GUMBA
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 737
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Post by GUMBA on Jan 20, 2015 9:49:42 GMT -5
"We were on the wrong side of the arena to see what happened on the play where Jabril got a hand in his eye. It was a worrisome injury because he was playing so well on both sides of the ball."
If you watch the replay you see Josh Hart whipping his left hand around after the block and catching Jabril in the face/eye. It definitely was scary and took the wind out of our sails. Jabril was playing so well and with so much energy, the injury slowed down the defense and let Nova regain their footing. After Jabril came back in the game, it was all over for the Wildcats. The team just played so much better with him on the court. Exactly what you want to see from a senior. The refs seemed like they were trying to control the game with all the whistles but in reality, it just made the game more chippy for the players. I too was confused about when the replay was used and when it wasn't. Couldn't see the push foul from Section 112 on the breakaway back rim miss but it didn't look like much if any contact. After the review they stuck with the call. It was the inconsistency that made it so tough to watch. Hopkins gets bumped in the high post - foul call. Same guy bumps him again in the exact same way a couple minutes later and no call. Seeing that Nova has won seven out of ten games at the Phone Booth and recalling how the games are always a foul-fest, it makes me wonder if that is just Jay Wrights' formula for Georgetown. Slow down the Hoyas offense by manhandling them and let the game be won at the stripe.
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beenaround
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,475
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Post by beenaround on Jan 20, 2015 9:53:50 GMT -5
I've been going to Hoya games since the Shelton Duren years. Not sure why, as I have seen some amazing players and huge wins over the years, but I had an exceptional time at the game last night. I thought the student section was great, and have no problem with them storming the floor. IN fact, it is something they will talk about for years to come, and that atmosphere is what truly separates it from the NBA games experience ( which I also attend regularly.)
IF (a big IF) .. Copeland, White and Jabril can play this like, all year...its gonna be a fun ride.
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Post by ColumbiaHeightsHoya on Jan 20, 2015 10:01:56 GMT -5
The refs kind of botched that game. They called it one way in the first half and a completely different way in the 2nd. I can't believe we took Pinkston out of the game like that and Hilliard was saddled with foul trouble throughout. Best defense I have seen in a long time that first half. Great win, now lets string a few together and make our next game vs. Villanova be for a shot at the title.
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calhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,362
Member is Online
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Post by calhoya on Jan 20, 2015 10:27:18 GMT -5
Some thoughts on the morning after. Great atmosphere and there is no way that does not help motivate the team. Two consecutive games with a home crowd cheering loudly at critical junctures. We have a leader at last and it is Jabril. Bowen and Jabril are the key to stopping opposing teams key perimeter players. Smith and Hopkins are kind of the basketball version of Thunder and Lightning. The team plays better defense and transition offense with Hopkins in there, and then Smith returns against a tired opponent and he is simply too big and too strong to handle if we can make a good entry pass. Keeping Smith's minutes under control makes a big difference as when he tires it is like watching the air go out of a balloon.
The four freshmen all played at key moments last night. Tre did what he was supposed to and did not force any shots. White and Copeland show a growing confidence and I actually hope to see them in more together with White at the 3. Copeland looks the part now. Peak continues to be a liability as an outside shooter, but I noted that his defense is getting better in man and his entry passes were very good, other than an ill-advised alley-oop. If Peak can develop even into an average shooter from the outside he is going to be special.
Jabril and DSR brought the focus and the steadying hands to maintain the lead through a couple of second half runs. Great composure by both.
Finally, give an assist to Wright for sticking to man defense and allowing the Hoyas to run. It shows what the Hoyas can do when they are able to pick up the pace and move the ball. Such a contrast to the last several games when opponents pack it in and dare us to beat them from beyond the arc. Now comes the challenge at Creighton where they will face another aggressive zone and a challenge to break it down. Hopefully the play of the guards over the last three halves is an indication that the team has figured it out. Putting a newly confident Copeland at the high post or White in that spot may be the key as either one can turn and take the shot. Opponents will now have to fear the 4 position on offense. That has not happened in a couple of years.
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MCIGuy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Anyone here? What am I supposed to update?
Posts: 9,427
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Post by MCIGuy on Jan 20, 2015 10:35:18 GMT -5
I expect the Villanova message boards have already posted a "At what point does Jay Wright's seat get warm..." thread. Maybe we should let that go. People had the right to be ticked off after that dreadful performance at Providence. It was typical of the offensive performance of too many games over the last few years. Indecision with the ball. Bad, unforced turnovers. Way too many missed free throws. Endless scoring droughts. Inability to get the ball inside to the big man. And a coach who refuses to call timeouts early and often in the game to get on his team to get its act together on offense. As aresult the Hoyas end up squandering possessions squandering time. That has been beyond frustrating and I placed the blame squarely on III. It wasn't about the talent, it was about doing whatever was necessary to get his players at a level in which competency in executing the offense was the norm. During the Xavier game when the color commentator claimed that Xavier had more players with offensive talent I wanted to throw up because that was bs. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago after a win in which DFW said that outside of DSR, and maybe Smith, he didn't think anyone else on the team could generate offense (I'm paraphrasing a little bit). Nonsense. This team has a lot of talent, including enough guys who can score. III has to nurture that talent, demand that players display that skill and them put them in a position to best display those capabilities. Since the season was long I didn't jump aboard the whole "seat is getting warm" movement on this board, but I didn't blame those fans for their frustrations either. Last night's showing was a step in the right direction, not in terms of how much we beat Nova by (that's more of a fluke) but in terms of the execution. This team has a lot of ability and more than enough players with experience to help lead the way. To see that talent look aimless and clueless in the first half of that Providence game in which the Hoyas needed like 12 minutes to get to double figures and then, to no surprise, lose that game was apparently a breaking point for some folks. Granted there was some overreaction from some posters but that it to be expected. As I've written before you have Duke fans on message boards calling for K's job after losses. Fans of all teams do this.
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Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
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Post by Jack on Jan 20, 2015 10:35:47 GMT -5
Do my eyes deceive me, or is Georgetown-Villanova the front page story at espn.com?
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,791
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jan 20, 2015 11:12:41 GMT -5
General Thoughts: - We'll have to see if this was a true breakthrough or simply a high point, but it was nice to see the team not only win a big game, but win via blowout. We had played with some good teams, but good teams -- Top 25 teams -- blow teams out sometimes. The Final Four team had very few games below a ten point MOV in the second half of the BE schedule. It's a sign of a good team that their close games are their mediocre or poor performances and the blowouts are their good performances.
- It was nice to see vintage JTIII-Georgetown again, even if we owe a decent amount of it to the K-esque move of not playing zone. Lots of easy shots, which we mostly converted. Hitting our threes early helped. But it was the defense that was huge -- making it so the offense was turning it into a blowout instead of keeping up with a team. Tons of turnovers. Good rebounding, against a Nova squad that is usually pretty good on the boards. Yes, the loose foul-calling helped, again, but the team played very, very well.
- Jabril! So much energy, so much defensive distruption. Blocks, steals, shutdown D. When I wrote the "this team can be great but I don't know if they get there post" one poster pointed out correctly, once the discussion turned to playing time, that one alternative was for Jabril to simply play better. Wow, he has. While the stepback three might have been a bit lucky, he was fantastic across the board. Two blocks, four steals! Plus a straight out turnover forced that I don't think they call a steal (not sure). Either way, that's a wrecking crew. Hope there's no lingering effects of the forearm.
- Guess who our best defensive rebounder has been in Big East play? Not Hopkins; he's at 18% of opponents' misses, about what he's done all season. Not Smith, who has picked it in BE play and is at just over 21%. Nope, it's string bean Isaac Copeland, who after not rebounding AT ALL in the non-conference slate, is pulling down 24.4% of all opponents' missed shots. That's Otto Porter territory, even if it's a small amount of minutes. He's had 18 d boards in the last 78 minutes he's played.
- Is Copeland going to continue to shoot like this? He doesn't quite have Durant's height or athleticism, but between body type and that sweet outside jumper, he's a poor man's version (and I don't mean that as an insult). In Big East play, he's a 180 shooter right now: 91% on Free Throws; 59% on 2 pts and 38% on 3 pt shots. Yes, it's a SUPER small sample (even his whole season, where he's just under 180, is a small sample). But just by watching his mechanics, I think he's a good shooter if not this good of a shooter.
- I mentioned it before, but Paul White had a sneaky important game. Huge 3, 9 points on three shots, an assist, no turnovers, block, steal. When our offense was amazing, one of the keys was that a few guys every game would simply have games like White -- they'd shoot 3-4 or something. When we are struggling, we're either not getting the easy shots or we're not making them, and those guys shoot 1-4 (and we lose). We made our close in shots and our open threes yesterday.
- It was nice to see LJ make some of those layups again. If he can get going offensively, this team could be extraordinarily dangerous offensively.
- The officials screwed this game up, but I think they knew that. They called it loose but pretty fair in the first half. Then, whether because Jay Wright got in their ear or because of chippiness and chatter, they clamped down hard on way too much. However, I have to give it to them, they clamped down on both sides. Ridiculous fouls everywhere and I thought it was mindblowing to watch Nova get a cheap foul on one end, then come down, play defense by bumping a driving Hoya and complain that it was a bad call. The officials gave a ton of make-up calls on many of their bad calls (Hoya out bounds, but he got hipchecked? Umm, Hoya ball. Terrible call on fastbreak? Make-up on the other end). They made the game unwatchable at points and got Nova back into it but to their credit they didn't give the game back to Nova because they called junk calls on both sides.
- We almost always lose at Marquette. They've played great D so far this year. They will play zone. Tough game and I hope to see we've carried some of this over, even if it is only Jabril's energy and Isaac's scoring. But for now, I'm enjoying first place.
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Post by hoyadestroya on Jan 20, 2015 11:15:58 GMT -5
Just a great game to watch as a Hoyas fan minus the 10 min span where the refs took over.
My takeaways: - So many options on the floor this year on who can kill you. One of the announcers said it last night and it rings true. You have a freshman hit a game winner and suddenly the senior players have confidence in any 1 on the floor to hit a big shot. - Trawick has officially joined the JYD club. He's always shown his toughness but last night was pure JYD-style. He did alittle bit of everything and it showed how important he is to the team when he had to sit for a spell. - Shout out to Butler for preparing this team for Nova. Hoyas just got done playing a team that was fundamentally sound and has battled against the better teams this year while Nova came in after playing an inferior opponent. I think this set the Hoyas up well from the start.
This old guy doesn't enjoy 9pm tip-offs but I'll take it every time if this is how they'll play!
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GUJook97
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,445
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Post by GUJook97 on Jan 20, 2015 11:25:22 GMT -5
I expect the Villanova message boards have already posted a "At what point does Jay Wright's seat get warm..." thread. Maybe we should let that go. People had the right to be ticked off after that dreadful performance at Providence. It was typical of the offensive performance of too many games over the last few years. Indecision with the ball. Bad, unforced turnovers. Way too many missed free throws. Endless scoring droughts. Inability to get the ball inside to the big man. And a coach who refuses to call timeouts early and often in the game to get on his team to get its act together on offense. As aresult the Hoyas end up squandering possessions squandering time. That has been beyond frustrating and I placed the blame squarely on III. It wasn't about the talent, it was about doing whatever was necessary to get his players at a level in which competency in executing the offense was the norm. During the Xavier game when the color commentator claimed that Xavier had more players with offensive talent I wanted to throw up because that was bs. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago after a win in which DFW said that outside of DSR, and maybe Smith, he didn't think anyone else on the team could generate offense (I'm paraphrasing a little bit). Nonsense. This team has a lot of talent, including enough guys who can score. III has to nurture that talent, demand that players display that skill and them put them in a position to best display those capabilities. Since the season was long I didn't jump aboard the whole "seat is getting warm" movement on this board, but I didn't blame those fans for their frustrations either. Last night's showing was a step in the right direction, not in terms of how much we beat Nova by (that's more of a fluke) but in terms of the execution. This team has a lot of ability and more than enough players with experience to help lead the way. To see that talent look aimless and clueless in the first half of that Providence game in which the Hoyas needed like 12 minutes to get to double figures and then, to no surprise, lose that game was apparently a breaking point for some folks. Granted there was some overreaction from some posters but that it to be expected. As I've written before you have Duke fans on message boards calling for K's job after losses. Fans of all teams do this. Agreed. it's a message board. Let people talk about what they want to talk about. It's ridiculous to think this is the only sports message board where people criticize the team and the coach. If you dont want to participate in the thread, go to another one. Im ecstatic about the win last night, but maybe it hasnt solved every problem we've ever had. Just a thought.
