Memphis Post Game Thread

[DanMcQ]

Note to our guests: legit basketball discussion is welcome, posts simply talking smack are subject to deletion without warning and loss of posting privileges.


A lot to work on for the Hoyas. Very SOFT effort on the boards and the offensive end by the front line, horrible free throw shooting, and inability to adjust on the offensive end to Memphis' defense. Hibbert allowed himself to get pushed around on the offensive end, and there were several possessions midway through the second half where he could have drop-stepped and dunked but he hesitated and passed back out.

At the end of the year this will show up as a quality road loss to an excellent team.

[hoyaboy1]

Well, uh, Freeman played well. That's about it for the positives.

Too many negatives list, but obviously rebounding, FTs, and Roy head the list. This is 4/5 games where Roy has been in single digits, and he was a complete non-factor. That is totally unacceptable for a senior All-American center.

[PopeJohn2]

we need green. the drop off from hibbert to macklin is too great. the loss in size from ewing/summers to freeman is too great. green would allow you to sit roy or ewing/summers without the huge drop off in size/talent.

from what i see we have serious matchup issues in the frontcourt that will be very tough to overcome versus size teams.

[MassHoya]

Just as a win is a win, a loss is a loss. This loss hurts their standing and their "rep". A lot of work to do, but a lot of basketball between now and March. Roy, rebounds, free throws all contributed. Was it me or were Jon and Jesse invisible?

[Deleted]

First of all Jon was not invisible. We were best when he was on the floor. Memphis is a superb team. They could be the best team in the country.

Let's put this in perspective. We are infiinitely better now than we were at this time last year.

Freeman and Wright are going to be stars.

[royski]

I think Cal outcoached JTIII. We totally lost our rythym, and they were getting that midrange jumper at will. Dorsey absolutely abused us. Their big three showed up huge, Rose, Dorsey and CDR. Only Freeman played well on our whole team. An embarassing performance.

However, this team gets better as the year progresses. We will learn from this. By tournament time, we will be a much much better team.

We better be.

[superan]

I think pretty much all our weaknesses were exposed and taken advantage of today. FT and rebounding have been problems against every team. hopefully this game gives the team motivation to address those weaknesses.

[HoyaPride]

C'mon now! How many teams have as much talent as us 5 or 6 maybe. Yes, Jeff is gone-but get over it and support this team. Today was not good, hopefully-and I trust that III will use this as a great learning tool on many things (tougness, rebounding, hustle, FT shooting, and intangibles). This loss might help as we get into BE play.

[bubbrubbhoya]

Free throws.

Rebounds.

[1984alloveragain]

Eh.. Would have been INCREDIBLE to win.. Not horrible to lose, if they learn WHY we lost (Free Throws; REBOUNDING!! Being STRONGER and more ASSERTIVE with the ball; Playing YOUR Game - Making them DEFEND you - not just taking the first open shot, especially on the road against a team that Wants you to do that, etc...). I still like us to meet them in three months, as this road test will help us in the Big East venues we have to play at this year.

To any Memphis Fans: Hell of a Team you have there.. Gonna take a MAJOR Effort to beat you guys.. Best wishes, and... MAY WE MEET AGAIN IN SAN ANTONIO.. HOYA SAXA!!

[guhoyasfan36]

UUUUGH! At least we know there's room for improvement...same as last year. March is a long ways away.

[rosslynhoya]

I think it's worth pointing out here early that Memphis also played incredibly well today. It wasn't just Georgetown mistakes that doomed us, but that the Tigers got so many shots to fall. It was a bad day for everything to go wrong on our end too.

[hoyaboy1]

We need to work on press breaking as well. There was no downside to Memphis pressing us; it caused turnovers and made us waste times, and only once or twice did we take advantage of it and score. You need to make teams pay when they press you, and we didn't.

[HOYAPLAYA]

popejohn2 said:

we need green. the drop off from hibbert to macklin is too great.

Not sure I saw much of a drop-off this afternoon. Hibbert just put up the same sort of effort that had many of us frustrated with Green early in the year and versus Ohio St, so I'm not sure why Green is the answer here. He's gone and this team is what it is. At the end of the day, you will rarely beat a top 10 team by hitting 12 of 23 FT's and getting abused on the boards.

