SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 12, 2014 15:40:10 GMT -5
With regard to getting DSR more opportunities, someone else needs to play lead guard for parts of the game. DSR is a natural and damn good 2 guard at the college level, he has been moved out of his comfort zone and it is evident in the way he does not seem to know when and how to pick his spots consistently. Rather than reinvent the wheel, when we are struggling to find points, I say take him off the ball and let him do what he does best. I would love to see Campbell step into this role as PG #2, but his lack of PT says III does not think he is a viable option. As for waiting on the freshman . . . that is probably the right perspective to take. I have already seen improvement in the defense and I expect that to trend better and better. This team's length will make up for a lot of sins on defense. Closing out rebounds would be nice, but some of that is just the result of playing freshmen at key positions. It is a lot harder to board in college; they are learning what it takes in terms of anticipation, positioning and the physical effort required against big boys. That said, we held our own on the boards against KU. #3 is easily the most controversial. Basically you are talking about cutting minutes on the seniors. For Hopkins, I think it is not possible. He is not playing crazy minutes now, and we need his rebounding and defense. No freshman can come close to his ability on that end of the court. Perhaps there will be some match-ups that do not require Hopkins skill-set but overall he needs to be in there for his 20-25 minutes. That said, he should not have the green light from almost anywhere on the court offensively. I guess you have to give him the green light on put-backs and lay-ups, but that is only because he likely will draw a foul after being stripped of the ball. For Trawick, this is a confidence issue. If he played like he did the second half of last season, we would not even be having this discussion. He is slumping. Do you stick with him or bench him? Not sure, he may be better coming off the bench as an energy guy. He has never been at his best in big games though. Personally, I know what the stats say, but I would give Bowen more time, perhaps from Trawick. He is a playmaker - good and bad. But the good plays he makes, are so uplifting to a team that can sometimes look like its feet are nailed to the court. It is nearly impossible to beat the Hoyas when Bowen has a good game and is dialed in. Really, I am not sure what other minutes can be swapped around. In general, I think LJ gets too many minutes, but against KU, his courage to take the shots was very valuable. I would cut any minutes Cameron is getting and give them to Copeland - to me that is a no brainer. Copeland is probaly the top priority in getting more minutes, followed by Campbell (because his would be highest impact). Couple of thoughts: * I think it's cutting minutes in the bigger games, especially when they aren't playing well. I don't care that they are seniors; they don't play that way. The overwhelming number of bad decisions are coming from the upperclassmen. There's no reason they get a bonus for experience. I just don't see any other solution when they are throwing away possessions. I mean, other than them suddenly playing better. * I completely disagree with the statement: "No freshman can come close to his ability on that end of the court." Paul White may be a more complete defender now, if not rebounder. And Isaac Copeland has the toolset to be a better defender. There are those that believe game time has a mystical bonus to development time -- that's its 20x more important than practice time. I'm not one of those, but if a poster is, I can't believe they aren't calling for Copeland and White to be out there constantly. Copeland's longer, more athletic than Hopkins and already a better offensive player. He can be a better defender with work. White's a natural at understanding angles. He's not as big a jumper but he already understands where the ball is going better than Hopkins. * If it were just between Bowen and Trawick, I'd say Bowen has earned some of Trawick's minutes. Much of my Trawick anger is based on two things. One, he was forcing a one on one matchup outside of the offense, multiple times, for no good reason. I don't know why, but I don't really care -- it's either lazy or selfish play. He passed up opportunities within the flow then forced things outside of it. And two, his attitude on FTs Editedes me off. Josh isn't great at FTs but he takes his time, is careful to take deep breaths and is really trying to have great form. He understands that against Kansas he needs to really focus on these. Trawick nonchalantly chucks up a shot with almost no prep, no focus and no form, mostly taking a step back and looking away before it even inevitably clanks off the rim. He was 1-5 against Wisconsin, Butler & Kansas, missing the front end of a one and one (making him basically 1-6) in the three close games that we lost. And he's 6-15 on the year. And every single one of those shots has been just chucked up there.
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HoyaChris
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Post by HoyaChris on Dec 12, 2014 15:57:22 GMT -5
It seems to me that many of Josh's turnovers are a function of the entry pass. When Josh receives an entry pass high, he makes his turn to the basket in a much more expeditious fashion and turns the ball over relatively infrequently.
When the entry pass is low, however, we end up with two issues. First, he doesn't bend over all that well and is often not in an optimal position to receive the pass. A lot of these passes come off of his fingers. Second, this provides a much better opportunity for collapsing guards to attack his hands.
