Hofstra Pride
Colonial Athletic Association (21-11, 11-7)
Seed: #
RPI: 104
Big Wins: 1/17 Northeastern (57-52), 2/10 Old Dominion (60-51), 2/21 at Fairfield (61-56)
Bad Losses: 12/23 Iona (64-67), 1/3 Drexel (56-63), 2/25 at Georgia State (55-76)
Coach: Tom Pecora
Probable Starters:
Charles Jenkins, Sophomore, Guard, 19.7 ppg, 4.3 apg, 4.8 rpg
Greg Johnson, Senior, Guard, 2.7 ppg, 2.4 apg
Nathaniel Lester, Sophomore, Guard, 6.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg
Arminas Urbutis, Senior, Forward, 3.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg
Darren Townes, Senior, Forward, 3.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg
Key Roleplayers:
Tony Dennison, Junior, Guard, 5.7 ppg, 1.9 rpg
Dane Johnson, Senior, Forward, 4.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg
Zygis Sestokas, Senior, Guard, 5.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg
Cornelius Vines, Junior, Guard, 10.5 ppg, 1.5 apg
Greg Washington, Sophomore, Forward, 5.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg
Why They Can Surprise:
Hofstra does not do too much extremely well, but they do rebound and block shots. It is 6-10 sophomore Greg Washington who leads the team in both of those categories. Most of Washington’s scoring will come off of offensive rebounds, but his presence in the paint has greatly helped the Pride’s defense. Washington averages 2.3 blocks per game and that ranks in the top 40 in the nation. Dane Johnson is a decent shot blocker as well and when those two are on the floor, nobody is going to get to the bucket without working very hard.
Washington does not put up great numbers on the glass and this is a team that will look to everybody to help out in the rebounding department. Wings Nathaniel Lester and Zygis Sestokas and forwards Darren Townes and Arminas Urbutis are all capable on the boards. Lester and Sestokas will be asked to do some scoring as well. Sestokas is one of the few outside shooting threats on the team, but he averages just 4.9 points per contest.
Why They Can Disappoint:
Outside of Sestokas, the rest of the backcourt is pretty poor shooters. The team connects on a dismal 39.1 percent from the floor and there will not be many postseason teams with a number worse than that. Cornelius Vines is the biggest three-point shooting threat on a team that rarely shoots long balls, but he connects on just 33.2 percent of his attempts. Coach Tom Pecora has to find some consistency in the scoring department from at least a couple players. Speaking of consistency, 12 players have started at least one game this year. Only one player has started over 20 games during the regular season. Depth is never a bad thing to have, but a regular rotation would be beneficial too.
Who To Watch:
The superstar, and the player who has started every game, is Charles Jenkins. The sophomore point guard is the only consistent scorer on the team and has to try and get his teammates involved. Even though he is on a team full of upperclassmen, Jenkins is the captain and the leader on the floor. His 19.7 points per game is far and away the best on the team and Jenkins will take all the big shots. He is not a great outside shooter by any means, but at least he can be a small threat from long range and make the defense think about guarding him on the perimeter. But when the opposition starts doing that, Jenkins will blow right by them and finish around the rim. Part of Jenkins’ impressive scoring output is because of his free-throw shooting. He will be aggressive getting to the basket and knocks down over 82 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe. It is also helpful that he is the team’s main ball handler and will be the guy who gets to the line at the end of games.
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 66.5 (191st in nation, 6th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 66.4 (137, 8)
Field-Goal Percentage: 39.4 (314, 11)
Field-Goal Defense: 39.4 (19, 1)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.6 (222, 7)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 31.4 (252, 8)
Free-Throw Percentage: 69.3 (154, 5)
Rebound Margin: 5.3 (32, 2)
Assists Per Game: 11.3 (274, 11)
Turnovers Per Game: 15.2 (261, 12)
Joel’s Bracket Says:
