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Post by FrazierFanatic on Dec 17, 2017 10:03:22 GMT -5
I can't really argue with using Mulmore to help break the press. At the same time, Jagan took the ball to the basket and scored when we broke the press; Mulmore just does not have that in his game. And somebody praised Mulmore's defense? All I saw him do was bump guys 40 or even 60 feet from the basket. That's not defense.
We don't have a guard who can lock down an opponent at this point. That will be a problem all season against guard-oriented teams.
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Dec 17, 2017 10:40:32 GMT -5
Yes, while there are several positives to be taken from yesterday's game it is important to realize that Syracuse is not an elite team, but rather a very young team that will be up and down all year. Bigger tests are coming in the form of Nova, Xavier, Seton Hall and Creighton. As my brother-in-law said, a game like this would have had the fanbase in revolt a year ago--guess that is a sign of how low the bar has been set after the disappointment of the past few seasons. It's a convenient time to use Syracuse as a benchmark because as of this morning they're in a logjam of Big East teams in the KenPom rankings: St. John's (48), Cuse (52), Butler (53), Marquette (54) and Providence (54). So they're basically a 5th-8th place Big East team by power rankings, which sounds about right, and sitting next to our first Big East opponent. It's a positive sign that we were clearly competitive on our first foray into that level of competition. That said, I wonder about the intangible factors of a home rivalry game. It was abundantly clear in the week leading up reading social media and articles that the team was very hyped for the game and there's often a bonus effect from playing in front of the best or 2nd best crowd you're getting all season. How do they get up on Dec 27th in a dead arena with little advance practice vs a team with which we have no significant exciting history?
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Post by theicon on Dec 17, 2017 10:43:12 GMT -5
UVA fan here!! Good game yesterday, but it was just like the UMD game last year. However, this team is better just with the freedom within the offense. I think you guys stayed in the zone a little too long and didn't mix up the defense as much in the second half. I'm not sure what Dickerson brings for you guys as he's kinda disappointed so far. Recruits see the offensive and scheme changes so I think that will be big in the future...LIKE NEXT YEAR. One or two battle tested WCAC top guards and Gtown will be a hot-spot once again. Good Luck.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Dec 17, 2017 11:03:35 GMT -5
A few more thoughts on the morning after: Yes, while there are several positives to be taken from yesterday's game it is important to realize that Syracuse is not an elite team, but rather a very young team that will be up and down all year. Bigger tests are coming in the form of Nova, Xavier, Seton Hall and Creighton. As my brother-in-law said, a game like this would have had the fanbase in revolt a year ago--guess that is a sign of how low the bar has been set after the disappointment of the past few seasons. Old habits die hard.
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Dec 17, 2017 11:08:06 GMT -5
Not to belabor it - but the 'Cuse never shoots this well from 3 line' - only two players from Syracuse hit threes- Battle and Brissett. They combined for 10-18. By the time they had gotten to about 5 combined threes it seemed pretty clear you needed to get out of that zone or cover the hell out of them differently because they had two guys who were hot, not just one, which constitutes a "hot team" in college basketball jargon. And combine that with that with the fact GU had played zone 2% of the time this year, the guys feet looked like they had cement shoes on - and that we weren't bad in man to man- More than once this season, we've been on here after a game commenting how a low major suddenly got really hot from three. I'm strongly suspecting it ain't a coincidence. We simply don't get out and contest threes well enough and at times get straight up lost on defense. I was a little miffed we stayed in the 2-3 so long in the second half because I thought we were doing fine in the first half out of man defending screen actions. Whether guys got hot or not--leaving guys uncontested in the same corner multiple times points to some work to be done. Having only one timeout at the twelve minute mark - it was over ten, whatever the exact number was - was brutal and that's a bad number no matter how experienced your team is. I'd have to rewatch to see the other time outs, but in a tight game against a good team and with this squad's lack of experience - you are going to play with fire every time - Derrickson should have been