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Post by dungeon ball on Jan 20, 2015 11:28:23 GMT -5
Hey, it's the "why-do-we-always-play-zone-out-of-under-the-basket-out-of-bounds-plays" guy here. Looks like we stuck to man last night and it seemed much more effective. I wonder if it was Villanova driven because they are great outside shooters, or if JTIII felt like the zone was burning us too much. Small part of the game, but I'll be curious to see if it's the same versus Marquette.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,791
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jan 20, 2015 11:44:17 GMT -5
Maybe we should let that go. People had the right to be ticked off after that dreadful performance at Providence. It was typical of the offensive performance of too many games over the last few years. Indecision with the ball. Bad, unforced turnovers. Way too many missed free throws. Endless scoring droughts. Inability to get the ball inside to the big man. And a coach who refuses to call timeouts early and often in the game to get on his team to get its act together on offense. As aresult the Hoyas end up squandering possessions squandering time. That has been beyond frustrating and I placed the blame squarely on III. It wasn't about the talent, it was about doing whatever was necessary to get his players at a level in which competency in executing the offense was the norm. During the Xavier game when the color commentator claimed that Xavier had more players with offensive talent I wanted to throw up because that was bs. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago after a win in which DFW said that outside of DSR, and maybe Smith, he didn't think anyone else on the team could generate offense (I'm paraphrasing a little bit). Nonsense. This team has a lot of talent, including enough guys who can score. III has to nurture that talent, demand that players display that skill and them put them in a position to best display those capabilities. Since the season was long I didn't jump aboard the whole "seat is getting warm" movement on this board, but I didn't blame those fans for their frustrations either. Last night's showing was a step in the right direction, not in terms of how much we beat Nova by (that's more of a fluke) but in terms of the execution. This team has a lot of ability and more than enough players with experience to help lead the way. To see that talent look aimless and clueless in the first half of that Providence game in which the Hoyas needed like 12 minutes to get to double figures and then, to no surprise, lose that game was apparently a breaking point for some folks. Granted there was some overreaction from some posters but that it to be expected. As I've written before you have Duke fans on message boards calling for K's job after losses. Fans of all teams do this. Agreed. it's a message board. Let people talk about what they want to talk about. It's ridiculous to think this is the only sports message board where people criticize the team and the coach. If you dont want to participate in the thread, go to another one. Im ecstatic about the win last night, but maybe it hasnt solved every problem we've ever had. Just a thought. I've never gotten this argument. It's a message board. Just as much as it's a place for you to bitch about whatever, it's a place for people to disagree with whatever you are bitching about. Not saying this of anyone in particular, and not you, jook, but I always find it odd that the people who are so quick to criticize -- and often in ways that aren't respectful at all -- are the first to complain when someone brings it back at them. Surely, if you can dish it, you can take it. As to your other point, I don't think this solved everything. It certainly did not. But people talking about the hot seat because Mikael Hopkins was 0-6 on FTs was ridiculous. It's one thing to criticize choices and play; it's another to bring up firing a coach in that scenario. And yes, talking about a hot seat is talking about firing. It's just the wussy way to go about it. So, needling people about overreaction to an away loss in the Big East seems totally within bounds to me. As does really any response you have here to me. It's a message board. But it goes both ways.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 20, 2015 12:18:22 GMT -5
General Thoughts: - We'll have to see if this was a true breakthrough or simply a high point, but it was nice to see the team not only win a big game, but win via blowout. We had played with some good teams, but good teams -- Top 25 teams -- blow teams out sometimes. The Final Four team had very few games below a ten point MOV in the second half of the BE schedule. It's a sign of a good team that their close games are their mediocre or poor performances and the blowouts are their good performances.
- We almost always lose at Marquette. They've played great D so far this year. They will play zone. Tough game and I hope to see we've carried some of this over, even if it is only Jabril's energy and Isaac's scoring. But for now, I'm enjoying first place.
