Georgetown-Memphis Pre-Game Thread

[Admin]

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[hoyastrong]

Can we play now? I am so friggin ready...

[lichoya68]

great game tonite if roy has his a game we could do it down there will be VERY VERY TOUGH at there house but were getting better and better go hoyas beat memphis on sat.. ps go rutgers beat carolina for us first tommarrow wowow that would be a sweet introduction to sat memphis game yup go hoyas ;D ;D

[Locker]

It must be such an honor for JT3 to go up against the inventor of the Fake Princeton Offense. The key innovation of which is to run nothing but undisciplined, one-on-one play but then -- this important -- get Andy Katz to swallow the ridiculous notion that all that dribbling constitutes "the Princeton on steroids."

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Joey Dorsey - now is you chance to say something stupid ... [waits patiently]

[williambraskyiii]

I really want this game to be Roy's coming out party for the year. He hasn't had a headline-grabbing game yet (hasn't needed it) and I just want Roy to assert himselfas the POY-caliber monster that he is.

I don't know if Memph is the game for Roy b/c of their uptempo-style, but it seems like one possible strategy is to slow htem down as much as possible a la USC game and play our deliberate half-court offense...if that is the plan, I am bullish on Roy getting a lot of touches here and straight abusing dorsey. make memphis play structured offense and wait for them to make mistakes.

[vcjack]

williambraskyiii said:

I really want this game to be Roy's coming out party for the year. He hasn't had a headline-grabbing game yet (hasn't needed it) and I just want Roy to assert himselfas the POY-caliber monster that he is.

I don't know if Memph is the game for Roy b/c of their uptempo-style, but it seems like one possible strategy is to slow htem down as much as possible a la USC game and play our deliberate half-court offense...if that is the plan, I am bullish on Roy getting a lot of touches here and straight abusing dorsey. make memphis play structured offense and wait for them to make mistakes.

Agreed, this might be the first game of the season where the game plan won't be "collapse the zone on Hibbert", If Dorsey is left alone with him and their defenders overextend themselves we could be seeing Roy in the headlines

[HoyaSinceBirth]

according to their posters they pretty much won't play zone at all, so I say pound it into roy early and often!

[guhoyasfan36]

I think our free throw offense will have to be clicking if we're going to beat the tigers.

[GIGAFAN99]

It will be interesting to see what the minutes distribution looks like for this game. Do we stay with the 17-26 mpg for everyone or do we tighten it up for the big game?

I think we'll see a little less Wright and Macklin. Maybe if we get a lead in the first half we'll try to steal some minutes with Macklin to make sure Roy can anchor the D in the second half.

I also expect Dorsey's 91% FG to take a hit. No really, he's shooting 91%.

Oh and Rivers will spend a lot of time on Rose which will be a good match-up.

[jgalt]

I think the minutes distribution will depend on the pace, if GU decides to and can slow it down to half court sets then i expect around 30+ min from the starting line up. however, if III decides to risk taking on memphis fast paced or GU is not able slow things down, wright and macklin may see 20 minutes a piece.

I think the way to beat memphis is to slow things down, period. they shoot poorly (out side of dorsey) and rely on 70 to 80 possessions to make up for it. If they come out playing man to man (as many have predicted) the slow pace princetown would really just shred that defense apart.

Id love, though, to see us play fast paced and get a solid win of about 15 but have the game be clearly in our control the whole time, then after the game JT III say, "I think we showed them what 'Princeton on steroids' really looks like!" i think i would cry tears of joy for six or seven solid hours

[PopeJohn2]

this game is a TOUGH game matchupwise for us. they have not 1, but 2 strong/quick penetrating guards who can score or dish. CDR is 6-6! we have had trouble against teams like this, see conley and reynolds. to date we have only faced teams with one such player, now we have to contain 2. their reserves are good shooters from 3. and their frontcourt is big to boot.

i suspect hibbert will be able to handle dorsey. we should have the edge in the frontcourt when we have hibbert, ewing and summers on the court. if freeman is slotted in we lose a lot of size.

i think keys to the game will be our outside shooting and our backcourt defense. perhaps the quickness of wright will be helpful and rivers is no longer as much a liability on offense that he may see significant minutes for defense. he matches up better against CDR.

interesting to see what kind of defensive scheme iii puts together. this is a tough tough test from my perspective. we need wallaces shooting but he not as quick on defense. we need the quickness of wright but hes not yet a reliable scorer. our frontcourt is not very deep so we cannot afford cheap fouls. their guards penetrate and can dish to their big men and draw fouls. i suspect we will play man to man and they will play zone much of game. i like to see full court pressure if only to soak up clock and limit possessions. this is a game where id like to have green back. this game is a matchup enigma but i trust iii and staff are hard at work.

oh, and they may be even worse than us from the stripe!

[algtiger]

Keys for us to win:

Defense: Let Roy dominate inside and force Memphis to shoot from the outside. Let Rivers keep good ball pressure on Rose, making make mistakes and force shots. Rebound. They'll miss a lot of shots, we can't let Dorsey or others get easy looks inside on 2nd and 3rd chances.

Offense: Slow it up, make Memphis guard us man on man for 30-35 seconds each time down. They'll get frustrated and foul, or overplay looking for a steal and the backdoor will be open. Take care of the ball, don't give them turnovers which they can convert into easy baskets. Shoot a high percentage. They can't run if they have to take the ball out of bounds under their own basket.

[vcjack]

algtiger said:

Keys for us to win:

Defense: Let Roy dominate inside and force Memphis to shoot from the outside. Let Rivers keep good ball pressure on Rose, making make mistakes and force shots. Rebound. They'll miss a lot of shots, we can't let Dorsey or others get easy looks inside on 2nd and 3rd chances.