taken out the second he got his fourth. Regardless of the quality of the calls, he was clearly worked up and barreled right to the baseline on that next splay- take him out, sit next to him, remind him the game isn't over but he has to be careful, and get him during the next break, there was too much time left. It's one of those things you need to do in college with players, in particular those playing in big spots for the first time. There is a reason why it's an automatic reflex for every coach in that spot to pull the player. These are two interesting points to consider about Coach Ewing's game management. On the timeouts...you now get four timeouts per game: a "full" timeout you can use whenever and three "30 second" timeouts, one of which is use-or-lose for the first half. Coach burned the full timeout 2 1/2 minutes into the game after we'd started scoreless. We didn't use a 30 second timeout in the first half, so we lost one and entered the 2nd half with 2 30-second timeouts. We can't know Ewing's thinking behind using the full timeout and the message communicated during it--the team certainly looked confused to start the game and probably did need to cool down. But the game management ultimately cost us a timeout. Now, we didn't use both of the TOs in the second half anyway, and Cuse called their full timeout with about a minute to go after a score so we got the benefit anyway...still interesting. On Derrickson...I was watching the bench for a lot of the dead ball portion immediately after his 4th foul. During the time I watched, I didn't see anyone alert Coach about the foul situation, nor did I see him look back and ask or make a move to bring in another player. I may well have missed something. Would be interesting to know the decision making there though: was the bench aware of the 4th foul? Was Ewing? If they were, was the plan to steal time until the next media timeout 90 seconds away? Let him roll with it until the end of the game because of his importance on the court? Was there anything communicated to Marcus? Bad call or not, the specific play he fouled out on is awfully risky for a PF type to make sitting on 4 fouls.
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Dec 17, 2017 11:24:08 GMT -5
MD should do that move every single time. If he starts to think that beating his man so badly that he's leaning sideways might draw a charge, he's overthinking things. It's just a bad call and yes it probably cost us the game but he has to move on and not play afraid.
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LCPolo18
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Post by LCPolo18 on Dec 17, 2017 11:46:21 GMT -5
A few notes from the game, some of which was mentioned already and some of which I didn’t see.
1. Great fan atmosphere and excited to see so many students show up.
2. Jack came onto the court in a remote control truck during a timeout, pretty fantastic.
3. The late firsts half lineup of Mosely, Blair, Johnson, Derrickson, and Govan was rolling. To my recollection that lineup barely played together in the second half.
4. Really could have used Blair, Mulmore, or Dickerson on the court with Mosely to break the press late.
5. The Hoyas possession with about 2 minutes left where they dribbled/passed around the perimeter to drain the clock was the moment when I realized that the game was in jeopardy.
6. Blair’s mother was sitting next to me and was probably one of the most vocal Georgetown fans in the arena.
7. Great to see so many recent player alumni at the game supporting the team.
8. The school not only recognized father McFadden and his retirement during one of the timeouts, but also recognized Aaron Broadus (pep band director for 15 years) who will be stepping down. Congrats to both of them.
I’m excited for Big East play. Not sure how many games the team will win, but at least it seems like the games will be fun and exciting. And I’m definitely optimistic about the future of the team under Ewing.
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drquigley
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Post by drquigley on Dec 17, 2017 12:20:00 GMT -5
Was at the game and then rewatched my recording of it last night. Mad that we lost a very winnable game but happy that we weren't blown out as some (myself included) thought we would be. MD was jobbed badly. We could see the block up in the 400 section. Sadly, sitting in the cheap seats means being surrounded by Cute fans. Needless to say they ripped into us after the game. Only response that quieted them was "enjoy your trips down tobacco road".
Several posters have compared tis game to the Maryland game. I think it was much more like the Butler(?) game last year. We controlled the game until the last 5 minutes and once it went into overtime there was no doubt we would lose. Question for the Board, "When was the last time we won an overtime game"?
