Big John's comments on the Pitt game

[MCIGuy]

First of all I think John Thompson the Second still owes the current Gtown team an apology. After the loss to Temple he went on the air the next day on his radio show and told his listeners that the current GU team was by far inferior to any of the last four Hoya teams he coached. He took it a step further by then commenting that his first team at Gtown was more talented than the ’04-’05 squad, a remark that simply ridiculous.

For those who don’t understand JT’s philosophy he blames players all the time while letting coaches off scot-free. If a team is bad its because the players aren’t any good. If a team is good its mostly because of the coach. Norv Turner and Craig Esherick, to use two local examples, were blameless. So with that being said by knocking the Hoyas’ current players so badly he has only set it up for his son and his assistants to get the majority of the credit if GU does well. And I think now JT is beginning to somewhat backtrack of his original claims but, again, the majority of the accolades will go to the coaches and not the team.

Okay to today’s John Thompson Show. Doc and Al started off talking about the Hoyas big victory last night and were trying to figure out the keys to the win (defense at the end, good shooting early, Bowman’s drive for the final bucket). John Thompson then joined them and immediately pointed out that the biggest play was Owens’ rebound off of Jeff Green’s three point miss that led to the Hoyas getting an extra possession for that final shot. Thompson blurted out that if Owens would be a pro if he actually wanted to rebound and play defense rather than standing in a corner all game long shooting jumpers (got a chuckle out of that because there is truth there.)

Other comments made by Thompson on his show.:

-the key was the upperclassmen playing like upperclassmen. Cook and Bowman playing smart and Owens making a contribution. The key for the season in his opinion are those three guys leading the team all year long. He thought the freshmen were playing very well (in particular mentioned Hibbert and Green). The upperclassmen had to step it up.

-Stuck by his opinion that the team isn’t talented. But then minutes later altered it a bit by expressing the team is good but not very good because the lack of depth. There isn’t any bench in his mind.

-Because of the lack of depth he feels his son is shortening the game; that’s why they use so much of the time clock. Looking at the stats all of the starters stayed out of foul trouble because the less possessions there are the less likely those starters will pick up penalties and foul out.

-The ball isn’t going into the paint enough because the lack of players with the ability to make the penetrating pass into the middle. Said this is something most players can’t do. Its easy to pass around the perimeter but not many are good at making a clean pass past their defender to the hands of a teammate in the post.

-He’s surprised the team is playing as well as it has been. Didn’t think they would beat Pitt or Davidson or Clemson.

-A good sign is that the players are listening to JT3 and playing the system as designed by the coach. Liked the quotes he read from the players.

-Mentioned that he talked to a pro player in the last couple of days about the Princeton system (must be a Washington Wizard). The NBA player said that he enjoyed playing the system but that it is tough to learn. I guess JT brought this up to point out that if pros playing 82 games a year plus pre-season have a tough time picking up the system imagine how it is for college kids in a much shorter time (while dealing with school work to boot).

[TrueHoyaBlue]

It would probably make sense if it's a Wiz player, since they're just beginning to get into the system this season after some growing pains last season.

I think JT2's comments at the beginning of the season were over the top, and probably uncalled for.

That said, I'm not surprised about the "lack of a bench" comment. I think JTIII feels that there are a certain number of players who can/have adapted his offensive and (to an extent, though a much lesser one) defensive system, and that he is going to work with what he has, but believes that in order to improve the team over the long haul, the best bet is to bring in some new guys who are recruited specifically because they are suited to playing the system. As that happens, I think the offense will speed up considerably, and the Hoyas will use more of the bench.


Given what press he had coming in, I'm somewhat surprised by Cornelio's lack of playing time. But given that he's played less than 5 years of organized hoops, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a steep learning curve in picking up the complexities of III's offense. Would he be better suited in a more traditional big man setting? I don't know, but it's about my best guess right now in terms of what has happened with this team's shallow lineup.

[the_way]

MCI, you know JT is always going to protect his son. Remember JT is a coach, and will always stick up for coaches as well. But He did make good points about the team aside from that. His comment about Owens is right on the money. What he is basically saying about Owens is that the ability is there, but the hunger and heart for the game isn't. I think DJ has it in him, I think we all want him to have that fight in him, because we all think he is good player. Hopefully he will be consistent this year. The talent is there.

Oh yeah, which Wiz player did JT talk to about how difficult the Princeton offense is. I hope it wasn't, eh , Kwame Brown. ;D

[MCIGuy]

To be fair I should point out that JT did give the current players credit for working very hard and improving as the season progresses.

[JimmyHoya]

Wait a second, I'm pretty sure Thompson said that JT3's team was less ATHLETIC than anyone he ever coached, not less talented.

[MCIGuy]

JimmyHoya said:

Wait a second, I'm pretty sure Thompson said that JT3's team was less ATHLETIC than anyone he ever coached, not less talented.

The first time he said the team was less talented than the last four teams he coached at GU and less athletic than his first team.

Today he just mentioned less talented.

[JimmyHoya]

That big stinkin' jerk!

Thanks for the correction.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Big John also used to sub in players every thirty seconds and they wouldn't get into an offensive flow. Esherick did the same thing. I think the improved shooting with the same players might have something to do with this.

Sure we aren't that deep, but if Big John was coaching, you could bet he would still be going ten deep to increase the defensive pressure. I think both coaches have their pros & cons but I like the younger T's style of play in terms of entertainment value.

[pax]

Exactly right. In his salad days, Pop's "offensive system" was to send in waves of 6'5"-6'6" guys who would run through walls for him and hound the, um, heck, out of opponents defensively and run them out of the building. He did this even when he had great centers. His trademark was defensive pressure everywhere and turnovers.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over what Thompson the Elder thinks about offensive play.