Positives.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

1) VMack looked good for the most part and he could really thrive in an offense that opens things up,

2) Chris Wright will be healthy next year and will be a creator that we don't really have,

3) This will be the first year with 4 years of JTIII players (you could argue one more year since he really had to scrape together a group for Jessie's class),

4) Based on 3, we should start to see what JTIII really is looking for (I love Roy, but he would never have been recruited by III and Pat & Tyler really fell into III's lap)

5) We have three bigs coming in next year which should really help,

6) We won't be pre-season BE favorites with a target on our back,

7) We have three tourney births in a row (remember the Esh),

8) No one will be going pro early.

Please feel free to add.

[doublehoya]

Are you sure about #6? With the class we have coming in, and the development of VMack, Wright, Freeman and Summers -- as well as the senior leadership of Sapp, I think we look very strong next year. Time will tell. No doubt we will be a much, much faster team next year. Let's see if we can up the meanery by 250%. We NEED more meanery, and I hope this group can find it (I think they will).

[TrueHoyaBlue]

I think we look strong for next year, but losing four seniors will drop us in the preseason hype department, esp. compared to teams like UConn, Cuse, and L'ville, who will be seen as returning more of their cores.

When you think about it, probably 75% of the national stories on the Hoyas this year were about Ewing, Roy or Wallace, and so the buzz around this team, (no matter the reality) will be much lower to start the year.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

All of that tends to be a good thing. We will see who goes pro. If Thabeet or Greene go pro, that lowers the hype on those squads (both should stay). Ville will be pre-season favorites again with most players back and adding a really strong recruiting class. Nova brings everyone back. Pitt, ND, Marquette, etc. We will be mentioned in the top tier, but not as top dogs.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

1) The program is back and here to stay.

2) We had the pleasure of watching 5 (including Jeff) special, special young men perform with class and dignity on and off the court for four years (three for JG) and make a few miracles happen in the process.

3) We have a great coach who, by all indications, is sticking around for a long time.

4) We have MONSTER potential over the next several seasons with who we have staying and who we have coming in (remember when Mike Sweetney left?).

5) As a result of 2) and 3), going to home games is a truly "home" experience and we are able to watch more games on TV.

[big16]

This sounds crazy but I already feel better about our offense with Monroe instead of Hibbert. How many times have you said to yourself during a game "give him the ball"? I know that I yell it with so much anger that my dog runs and hides. Our perimeter players don't throw the ball to Hibbert, so why have a back-to-the-basket center? Think of Monroe with the ball at the top of the key instead of Hibbert. His ability to handle the rock already jumps him above Hibbert within our scheme. I love Roy but he doesn't fit the offense the way we run it. He could but we don't get him the ball. I also know at times he didn't get awesome position but just throw it in to get it back. With that said, I'm looking forward to next year.

[EasyEd]

Thought Vern looked very good yesterday. He even matched (or almost matched) his made free-throws of the season. In the first half yesterday the team seemed to run very smoothly with Vern in.

[kchoya]

Mar 24, 2008 12:09:42 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

Thought Vern looked very good yesterday. He even matched (or almost matched) his made free-throws of the season. In the first half yesterday the team seemed to run very smoothly with Vern in.

Yeah, but Packer and Nantz couldn't be bothered to comment - too busy slurping Curry and Davidson. Only time they commented on Ticket's FTs was when he was fouled on the dunk attempt in the second half.

[mapei]

Vern's play is the biggest positive I take away from the end of the season, with Chris next.

The biggest sources of doubt I have are losing Jon's leadership and shooting, losing Pat's do-everything ability and attitude, and DaJuan's inconsistency.

I also have a little concern over whether we can maintain the extraordinary standard of class as human beings set by Jon, Jeff, and Roy. They set a very high standard.

[idhoya]

There are ? marks with the current team though.

1) can V Mack play the post/hit a FT?
2) Will Jessie become the leader of the backcourt as a senior?
3) Can/Will Dajuan be more consistent and the leader of the front court?
4) Will Chris start or be 1st out the limo (sorry charlie mack); I mean off the bench?
5) Will Nikita transfer and open up a slot for someone else?

