OldHoyafan
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,387
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Post by OldHoyafan on Feb 11, 2008 0:12:07 GMT -5
Last year all the pundits had a concern that the Hoya frontcourt was a legitimate Final Four frontcout but they were unsure whether their guard play was up to snuff. I remember many on this board called that kind of thinking offbeat because the Georgetown offense did not require a prototypical backcourt. The offfense, we said, could run just effectively with a big "point forward". Well, the NCAA's started and Jeff Green made us look like geniuses.
This year even with Jeff gone the Hoya frontcourt of Pre-season All American center Hibbert, Ewing and Summers looked pretty good. The question again was whether its backcourt could repeat its work of last year. The addition of two high school All Americans in the backcourt. seemed to give high hopes that it could. As we approach March Madness with the recent troubles of Wallace and fate having taken the two freshmen All Americans from the Hoya backcourt, the pundits are once again questioning whether the Hoyas can go all the way. Unlike last year, our arguments about point forward ,I don't think will hold up. Maybe its my imagination , but neither Summers or Freeman seem to have big assists numbers like Green had last year.(statistics gurus can confirm or dispute this) This leaves JT3 with the question of how to control a game on offense when the other team has 2 prototypical guards. AS I said last year Jeff was the point forward that no team had a match for. He is not here. with no true point forward , the pundits will be glad to write the Hoyas off as not having championship guardplay to win it all.
The X-factor for JT3 may be that this offense allows for a point-center, and we will see more touches for Roy. A result we all have wanted to see, albeit at the top of the key.
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Post by drjimcooper on Feb 11, 2008 12:49:46 GMT -5
I think that DaJuan has the potential to fill this void, although up to this point he has not shown the kinds of back to the basket skills required of a Jeff Green style point-forward. You really need someone who has the height to scan the passing lanes from the elbow, who also represents a threat to turnaround and shoot the J, drive to the hoop, or back into the post.
Roy has been somewhat successful in this role, but with him at the top, we've neutralized our own size advantage under the basket. Ideally, you'd have a guy like Vernon working on these skills. Can you imagine if Vern was a consistent threat to stroke the foul line jumper or back down his man with a strong move. As soon as the zone collapses, you have the potential for the kick out for open three or the dump under to Roy for the flush. Perhaps PE Jr. could fill this role?
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KHoyaNYC
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,900 
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Post by KHoyaNYC on Feb 11, 2008 13:11:40 GMT -5
Roy needs more touches whether it is top of the key or down on the blocks. Roy is more athletic than we give him credit for sometimes. Think of that hanging drive he had against ND. I'm also ok with him taking a few more long jumpers. Just give the guy the ball more.
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hoyafoeva
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 750
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Post by hoyafoeva on Feb 11, 2008 13:28:55 GMT -5
Roy needs more touches whether it is top of the key or down on the blocks. Roy is more athletic than we give him credit for sometimes. Think of that hanging drive he had against ND. I'm also ok with him taking a few more long jumpers. Just give the guy the ball more. THANK SO MUCH SIR. i'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE LAST YEAR |
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
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Post by Boz on Feb 11, 2008 13:31:11 GMT -5
Roy needs more touches whether it is top of the key or down on the blocks. Roy is more athletic than we give him credit for sometimes. Think of that hanging drive he had against ND. I'm also ok with him taking a few more long jumpers. Just give the guy the ball more. THANK SO MUCH SIR. i'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE LAST YEAR  |
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TBird41
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
Posts: 8,740
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Post by TBird41 on Feb 11, 2008 13:43:55 GMT -5
Roy needs more touches whether it is top of the key or down on the blocks. Roy is more athletic than we give him credit for sometimes. Think of that hanging drive he had against ND. I'm also ok with him taking a few more long jumpers. Just give the guy the ball more. THANK SO MUCH SIR. i'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE LAST YEAR Well, I've been saying that since before Roy stepped on the court freshman year!!! So there!!! |
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,744
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Post by SFHoya99 on Feb 11, 2008 14:22:13 GMT -5
The issue may have always been guard play, but I'd argue that, last year, the guards stepped up as much as Jeff did to fill the void.
Our issue is obvious: no one has stepped up to fill the void.
It's obvious that DaJuan and Pat are very similar players to last year -- very good but neither made the leap to Jeff's role. Thompson's idea of everyone collectively stepping up hasn't worked either -- with DaJuan and Pat playing similar, the guards have also not stepped up.
