Realistic Goals for 2005/6

[SirSaxa]

We finished 8-8 in Conference last year.
16-11 Regular season
19-13 overall

What do board members feel our goals should be for this coming season, given we have virtually the entire team (except Ray Reed) back, PLUS 4 freshman who should be able to contribute?
In addition, our guys have had an entire year under JT3 and his system.
The freshman from this past year will all be sophs who have a much better idea of what college ball is about and the level of competition in the BE.
And T3 himself went through his first BE season and now has a better feel for what he's up against... and for his roster. He also has some depth for the first time.

Is 10-6 in conference a good goal?
How about a 20 win regular season?

If we go 9-2 OOC, we'd have to go 11-5 in conference to get to 20.

Should a BE title be a goal? (Clearly, we'll enter the season trying to win the title, but is that a realistic goal this year?)

Is 10-6 in the BE enough? 11-5? 12-4?

Is an NCAA spot enough? Sweet Sixteen?

What about our shooting % -- 45.2% in'05
3 Point Shooting % -- 36.5
FT shooting -- 70.5%
Rebounds/game? 31.2?
Rebounding margin ugh... -0.6/game (For Georgetown?!?!?!)
Assists 14.4/gm looks good.
Pts per possesion?
Pts/game? 64.4
Pts allowed game? 61.1
Pts Margin? 3.3
Field goal defense? We were at 41.1% in '05
Back in the day, we held teams in the 30s

I know there are far better stat hounds on this board than I, so maybe they'd like to chime in with more insight and some targets we should try to reach.

I'd say some good goals for 2005/6 would be:
- 20 regular season wins
- 11-5 BE
- Big East Title
- BE Tourney Title
- NCAA Invitation -- definitely our major goal!
- And a Sweet Sixteen appearance


IMHO, a goal should be something for which to strive/stretch.
A goal should be more than what is expected.

This should provide some good off-season fodder!
Have at it!

[PopeJohn2]

Our goals should be to:
1. land Macklin
2. land McLlain
2. make the Dance

2006 year will be unbelievably competitive and I think people underestimate how tough this season will be. Tough new teams in the conference and some of the old ones have improved dramatically.

We surprised a lot of people in the beginning last year then we faded in the end once they figured out how to play us (we were small, poor shooting from the field, and didnt have a guard to break down a d).

Hope we can fill in some of those weaknesses and hope a dominant player emerges. Green is good but not dominant yet imo. Hope we have no more 6+ minute scoreless stretches. Hope the boys have greatly improved their skills.

Key is whether our skills have improved faster than our oppositions ability to defend us.

We will have some real tough competition. If Green is around in 2007 (which I think he will be), that will be our key year.

Heres hoping they let more than 7 teams into the Dance from the BE.

[SaxaCD]

20+ wins
contending for conference title
NCAA berth

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

I agree there are tough new teams in the conference but our record will really depend on which of them we are playing - if we get USF instead of Cincy or Louisville the season might be a lot easier. The returning players - minus Ray were capable of playing UCONN with a lot of quality players to two points, nearly upsetting Syracuse (by a toe), upsetting Pitt, and beating an elite-8 WVU team. I am with-holding what I think our actual record will be until we have a posted schedule because then I can look at the actual matchups and decide what I feel, but the bar has been raised in my mind. Are we in a tough conference? Yes, but we have proven we can play with anyone in this conference home or away. Do they all have good recruits coming in (excluding USF who may have offered people on this board scholies)? Yes, but we had a very good recruiting class as well.

Here is what we have going for us:

1) The entire starting line-up of our team is back - as far as I know no team that made the NCAA's from the NBE can claim that - and for that matter neither can any NIT team from the NBE - other than us. This means we have more experience and more chemistry.

2) This is the second year of the offense - it usually takes an entire year for a team to get comfortable with and fully accept an offense as complex as the one that III brought to Georgetown - it can be expected that there will be no adjustment period to a new program or offense like there was last year. Everyone will know what is expected of them and not be like the 12 freshmen that III described.

3) No one is taking us for granted but with the BE expansion there is still the possibility to fly under the radar - its a 16 team league now and GU returning to plaing good basketball is not the paramount things on the coaches' minds when Louisville and Cincy now are coming to your homecourt on a regularly scheduled basis.

4) III is an excellent late game coach and this is worth 2 games that we would otherwise loose - it was true last year and it will be true this year.

I feel that the goals for this team should be as follows:

1) To win the Big East (i am not saying that they will I just believe that it is realistic as a goal)
2) To win the Big East tournament (see point 1)
3) To make the NCAA's and see how far they can get - I obviously don't want to gaurantee a certain advancement in the NCAAs because that is fool-hardy and cocky.

We have a very good team, there is no question about that - the questions are the scheduling, the freshmen, and intangibles - especially whether the team can make the MCI Center a home court in this run - which could be critical to winning a game or two.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

11-5 would be solid, 12-4 would be great. No lapses can happen if we expect to achieve this. I would like to see a sweet sixteen but it would be our first time in the tourney for many, if not all, of these players.

[the_way]

Realistic goals for the team and coaching staff are to give it all they have with what they have, and thus, we will finish where we are suppose to finish.

[DuddingtonHoya]

I agree with St Pete... set goals to win big east regular season + tourny, make the NCAA tourny.

I don't think we need to set a firm number of Ws to collect along the way. If we put ourself in position to contend for big east crowns, the rest will fall into place, regardless of our record.

[YB]

If what we're talking about are goals, I say shoot the moon, as I said last year. Why not shoot for a Conference title, 20+ wins, NCAA (maybe Sweet 16?).