Unfortunately many of DSR's best passes are bounce passes down low, so good entry passes from DSR are often not optimal for Josh. The best entry passes for Josh are from the wing from a big because they tend to be over the top.
I think the ball needs to be in Paul White's hands so that he is free to either find DSR coming off of a screen or dish to Josh where Josh can receive it best.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Dec 12, 2014 16:21:59 GMT -5
Agree totally on the DSR entry pass: his bounce pass is very effective, except as an entry to Smith.
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Buckets
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Post by Buckets on Dec 12, 2014 16:42:53 GMT -5
* I completely disagree with the statement: "No freshman can come close to his ability on that end of the court." Paul White may be a more complete defender now, if not rebounder. And Isaac Copeland has the toolset to be a better defender. There are those that believe game time has a mystical bonus to development time -- that's its 20x more important than practice time. I'm not one of those, but if a poster is, I can't believe they aren't calling for Copeland and White to be out there constantly. Copeland's longer, more athletic than Hopkins and already a better offensive player. He can be a better defender with work. White's a natural at understanding angles. He's not as big a jumper but he already understands where the ball is going better than Hopkins. I know you hate Hopkins but this is totally unreasonable. Defensive rebounding is that end of the court, and this team is already well below average in that department. I'm not sure what you mean by a "complete defender" -- I'd probably trust White to guard more positions and he's probably better at one-on-one defending the guy he's covering, but it is not even close in terms of who the most impactful defender on the team is, and it's Hopkins. He is a very good shot blocker (especially when you consider his apparently inability to elevate with the basketball in his hands) and this affects the game in ways that a guy like White is never going to be able to on the defensive end.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Dec 12, 2014 17:08:52 GMT -5
How about we just let Hopkins play point guard? That would free DSR to take more shots while limiting fouls on Hopkins, and causing the heads of everyone who seems to hate Hopkins so much to explode, making this board an easier read.
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Dec 12, 2014 17:18:29 GMT -5
I've got a better idea. Let's let Hayes play point guard and move Hopkins to shooting guard.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 12, 2014 18:19:48 GMT -5
* I completely disagree with the statement: "No freshman can come close to his ability on that end of the court." Paul White may be a more complete defender now, if not rebounder. And Isaac Copeland has the toolset to be a better defender. There are those that believe game time has a mystical bonus to development time -- that's its 20x more important than practice time. I'm not one of those, but if a poster is, I can't believe they aren't calling for Copeland and White to be out there constantly. Copeland's longer, more athletic than Hopkins and already a better offensive player. He can be a better defender with work. White's a natural at understanding angles. He's not as big a jumper but he already understands where the ball is going better than Hopkins. I know you hate Hopkins but this is totally unreasonable. Defensive rebounding is that end of the court, and this team is already well below average in that department. I'm not sure what you mean by a "complete defender" -- I'd probably trust White to guard more positions and he's probably better at one-on-one defending the guy he's covering, but it is not even close in terms of who the most impactful defender on the team is, and it's Hopkins. He is a very good shot blocker (especially when you consider his apparently inability to elevate with the basketball in his hands) and this affects the game in ways that a guy like White is never going to be able to on the defensive end. He's a good shotblocker, but he gives quite a few of those points back in one or two overpursuits a game that lead to easy buckets. He also gives them back through stupid fouls. He's actually incredibly slow to react on help D - when I can read the situation seconds ahead of the defender, there's an issue. He's a plus defender, but his pluses are definitely on the spectacular side and he's not as strong on the little things. I think most of the members of the board overrate him on D. People act like he's Roy Hibbert or something. He's not Roy. He's not Otto. These were team-changing defenders. White can guard the perimeter and interior, multiple positions, doesn't overplay, doesn't foul. He may not be as good as Hopkins now, but he's closer than people think. And Copeland has more potential. And I'm not sure what's unreasonable about thinking he can be a great defender at some point.
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gujake
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Post by gujake on Dec 12, 2014 19:58:07 GMT -5
On Hopkins, the point of not fouling isn't just to keep him on the floor. It's to not send guys to the line. Our defense is pretty good when opponents aren't shooting FTs -- we probably give up around .9 pts/possession. When they go to the line? Close to 1.5. Yuuuppppp.
