DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Dec 11, 2012 9:40:06 GMT -5
For lichoya68: the evil Washington Post has the game story ON THE FRONT PAGE of the Sports Section (albeit below the fold, but you take what you can get).
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NCHoya
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Post by NCHoya on Dec 11, 2012 9:41:52 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.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Dec 11, 2012 9:46:50 GMT -5
In Hopkins defense, if he can adjust to the fact that in CBB, it almost always a charge when a big man puts the ball down 10 feet from the hoop, goes to the basket, and touches someone, I think he would lose half his fouls. I am not saying that to make fun of him, because I honestly dont think it's a charge, but it is always called that way.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 11, 2012 9:51:14 GMT -5
clueless about his own abilities. I'm sure that JT3 and Mikael know more about his abilities than hoyatalk members
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Dec 11, 2012 9:51:32 GMT -5
Thought the last two jumpers from Whitt were an improvement. On line but just a little long. Seemed to have some air under them.
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chep3
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Post by chep3 on Dec 11, 2012 9:56:11 GMT -5
I realize Hopkins has struggled since we got back from Brooklyn (I thought he played very well against IU), but who cares if he tried some stuff that didn't work last night. We were playing Longwood. Is it better for Otto to score at will against a scrub team, or for Mikael to try to work on his post moves, for Greg to try to fix his shot, for Moses to try and become an offensive threat. We were always going to win. Why not work on weaknesses?
True or False: Aaron Bowen is the most athletic player in III's tenure.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 11, 2012 10:04:35 GMT -5
I realize Hopkins has struggled since we got back from Brooklyn (I thought he played very well against IU), but who cares if he tried some stuff that didn't work last night. We were playing Longwood. Is it better for Otto to score at will against a scrub team, or for Mikael to try to work on his post moves, for Greg to try to fix his shot, for Moses to try and become an offensive threat. We were always going to win. Why not work on weaknesses? True or False: Aaron Bowen is the most athletic player in III's tenure. Agree. Somebody said he is killing our offensive possessions.....big deal we blew out Longwood. But Bowen may have the most bounce, I think Greg might be the best athlete. Jason up there too.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Dec 11, 2012 10:13:56 GMT -5
I'm not sure this has been mentioned, but Nate's shooting 78% (18-23) from the FT line.
Congrats and keep it up, Nate. Hard work pays off. This will be extremely valuable once the second part of the season starts.
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nychoya3
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Post by nychoya3 on Dec 11, 2012 10:16:04 GMT -5
Mikael has been trying out his post moves all season and not making a very good percentage while turning it over a lot. We need him to be something other than a black hole on offense. It's great to be confident and assertive, but you have to earn the right to take shots by making them. Just because you can get it to the rim doesn't make it a good shot. The best thing I saw last night was Moses looking somewhat competent with the ball. He's not going to look to score, but if he just rebounds and elbows people on both teams while not turning it over, he deserves more minutes than he's getting.
Define "most athletic." If you mean highest vertical, Bowen is pretty good but I don't see him as a freak or anything. Pat Ewing Jr. had some pretty sick bounce (he won the college dunk contest I think?) Trawick is a good leaper. I would agree that Whit stands out as the best all around athlete on this team - to be as tall as he is and move as well as he does is very unusual.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 11, 2012 10:28:36 GMT -5
If we can put up 89 points while JT3 allowing one of our starters to be "a black hole on offense" I say keep it up.
Aaron is the best leaper on this team, I think comparable to PEjr because he's smoother. It's definitely between Bowen and Pat for best leapers of the JT3 era. Jabril is right behind, but he hasn't shown as much in games.
As for overall athletes, Whitt is up there, as are Jason, Chris, Dajuan, Jeff now, and believe it or not Mikael. He's at least the most athletic big under JT3.
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Post by strummer8526 on Dec 11, 2012 10:33:16 GMT -5
If we can put up 89 points while JT3 allowing one of our starters to be "a black hole on offense" I say keep it up. Aaron is the best leaper on this team, I think comparable to PEjr because he's smoother. It's definitely between Bowen and Pat for best leapers of the JT3 era. Jabril is right behind, but he hasn't shown as much in games. As for overall athletes, Whitt is up there, as are Jason, Chris, Dajuan, Jeff now, and believe it or not Mikael. He's at least the most athletic big under JT3. I, for one, do not believe it. Mikael has not done one thing all season that I would call "athletic." I am not as panicked about him as some people are, and I think he will be fine as our starting center for the rest of the year. But ranking him as one of the eight best athletes and the most athletic big in III's tenure? Absurd.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Dec 11, 2012 10:38:14 GMT -5
Obviously, Longwood is Longwood, but I think there are a few positives that can be taken from the game:
(1) Our defense was still great. If we had played with a tighter rotation, I think Longwood would have scored even fewer points and had more turnovers. Sure, it's Longwood, but when we play a team like that, aren't we supposed to cause a lot of turnovers and keep their scoring down? We did, so I think that's positive. Our defense is the most consistent aspect of our team right now.
(2) I am not sure I would say our offense is "fixed" but it was clearly better than it was against Towson. There is still a huge amount of room for improvement. Whittington needs to find his shot, and Hopkins needs to improve, as well, but things were definitely more crisp last night.