Where I take issue with a lot of folks is simply the idea that the guards cannot step up. The same for DaJuan and Pat. The season isn't over -- and while players do seem to be who we thing they are -- these are college kids and we do see improvement. Heck, we also see "hot" streaks.
You can point out issues and opportunities without assuming that they will not get fixed. There's no reason to assume they will get fixed either, but you have to acknowledge that many of these players stepped up last year and that we have seen patterns of improvement under III, whether in-season or off-season.
Jon and Jessie were a very big part of our FF run (as were Pat and DaJuan and Roy and to some extent, Rivers). While you can't assume they will do it again, you have to acknowledge that they can do it. And that's where a lot of the negativity is (on the other board, someone referred to our guard talent as mid-major).
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paranoya
Century (over 100 posts)
"Iverson was cool but I supported Victor Page. It's a DC thing, in case you ain't notice." - Wale
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Post by paranoya on Feb 11, 2008 14:38:39 GMT -5
Ummm I think Jessie has stepped up big time this year. I don't know why people keep saying no one has stepped up, that is selling jessie very short.
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,212
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Post by hoyarooter on Feb 11, 2008 15:05:35 GMT -5
Ummm I think Jessie has stepped up big time this year. I don't know why people keep saying no one has stepped up, that is selling jessie very short. I think it is because Jessie has been inconsistent. He's been Jerry West reincarnated down the stretch of games, and deserves (and has received) huge credit for that, but he has still been plagued by turnovers and inconsistent shooting. |
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Feb 11, 2008 15:22:20 GMT -5
Jessie has stepped up in terms of clutch play and in terms of taking some of the playmaking responsibility on his shoulders.
He's improved as a shooter, as well. But he's turning the ball over a LOT. So there's osme good and bad.
Either way, if we're going by this replacement by committee, there hasn't been enough committee. We haven't seen enough improvement by Wallace and Summers, specifically, and Austin -- who has gotten a lot of shots -- is great for a freshman but not for Jeff Green.
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paranoya
Century (over 100 posts)
"Iverson was cool but I supported Victor Page. It's a DC thing, in case you ain't notice." - Wale
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Post by paranoya on Feb 11, 2008 15:29:22 GMT -5
I agree that the replacement by committee has been sub par at best.
Maybe I am just biased because Jessie used to be the person I yelled at the most since Brandon Bowman, especially on fast breaks where until this year he was a guarantee to F it up. So maybe Jessie has stepped up more in my eyes than others who were less prone to yelling at him.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Feb 11, 2008 15:35:23 GMT -5
I agree that the replacement by committee has been sub par at best. Maybe I am just biased because Jessie used to be the person I yelled at the most since Brandon Bowman, especially on fast breaks where until this year he was a guarantee to F it up. So maybe Jessie has stepped up more in my eyes than others who were less prone to yelling at him. No, I think you're right. He's taken on a lot of the responsibility of the team on his shoulders, taking a larger amount of the ballhandling and shooting from Jeff than hios fair share. His shot is much improved, both inside and out. He's made big shots and played good defense. Frankly, I'm not sure we're not much better if he gets 35 minutes a game. We're still not really pushing people minutes-wise. That said, Jessie still isn't one of our more efficient players. And while I realize that some of our more efficient players -- like Pat or Jon -- don't have the games to take on more offensive load, we do have one: Roy. Our biggest offensive issue is that we transferred almost all of our interior shots by Jeff Green to the perimeter. I'm not just talking threes; I'm talking twos as well. We basically took 10-15% our of gameplan that was down low out to the perimeter. There's a lot of ways to compensate for that -- fast breaking, driving more, more backdoors, better outside shooting...but by and large those aren't happening. Hoyafoeva may not be right on everything, but we do need to get it to Roy more. |
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hoyafoeva
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 750
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Post by hoyafoeva on Feb 11, 2008 15:40:19 GMT -5
;D THANK SO MUCH SIR. i'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE LAST YEAR |
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hoyafoeva
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 750
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Post by hoyafoeva on Feb 11, 2008 15:41:04 GMT -5
THANK SO MUCH SIR. i'VE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE LAST YEAR Well, I've been saying that since before Roy stepped on the court freshman year!!! So there!!! Okay, child calm down, it's all good |
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