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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2015 10:27:43 GMT -5
Reflecting back on the season that just ended, I've come to think that - for lack of a more descriptive word - it was boring. We won the games that we should have won, and lost the games that we should have lost. Aside from the Butler-Villanova long weekend in January, there were no moments that I would describe as major highs, and I really can't think of any big-time lows.
Some of our best performances were actually losses (Wisconsin, Kansas). Winning either of those would have qualified as a major high, but losing them both was expected. Meh.
On the flip side, we didn't have any inexplicable losses. Every team that we lost to made the NCAA tourney. Maybe if Matt Carlino's foot is a half-size smaller, we look back and ask how the heck we lost to Marquette, but we won. Meh.
The Villanova beatdown at home was the signature moment of the season, but beating Villanova at home (no matter how good they are) doesn't have the same shine as a win over Wisconsin or Kansas (or - in other seasons - Duke or some other big-name, highly ranked opponent). So, it was a great win for RPI and a fun win for rivalry purposes, but that's about it.
Maybe boring isn't the right word, but this team was ultimately a classic "They are who we thought they were" team, all season long.
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gutuna
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Post by gutuna on Mar 25, 2015 10:34:09 GMT -5
Interesting. I felt all year that the team just was not one of my favorite Hoya squads. Potential, but it never fully came together this year. Other than the Butler and Villanova games at home, we did not string together four halves of good basketball all year. The team was neither defensively intimidating, nor a joy to watch on offense. I kept waiting for Smith, DSR, and three freshman to play well together in the same game. A year of solid, not spectacular.
I do not even have a lot of memories that will stick with me. Probably only Copeland hitting the winner against Butler.
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guru
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Post by guru on Mar 25, 2015 10:38:48 GMT -5
Reflecting back on the season that just ended, I've come to think that - for lack of a more descriptive word - it was boring. We won the games that we should have won, and lost the games that we should have lost. Aside from the Butler-Villanova long weekend in January, there were no moments that I would describe as major highs, and I really can't think of any big-time lows. Some of our best performances were actually losses (Wisconsin, Kansas). Winning either of those would have qualified as a major high, but losing them both was expected. Meh. On the flip side, we didn't have any inexplicable losses. Every team that we lost to made the NCAA tourney. Maybe if Matt Carlino's foot is a half-size smaller, we look back and ask how the heck we lost to Marquette, but we won. Meh. The Villanova beatdown at home was the signature moment of the season, but beating Villanova at home (no matter how good they are) doesn't have the same shine as a win over Wisconsin or Kansas (or - in other seasons - Duke or some other big-name, highly ranked opponent). So, it was a great win for RPI and a fun win for rivalry purposes, but that's about it. Maybe boring isn't the right word, but this team was ultimately a classic "They are who we thought they were" team, all season long. Nailed it. Good kids, but outside of a few moments it wasn't all that fun to watch. I think maybe the generally dismal atmosphere at home games contributed to the meh factor as well. On offense, I've been driven to the point of exhaustion by our set-your-clock-by-it droughts that normally last 5 minutes or more at least once a game, too. Sucks the life right out of the game and the gym. Not sure what the answer is - we are what we are.
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Filo
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Post by Filo on Mar 25, 2015 10:50:57 GMT -5
Given our struggles at Marquette lately, I think you are selling that win short, despite how bad Marquette was this year. I also think losing both Providence games and losing to a decent but not great Xavier team 3 times in one season was pretty disappointing.
I was frustrated at times but I apparently took much more enjoyment in watching / following the team than some others (well, guru and gutuna, at least).
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guru
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Post by guru on Mar 25, 2015 11:06:02 GMT -5
Given our struggles at Marquette lately, I think you are selling that win short, despite how bad Marquette was this year. I also think losing both Providence games and losing to a decent but not great Xavier team 3 times in one season was pretty disappointing. I was frustrated at times but I apparently took much more enjoyment in watching / following the team than some others (well, guru and gutuna, at least). I'm probably sounding more disappointed than I mean to. It was still a fun ride at times, and the EWU win was more fulfilling than it had any right to be. I will say that the unquestionable highlight of the season for me was the Tyler Adams moment - not sure that happens at many other top tier programs. So that was very cool.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Mar 25, 2015 11:13:57 GMT -5
There were some great moments--DSR had a bunch--stealing the win at Butler, blocking Roosevelt Jones at home, the game winner against Florida. Obviously, Tyler Adams' dunk on Senior Day and Jabril's dunk against EWU were fun. And I'll probably always laugh about Jabril hitting a between the legs step-back three during the beat down of Nova just because of how ridiculously on fire the whole team was in that half.