This sucks because we had an opportunity for a signature road win on national television. The upside is that I think we have a few players who JTIII can remind of the level of effort and discipline that it took last year in order to make it to the final four. I think this team will be just fine. Outside of Macklin, I expect the FT's to come around. Memphis played a great 2nd half and handed it to us. They deserved to win and we deserved to lose. I think there are enough competitors on this team to see that this scenario doesn't happen that often this season, but only time will tell.

[sleepy]

popejohn2 said:

we need green. the drop off from hibbert to macklin is too great. the loss in size from ewing/summers to freeman is too great. green would allow you to sit roy or ewing/summers without the huge drop off in size/talent.

from what i see we have serious matchup issues in the frontcourt that will be very tough to overcome versus size teams.

Well we aren't going to get him back. Bringing it up has about as much of a point as saying we could have used Ewing and Mourning today. We need to move on, we were going to lose at some point in the season.

[regalmeans]

Free throws and offensive glass. Repeat. Repeat.

Having watched (in person and on TV) UNC games and some other top ranked teams this year... Memphis impressed me - I would not be surprised to see them steal a lot of UNC's 1st place votes after this and honestly, they deserve them - I think their game is more well rounded then UNC and they have a stronger outside game/three pointers. Our team should watch this tape to learn about following their shots/offensive rebounds.

I actually Wallace looked more prominant then he had an awhile and they did seem more composed with him on the floor. And sinking the 2 shots on the tech was classic Jon.

[mapei]

Memphis's defense and rebounding were incredible. That's a very good team. Last year, Roy came up huge in some high-profile matchups. This one, he didn't. On to the rest of the season. Work on free throws.

Chris and Austin both showed well for the future.

[hometownhoya72]

1 Well we shot 52% from the free throw line.
2 We shot 21% from the the "arc" (3-point line).
3 We were 47% from the floor which isn't bad.
4 Roy single digits again, and a lack of presence in the paint.
5 Our bench except for Austin did not produce like it should.
6 Out rebounded, and no adjustment in the second half for defense.
7 Rotation was out of sync, no sense of urgency.
8 Memphis was ready, we were not!

[guhoyasfan36]

Although Roy didn't have a very good game, I feel having him on the floor makes a difference for us. At least he's a threat to make a free throw(if he doesn't fumble the ball off his foot)

[SFHoya99]

Some thoughts...

• I wanted to win, but if you're going to lose, I suppose this is the way to lose. There's a lot to learn from this game for the coaching staff and the players. We got slapped around, but it needn't happen in the future if they learn from it.
  
• Roy was atrocious. I'm sure he'll rebound but he got pushed around on offense, made poor decisions left and right and didn't make a quick move until the game was over. But even worse, he was awful on defense, constantly overpursuing on defense -- whether on the outside on on driving players -- that basically let Dorsey & Co. dominate the boards. When a driving player is still guarded what value is there in help defense when the defense doesn't need help? Maybe this was a coaching decision -- if so, then III was outcoached.
  
• Kudos to Cal and Memphis. They destoryed the 2-3 by repeatedly getting into the soft spot -- and well below the FT line. Once again we overextended versus a team that is great down low but not so special beyond the arc. Why? Like someone above, I agree that III got outcoached.
• For anyone who thinks Memphis lacks discipline: compare our utter breakdown and abandonment of the offense to their repeated assault of our "zone"; compare our flailing defense to their ability to have position on EVERY single rebound on the weakside.
  
• We certainly miss Green in that he was a great player, but I don't really agree that we miss Green in the sense you say. I guess I mean I don't know how much we'll be saying that in March. Green over Mack is a huge upgrade, and you certainly miss Green when Hibbert is this bad, but I also can't agree with your assessment of Freeman. He was one of the our best three.
  
• Did Jesse play? I missed him. Strange for a guy who has been so "big game" before.
  
• Also, I know Jon is not a good defender, but the difference between him and Rivers was huge today. We needed playmakers.
  
• People are going to focus on our offensive breakdown, but I am amazed at how poorly we played defense/how well Memphis attacked us.
  
• But on offense, I'd day at least 1/3 of the shots/plays were completely ill-advised. Memphis' pressure played a big role, like Nova last year, like Duke (2nd half last year).
  
• Kudos to the Memphis fans. That place was rocking.
  

Positives:

• Freeman played well. DaJuan was aggressive, if a bit too aggressive late -- seemed like he was trying to put the team on his back.
  
• I actually thought our press break was better than ever -- 5 or 6 buckets.
  
• We'll learn from this and get better. That's about all I can say.