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whatmaroon
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Post by whatmaroon on Dec 17, 2017 12:34:07 GMT -5
Several posters have compared tis game to the Maryland game. I think it was much more like the Butler(?) game last year. We controlled the game until the last 5 minutes and once it went into overtime there was no doubt we would lose. Question for the Board, "When was the last time we won an overtime game"? At Marquette in 2015, when we went 3-1 playing >40 minutes. 0-2 in 2016 (Radford and v.Butler) and 0-2 in 2017 (v.Butler and v.Seton Hall). The game was evidence we are who I thought we probably were-a not very good team that is still nonetheless much better than the worst case scenarios for this season. We're probably still competing with DePaul to finish in 9th, but we shouldn't be a joke.
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Post by professorhoya on Dec 17, 2017 12:53:11 GMT -5
I thought there were lots of positives in the game that many other posters have cited. A couple points - and let me put these under the "welcome to the dynamics of coaching college basketball" category - Not to belabor it - but the 'Cuse never shoots this well from 3 line' - only two players from Syracuse hit threes- Battle and Brissett. They combined for 10-18. By the time they had gotten to about 5 combined threes it seemed pretty clear you needed to get out of that zone or cover the hell out of them differently because they had two guys who were hot, not just one, which constitutes a "hot team" in college basketball jargon. And combine that with that with the fact GU had played zone 2% of the time this year, the guys feet looked like they had cement shoes on - and that we weren't bad in man to man- Having only one timeout at the twelve minute mark - it was over ten, whatever the exact number was - was brutal and that's a bad number no matter how experienced your team is. I'd have to rewatch to see the other time outs, but in a tight game against a good team and with this squad's lack of experience - you are going to play with fire every time - Derrickson should have been taken out the second he got his fourth. Regardless of the quality of the calls, he was clearly worked up and barreled right to the baseline on that next splay- take him out, sit next to him, remind him the game isn't over but he has to be careful, and get him during the next break, there was too much time left. It's one of those things you need to do in college with players, in particular those playing in big spots for the first time. There is a reason why it's an automatic reflex for every coach in that spot to pull the player. That's funny, when III was here people were hollering that III was hoarding the timeouts and saving them instead of using to them to stop momentum shifts, etc.
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Dec 17, 2017 13:11:33 GMT -5
Agreed. No problem with the timeouts. Young team use them when you need to.
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Dec 17, 2017 13:14:38 GMT -5
Was at the game and then rewatched my recording of it last night. Mad that we lost a very winnable game but happy that we weren't blown out as some (myself included) thought we would be. MD was jobbed badly. We could see the block up in the 400 section. Sadly, sitting in the cheap seats means being surrounded by Cute fans. Needless to say they ripped into us after the game. Only response that quieted them was "enjoy your trips down tobacco road". I ran into three relatively civil Syracuse fans at a pre-game brunch at a bar. When I got up to leave wearing my Hoya hoodie, my seat became available, and one of them took it. He said "I hope we didn't chase you away." I said no, mentioned that my cousin went to Syracuse and that my classmate Kent Syverud (SFS '77) is your Chancellor. I told them we consider him our "Manchurian Candidate" and walked away. Not certain they understood the allusion.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Dec 17, 2017 13:31:52 GMT -5
Yes, while there are several positives to be taken from yesterday's game it is important to realize that Syracuse is not an elite team, but rather a very young team that will be up and down all year. Bigger tests are coming in the form of Nova, Xavier, Seton Hall and Creighton. As my brother-in-law said, a game like this would have had the fanbase in revolt a year ago--guess that is a sign of how low the bar has been set after the disappointment of the past few seasons. It's a convenient time to use Syracuse as a benchmark because as of this morning they're in a logjam of Big East teams in the KenPom rankings: St. John's (48), Cuse (52), Butler (53), Marquette (54) and Providence (54). So they're basically a 5th-8th place Big East team by power rankings, which sounds about right, and sitting next to our first Big East opponent. It's a positive sign that we were clearly competitive on our first foray into that level of competition. That said, I wonder about the intangible factors of a home rivalry game. It was abundantly clear in the week leading up reading social media and articles that the team was very hyped for the game and there's often a bonus effect from playing in front of the best or 2nd best crowd you're getting all season. How do they get up on Dec 27th in a dead arena with little advance practice vs a team with which we have no significant exciting history? Definitely agree. That's why I think the Butler game is relevant. It was a barometer last year, too. That was a game we could and should have closed out. It will be interesting to see what team shows up for that.