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#Post#: 44462--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Chairman of the Board Date: November 4, 2024, 8:20 am
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Stony Brook men’s basketball aims to make waves in the CAA with
renovated roster
HTML https://sbstatesman.com/130435/sports/hoopla-stony-brook-mens-basketball-aims-to-make-waves-in-the-caa-with-renovated-roster/
[quote]
“Our expectation every year is to get better throughout the
season and play our best basketball in March,” head coach Geno
Ford said in an interview with The Statesman. “This year, we’ve
got nine first-year guys out of 13 scholarship spots, so
definitely a lot of new faces.”
“[Octave] is as high a quality a human being as any of us could
ever be around,” Ford said. “The guys really respect [Octave] as
a person, and he’s also a very good player, so that makes it
easier for him to take a leadership role.”
Octave was the only Seawolf to be recognized in the preseason
poll, as he was named a 2024-25 All-CAA Preseason Honorable
Mention. To repeat the successes of last year — especially
during the latter half of its campaign — Stony Brook will likely
need Octave to fill the void left by Stephenson-Moore, who
posted 16.6 points on a .446/.435/.848 slashline in his final
season with the Seawolves. He was named to the 2023-24 All-CAA
Second Team and selected to the 2024 CAA All-Tournament Team.
While Octave possesses the attributes of a natural guard, he
will likely play small forward, as Ford plans on having three
guards in his starting lineup. Octave’s counterpart on the wing
will be guard C.J. Luster II, another notable addition from the
portal. A sharpshooter, Luster II registered 16.4 points on
47.9% three-point shooting with National Junior College Athletic
Association (NJCAA)’s Salt Lake Community College last year.
Luster II was ranked by JucoRecruiting.com as the 22nd best
Junior College (JUCO) player in the nation for the 2023-24
season. While he will aid Octave in filling the scoring gap left
by Stephenson-Moore’s departure, Luster II’s primary role is to
lead Stony Brook’s three-point attack. Anchored by
Stephenson-Moore, the Seawolves had the second-highest team
three-point percentage (35.7%) in the CAA and finished sixth in
the conference in three-pointers per game (7.9) last season.
“[Luster II] is as good a shooter as has ever set foot on our
campus,” Ford said. “He can really shoot it. He can shoot it
under duress, he can shoot it in tight spaces, he can get them
off quickly. He can really light it up when he gets it cooking.”
“My role is obviously bigger now,” Snoddy said. “My job is to be
the biggest leader that I can and do anything to help the team
win. That might be scoring some nights, it might be rebounding
and being the best rebounder on the floor. Truly whatever it
takes.”
Two other players that will start are a pair of newcomers: guard
Collin O’Connor and forward Ben Wight.
“O’Connor will be the starting point guard for us,” Ford said.
“He’s used to winning. He’s really far along as a freshman and I
think he’s got a chance to be the premier point guard in our
league at some point. He’s got a high ceiling.”
With the loss of Clarke and Noll — who both occupied the point
guard role at some point in their Stony Brook tenure — O’Connor
will have big shoes to fill.
“I think [O’Connor] has been playing great basketball for us,”
Snoddy said. “He does a little bit of everything. He’s a smaller
guard but he rebounds, he’s tough, he’s physical, he can score.
He can do a lot of different things for us and I think that’s
going to be great for us considering he’s also one of our best
defenders.”
Fitzmorris and Maidoh’s efforts — alongside Snoddy’s — helped
the Seawolves become one of the best rebounding squads in the
league, as the duo combined for 9.8 rebounds in the 2023-24
campaign.
“[Defense] comes with being tough [and] communicating,” Snoddy
said. “We’ve taken steps forward in doing that. Me, [Octave]
[and] Sabry [Philip] are the veteran guys, [so] we’re going to
take the challenges throughout the season. We’re going to guard
the best players. Coach [Dan] Rickard says all the time, ‘We’re
always going to score enough points to win, so it’s going to
come down to getting stops.’”
Philip and guard Toby Onyekonwu are notable options off the
bench for Ford. They played 10.3 and 11.9 minutes per game last
year, respectively, but with the aforementioned departures of
Clarke and Noll, combined with the inexperience of some of the
other guards on the roster, they should see an increase in
playing time.
“Offensively, I would tell you that [Woodard] is our most
dynamic guy because he scores in three levels,” Ford said. “I
view [Woodard] as a starter, whether he is in at the jump ball
or not, I don’t know, but I can tell you that when it’s crunch
time he’ll be in and that’s more important to me than whose name
is called before the game.”
Overall, Ford is optimistic that the starting five of O’Connor,
Luster II, Octave, Snoddy and Wight alongside the first four off
the bench and the rest of the young core that features two
freshmen, two sophomores and a junior will get the Seawolves
back to where they want to be.
“We’re going to be a work in progress early in the year, but I’m
not too worried about that,” Ford said. “I want to see us play
with the energy that is required to win, and the execution will
come. Hopefully by March we’ll be playing some pretty good
basketball.”
[/quote]
#Post#: 44464--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Moveitfred Date: November 4, 2024, 11:14 am
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Thanks for posting, Chairman. I'll be tuning in to see the early
rendition of the team tonight.
Was thinking there might be some more buzz about Nyarko heading
into the season, but I guess not.
#Post#: 44466--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Checkmate Date: November 4, 2024, 11:55 am
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O'Connor as the starting PG on day one!
Great to read that about Woodard's offensive ability. Maybe we
have something with Octave, Woodard and Luster offensively, with
O'Connor finding them. And all the returnees are filling in
around them, rather than the other way around, as expected.
I'm glad one media outlet is conscious of it being the start of
the season.
#Post#: 44469--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Chairman of the Board Date: November 4, 2024, 1:00 pm
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well, two media outlets- if you count yourself.
#Post#: 44473--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Chairman of the Board Date: November 4, 2024, 1:41 pm
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its in the statesman article above- CTRL-F "start"
#Post#: 44483--------------------------------------------------
Re: Looking ahead to 2024-25
By: Moveitfred Date: November 5, 2024, 5:05 am
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Took a first look at dates/times for home games this season to
mark my calendar. For any of you going to home games this year
you best make very careful note of each start time, as they are
all over the board. Some of our old 6:31s, and 7s, and 1s, and
noons, and 6s, and 5s....
Guarantee I will be 2 hours early or late to a few of them.
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