But otherwise, I don't think there's a game that stands out--EWU was cathartic, but that was dampened by the loss to Utah. Beating Nova is fun, but not a season defining win. If they'd completed the comeback against Xavier, or beaten Wisconsin or Kansas, maybe, but there isn't really a stand out game, like you said.
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Filo
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Post by Filo on Mar 25, 2015 11:13:59 GMT -5
Given our struggles at Marquette lately, I think you are selling that win short, despite how bad Marquette was this year. I also think losing both Providence games and losing to a decent but not great Xavier team 3 times in one season was pretty disappointing. I was frustrated at times but I apparently took much more enjoyment in watching / following the team than some others (well, guru and gutuna, at least). I'm probably sounding more disappointed than I mean to. It was still a fun ride at times, and the EWU win was more fulfilling than it had any right to be. I will say that the unquestionable highlight of the season for me was the Tyler Adams moment - not sure that happens at many other top tier programs. So that was very cool. Agree on Tyler. The best thing about the EWU wins is that, hopefully, we can approach the NCAAs next year with a little bit less stress. The collective angst around here was through the roof. Understandably, so.
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hoyainspirit
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Post by hoyainspirit on Mar 25, 2015 11:28:07 GMT -5
Personally, I enjoyed the season, both the disappointments and the joys. Especially enjoyed watching them develop as the year progressed. Did they gel as much as I hoped? No. But for me, this team was far more entertaining than either last year's squad or Austin's soph year, the two least entertaining seasons for me since III arrived.
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Mar 25, 2015 12:00:01 GMT -5
Still too fresh, and the end too sudden, for me to fully digest how I feel about this season's team. All in all, I enjoyed the bumpy ride. I'll probably enjoy it even more in the rearview mirror.
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Mar 25, 2015 12:15:51 GMT -5
The phrase I used on Casual a few weeks ago was "we just kind of exist".
One thing that stands out to me about the season was the strange funhouse-mirror phenomenon where we tended to get most optimistic about the team's potential right after losses--we did after the Battle 4 Atlantis, to a much lesser extent after the Kansas loss, and then there was a massive wave of it after we almost came back in the BET against Xavier.
What if we phrased it like this...which season do you prefer:
2010 (10-8 conf record and 8th place, BET Final, 3 seed, Rd of 64 awful loss to mid-major, wild swings between major wins over Top 10 Nova and Duke and losses to USF, RU, etc., Top 25 all year, Top 10 for 4 weeks)
or
2015 (12-6 conf record and 2nd place, BET semis, 4 seed, Rd of 32 close loss to P12 team, one Top 10 win but no bad losses, made the Top 25 for several weeks)
We did better this year at two pretty key metrics (conference record/finish and NCAA finish), but I'm guessing most folks would pick the entertainment value of 2010, as would I.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Mar 25, 2015 12:48:50 GMT -5
It was pretty boring.
Much of that was our high expectations -- frankly a 25th ranked team with, as people have correctly pointed out, few big wins or suprises, is an expected outcome for people (and a negative outcome for many).
I know what you were trying with the 2010 comp, but it's tough to call it a straight comparable. That was a better team in possibly the best conference ever that got hamstrung a bit by Austin's diagnosis at the end of the season and crapped the bed in the tourney. You're right in that in addition to Ohio, that team also had some other, crappy, bad losses, but it was also a better team.
I think there's a big difference in perception of the team quality between 20-30 and being in the 10-20 range.
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guru
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Post by guru on Mar 25, 2015 13:17:19 GMT -5
It was pretty boring. Much of that was our high expectations -- frankly a 25th ranked team with, as people have correctly pointed out, few big wins or suprises, is an expected outcome for people (and a negative outcome for many). I know what you were trying with the 2010 comp, but it's tough to call it a straight comparable. That was a better team in possibly the best conference ever that got hamstrung a bit by Austin's diagnosis at the end of the season and crapped the bed in the tourney. You're right in that in addition to Ohio, that team also had some other, crappy, bad losses, but it was also a better team. I think there's a big difference in perception of the team quality between 20-30 and being in the 10-20 range. Think you have 2011 and 2010 confused. 2010 was Ohio. 2011 was freeman illness and VCU.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Mar 25, 2015 13:28:29 GMT -5
It was pretty boring. Much of that was our high expectations -- frankly a 25th ranked team with, as people have correctly pointed out, few big wins or suprises, is an expected outcome for people (and a negative outcome for many). I know what you were trying with the 2010 comp, but it's tough to call it a straight comparable. That was a better team in possibly the best conference ever that got hamstrung a bit by Austin's diagnosis at the end of the season and crapped the bed in the tourney. You're right in that in addition to Ohio, that team also had some other, crappy, bad losses, but it was also a better team. I think there's a big difference in perception of the team quality between 20-30 and being in the 10-20 range. Think you have 2011 and 2010 confused. 2010 was Ohio. 2011 was freeman illness and VCU. 2011 was Wright's injury. Freeman was 2010, right? His junior year?
