TBird41
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
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Post by TBird41 on Nov 14, 2016 13:59:31 GMT -5
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Nov 14, 2016 14:04:53 GMT -5
I haven't watched the first half of Saturday's game yet, so take this with a nod to the fact that I saw the half with an eight minute span where we scored about six points... Maryland's not the team they were last year, but it's a great test for us in the vein of the USC-Upstate coach's comments. I know a few people were annoyed with his seemingly doubting comments, but he's right. The pressing, running style works great to blow out crappy opponents, but if you aren't talented enough and don't execute well enough, those blowouts dry up quickly. If a team doesn't turn the ball over and gets back on D, you have to play more half court offense. The press also works great against young teams like Maryland. That said, this game will be about guarding their ball hog like a glove. The JMs, Peak, Pryor and Kaleb should be up for the challenge. I like our numbers. Tire him. |
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 14, 2016 14:07:30 GMT -5
Yeah, I don't mean to say Maryland is a terrible matchup; it's not. But they are a step up from USC Upstate and the next possible validation of the team.
It's a good sign to blow out your cupcakes just as it was a terrible sign to not blow them out last year. If we look this good against Maryland, that'll be more positive evidence.
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95hoya
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Post by 95hoya on Nov 14, 2016 14:33:12 GMT -5
KenPom has us at #24, MD at #54, and Hoyas as a 74% favorite here. It's over. I expect us to win, but kenpom is useless this early in the season. It's heavily slanted towards returning players. |
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Post by aleutianhoya on Nov 14, 2016 14:55:41 GMT -5
I didn't get the chance to post after the Upstate game, but it's equally relevant here: What I liked most wasn't just that we pressed, it was that we had a lot of different presses at our disposal. We had your traditional diamond trapping zone press and also the less aggressive version of the same press we've used in past years. But we also used quite effectively a run and jump defense. That's a trickier one for a team to prepare for, because there aren't set rules as to when the trap comes or where the help defense rotates. In fact, you can just end up playing straight man full-court and not trap at all. Sure, Upstate was bad. But it was very encouraging to me that our presses were as disruptive as they were. If you're not good at pressing, even bad teams can beat it consistently (if not for layups, then at least by getting the ball safely across).
So, I want to see that continue in this one. Obviously, I want to win. But I also want to see how III reacts when (if) MD breaks the pressure a couple times consecutively for easy baskets. Will we try a different kind of pressure? Will he give up on it altogether? Will he just sporadically press? It seems pretty clear he's committed to pressure defense. But we also know that he is constitutionally predisposed to hating giving up easy fast break layups. It'll be instructive to see what happens.
The half-court defensive energy was much, much better than anything we saw last year. Yes, our bigs still are going to foul a good deal, but they at least shouldn't have to help as often against driving guards that easily blow past our perimeter defense.
I don't think we've learned much about Rodney just yet. The big question will be to see what happens when his shots aren't falling, and we know there are going to be a fair number of games where that's the case.
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Post by FrazierFanatic on Nov 14, 2016 15:06:07 GMT -5
I think we can see that Pryor will continue to be aggressive; hopefully if his shot is off, he will make a concerted effort to get to the rim and draw fouls.
