HoyaFanNY
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Never throw to the venus on a spider 3 Y banana!
Posts: 4,992
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Post by HoyaFanNY on Jan 6, 2009 7:21:09 GMT -5
i agree with RDF about the officials. listen, we're not going to win many games when we shoot like we have the last 2 games. teams win despite bad shooting by pounding the offensive glass and creating turnovers, two things we don't really do well. we haven't made shots, there is nothing we can really do about that. i think wright needs to penetrate more...too much passing around the perimeter. other than that, we played much better than saturday and most important we gave a good effort.
our interior defense is what concerns me. harangody scored at will inside during that first half stretch, which was basically when the game was decided. we can't let teams get easy looks inside like that.
i thought henry and jason gave us some good minutes. wattad, other than the 3, was terrible. he looked nailed to the floor on defense.
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Hoya50
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 805
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Post by Hoya50 on Jan 6, 2009 8:50:58 GMT -5
a disappointing loss for sure, but not unexpected with the team shooting so poorly. nice to see the bench get so much run, but the productivity wasn't there. sims looked pretty much lost on offense and wattad shouldn't get any real run. the bench order should be clark, sims and then start praying.
i thought the idea of starting sims and having sapp come off the bench was interesting. sims seems athletic enough to be able to play d on the perimeter and could play for 7-9 minutes before bringing sapp in. that will never happen though.
what vexes me the most is the inconsistent perimeter shooting. hopefully the team is just suffering from a mini slump, but i really thought that freeman and wright would be able to space out the floor with their shooting this year with monroe in the middle.
the providence games makes me nervous. hopefully the boys don't have their confidence hammered by these losses and are able to find that groove again.
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vagrant
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 182
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Post by vagrant on Jan 6, 2009 9:34:52 GMT -5
Although I agree with the offense, free throw problems, etc. my major concern is this team's inability to play shut down defense when it matters. In all of our losses, when we brought it close (inspite of our poor offensive execution) we were unable to shut them down. We tied Pitt then they went on a ridiculous end of game run and scored in 14 out of 15 possession or something like that. Again yesterday everytime we closed to 4 or 5, we could not shut them down defensively. For the past two years we excelled at shutting team's down in crucial moments. Shooting poorly, missing free throws, we shut them down, we win. this team may be too young - yet- They will learn.
a view from the bench--vagrant
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Post by FHillsNYHoya on Jan 6, 2009 9:55:39 GMT -5
I think quite a bit of the "shut down defense" issue you saw (and I agree at times we weren't "tight") relates to McAlarney's shooting range. Like him or not, the guy can stroke it. Having to guard a guy 23 feet from the basket makes it a little harder to defend everyone else.
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Jan 6, 2009 9:58:10 GMT -5
Notre Dame is a good team, not as good as Pitt, but good. Despite the trashing of Harangody over the years, I'll take him on my team any day of the week. He's a really good college player. Has a nice soft touch and can hit from anywhere. McAlarney is also very good though I though Jesse did a pretty good job of sticking to him when he had him as his man. Thought we played a pretty good second half after a sub-par first half. Sims looked better and Clark is starting to get comfortable though I think he is far too timid on offense. Seems only to want to pass the ball. But he'll be good given time. Much better performance than Pitt game but it's just very hard to win at ND.
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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 Jan 6, 2009 10:04:34 GMT -5
Notre Dame is a good team, not as good as Pitt, but good. Despite the trashing of Harangody over the years, I'll take him on my team any day of the week. He's a really good college player. Has a nice soft touch and can hit from anywhere. McAlarney is also very good though I though Jesse did a pretty good job of sticking to him when he had him as his man. Thought we played a pretty good second half after a sub-par first half. Sims looked better and Clark is starting to get comfortable though I think he is far too timid on offense. Seems only to want to pass the ball. But he'll be good given time. Much better performance than Pitt game but it's just very hard to win at ND. I agree on Harangody (though I'll never respect a player whose first instinct after he misses is to turn and whine to the refs). He's been held under 20 points twice this year--once by Indiana in a game ND won by 38, and once by UNC. He's a good player, and one we underrate because Roy dominated him, something no other post player can say (He had 23 and 12 against Blair last year, 40 and 12 against Padgett, 14 and 14 against Cuse, and 32 and 16 against Thabeet)
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Post by Coast2CoastHoya on Jan 6, 2009 11:10:35 GMT -5
The team looked young and tired last night. Greg had himself a game, but the guards need to get their shooting and their D together. Sims played better, especially in the first half. REBOUNDING! FINALLY!
Harangody has turned into a player. I didn't like his game too much last year. This year he's stepped it up.
We could have won that game. The shots, again, were not falling. 4-18 from 3FG? That's terrible and must improve for this team to be successful; it's just a part of III's offense. 59% from the line in an important game like this is unforgivable.
Well, most of us thought 1-2 was where we'd be at this point. I hope the guys get some rest, learn from their mistakes, take 1,000,000 free throws at practice this week, and go 3-0 over the next stretch!!!
GO HOYAS.