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dense
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Post by dense on Dec 12, 2014 22:32:17 GMT -5
...but a few things have to change, and I don't know if the team is going to get there. The reason this team can be really, really good are obvious: when they are on, the team can score in a variety of ways. We have a low post presence and a legitimate driving threat. We have a fast break offense and have been hitting the offensive boards. We still get a few backcuts, so when the outside shooting is on, the Hoyas can be hard to stop. On defense, it's apparent as well -- the team is longer and quicker than in years past, even if its young. There are times when the defense is absolutely suffocating. But the reasons why the team won't get there are just as apparent at times. Inconsistent outside shooting, turnovers, poor defensive rebounding, continuing foul issues, poor rotations on shooters on d. Here's a basic three point plan: 1. Design plays to get DSR shots early. DSR is not the one-dimensional player that many made him out to be. He can pass, he can opportunistically drive. But he's not a guy you can line up 1 on 1 and expect him to take the guy off the dribble on demand. The Hoyas have had few (none?) of those players under III, although LJ Peak looks like he may be the first one. I don't mind DSR being the "point guard" in the offense in the sense of bringing the ball up, but he's being too passive early. He needs to be opportunistic in his shots; not leave them all for late in the shot clock or game. He's a shooter -- shoot. It's certainly a better option than watching Jabril try to take someone off the dribble or Hopkins do anything on offense. To that end, we should be running some plays early to get DSR some shots. And he should take them. Screens, picks. Triangle-like setup with Peak, Smith and him where the end in mind is an open shot by DSR. Getting him into a rhythm will pay off later. 2. Wait for the freshmen to shore up their weaknesses. Okay, this one is a "wait" for us, but obviously for the staff, it involves a lot of teaching. But right now, the freshmen are weak in two of our key areas: rebounding and defensive rotations. Neither Paul White nor Isaac Copeland are rebounding well. And while White has been strong on D, no one can doubt that Peak has had trouble dealing with managing both a perimeter shooting on dropping down to help on the post (although he's not the only one here, Jabril). But the defensive rotations will improve. We're just a few games in. And the talent is undeniable -- Peak brings something no other player does; White might already be the third best player on the team and Copeland has larger upside than either of them. 3. Start minimizing time and opportunities on the weaknesses that won't improve. Worst TO Rates on the Team:32.8% Hopkins 25.7% Trawick 24.6% Bowen 23.5% Smith 23.2% Peak Every other player is under 20%, except Reggie Cameron at 21%. Four of those five players are seniors. The top three continually make decisions to push offense that are beyond their skill set. The top one has the worst shooting percentage on the team, so even when a shot does go up... Worst Fouls Committed/40 on the Team:5.9 Hopkins 5.8 Smith 5.1 Trawick 4.0 Bowen Everyone else is at a 3.1 or lower. In other words, our foul issues -- the reason why last year's defense collapsed; why we are 233rd in defensive foul rate this year, is essentially on the senior class again. These players have a role -- some of them a big one. Smith and Hopkins are our centers. Both are the only strong rebounders on the team (well, DSR is a strong rebounder for a guard). Smith brings a dimension to the offense we desperately need. Hopkins, when he's not over-committing and not fouling, is a strong defender. I love the spark Bowen can provide. But they aren't going to get better at their weaknesses. Trawick isn't going to become a plus dribble-drive guy; Hopkins isn't going to learn offense. Smith is still going to turnover the ball a ton and Bowen is still at his best finishing (actually, I do wonder if Bowen should be getting more time). And so, in whatever way possible, their weaknesses need to be hidden. When Jon Wallace couldn't defend an opposing point guard one on one, we hid it with team defense and having him lay off non-shooters. When the team two years ago really had no offense, we just funneled the ball to Otto. Adjustments need to be made. Either players like Trawick and Hopkins needs to limit their choices to finishing what others start, or minutes need to shift. Players need to make small decisions better -- that's ideal. But if they can't, then we need to see if Isaac Copeland can do it better. Overall, it doesn't seem like that much. I can completely see it coming together. But it hasn't so far, and watching the Kansas game... we should be a significantly better team and aren't there yet. I hope they get there. With DSR, I'd like to see us utilize ball screens more with guys who are themselves perimeter or slashing threats (Peak, Copeland, White, Trawick). We very often ball screen only with a true big and the problem there is that neither big is particularly good at either the "pop" or the "roll" that is the natural next play. By