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Dec 17, 2017 13:40:22 GMT -5
I can't really argue with using Mulmore to help break the press. At the same time, Jagan took the ball to the basket and scored when we broke the press; Mulmore just does not have that in his game. And somebody praised Mulmore's defense? All I saw him do was bump guys 40 or even 60 feet from the basket. That's not defense. We don't have a guard who can lock down an opponent at this point. That will be a problem all season against guard-oriented teams. Yeah. The Mulmore complaint is odd to me. He had 3 fouls in like 5 minutes of playing time. And, in fact, when he got his 3rd foul, Ewing kept him in, likely because he wanted to use him for the adjustments we made at half time. And, it worked. But, defensively, he was clearly a liability. Most players who get 3 fouls in 5 minutes usually are...
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 17, 2017 13:47:19 GMT -5
Bigger tests are coming in the form of Nova, Xavier, Seton Hall and Creighton. As my brother-in-law said, a game like this would have had the fanbase in revolt a year ago--guess that is a sign of how low the bar has been set after the disappointment of the past few seasons. Good grief. Last year the team didn't go into the season with a new coach and predictions of finishing at the BOTTOM of the conference. I think that has a lot to do with why the bar may be lower.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 17, 2017 13:52:26 GMT -5
UVA fan here!! Good game yesterday, but it was just like the UMD game last year. However, this team is better just with the freedom within the offense. I think you guys stayed in the zone a little too long and didn't mix up the defense as much in the second half. I'm not sure what Dickerson brings for you guys as he's kinda disappointed so far. Recruits see the offensive and scheme changes so I think that will be big in the future...LIKE NEXT YEAR. One or two battle tested WCAC top guards and Gtown will be a hot-spot once again. Good Luck. Heck, you're so positive maybe we can pay you to post here more often to spread some cheer.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 17, 2017 13:54:12 GMT -5
MD should do that move every single time. If he starts to think that beating his man so badly that he's leaning sideways might draw a charge, he's overthinking things. It's just a bad call and yes it probably cost us the game but he has to move on and not play afraid. Absolutely. He needs to knock down two threes a game too while we're at it.
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bamahoya11
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Post by bamahoya11 on Dec 17, 2017 14:32:55 GMT -5
I haven't had time to read through all the reactions to yesterday's game, but I was at the game and can offer a few thoughts. First, I have never been so angry leaving a game yet so optimistic about what the season might bring as I reflect on the game in my mind. Sitting up in the 400s, it was so frustrating listening to the Syracuse fans scream and crow as they completed the comeback. I was also really frustrated by the late-game officiating. I'm rarely one to complain, but after Derrickson picked up that fifth foul, I was furious. In my eyes, it didn't look like the defender was set. When the refs initially missed a Georgetown possession before correcting it, I screamed at their incompetence and I could tell that my wife was trying to decide whether she wanted to disown any recognition that we were there together or not. It was a frustrating loss, and I thought the controversial foul on Marcus really changed the game. We just couldn't keep up after that, and we started trying too hard on both ends of the floor. We couldn't get rebounds on defense, which led to a lot of made baskets. Then, we couldn't get shots to fall on offense. We took a few bad shots down the stretch, but I also saw good shots from Govan and Jagan that fell earlier in the day just not falling at the end. Once we were in an overtime situation, it was clear that our chances really hung on getting some of the Syracuse players to foul out, and we just couldn't get that done. Syracuse patched up their zone just enough that it seemed impenetrable in overtime at times, much as it had early in the game.