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AvantGuardHoya
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Post by AvantGuardHoya on Nov 14, 2016 15:45:57 GMT -5
I'm reminded of Big John's comment about Patrick covering the back of the press better than any big man he ever had. Govan and Agau did not distinguish themselves in that regard Saturday. and have 2 on 1s to the hoop -- and many, many times would pull the ball out and reset, rather than challenge. That's how intimidating he was guarding the hoop in the press. Was awesome to watch. I suspect you'd agree, SaxaCD, that the occasions when the press was broken resulting in 2 on 1s versus Ewing's Hoyas were exceedingly rare. The defensive intensity and rebounding ferocity of GU in those days was awesome. Saturday's first half pressure and offensive explosion against USC-Upstate was a great way to start the season. Not to diminish it, but it doesn't come close to being the stunning demolition the Hoyas put on 9th ranked St. John's in Patrick's freshman year to open the conference slate in MSG. I fondly remember being ahead of the Redmen by a 41-9 margin in the first half. What a wondrous start to a Hall of Fame career! Another time and another team. Tuesday night I want to see more of what Saturday suggested today's Hoyas could be. |
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beenaround
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Post by beenaround on Nov 14, 2016 16:25:53 GMT -5
Teams would break presses against Ewing's teams and have 2 on 1s to the hoop -- and many, many times would pull the ball out and reset, rather than challenge. That's how intimidating he was guarding the hoop in the press. Was awesome to watch. I suspect you'd agree, SaxaCD, that the occasions when the press was broken resulting in 2 on 1s versus Ewing's Hoyas were exceedingly rare. The defensive intensity and rebounding ferocity of GU in those days was awesome. Saturday's first half pressure and offensive explosion against USC-Upstate was a great way to start the season. Not to diminish it, but it doesn't come close to being the stunning demolition the Hoyas put on 9th ranked St. John's in Patrick's freshman year to open the conference slate in MSG. I fondly remember being ahead of the Redmen by a 41-9 margin in the first half. What a wondrous start to a Hall of Fame career! Another time and another team. Tuesday night I want to see more of what Saturday suggested today's Hoyas could be. Yup. Fingers crossed for this year's team..but we will never see anything like those Ewing Hoyas defenses again...nothing even close. |
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sleepy
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Post by sleepy on Nov 14, 2016 18:21:54 GMT -5
I mean, of course the press won't be as effective as it was on Saturday. And we won't look as good no score as easily.
The press, scoring, and Pryor really shouldn't have been THE takeaways from Saturday anyways. The only real thing we learned, that is of grave importance btw, is the attitude and energy displayed from the tip. Now it is just a matter of keeping that consistent and then working on all the many other flaws that need to be addressed.
It is also important to remember that teams that rely on the turning defense into offense and pushing up the tempo generally look pretty awful around December-January when competition starts getting tougher, as they figure out what they are going to do in the half-court. We will likely face this against Maryland. If we are indeed going to keep this strategy, everyone needs to prepare themselves for this.
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hoyainla
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Suspended
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Post by hoyainla on Nov 14, 2016 18:40:52 GMT -5
I think the Hoyas will be about 4-5 point favorites in this game. I know that doesn't mean everything but it does mean that we are expected to win. Lets just hope we show up and do what we are capable of. This is a game we should win and I will be disappointed if we lose.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Nov 14, 2016 19:07:28 GMT -5
Looks like line opened at Hoyas -5.5.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Nov 14, 2016 20:39:30 GMT -5
Some nice quotes by Turgeon:
“I think Georgetown’s a top-15 team in the country and I might be shortchanging them. They might be even better than that,” Turgeon told reporters today. “For this early in the year, just to see where you truly are, and to see how quickly we can grow up from Friday to Tuesday, it’s going to be a big test.”
What's the feeling around GU campus? Are the students up for the game tomorrow?
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Nov 14, 2016 21:40:10 GMT -5
Defense is going to be key this year. Both on the interior and keeping quick guards out of the lane. I liked our switches better already but we still go under a lot of picks. That wasn't a problem against USC but it will be against many teams.
I like that a guy like Pryor can go off for 30+ and that the Hoyas won't need him to do that every night to compete. We have multiple guys that should be in double digits every game and a few that can go big from time to time. I like that much better in terms of their capability for offensive consistency. We can also run a lot of guys out there so, hopefully, we can minimize the effect of guys getting gassed on both ends. A lot is going to rely on the bigs in that regard. Hopefully, Akoy and Reggie get back to 100% in terms of their health. If they do, that only adds to the depth and against a lot of teams, Akoy can play some 5 to give Jessie and Bradley a rest.