increasing pressure on the defense, you get more opportunities for DSR to end up with a true mismatch or a confused defense. Aside from that, I've almost never seen us quickly rotate the ball out of a double-team in the post. Josh may look for a cutter, or he passes back out to someone on the perimeter, who then resets. But after the perimeter pass, we have not been adept at aggressively rotating the ball to the weak-side (which would be a prime spot for an open and in rhythm DSR three). In any event, I completely agree that getting him going is crucial. Aside from getting DSR going (and if you get good shots for him early, and they still don't go in, there's not much else you can do), the TOs are the biggest issue, IMO. Way too many empty trips. I'd like to see Josh wait a tick more often, spot the double, and then react. I think he turns into it too often, not seeing it. Mikael is a tough one, though, in terms of limiting weaknesses. I think the key is to try to ensure that he's out there nearly all of the time as the only limited offensive guy. I'm more optimistic than you are, generally, though. I think our defense has improved -- I thought it was overall much better these past two games than against, say, Butler. And I think the usage of Josh has improved a good deal also. We've lost three games to ranked opponents by essentially one possession each. I recognize that (a) we did indeed lose them; (b) we don't really know if two of those ranked opponents are as good as their ranking indicates; and (c) we beat another opponent by just that same one possession. But the bottom line is that I think the things we do well on a very consistent basis will be enough to consistently beat most teams on our schedule even without any real improvement. Unlike last year, we will be a good team throughout the year (barring the unforeseen). I really think that improving in any one of the three areas you listed would make us very good. Indeed, if we had improved in any of them to this point, we'd likely be at worst a one-loss team with some nice scalps and a ranking. Using people other than bigs in pick and roll works in the NBA but not in college cause you can pack the lane off the ball. So its super easy to defend. Using the big you take the shot blocker away from the basket and make him guard space.
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Dec 12, 2014 23:31:27 GMT -5
Great post SF. I usually shorthand this sentiment as "Can we get comfortable enough where our crunch time lineup is DSR, Peak, White, Copeland, and Josh?"
They're the best 5. Defensively though they can't be trusted...yet. But if/when they can be, i think the minutes distribution takes care of some of the issues. That and of course just time on the court together.
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Dec 13, 2014 0:46:11 GMT -5
This Hoya team will be very good. I expect the starting lineup to look different by the end of January.
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blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Dec 13, 2014 0:59:19 GMT -5
Possible. Paul white was the first sub less than two minutes into the game.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 13, 2014 12:08:15 GMT -5
* I completely disagree with the statement: "No freshman can come close to his ability on that end of the court." Paul White may be a more complete defender now, if not rebounder. And Isaac Copeland has the toolset to be a better defender. There are those that believe game time has a mystical bonus to development time -- that's its 20x more important than practice time. I'm not one of those, but if a poster is, I can't believe they aren't calling for Copeland and White to be out there constantly. Copeland's longer, more athletic than Hopkins and already a better offensive player. He can be a better defender with work. White's a natural at understanding angles. He's not as big a jumper but he already understands where the ball is going better than Hopkins. I know you hate Hopkins but this is totally unreasonable. Defensive rebounding is that end of the court, and this team is already well below average in that department. I'm not sure what you mean by a "complete defender" -- I'd probably trust White to guard more positions and he's probably better at one-on-one defending the guy he's covering, but it is not even close in terms of who the most impactful defender on the team is, and it's Hopkins. He is a very good shot blocker (especially when you consider his apparently inability to elevate with the basketball in his hands) and this affects the game in ways that a guy like White is never going to be able to on the defensive end. Exactly. If you think any of the freshman have the ability to make a defensive impact like Hop night in and night out then you don't fully understand basketball.
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gahoya
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Post by gahoya on Dec 13, 2014 13:37:54 GMT -5
I don't see the reason to really even play Trawick anymore. What can he do that Bowen can't?
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Dec 13, 2014 15:00:46 GMT -5
I don't see the reason to really even play Trawick anymore. What can he do that Bowen can't? Scowl?
