough wake-up call, a rude awakening, a splash of cold water to a sleeping face or whatever other euphemism you can thin of to characterize this loss. Whatever it was, it needs to stay in the past, especially with CAA rival UNC-Wilmington coming to town on this Saturday to open the conference play for the 2007-08 season.
Ah, yes, those Seahawks.
A year after knocking off Hofstra in the 2005-06 CAA Tournament title game, Wilmington took many hits coming into last season, including a couple of standout players (John Goldsberry, Mitch Laue and Beckham Wyrick) and CAA Coach of the Year Brad Brownell, who left to coach at Wright State. Not to mention finding out T.J. Carter, the one big-time player the Seahawks thought they did have coming back, would miss all of last season with a knee injury. Carter was an absolute Hofstra killer two seasons ago, averaging 25 points and 9 rebounds in three game.
Well, guess what? Carter is back. And so is Wilmington.
After the Seahawks slogged through a rough 2006-07 campaign, they have reloaded en route to a 3-2 loss, with one of those losses coming at the hands of nationally-ranked Indiana. They have four players that average 12 points per game or better (including Carter, who is off to a 15.2 points, 5.0 assist start to the season) as well as above average depth off the bench. Needless to say, this is as big as early season games get.
Hofstra will have the home crowd, which was key in knocking off Manhattan. They will also have had over a week to stew over the St. Francis loss, and it remains to be seen whether or not that fact will be a Hofstra advantage or disadvantage.
After Wilmington, Hofstra will not play another conference game until a Jan. 2 contest at Old Dominion, so a loss here would not mean the end of the world. But if you think Pecora, Agudio and the rest of the bunch are underestimating the importance of this game, then, well, you don't know jack.
The three-game mini-season didn't go as planned for the Pride, but there is one good thing that can be said about this 1-2 start: it's over.
All that's left to do is look ahead, and with Carter and the Seahawks coming to town this weekend, what better way to put the past where it belongs than to knock off a much-improved conference rival?
Stay tuned.