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Post by aleutianhoya on Mar 25, 2015 13:34:14 GMT -5
I would agree it was somewhat boring. But isn't that a testament to how good our regular seasons have been over the past decade? Excepting last year, in each of the previous seven years, we played at least one game against a top 25 opponent when we were ranked in the top 10. In each year! In many of those years -- due to the strength of the BE -- we did it multiple times and in many, we played another top 10 team while we were in the top 10.
There weren't any of those "national must see TV" games this year, and when there aren't any of them, the year gets a bit drab. Even our game against Utah was going on at the same time NC State was beating Nova -- a far more interesting game on a national level.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Mar 25, 2015 13:35:52 GMT -5
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guru
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Post by guru on Mar 25, 2015 13:48:31 GMT -5
Think you have 2011 and 2010 confused. 2010 was Ohio. 2011 was freeman illness and VCU. 2011 was Wright's injury. Freeman was 2010, right? His junior year? Yes! You were right all along. My mistake. Man, that class was snakebit.
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This Just In
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Post by This Just In on Mar 25, 2015 14:13:30 GMT -5
Some posters forget that the 2010 team made it to the BET Finals and lost to W. Virginia in a great game to earn an #3 Seed in the NCAA.
That is what made the loss to Ohio so disturbing was how could you play so great a week before in the Big East Tournament then get rolled by #14 Ohio in the NCAA's.
For me this year's highlight of the season was beating Indiana in MSG on national television. A game that was a measuring stick at the time and finished as an 91-87 OT win for the Hoyas. 29pts for DSR 22pts for Aaron Bowen
Some fans feel the season is underwhelming as the Freshman this time last year were being hyped to the moon on this board as the saviors to bring the Hoyas back to at least the Sweet 16 and a deeper run, but what occurred was a win over a double-digit seed then a loss...different components, same results, and the drought continues.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Mar 25, 2015 14:20:51 GMT -5
Some posters forget that the 2010 team made it to the BET Finals and lost to W. Virginia in a great game to earn an #3 Seed in the NCAA. That is what made the loss to Ohio so disturbing was how could you play so great a week before in the Big East Tournament then get rolled by #14 Ohio in the NCAA's. For me this year's highlight of the season was beating Indiana in MSG on national television. A game that was a measuring stick at the time and finished as an 91-87 OT win for the Hoyas. 29pts for DSR 22pts for Aaron Bowen Some fans feel the season is underwhelming as the Freshman this time last year were being hyped to the moon on this board as the saviors to bring the Hoyas back to at least the Sweet 16 and a deeper run, but what occurred was a win over a double-digit seed then a loss...different components, same results, and the drought continues. Isn't that a different result, then?
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This Just In
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Post by This Just In on Mar 25, 2015 14:28:52 GMT -5
Some posters forget that the 2010 team made it to the BET Finals and lost to W. Virginia in a great game to earn an #3 Seed in the NCAA. That is what made the loss to Ohio so disturbing was how could you play so great a week before in the Big East Tournament then get rolled by #14 Ohio in the NCAA's. For me this year's highlight of the season was beating Indiana in MSG on national television. A game that was a measuring stick at the time and finished as an 91-87 OT win for the Hoyas. 29pts for DSR 22pts for Aaron Bowen Some fans feel the season is underwhelming as the Freshman this time last year were being hyped to the moon on this board as the saviors to bring the Hoyas back to at least the Sweet 16 and a deeper run, but what occurred was a win over a double-digit seed then a loss...different components, same results, and the drought continues. Isn't that a different result, then? I guess you could consider it different results if you discount beating #14 Belmont in 2012. Is your goal to beat a double digit seed?
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Mar 25, 2015 14:33:25 GMT -5
Isn't that a different result, then? I guess you could consider it different results if you discount beating #14 Belmont in 2012. Is your goal to beat a double digit seed? Well, it was this season.
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