Georgetown - Memphis rematch discussion

[DanMcQ]

post here...

Memphis-Louisville ESPN Gamecast: scores.espn.go.com/ncb/gamecast?gameId=313510097

[Boz]

Soooo......

....completely wrong to root for like a mild sprain or two this afternoon?

Nothing serious, you know, just something they want to be careful of and rest, say, Tarik Black, with conference play coming up.

[Dhall]

Our transition defense and three-point defense has been very poor most games this year (including the first Memphis game). We need to slow it down despite what happened in the first game. Would love to see Hollis take it to the hoop and draw some fouls.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

Need to win. Losing totally erases our earlier win against them.

[CTHoya08]

I have a really weird feeling about this game. I'm not confident at all. Yet a small part of me thinks we win in a laugher, and I end up feeling foolish for being nervous.

[MassHoya]

They did not seem like the same team yesterday against Louisville as they were in the Maui. Either 'Ville is really, really good or Memphis is on a cold streak. Regardless, Hoyas need to bring it and be careful for a letdown. GO HOYAS!!! Beat the Tigers.

[RusskyHoya]

Quick story: In December 2008, I was working in an office on-campus that JTIII visits every so often. The Monday after the OT win over Memphis, he walks in. "Great win, Coach," I said. He smiles and wryly responds: "The good guys won." Given who the opposing coach was for that game, his words could not have been any truer.

It's not quite the same with Pastner there now, but a win over FedEx United is still one of the more satisfying non-conference victories to be had.

[gtowndynasty]

Memphis will be motivated and hungry, but this team does not know how to win. If it is close, they will trick it off. They have no discipline, mediocre coaching (at best), and a bunch of individuals instead of a team. I want to kick them while they are down. Lets go!

[prhoya]

Semi-contain W. Barton and we should be o.k. Maybe try a mix of size (Thompson) and in-your-face (Jabril) defense or both (Greg) to get him tired and frustrated.

Looking at the box score from the first game, Hollis did not shoot from 3-pt. Maybe it was because Jason was feeling it or Hollis was not, but we need Hollis to take it too so that the half-court will open up.

[chep3]

They extended the crap out of their defense on Hollis from what I remember. It opened up some driving lanes, which he smartly took. I think the key on defense is Joe Jackson. Barton's going to get his, but if we keep Jackson from penetrating into the middle of the defense, they'll only have Barton as an option. Jabril did a heckuva job shutting down Jackson late in the first game--hopefully he can do the same this time.

[tonyparker]

After going back and watching some old games, think this is the perfect time to replace Nate Lubick in the starting line-up with Otto Porter. Tell him it's match-up based for this game and then make it stick.

As we go into this stretch of difficult games against guard-oriented teams, we can't afford anymore slow starts. Lubick's ineffectiveness has been killing us.

[kghoya]

Porter is third on the team in minutes played. Does it really matter if he starts?

[wahoohoya]

I hope Nate starts all season. He still finds a way to make plays and I like the spark that Otto brings off the bench. That and you don't want Otto to hit the wall in February.

[tonyparker]

Hard to say if starting Otto makes a difference. I do think that we've been getting off to slow starts with Nate in. I think it is hard to play from behind against good teams, and I think Otto makes us better.

Also hard to say if JTIII agrees with me, but I think he inserted freshmen like Summers and Freeman into the line-up over older players for similar reasons.

[kghoya]

But in both instances, with Freeman and Summers, JT3 could bring in PE Jr into the game for a spark.

Do we really want Nate as the spark off the bench?

[tonyparker]

I think that's one way to look at being demoted to the 2nd unit. I am not sure if Nate would provide much of a spark off the bench at this point. But I think he is more suited to a role in in spot duty, i.e. playing limited minutes against opponents' back-up bigs to give Otto and Henry a breather.

[SFHoya99]

There's a lot of things being way overstated here.

One is how poorly Nate has played. Nate has both a higher offensive and defense rebound rate than Otto. While his turnover rate is higher, it's not awful, and his assist rate is similarly higher. Otto has a higher ORating, but Nate's at 107 isn't awful (both have a 16% usage rate).

Our defense has been better with Otto in, but Nate's D has been good and better than most Hoyas'. I don't know if Otto plays a better Power Forward defense than Nate; I really like him at the three with size.

Nate has made a couple of real bonehead looking turnovers and he missed a layup or two. But while I think Otto's been a bit better, this idea that Nate's been operating at Benimon-levels is ridiculous. Add in that he's played better -- you know he's capable of it so why the ridiculous quick career hook some people are proposing?

Two is our "slow starts." Eh, we've come out strong in some games and slower in others, and Nate's started all of them.

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This is my line of thinking on the pros/cons of starting Otto over Nate, but not changing minutes:

Pro: Nate's a better backup offensively for Sims than anyone simply because he's the other passing big right now. We lose that big man passing when the front line is Hopkins/Porter -- the freshmen really aren't seeing the passes yet.

Con: Playing Porter at the 3 is a huge advantage; the more time he plays at the 4, the less it is. I love Otto's defense and rebounding when he's on the floor with two bigs -- Sims, Nate, Hopkins, Adams. I'm much less enthralled by playing shorter. And while we have wings who are bigger at the three, I worry about Porter against real fours -- which he really hasn't had to face since only Kansas really plays two bigs (and Withey didn't play much). Most of our opponents are trotting out a PF at center and a swingman at PF so far. But that won't always be true in the BE.

Against Memphis, Otto has a better matchup. But I'm not on board for any permanent shift.

(Interestingly, Nate has become the lightning rod when by far the worst offensive performer for the minutes he's getting is Greg Whittington. I love his potential on D (thought not always the execution right now) and he looks at home, but every player but Whit, Bowen and Caprio have a ORating at or above 107 (Hopkins and then Lubick, in case you are curious) and Whit's the next highest at 89. Trawick's at a 107, and almost never turns over the ball. It's a point or so a game given their PT, etc. but it's interesting Nate gets so much crap, but he's playing much better than Whit right now.

I realize Nate's a soph, but we're talking about PT right now. No one seems to groan when Whit launches a 3 (25%, 24 3FGA), but when Lubick did (1-3 on the season), it's a race to see who can complain first.

I like Whit, and I really want to see him become a complete player because his potential is through the roof. But I don't get fans sometimes.)

[kghoya]

I think it's a hot topic because Nate looked his absolute worst against Memphis.

[idhoya]

he has to calm down and just run the stuff. The effort is there.

[NoBoumtjeInTheYaYaRoom]

Why this game is so huge. Media perception is important for both rankings and tournament discussion. This game has the unusual ability to put Hoyas on two very different tracks. Win, and no matter how Memphis and Bama end season they will be discussed as 3 OOC wins against "talented" teams. Lose and you will hear the naysayers, Bama is weaker than expected. Memphis won at Gtown. A win and a loss @ Ville. Ranked in teens following Ville game. 2 losses and the top 25 is a distant memory. 2 wins, I wont even go there yet.