One thing that surprised me was how fit Akoy seemed to be for having been injured for so long. Considering he's not fully back, I thought his conditioning was great. Good on him for working his butt off. Similarly, LJ looked to be in better shape than he's ever been and looks a half step quicker as a result. Hopefully I'm not just seeing things and it translates to him being better able to move his feet on D and also to knock down free throws as he's likely going to be in the top 2 on the team in FTs attempted.
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MCIGuy
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Anyone here? What am I supposed to update?
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Post by MCIGuy on Nov 15, 2016 3:09:36 GMT -5
Some nice quotes by Turgeon: “I think Georgetown’s a top-15 team in the country and I might be shortchanging them. They might be even better than that,” Turgeon told reporters today. “For this early in the year, just to see where you truly are, and to see how quickly we can grow up from Friday to Tuesday, it’s going to be a big test.” Here's an often used quote from Big John that can be perfectly applied as a response: "Fattening frogs for snakes". |
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fanofjack
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Post by fanofjack on Nov 15, 2016 8:09:09 GMT -5
Sounds like Jonny Rothstein will be tuned in tonight. But I think he needs to cool his jets and let us play the game before he goes overboard making our newfound pressing/trapping sound like Nolan Richardson's Arkansas teams.
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calhoya
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Post by calhoya on Nov 15, 2016 9:58:01 GMT -5
Always feel better when I believe that the Hoyas are the underdogs. However, after watching Maryland against American, the Hoyas should be able to beat this team if they can rebound and stay focused on defense. I actually think that the slower tempo may be better at times tonight than getting into a race with the Terps. Their strength is in the backcourt. This is one game where I believe the halfcourt offense with Hayes would have been very effective.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 15, 2016 10:24:38 GMT -5
Always feel better when I believe that the Hoyas are the underdogs. However, after watching Maryland against American, the Hoyas should be able to beat this team if they can rebound and stay focused on defense. I actually think that the slower tempo may be better at times tonight than getting into a race with the Terps. Their strength is in the backcourt. This is one game where I believe the halfcourt offense with Hayes would have been very effective. I hear you. But, Im not going to believe this team can win a game with defense or half court offense until it happens  Not trying to by cynical, but I think it's pretty clear this team is completely built around it running offense. Many of us, myself included, have been preaching and waiting for that for years. Im looking forward to enjoying the ride. I think there will be games where we look awful because teams will slow us down, but teams like Nova have proven you can win with tempo, small ball and aggressive defense. |
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 15, 2016 10:26:55 GMT -5
The pressing, running style works great to blow out crappy opponents, but if you aren't talented enough and don't execute well enough, those blowouts dry up quickly. If a team doesn't turn the ball over and gets back on D, you have to play more half court offense. I agree. Count me among those who are skeptical we can use the press effectively against a better team. USC Upstate clearly was not prepared and/or talented enough to deal with our press. And that's great, and definitely a tactic we should employ against poor teams. What concerned me is that in several instances, USC did beat the press and got relatively easy layups. And there were multiple instances where our guys were not where they were supposed to be on defense, either. So, I know many people here want us to press everybody, but I am just not certain it will work against a better team like Maryland. If USC Upstate can beat the press on occasion, you'd expect a team like Maryland to do it more effectively, especially since they will now go into the game expecting it. I have always been a skeptic of the "pressure all game" mentality, though I do think our team is athletic enough to do it more than in past years. I am just not sure it'll be good enough against better teams. I agree with you guys, but like I said above, I think that is who we are. We'll see. If we can cut down on the stupid fouls, including offensive, out of control ones, I think we can play defense good enough. |
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 15, 2016 10:30:11 GMT -5
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 15, 2016 10:39:48 GMT -5
Cosign.
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Not trying to by cynical, but I think it's pretty clear this team is completely built around it running offense. Many of us, myself included, have been preaching and waiting for that for years. Im looking forward to enjoying the ride. 
