lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
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Post by lichoya68 on Jan 30, 2012 9:27:04 GMT -5
IN FOURTH PLACE NOW AS IT STANDS MUST BEAT UCONN TO STAY IN TOP FOUR AND NOT PLAY ON TUES OR WED NUF SAID AND ITS FEBRUARY go hoyas beat the uconnvicts
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jan 30, 2012 11:12:25 GMT -5
I heard somewhere recently that only four teams have been ranked in the top 10 at some point during each of the past six years: Duke, UNC, Pitt and Georgetown. That's pretty heady company, and Pitt's streak will end this year. Unfortunately, we have faded significantly the last three of those years. Let's just hope this year is different. I think this season they started Top 10 and stayed there for a few weeks.
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Post by hoyainindia on Jan 30, 2012 13:32:14 GMT -5
I thought we started unranked. We were picked to finish 10th in the big east.
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CTHoya08
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Bring back Izzo!
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Post by CTHoya08 on Jan 30, 2012 13:43:42 GMT -5
February records under JTIII: 2005: 3-3 (plus two regular season losses in March) 2006: 4-3 (plus one loss) 2007: 7-1 (plus one win) 2008: 6-2 (plus two wins) 2009: 3-5 (plus one win) 2010: 3-4 (plus one win and one loss) 2011: 4-3 (plus one loss) By my count, that's a total of 30-21 in February, and a regular season record in February and March of 35-26. OK, but Roy Hibbert is gone. The last three years on this list look terrible. And anyone who's not worried that this team is about to spiral the same way as we have the last few seasons is just trying to be blissfully ignorant of the past, not to mention ignoring how Edited poor we've looked for quite a while now. Focusing only on the last three seasons to make a blanket statement about JTIII being bad in February is also selective ignorance, although not blissful. Look, I'm not saying that this year's team is as good as the '07 or '08 teams. I saying that we don't know one way or the other. And for what it's worth, we didn't know in 2007, either. That team was unranked on February 1.* All I'm trying to say is that the sample size is too small to say JTIII teams fall apart in February. It's just as easy to point to two stellar years as it is to point to three mediocre years. *http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings/_/year/2007/poll/1/week/12/seasontype/2
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jan 30, 2012 13:53:14 GMT -5
The selective analysis is typical: the winning was a result of the player (Hibbert); the losing of the coach (Thompson).
Should we be saying we had Jeff Green, Jon Wallace, Roy Hibbert, etc., and since then we had Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, Greg Monroe?
Also, I will say this again - why are we excluding the Big East Tournament? I'm not saying it looks any better or not, but the 2010 "collapse" narrative is harder to sell, isn't it?
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Post by centercourt400s on Jan 30, 2012 16:36:36 GMT -5
SF's point is undeniable. How can the 2010 BE final run not be considered as part of the Hoyas recent resume? All of us would sacrifice regular season wins or the appearance of playing "well" for post-season tournament success. Does UConn regret (or even remember) the regular season losses last year? Highly doubtful.
For a team coming off 3 out of 4 BE wins the pessimism expressed for the future by some on this board is laughable. Or maybe 6-3 at the halfway point isn't good enough for a team with little expectation for success just a couple of months ago.
To the harsh critics and whiners, sorry to burst your bubble but the Hoyas probably won't be winning a national championship this year. And they may very well not win the Big East regular season or the BE tournament either. Hollis will probably miss a bunch more shots, Nate will make a fair number of turnovers, Henry will miss touch shots at the rim and Markel will have a spot of foul trouble here or there. The team will probably lose another 3, 4 or 5 games and I'm sure you'll feel like throwing yourselves off bridges every time. Feel free to watch the remainder of the season waiting for each bad thing to happen and pouncing after every one shouting "See!?" if it makes you feel better. I'd suggest an alternative however:
relax... enjoy the excitement after even an ugly win... don't compare this team (minus three senior starters) to last year's (that lost their point guard to a broken hand)... take heart in the unexpected contribution of the freshmen and the renaissance of Henry Sims... shout when Hollis knocks down a big three or Jason drives to the hoop or the team locks down their opponent for a big defensive stop... and overall, enjoy what you've been given and hope for the best instead of predicting the worst. And realize either way your sun will come up tomorrow... this is just an amateur sport after all.