(3) I am not one of those HoyaTalk members who thinks that world peace would be possible, if only the bench got a few more minutes. That said, I was impressed by Moses Ayegba last night. I think he played very solidly in his minutes and showed some good instincts. He has the potential to be a great rebounder and a great defensive player. You cannot criticize Moses for his effort - he was constantly trying to do something and be active. I don't think we'll see Moses start over Hopkins, but I do think his performance warrants at least more time in our next few games. If he keeps it up, I think Moses will get some Big East exposure.
(4) Domingo seemed to gain a little confidence by the time he checked out of the game. Did anybody else notice JTIII pull Domingo aside, talk to him, and them give him a pat on the head? Clearly, JTIII liked what he saw. I know a lot of people are critical of Domingo here, saying that he is not ready, but the kid almost never makes a mistake (bad passes, turnovers, etc.). Once his shot starts falling, I think he will be a huge asset for this team.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Dec 11, 2012 10:44:28 GMT -5
Pat Ewing Jr. had some pretty sick bounce (he won the college dunk contest I think?) There is never a bad reason to post a link to this:
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Post by ColumbiaHeightsHoya on Dec 11, 2012 10:54:07 GMT -5
Based on last night, Western Carolina (potentially the next Big East member!) and Maerican will be a grind.
Hopkins just doesn't bring it against inferior competition for whatever reason. I think Bowen can definitely get spot minutes to provide energy and D but who knows what is going on there. Moses on the boards and D is all we need from that spot if Greg ever gets it going. Domingo is overthinking the game.
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Post by ColumbiaHeightsHoya on Dec 11, 2012 10:54:27 GMT -5
Oh, and who else thought Longwood was in Jersey before last nights game?
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Dec 11, 2012 11:05:02 GMT -5
Oh, and who else thought Longwood was in Jersey before last nights game? I figured it was in Florida, honestly.
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birdman
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Post by birdman on Dec 11, 2012 11:12:38 GMT -5
Oh, and who else thought Longwood was in Jersey before last nights game? I figured it was in Florida, honestly. Until I looked it up three weeks ago, I was confusing it with Northwood University (in Florida), where Massimino coaches in semi-retirement.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 11, 2012 11:20:30 GMT -5
Some thoughts now that I've seen the game: - CO brought this up on HP, but our offensive and defensive efficiencies were almost exactly as predicted for this game (by Pomeroy's system). Which means the 89 points was less a function of some offensive renaissance than a) fans focusing too much on the Towson and Tennessee games and ignoring decent to good prior O performances b) Longwood sucking and c) pace.
- In other words, our offense really wasn't that good. Sixty four may be sixty four and eighty nine may be eighty nine, but they don't mean the same thing in every game. It was much better than against Towson, of course, but it wasn't this incredible breakthrough.
- Longwood is really bad.
- Like someone said earlier in the thread, the concern right now has to be Hopkins' general performance and Whittington's slump. Whit got hot in the second half last year; we know this is fixable. Hopkins can at least focus on defense and not take so many shots when he's double or well defended. These are fixable things.
- Loved that Domingo had at least four good cuts to the basket. Made 2, fouled on 1, missed 1 lay-up, but in his short time he was on the receiving end of FOUR backdoor cuts! Love the effort.
- I don't know what happened to HS shotblocker Moses. Injury, I suppose. But I like his bulk, how he gets after boards much better than Hopkins even if the hops are gone, and his passing is nice. At this point, he's got to get more time if Hopkins keeps playing poorly, right? I don't want to see Nate fighting BE-size frontcourts by himself.
- It was at a point in the game where Caprio was dominating, but thought Bowen looked pretty good. This is only the second time I thought he really worked himself into the offense (out of not many opportunities). While most focus on his dunks, I think the part he can help us most is if that shot is consistent.
- This offense really goes as Markel does right now. Whitt, Trawick, Domingo, DSR are all consistently bad from beyond the arc. Otto has been nice but he's not more than a 1-2 shot a game guy. Markel is the one who has a chance to do 2-5 every game. When he's 0-5, we're bad; when he's 4-5, we're passable. The three is so dominant in college ball; we need DSR and Whitt to show up at some point as well (and Trawick, if it is in there).
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RDF
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Post by RDF on Dec 11, 2012 11:24:52 GMT -5
If we can put up 89 points while JT3 allowing one of our starters to be "a black hole on offense" I say keep it up. Aaron is the best leaper on this team, I think comparable to PEjr because he's smoother. It's definitely between Bowen and Pat for best leapers of the JT3 era. Jabril is right behind, but he hasn't shown as much in games. As for overall athletes, Whitt is up there, as are Jason, Chris, Dajuan, Jeff now, and believe it or not Mikael. He's at least the most athletic big under JT3. Some would argue they scored 89 pts because Hopkins only played 9 minutes--if he plays his usual time, that's at least 6-7 more FGA's, many more misses, more bricks at the FT line, and more turnovers that lose the team possession. Others would point out how pressuring a team and increasing the pace of the game increases your chances to score and it's a blueprint for scoring overall. Since this is about athleticism-the most athletic big that III's ever had is Brandon Bolden.
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Cambridge
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Post by Cambridge on Dec 11, 2012 11:31:15 GMT -5
and somehow, it's on SNY. I realize this is Longwood and not the highest-interest game of the year, but this is a good illustration of why being connected to a football conference helps. Is there any chance these games would be on TV in an A-10 type basketball conference? No chance. For the last few years SNY has basically adopted Georgetown as one of the "New York" teams. They carry just about all games that are not on national broadcast. They even snag games that are on ESPN3, blacking them out on that service.
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