All that said, once I could get outside and cool off a little bit, there was a whole lot to like about this game. Patrick Ewing can coach. I thought he went a long way to dispel my concerns that he either wouldn't be able to adapt his schemes to the college game or motivate younger players on Saturday. His players were gritty, tough, and inspired, competing hard even when they were frankly outmatched against a deeper Syracuse team. I thought Ewing himself consistently made smart adjustments. He called a timeout early in the game when we were clearly struggling against the zone and made some adjustments that were more effective. He found a great mismatch with Kaleb for a while in the game before Syracuse cleaned up some of their mistakes defensively. He also has Georgetown playing better in transition than I have ever seen, and he really used transition play early in the game to get us some buckets and ultimately the lead while we were really, really struggling in the first half against Syracuse's zone.
Govan and Derrickson are a legitimate Big East front court. If they can work on their fouls and stay in games, I could see both competing for All-Conference honors. I also really like Pickett and think he is going to be a great player for us over his career. What this team is missing is three point shooting and ball handling. Once you get past Govan and Derrickson, you really have a patchwork of players that just don't quite give us everything at once. Mulmore is our best ball-handler when he's on, but he's also frequently out of control and is very rarely a scoring threat. I thought he did a fantastic job penetrating the press, but he couldn't score and was also out of control early in the game in the half court. With Mulmore, you just don't know what you're going to get. Then Jagan is a tough, gritty player (a lot of fun to watch), but he can't hit the three consistently and isn't a great ball handler. Kaleb is our best defender in my view and is really, really fun to watch, but he's an inconsistent scorer and also can't consistently hit the three. Pickett is clearly our choice as a "sharp-shooter," but he's still working on that aspect of his game and is also a turnover machine. Bottom line, we just don't have a great backcourt in terms of ball-handling and three-point shooting. We have a ball-handler who is inconsistent but who cannot really score and some scorers who can't really hit the three and are turnover-prone.
With those weaknesses, I was amazed that Ewing put a team on the floor that outclassed Syracuse for much of the day and had us in contention to win the game over 40 minutes. Watching the team play together, though, I see a team that could be competitive in Big East play. This team clearly isn't ready to beat Villanova and probably Xavier, but I could easily see them hanging tough against Seton Hall (though the rebounding of SHU could really give us trouble), Providence, St. John's, Butler, Creighton, Marquette, and DePaul. From what I've seen so far this year, Villanova and Xavier seem far superior to any other team in our league, but after that I could see a whole lot of different outcomes. I think our season comes down to how we respond to this game in two respects: (1) Can we avoid a letdown and dropping a game that we shouldn't this week against North Texas, a scrappy team that would love nothing more than to capitalize on our misfortune if we come out flat; and (2) Does losing a close game like this give the team a hunger to win and a greater attention to detail? The last couple years, one of JTIII's biggest problems was that he couldn't find a way to close out close, competitive games. Last year, we had very competitive games in DC against Butler, Xavier, and Seton Hall, and we dropped those games. I could see us playing a lot of tight games in league play, and to be competitive, we need to find some ways to close games out. I also think we need to get a little more reliable from three. At least we don't constantly throw up threes like we did in recent years, but we really need a couple guys who can sink a three in clutch moments.
Hoya Saxa -- on to North Texas.
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jester
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Post by jester on Dec 17, 2017 15:05:02 GMT -5
Looking at the highlight he was in good defense position as the KU guard had blown by his man and gave up a three to someone who hadn’t shot well all night.
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Dec 17, 2017 16:22:37 GMT -5
Unlike the Hoyas, Friars get a foul call on a rebound with .6 seconds left, sink two FTs for the win over Stony Brook . . . Sigh.
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