Other goals I'd like to see:

Beat UConn, Syracuse, Nova, L'ville

Something close to an unbeaten home record with a few sellouts.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Oh yeah, and a 5 seed or above in the dance. Enough of this play hard and we'll end up where we end up nonsense.

[the_way]

mivcevich said:

Oh yeah, and a 5 seed or above in the dance. Enough of this play hard and we'll end up where we end up nonsense.

Well, if we don't play hard, we won't be any seed. I just have one question, what is it like to predict the future, ColumbiaHeights? Us mere mortals do not posess such power. So please ColumbiaHeights,tell us little people what is it like?

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Wait, are we talking about goals? Or expectations?

[Deleted]

Um, _way? I don't see Cambridge posting anywhere on this thread.

(just trying to help out... avoid a mistaken-identity-bloodbath)

[Cambridge]

Don't worry about it Buffalo...my encounters with theway are so ubiquitous that it seems I have quite literally gotten inside his head. I appologize, as it seems it has driven him even further toward madness.

Goals are what you strive for...should be a best case scenario.

Expectations are the minimal achievements you can reasonably expect.

I say BE championship, 20+ wins, 5 seed, sweet sixteen...those are my goals.

18+ wins, BET semis, NCAA bubble...are my expectations.

[younghoya32]

here's a goal that we, the fans, could help out on making the MCI Center a place for the opposition to fear!

other than that:
Beat St. John's @ MSG (granted we play there)
Beat Syracuse
Play with 'Nova, Uconn, Lville, and Cincy (winning 2 of those wont hurt)

[the_way]

buffalohoya said:

Um, _way? I don't see Cambridge posting anywhere on this thread.

(just trying to help out... avoid a mistaken-identity-bloodbath)

Buff, I have no idea what you are talking about. ::)Where in my post did I mention Cambridge's name? ;D (Thank goodness for edits).

Sorry Cambridge, or should I say, the ArtistFormerlyKnownasCambridgeHoya or SanFranHoya.

[Cambridge]

I'm leaning towards...
TheFriscoKid or GettingFriskyinFrisco

[Boz]

As the man says at Uriah Heep's Recycling Center:

"Simplifyyyy. . .maaannn!"

When I was a freshman, Georgetown won the Big East tournament. Those were what were known as the good years, the salad years. 16 years later, that was Georgetown's last Big East tournament title.

Now, doseofreality would get very angry with me for focusing on results and not process, but I hope that is the team's number one goal: Take back the Garden!

Not only does Georgetown really need to establish itself at the top of this new conference with a run like that, but I think this goal encompasses many of the other goals everyone has mentioned.

First, it is impossible these days to win the tournament unless you have a strong regular season. Yes, West Virginia made a good run at it, but there simply is no room for Cinderella at this ball. If the Hoyas are able to win the BET, they will HAVE to have had a strong regular season.

Second, nothing guarantees an NCAA bid like a tournament championship. Add to that a strong regular season and a BET title will mean good seeding for the Hoyas in the NCAAs & a good chance to advance to the Sweet 16.

(I never took logic, so excuse me if my reasoning is flawed; it usually is in most cases)

Third, and most importantly, I want this! (as we all know, I care only about M.E.: My Enjoyment). I am sick of going back to upstate in the summers and having to hear all about how Syracuse rules the conference. Unlike others, I don't think Syracuse ever stopped hating Georgetown, but I want them hating us because we kicked their @$$, not because it's tradition.

Win the tournament.

Of course, I say this pretty much every year, so what do I know. First goal should probably be stay healthy & eligible and then take it from there.

[SFHoya99]

cambridgehoya said:

I'm leaning towards...
TheFriscoKid or GettingFriskyinFrisco

Just so's ya know -- no one who lives in San Francisco calls it "Frisco." More or less a hated term here.

"The City" is the most common abbreviation when you're in the area. "San Fran" if you're dealing with non-Bay Area people.

----------------

Like Boz, I want a BE title. My freshman year was our last real chance at it. I don't know what happened in that game, since I've completely repressed the memory, but I'm pretty sure we didn't win.

[hoyalove4ever]

NCAAs somehow someway. The team can achieve more than that, but no one should be disappointed (at least Editeded off) if we are one and done in the NCAAs. That still represents progress.

Think about it this way: last year, Kansas, which was #1 for a while, lost in the first round. Now, that is a disappointing season for Kansas, but given that it can happen to virtually anyone (especially Syracuse...Richmond, anyone?), we shouldn't be upset w/ that result. For us, it would represent a solid step forward. Winning in the NCAAs is the NEXT step.

[Cambridge]

sfhoya99 said:

cambridgehoya said:

I'm leaning towards...
TheFriscoKid or GettingFriskyinFrisco

Just so's ya know -- no one who lives in San Francisco calls it "Frisco." More or less a hated term here.

"The City" is the most common abbreviation when you're in the area. "San Fran" if you're dealing with non-Bay Area people.

----------------

Like Boz, I want a BE title. My freshman year was our last real chance at it. I don't know what happened in that game, since I've completely repressed the memory, but I'm pretty sure we didn't win.

Interesting...so you don't have any nicknames for "The City"...that's rough. What else you got...Bay Area...NorCal...hmmm? Throw me a bone here.

I've loved all the ridiculous names for Boston and surrounding area.

The Hub, Beantown, the pot, etc. Not to mention nicknames for surrounding sister cities like Slumerville, People Republic of Cambridge, etc