Offense: Slow it up, make Memphis guard us man on man for 30-35 seconds each time down. They'll get frustrated and foul, or overplay looking for a steal and the backdoor will be open. Take care of the ball, don't give them turnovers which they can convert into easy baskets. Shoot a high percentage. They can't run if they have to take the ball out of bounds under their own basket.

Sorry, for a second there with your name I thought you were a Memphis fan and was confused on why you wanted Roy to dominate inside. But then I saw your location.

Anyways I think that is good analysis, except that I think we can control the tempo by not only playing deliberate half court offense but we can also speed it up. I think if we are to win our two styled attack will be crucial

[DudeSlade]

How did Roy do against Dorsey during the Pan Am Games practices and tryouts? I think that could be where we exploit them. Also, do any of their guys match up with Summers? Their guards could be very hard to defend, but the key is to force them to the middle, ala Lawson last year, and force them into bad decisions in the lane. I like how this Radford game gave Memphis a lot more to think about in preparing for us. They now have to wonder if we'll go uptempo on them and they have to be very cautious of our other scorers beside Roy, especially Freeman and Summers, and they have to know that we can hit lights out from deep so they can't just collapse on us. The last few games have had to give our opponents a lot more to think about in preparation fos us. Awesome. Hoya Saxa!

[Locker]

I wouldn't mind Freeman seeing his first start alongside Summers and Hibbert. We could use the extra ballhandling against Memphis pressure. Plus, Ewing may make more sense as part of our second unit speed lineup. Also, Freeman is awesome.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

CDR and Rose did not play very well last night against middle tennessee state. Combined 4-10 from the field, 1-3 from behind the arc, 1 assist, 9 total pts 6 turnovers (3 a piece). I think they tried the triangle and 2 thing on them as well. I get more and more confident about this game. CDR and rose are not invincible, I think we'll be able to stop them and our front court can handle theirs. They'll be tough especially at home, but I like our chances.

[jgalt]

Can someone post a link to the memphis message boards if they have been talking about this game id love to see what they are saying.

Also, the match ups are not only player to player, i see this game as almost (attention: i am about too get way to philosophical and read into a basketball game way too much) a corollary for the the future of college basketball as a whole: you have one team (georgetown) representing the classic team orientated game that naismisth invented, wooden perfected, and a style carril created against the new era of playground ball- one man, one hoop, drive the lane and jam it home then run as fast as you can to force a steal or play lackluster defense just waiting to get another chance to get on the highlight reel. this is clearly an extreme analysis but really the two team styles of play (no matter how much calipari would like to think) are completely different. case in point after last nights game III said he thought this was roys best game because of the way he moved towards the ball made great decisions and lead the team.

ok i am done with this ridiculous rant but that is what i will be watch next saturday in addition to how well these hoyas are against some of the nations top individual talent

[HoyaSinceBirth]

www.ncaabbs.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=499

[alcalde]

jgalt said:

Can someone post a link to the memphis message boards if they have been talking about this game id love to see what they are saying.

Also, the match ups are not only player to player, i see this game as almost (attention: i am about too get way to philosophical and read into a basketball game way too much) a corollary for the the future of college basketball as a whole: you have one team (georgetown) representing the classic team orientated game that naismisth invented, wooden perfected, and a style carril created against the new era of playground ball- one man, one hoop, drive the lane and jam it home then run as fast as you can to force a steal or play lackluster defense just waiting to get another chance to get on the highlight reel. this is clearly an extreme analysis but really the two team styles of play (no matter how much calipari would like to think) are completely different. case in point after last nights game III said he thought this was roys best game because of the way he moved towards the ball made great decisions and lead the team.

ok i am done with this ridiculous rant but that is what i will be watch next saturday in addition to how well these hoyas are against some of the nations top individual talent

Hey everyone, Memphis fan here. The problem with this assessment is the assumption that our players are highlight-reel minded and play selfish as well as poor defense. This couldnt be further from the truth.
The truth is Memphis is an unbelievable defensive team. Unfortunately so far this season we have been a mediocre offensive team, and it has nothing to do with selfish play. Our biggest problem has been outside of Rose and CDR, all of our capable guards have been in a serious shooting slump all at the same time. Their confidence has been extremely shaky. This includes Antonio Anderson, Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack and Andre Allen. All of these players still play just as hard on defense. Anderson is one of the 5 best backcourt defenders in the country and gets the assignment of the opposing teams best player from the 1-4 position (he wont be asked to guard Hibbert of course). In our last game against Middle Tennessee State, Anderson seemed to come out of his slump and play his most complete game of the season. Unfortunately, our other guards couldnt throw it in the ocean.
If our offense at any time this season has appeared to be one-on-one sets, it has been because our team has been in such an offensive funk that Rose and CDR have had to just take over. CDR is a mismatch for any team, and Rose is so fast and can create his own shot. When our offense is at its best, it is oriented towards all of our guards being able to create their own opportunities through dribble drives and kicks. We spread the floor and our team is mostly all veterens who have been to back to back Elite 8s and won 66 games in two years, so they know where each other is at all times. Dorsey's shooting percentage is due to the fact that he is all dunks and put backs on offense. He is surprisingly fast and a great perimeter defender. It would likely surprise most that he was among the conference leaders in steals.
One good thing we saw from our latest game is, despite CDR and Rose having a terrible offensive game as well as our other guards maintaining their slump, we showed that our frontcourt could take over offensively as well if needed. Our guards are capable of defering and getting it to these capable players like Robert Dozier, Shawne Taggart and Dorsey. The three of them combined to score more than half our our total points last night.
Anyway, here's to a great game. This game really has me worried because I feel we are going to need ALL of our players at or near their best to win, and that hasnt happened yet this year. Regardless, I expect a great defensive matchup.