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ahoya2
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 135
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Post by ahoya2 on Jan 6, 2009 12:29:50 GMT -5
I also agree they looked a little tired. Not surprising. A young team playing three tough games in seven days so not surprising. Most young players over the years get tired legs in Jan. Even Iverson. ND is very tough at home( 40+ straight wins) so this is not a shocker. Time to get focused, get the Friars and built depth on the bench in the next month. We all knew at the start of the year that if our front court players got into foul trouble or were injured, we were going to face problems. Missing DS really hurt. As for the joksters recommending that Sims start--- please. Let the young man get his bearing for awhile. He is athletically talented but lost on O and D
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hifigator
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,387
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Post by hifigator on Jan 6, 2009 14:07:48 GMT -5
I hate losing to Notre Dame in much of anything, and contrary to what others have said, I can't stand Harengody. Very little distinguishes him from the annointed one, Tyler Hansbrouhg. The up and down roller coaster ride was aggrevating. Get down by nine, cut it for 5 with the ball, only to miss a couple of shots and have it back to or near a double digit deficit again. One thing I noticed was that early in the set there were several times where Greg had really good post position down on the low block, but for whatever reason we decided to run more clock. I understand the principle of making the other team play a good 25-30 seconds of defense, but I think that the boys missed some opportunities to get a good, quick, easy basket or at least to get to the line for a couple of shots.
A win at UConn A loss to Pitt A loss at Notre Dame
That's a rough start, but things will get better.
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nodak89
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Roy Roy Royyyyy!!!
Posts: 1,881
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Post by nodak89 on Jan 6, 2009 14:15:43 GMT -5
I really hate the Domers. Not even close to the Orange bleepers, but I really want to knock the smirk off those leper-cons faces.
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blueandgray
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,762
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Post by blueandgray on Jan 6, 2009 17:19:23 GMT -5
I think quite a bit of the "shut down defense" issue you saw (and I agree at times we weren't "tight") relates to McAlarney's shooting range. Like him or not, the guy can stroke it. Having to guard a guy 23 feet from the basket makes it a little harder to defend everyone else. Hopefully we don't have to face too many more players who just after crossing half court can pull up and stroke it from 30 feet out. McAlarney and Curry are the only two guys in the country that can do that and they hurt us with it.
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kghoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,998
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Post by kghoya on Jan 6, 2009 17:41:07 GMT -5
I think quite a bit of the "shut down defense" issue you saw (and I agree at times we weren't "tight") relates to McAlarney's shooting range. Like him or not, the guy can stroke it. Having to guard a guy 23 feet from the basket makes it a little harder to defend everyone else. Hopefully we don't have to face too many more players who just after crossing half court can pull up and stroke it from 30 feet out. McAlarney and Curry are the only two guys in the country that can do that and they hurt us with it. rautins has been doing it recently
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blueandgray
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,762
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Post by blueandgray on Jan 6, 2009 18:17:09 GMT -5
We certainly can't leave Rautins open as he is definitely a weapon.. but not to the same degree as the aforementioned.
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Highsmith
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,490
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Post by Highsmith on Jan 6, 2009 20:34:31 GMT -5
Missed FT's haunted Hoyas this game. I've seen some whining about officials--but thought it was well officiated game and worst call was in Hoyas favor--Harangody didn't charge for his 4th. I'd like to see the guys go up STRONG--when Greg has option of dunking it--do it. Jason Clark went up soft and what should've been at least a FT attempt ended up in a turnover. Dajuan needs to keep his composure on court more--he's going to get T'd up--and that will cost him a foul--and Hoyas need him. Good minutes from Henry tonight--liked the activity and competitiveness. Expected this to be 1-2 out of gates--but also think Hoyas will gain more from this 3 game stretch then their veteran opposition. Have to get back at it this week in practices and focus on Providence! No reason to have heads down--just need to play better and shots will fall--too good of talent/shooters for them not to. As usual, RDF says almost exactly everything I am thinking and luckily says it better than I likely would have! I can accept 1-2 after these 3, but we had BETTER be 2-0 heading into Duke. Providence is a pretty big must win and I can NOT accept a loss to Syracuse!! Get those shots back boys!!!
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CAHoya07
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,598
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Post by CAHoya07 on Jan 7, 2009 9:51:06 GMT -5
This must have been lost with the disappointment of the loss and everything, but did anyone notice how weak ND's student section was? There was just a scattering of green shirts in the first few rows where they usually are, and looked like they were sitting down until the 2nd half. I know it's over break and it's South Bend, but I mean, it looked like we had more students for the Mt. St. Mary's game. ND's playing a top ten team, I thought perhaps more Chicago area students would make the drive. The rest of the arena brought it noisewise when they needed to (which I contend, our non-student fans do a pretty good job of doing too), but it also seemed pretty quiet at the beginning. At a place where ND has won 44 games in a row.
For everyone that bitches about our fans, I'd say give us some credit. We could be better, and hopefully our fanbase keeps improving, but I think overall everyone does a good job, and that most of our complaints are a function of us playing at Verizon Center.
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