My grade for the 1st half of the Big East is an A-. The only loss that bothers me is Cincinnati at home... we should have had that one. If the 2nd half plays out like the 1st half did we should all be happy. 12-6 should be good enough for a 1st round BET bye and decent seed in the NCAAs. After that all bets are off.
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
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Post by Boz on Jan 30, 2012 16:46:24 GMT -5
+1 Commencing slow clap!
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DanMcQ
Moderator
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Post by DanMcQ on Jan 30, 2012 18:05:00 GMT -5
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Buckets
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by Buckets on Jan 30, 2012 18:15:13 GMT -5
Opponent's steal percentage is 12.7% in Big East games (dead last), which confirms what we already knew, that this team throws the ball to the opponent with astonishing frequency. Three guys in conference play with A-TO difference of better than -3: Lubick (15-9), Hopkins (3-1), Clark (20-19). Everyone else: Sims (30-33), Thompson (11-14), Starks (12-16), Whittington (6-10), Whittington (5-9), Porter (9-16).
A/FGM is 13th in the conference. Coming into the season, I thought we might be in trouble since the three returning guards we had (Starks, Clark, and Thompson) all had pretty bad assist numbers last year. Clark and Thompson have exceeded expectations, Starks so far in conference has been disappointing. The number of steals we allow relative to assists, especially from guards, is the biggest obstacle IMO in the second half of the season.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jan 31, 2012 10:27:12 GMT -5
thanks for the info, $. Those are pretty bad numbers! It's time for everyone to value the ball more and a careful analysis by the coaching staff of what is going on, not let it cure by itself (look at the video, watch for tendencies, eliminate plays that usually result in to's like some of the inbounding, etc...). Correct this, make your FT like the team can, plus stay focused on defense and we'll have a nice second half of the season.
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2ndRyan
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Post by 2ndRyan on Feb 1, 2012 9:23:00 GMT -5
The Cinncy loss bothered me. It would be great to be 7-2, but we could easily have lost to Marquette and one or both of Providence and Rutgers. 6-3 would, I think, be many people's best case result at the halfway point.
Finishing the second half 6-3 would be great, but 5-4 doesn't seem too bad either.
Points from the perimeter tonight would go a long way to holding serve.
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Post by Ranch Dressing on Feb 2, 2012 0:07:00 GMT -5
I got crucified on this board saying before the season started that this team had 3 players, Starks, Sims, and Nate, who might turn out to be below average Big East starters at their positions. Clearly this is the case for Nate. Aside from his brilliant game at Louisville, Starks has been a disappointment at PG. And Sims, while I think he has improved and has turned himself into an above average player especially with his solid rebounding, defense, and gaudy assist totals, he objectively is one of the worst finishers at the C position in conference. Just never feel like the ball is going in, unless he is dunking it, which he rarely does.
So, why are we 7-3 in conference? Our defense, especially in zone sets, has been amazingly good. All that length and quickness is really outstanding at the top and on the wings of the zone.
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CTHoya08
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Bring back Izzo!
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Post by CTHoya08 on Feb 2, 2012 8:57:37 GMT -5
February 2012: 1-0
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GIGAFAN99
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Feb 2, 2012 9:20:40 GMT -5
I got crucified on this board saying before the season started that this team had 3 players, Starks, Sims, and Nate, who might turn out to be below average Big East starters at their positions. Clearly this is the case for Nate. Aside from his brilliant game at Louisville, Starks has been a disappointment at PG. And Sims, while I think he has improved and has turned himself into an above average player especially with his solid rebounding, defense, and gaudy assist totals, he objectively is one of the worst finishers at the C position in conference. Just never feel like the ball is going in, unless he is dunking it, which he rarely does. So, why are we 7-3 in conference? Our defense, especially in zone sets, has been amazingly good. All that length and quickness is really outstanding at the top and on the wings of the zone. Defense wins February grinders. Poor defense causes collapses. It's really that simple. No, defense does not "win championships" by itself but it allows you to win tough games and get better seeding so this is where defense shines. Now if we improved little things like turnovers and free throw shooting, we're a real top ten team. This isn't the "offensive efficiency or bust" teams of the past few years.
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