[theexorcist]

Mar 24, 2008 12:15:18 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Mar 24, 2008 12:09:42 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

Thought Vern looked very good yesterday. He even matched (or almost matched) his made free-throws of the season. In the first half yesterday the team seemed to run very smoothly with Vern in.

Yeah, but Packer and Nantz couldn't be bothered to comment - too busy slurping Curry and Davidson. Only time they commented on Ticket's FTs was when he was fouled on the dunk attempt in the second half.

In Packer and Nantz's defense, Mack's FTs didn't really deserve much comment. One or two graphics that were shown mentioned it, but Mack never got much playing time in the previous games. The only time it might have come up would have been a comment that the automatic fouling of Macklin might not be a good strategy.

Curry, on the other hand, blew up in the second half and Davidson scored the biggest upset of the tourney so far. Giving them the attention seems logical.

[blueandgray]

Mar 24, 2008 12:39:30 GMT -5 mapei said:

Vern's play is the biggest positive I take away from the end of the season, with Chris next.

The biggest sources of doubt I have are losing Jon's leadership and shooting, losing Pat's do-everything ability and attitude, and DaJuan's inconsistency.

I also have a little concern over whether we can maintain the extraordinary standard of class as human beings set by Jon, Jeff, and Roy. They set a very high standard.

Its kinda funny that almost immediately after one of the most devistating after in Hoya History (this is up there with blowing the BE Finals against UCON, and the 1985 Finals) that there are so many threads looking ahead to next year and focusing on the posisitves....and rightfully so!! Unlike some of those other years where the future was a little murky by losing Ewing and Iverson... I think we are all very excited about the direction this program is headed.

Mapei - Even your concern about whether we can maintain the extraordinary level of class our team has is one that is already being addressed. Greg Monroe is a very solid kid with great character, and Hollis Thompson has a 4.2 gpa and is one of the nicest and unpretentious people you'll ever meet. I think JT3 recruits character.

[kchoya]

Positive - we're back to being "big, bad Georgetown," and when a team knocks us off, it merits front page coverage on USA Today, airtime all over SportsCenter, column after column... (on second thought, that's a negative too.

Positive - we're not UMCB and we aren't stuck reading the idiots on the twerps message boards:

mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=174#s=174&f=2580&t=2216801&p=1

[hoyasexy]

If Macklin is going to be getting more playing time, he needs to work on his dunk-yelling. When he threw one down in the first half yesterday, it may have looked impressive, but his high-pitched squeal made me cringe. I think the boys in the replay truck must have been peeing themselves, because they just kept playing it over and over again, with the sound on every time. Before Pat leaves the Hilltop, his focus should be some mentoring sessions with Vern on this topic.

[hoyatables]

Macklin's play in extended minutes in the last few big games was a definite bright spot. I like how he moves and I think that he could be a big part of the offense. He nees to practice hard though!

[jacko]

I think it was pretty common knowledge since the start of the '06-'07 season, and if not, definitely at the beginning of this season - Georgetown is back to stay as an elite program.

Other than the fact that all my friends who would be in Detroit will be in DC next week when I visit, I thought of one glaring positive:

Davidson was a giant killer on Sunday. We are the giants now.

Just to give an idea of how I'm looking at this, '03-'04 was my freshman year (a wonderful year to observe steady yet dramatic progress over 4 years). I know some people may feel down after this second round exit, but we won't make the final 4 every year. The only thing I can take comfort in now is that the program is strong, and it's going to stay that way for at least a while.

[lichoya68]

coach aint graduating and the big tickets big dunk yell those are reasons to be positive yup go hoyas

[TBird41]

Playing off of Columbia's 6th point:

Since we won't be favorites, with a top 4 finish in the Big East, JT3 might be able to wrest the COY award away from the John Wooden of South Bend.

[nodak89]

I somewhat accidentally found the tape of the 2005 the McDonough NIT home game. I watched the first half this morning while working out. Jeff had 5 blocks and 11 points in the first half. I think Tyler played more minutes than Roy. I had forgotten the fast break from Jon to DJ with the backward bouce pass to Bobo for the jam.

Watching Roy was very strange. I don't think he even looked at the rim when he had the ball.

It also made me think that if we had even "Freshman Jeff" this year, we would have been unstoppable.

I highly recommend it to anyone who needs to be reinvigorated. Caveat: beware the white uniforms.