To me your "bookended" big picture points are the most important to keep in mind. This was the best game this team has played, and although we all hope the overall trend line is going the right way, you're almost never as good as your best performance to date. Road games against decent teams are almost always hard-fought affairs. Heck, our HOME game against Marquette (which wasn't that long ago) was a one possession game with 2 minutes left! So, I won't be surprised by (or despondent after) a stinker here. Although we could certainly argue that we ought to win the next three, winning 2 of the next 3 would leave us in darned good shape -- likely in second place (at worst) in the league halfway through.
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GUJook97
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,445
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Post by GUJook97 on Jan 20, 2015 12:19:24 GMT -5
It's a fair point, but my general criticism, and I think MCI's is that people complain that this board is overly negative and critical. I tend to disagree. It's pretty much like every sports message board. It shouldn't be surprising that people get upset when we play like crap...
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guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,605
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Post by guru on Jan 20, 2015 12:25:49 GMT -5
Agreed. it's a message board. Let people talk about what they want to talk about. It's ridiculous to think this is the only sports message board where people criticize the team and the coach. If you dont want to participate in the thread, go to another one. Im ecstatic about the win last night, but maybe it hasnt solved every problem we've ever had. Just a thought. I've never gotten this argument. It's a message board. Just as much as it's a place for you to bitch about whatever, it's a place for people to disagree with whatever you are bitching about. Not saying this of anyone in particular, and not you, jook, but I always find it odd that the people who are so quick to criticize -- and often in ways that aren't respectful at all -- are the first to complain when someone brings it back at them. Surely, if you can dish it, you can take it. As to your other point, I don't think this solved everything. It certainly did not. But people talking about the hot seat because Mikael Hopkins was 0-6 on FTs was ridiculous. It's one thing to criticize choices and play; it's another to bring up firing a coach in that scenario. And yes, talking about a hot seat is talking about firing. It's just the wussy way to go about it. So, needling people about overreaction to an away loss in the Big East seems totally within bounds to me. As does really any response you have here to me. It's a message board. But it goes both ways. I think you have simply repeated what the poster you were responding to was saying, only at much greater length? It's an open forum.
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Jan 20, 2015 12:56:17 GMT -5
It's a fair point, but my general criticism, and I think MCI's is that people complain that this board is overly negative and critical. I tend to disagree. It's pretty much like every sports message board. It shouldn't be surprising that people get upset when we play like crap... Absolutely. There is a natural tendency to express displeasure and frustration more so than happiness. Better to vent your frustration on HoyaTalk than at your spouse, kids, dog, sheetrock, plasma screen . . .
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b52legend
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 453
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Post by b52legend on Jan 20, 2015 12:56:39 GMT -5
One other point that is really coming into focus for me - JT3's ability to develop players and the payoff for committed 4-year guys. It is really great to see Hopkins and Trawick playing the best basketball of their lives right now. Bowen has developed from basically an afterthought into one of our best defenders, a key contributor and a borderline NBA prospect.
If I was selling Georgetown to recruits, the first guys I would talk about wouldn't be Ewing, Hibbert, Iverson, Green, etc. (although, I would no doubt reference them plenty), it would be Henry Simms and Tyler Adams. Those two guys exemplify what a commitment to Georgetown basketball can do for you, and how committed the Georgetown program and community will be to you in return. Love to see the seniors on this team get their time. Love to see what great players they have become.
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chep3
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,314
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Post by chep3 on Jan 20, 2015 13:02:53 GMT -5
Alas, I'm not sure we'll see much man again in conference play. We looked so much more decisive against man defense than we have against zone, and MU will certainly be a reality check in that regard. I'm hopeful that we're starting to see a glimpse of where we might be at the end of the year, and if Cope and White want to play like that, I think we can end up being as good against the zone as we are against man. It didn't feel like we were playing with fool's gold last night--other than Jabril's heat check 3, it seemed like everything we got came out of good decisions and our aggressiveness. If we're going to make a run in March, it's going to require our freshmen to take a leap up. Hopefully the last few days is the start of that.