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 13, 2014 15:54:07 GMT -5
I know you hate Hopkins but this is totally unreasonable. Defensive rebounding is that end of the court, and this team is already well below average in that department. I'm not sure what you mean by a "complete defender" -- I'd probably trust White to guard more positions and he's probably better at one-on-one defending the guy he's covering, but it is not even close in terms of who the most impactful defender on the team is, and it's Hopkins. He is a very good shot blocker (especially when you consider his apparently inability to elevate with the basketball in his hands) and this affects the game in ways that a guy like White is never going to be able to on the defensive end. Exactly. If you think any of the freshman have the ability to make a defensive impact like Hop night in and night out then you don't fully understand basketball. Brilliant logic, Rockhoya. You disagree with me, therefore you are an idiot, therefore you are wrong and I am right. Where do you come up with this stuff? Read what I wrote. I said Copeland has the potential to be a better defender than Hopkins. He does. He's not right now. I said Copeland was a more complete defender excepting rebounding, and I stand by that. Hopkins brings a lot of great defense, but his foul issues and his tendency to overplay 2-3 times a game versus good opponents are big weaknesses. He didn't either versus Radford, but you know, Radford. White doesn't do the flash, but guys don't get by him much, he contests every shot, and he rarely fouls. I don't think the defensive drop-off is what you guys think it is.
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rockhoya
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 13, 2014 21:19:26 GMT -5
Exactly. If you think any of the freshman have the ability to make a defensive impact like Hop night in and night out then you don't fully understand basketball. Brilliant logic, Rockhoya. You disagree with me, therefore you are an idiot, therefore you are wrong and I am right. Where do you come up with this stuff? Read what I wrote. I said Copeland has the potential to be a better defender than Hopkins. He does. He's not right now. I said Copeland was a more complete defender excepting rebounding, and I stand by that. Hopkins brings a lot of great defense, but his foul issues and his tendency to overplay 2-3 times a game versus good opponents are big weaknesses. He didn't either versus Radford, but you know, Radford. White doesn't do the flash, but guys don't get by him much, he contests every shot, and he rarely fouls. I don't think the defensive drop-off is what you guys think it is. The poster you were quoting wasn't suggesting that none of the freshman had the POTENTIAL to eventually make a defensive impact like Hop, rather he was suggesting that their defense shouldnt even be in the discussion for eating into Hop's mins this year. Also, you're selling his defensive impact sooo short. First of all, almost every player on every team gets caught out of position at least 2-3 times a game on defense, especially against quality competition. The nature of playing good defense is such that if you are playing textbook defense you will get burned every so often. And that doesn't even speak to the fact that he is in the RIGHT position far more often than anyone else on this team and far more often than a lot of players across the nation. Just because he occasionally messes up doesn't mean he can't contribute positively otherwise. His defense and rebounding and his influence of ending and affecting offensive possession is pretty near-elite, if not elite. It's not really all that debatable, usually I don't use other people to justify my independent thoughts but even the announcers recognize it every game.....cmon man give the dude his credit he's earned it
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OldHoyafan
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Post by OldHoyafan on Dec 14, 2014 2:46:15 GMT -5
After each game this year I am seeing something in Smith that I did not see last year. This game he showed his quick jumping ability(not high) but quick. On one sequence he shot the ball and missed but then quickly jumped the second time and tapped the rebound in before the defenders could jump the second time. If he continues to progress this way in showcasing his abilities, this will be a great year for him and the HOYAS.
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b52legend
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Post by b52legend on Dec 14, 2014 10:07:54 GMT -5
I agree with the sentiment that this team has the opportunity to be VERY good by years end. Honestly, at this point I expect us to win the Big East. I think we will be a better team than Nova. A few thoughts
- I'm willing to give Hopkins more run than most on here seem to be. He has had some bad games, but he is shooting very well this year (aside from FTs). Just needs to clean up the TOs. Part of his problem is that he has spent three years being one of the only guys on the team who could create anything in an otherwise stagnant offense -- that is not the case this year and he needs to adjust.
- Paul White might be the most complete player on the team right now. If he (and Copeland) get really comfortable operating at the high post, our offense will take the next step -- especially with Smith down low. We have not had a versatile SF/PF and dominant big man combo since JG and Roy.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 14, 2014 11:49:54 GMT -5
I agree with the sentiment that this team has the opportunity to be VERY good by years end. Honestly, at this point I expect us to win the Big East. I think we will be a better team than Nova. A few thoughts - I'm willing to give Hopkins more run than most on here seem to be. He has had some bad games, but he is shooting very well this year (aside from FTs). Just needs to clean up the TOs. Part of his problem is that he has spent three years being one of the only guys on the team who could create anything in an otherwise stagnant offense -- that is not the case this year and he needs to adjust. - Paul White might be the most complete player on the team right now. If he (and Copeland) get really comfortable operating at the high post, our offense will take the next step -- especially with Smith down low. We have not had a versatile SF/PF and dominant big man combo since JG and Roy. It's actually the other way around on Hopkins. He's shooting FTs very well -- 73.7%. He's 37.5% from the field.
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