NCHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by NCHoya on Dec 11, 2012 17:45:22 GMT -5
The only starter I can see III removing minutes from is Hopkins, and that is simply because he is screwing up the offense by being a mix of selfish and clueless about his own abilities. If you cannot dominate or even stay on the floor against Longwood, what are you going to do in the Big East? Moses is not ready either, but I think he has a better understanding of his own ability right now and therefore can make positive plays. If Hopkins continues at his current level then he needs to lose minutes to Moses. What are you going to do against the Big East? I dunno - maybe play like he did against IU or UCLA? Look - I hate to seem like a Hopkins apologist. I admit he needs to play much smarter and finish better. But it seems to me that he has been playing more aggressively against lesser teams (which he should be doing) while attempting to play more within himself against better teams. The efficiency stats probably won't confirm that theory but I'm going with it anyway. Regardless, I do look for Hopkins to take a lesser role when the Big East season comes around and for his efficiency to improve somewhat. But of course even if that happens, he will still get slammed on this board for every missed shot or turnover, while failing to get credit for any decent play (i.e. the nice shot he made late in the second half against Towson). I have been saying from the beginning Hopkins is being asked to do too much as a sophomore without significant playing experience. I also do not expect some magical improvement from him this season and that does not mean I dislike the kid or do not think he could be a great upperclassman for the Hoyas. My point is he should know what he is good at and how best to contribute. For me, that means playing his usual solid defense and taking advantage of opportunities, but he should think twice about creating opportunities. He is simply not there yet and he commits the worst fouls on the team which will limit his playing time. He can keep trying to be "assertive' for the next 3 games, but I am hoping that once Big East season starts all of you are right and he magically returns to the Hopkins we saw in Brooklyn and not the one against everyone else.
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Post by wahoohoya on Dec 11, 2012 18:14:07 GMT -5
What are you going to do against the Big East? I dunno - maybe play like he did against IU or UCLA? Look - I hate to seem like a Hopkins apologist. I admit he needs to play much smarter and finish better. But it seems to me that he has been playing more aggressively against lesser teams (which he should be doing) while attempting to play more within himself against better teams. The efficiency stats probably won't confirm that theory but I'm going with it anyway. Regardless, I do look for Hopkins to take a lesser role when the Big East season comes around and for his efficiency to improve somewhat. But of course even if that happens, he will still get slammed on this board for every missed shot or turnover, while failing to get credit for any decent play (i.e. the nice shot he made late in the second half against Towson). I have been saying from the beginning Hopkins is being asked to do too much as a sophomore without significant playing experience. I also do not expect some magical improvement from him this season and that does not mean I dislike the kid or do not think he could be a great upperclassman for the Hoyas. My point is he should know what he is good at and how best to contribute. For me, that means playing his usual solid defense and taking advantage of opportunities, but he should think twice about creating opportunities. He is simply not there yet and he commits the worst fouls on the team which will limit his playing time. He can keep trying to be "assertive' for the next 3 games, but I am hoping that once Big East season starts all of you are right and he magically returns to the Hopkins we saw in Brooklyn and not the one against everyone else. Nothing magical about taking a lesser role in the offense as the real season starts. What would be magical is to go from being completely passive in November/December to being a solid 5th option in February/March. I certainly don't have any delusions of significant improvement from Hopkins this season. But he does possess some decent offensive skills and is certainly capable of finishing a respectable percentage of his shots this season. But the only way for him to get there is to keep working at it - and these November/December games are a good opportunity to do just that.
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Dec 11, 2012 20:08:42 GMT -5
The WaPo writeup said that we were outrebounded 36-26. From watching the replay it sure did not seem like that. It looked as if we were limiting to one shot, if they were able to get into their half-court offense.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 12, 2012 2:59:53 GMT -5
The rebounding numbers seem right to me -- they got a ton of second chances but you don't really notice it because they turned the ball over 40% of the time.
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prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by prhoya on Dec 12, 2012 9:45:07 GMT -5
And at one point we were 2 for 29... and basically jumpers...
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