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Massholya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,946
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Post by Massholya on Jan 20, 2015 13:06:50 GMT -5
I expect the Villanova message boards have already posted a "At what point does Jay Wright's seat get warm..." thread. Maybe we should let that go. People had the right to be ticked off after that dreadful performance at Providence. It was typical of the offensive performance of too many games over the last few years. Indecision with the ball. Bad, unforced turnovers. Way too many missed free throws. Endless scoring droughts. Inability to get the ball inside to the big man. And a coach who refuses to call timeouts early and often in the game to get on his team to get its act together on offense. As aresult the Hoyas end up squandering possessions squandering time. That has been beyond frustrating and I placed the blame squarely on III. It wasn't about the talent, it was about doing whatever was necessary to get his players at a level in which competency in executing the offense was the norm. During the Xavier game when the color commentator claimed that Xavier had more players with offensive talent I wanted to throw up because that was bs. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago after a win in which DFW said that outside of DSR, and maybe Smith, he didn't think anyone else on the team could generate offense (I'm paraphrasing a little bit). Nonsense. This team has a lot of talent, including enough guys who can score. III has to nurture that talent, demand that players display that skill and them put them in a position to best display those capabilities. Since the season was long I didn't jump aboard the whole "seat is getting warm" movement on this board, but I didn't blame those fans for their frustrations either. Last night's showing was a step in the right direction, not in terms of how much we beat Nova by (that's more of a fluke) but in terms of the execution. This team has a lot of ability and more than enough players with experience to help lead the way. To see that talent look aimless and clueless in the first half of that Providence game in which the Hoyas needed like 12 minutes to get to double figures and then, to no surprise, lose that game was apparently a breaking point for some folks. Granted there was some overreaction from some posters but that it to be expected. As I've written before you have Duke fans on message boards calling for K's job after losses. Fans of all teams do this. Thinking back on that providence game, if we don't choke that one away, we'd probably be looking at a top 15 ranking right now. Interesting to think about.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Jan 20, 2015 13:15:27 GMT -5
Thinking back on that providence game, if we don't choke that one away, we'd probably be looking at a top 15 ranking right now. Interesting to think about. If we can get past Marquette on Saturday, we'll almost certainly be ranked. If we can then string together a few wins (feasible, given our schedule), I think a top 15 ranking is well within the realm of being reasonable. We need to take care of business at Marquette first, which will be no easy task.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 20, 2015 13:16:51 GMT -5
Maybe we should let that go. People had the right to be ticked off after that dreadful performance at Providence. It was typical of the offensive performance of too many games over the last few years. Indecision with the ball. Bad, unforced turnovers. Way too many missed free throws. Endless scoring droughts. Inability to get the ball inside to the big man. And a coach who refuses to call timeouts early and often in the game to get on his team to get its act together on offense. As aresult the Hoyas end up squandering possessions squandering time. That has been beyond frustrating and I placed the blame squarely on III. It wasn't about the talent, it was about doing whatever was necessary to get his players at a level in which competency in executing the offense was the norm. During the Xavier game when the color commentator claimed that Xavier had more players with offensive talent I wanted to throw up because that was bs. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago after a win in which DFW said that outside of DSR, and maybe Smith, he didn't think anyone else on the team could generate offense (I'm paraphrasing a little bit). Nonsense. This team has a lot of talent, including enough guys who can score. III has to nurture that talent, demand that players display that skill and them put them in a position to best display those capabilities. Since the season was long I didn't jump aboard the whole "seat is getting warm" movement on this board, but I didn't blame those fans for their frustrations either. Last night's showing was a step in the right direction, not in terms of how much we beat Nova by (that's more of a fluke) but in terms of the execution. This team has a lot of ability and more than enough players with experience to help lead the way. To see that talent look aimless and clueless in the first half of that Providence game in which the Hoyas needed like 12 minutes to get to double figures and then, to no surprise, lose that game was apparently a breaking point for some folks. Granted there was some overreaction from some posters but that it to be expected. As I've written before you have Duke fans on message boards calling for K's job after losses. Fans of all teams do this. Thinking back on that providence game, if we don't choke that one away, we'd probably be looking at a top 15 ranking right now. Interesting to think about. Sure. And we easily could have beaten Wisconsin, the first Butler, and Kansas, too if one of any number of things had gone our way. Of course, we could easily have lost to Charlotte, Indiana, and the second Butler if one of any number of things bounced the other way! In truth, we're probably right about where we ought to be in terms of good fortune in the close ones. Not surprisingly, our "luck" metric in Pomeroy is right about in the middle of the country.
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