Kenner Opener. Rain.

[hotelhoya]

It was raining threes at McDonough. The Tombs won a squeaker 139-87. The opposition was RDavis Reality (Realty? Or IS this the guy's reality?). Davis had 2 players one of which was an extremely athletic Tyler Crawford.

The Tombs had the GU freshman-except Spann- Greene, Wallace and a senior from GW (a big man who could play). Game started sloppy. Wallace, Greene, Edgerson, Thornton and a guy named Ewing started. Sapp laced up late. Summer league first quarter. Later, Tombs overwhelmed their shorter opponents with sheer talent, size and quickness. Key takeaways:

We got depth. Our guard rotation will be a lot deeper and stronger. Both Sapp and Thornton (he looks bigger than 170) are strong guys. Edgerson likes to play inside. He is 6'5" but physical/inside player. Floated out and hit two consecutives deep threes late in the game. Sapp is QUICK and has a nice hesitation/burst move. Passes hard. Thornton not afraid to shoot the three but his shot was off tonight. In warmups the guy was hitting 8-9 straight from outside the arc. Like Wallace, if he gets an open/set shot, look out.

Wallace played an outstanding game. As always, thoughtful and quick. Late last year, he wore down. Now he has put on a few pounds in his upper body without losing any quickness. As a general note, all the Hoyas at the scene-Bowman, Hibbert and Cook, too-all looked a bit bigger. We need this as we got out muscled-Pitt, UConn and Villanova for that matter and got beat up late in the season. Think we are a lot better now-depth, stronger players. Wallace showed great quickness handled the ball well and hit the open three consistently. Those that think he goes quietly out of the starting lineup quietly are served notice. He was great tonight. Outstanding hustle and defense.

Greene played his game. Blocked anything to the inside. Had some great reverse layup moves-one that was a blind, 4 feet beyond the basket and behind it that the crowd loved. Hit threes with confidence. Guy is a beast. He and this guy named Ewing looked good together inside.

Sapp is a large guard. Looks 6'3 and broad. Quick. Passes inside with the confidence of a cat burglar. The guy named Ewing handled several of these in the lane-muffed one hot one-while Greene received a couple of quick kick outs which he hit. A summer league interpretation of the Princeton thing but we are going to score more this year. Write that down.

Thornton threw up a LOT of shots from beyond. Did not hit his stroke till later in the game. Quick hands, good movement with the ball and creating the three point opportunity. Not afraid inside either.

Edgerson plays like a Barkley. Deceptive size but the man is strong. Muscled his way inside (these guys were not Big East material). It will be interesting to see what he does against bigger/talented players. Ran well and handled the ball and passes on the break with ability. Defensively needs to get his footwork down. Spirited, energetic player.

Ewing. This kid-whoever he is-showed incredible energy and like Greene, did not take anyone coming inside lightly (physical guy) and rebounded like a demon. Seemed like an old time GU guy.Wish this guy-whoever he is-was playing for us this year. Wore a pair of Knicks shorts with the number 33 but, I digress. The kid is strong and quick. Hit outside shots, created shots off the dribble and took passes inside well. Wonder who he is. As Wilson remarked, he is this summer's Darian Townes-wish he was eligible this year.

The guy from GW was a beast. Wish he played for us.

Tyler had the unfortunate circumstance of playing for the other team. He was class. He is all effort, all hustle. Had to play power forward and it wore on him. If the guy can develop a shot, he is a great one. He played well for a thin team.

The second game had Hibbert and Cook on a team with a few UFOs. The guys they were playing were all UFOs. Hibbert was starting slow and I left. Cook has a new do which looks good. Wish the jumpers he had early were as good.

Punchline is that we are deeper, stronger and will score more. Spann apparently won't show up till later this summer but he can only add to what is an interesting situation. We are better than 04-05.

We are Georgetown.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

That is amazing to hear. Wish Hibbs and Cook were having better games - but they weren't question marks in my mind - its the talent of these entering players, all be it against competition that is much easier than the BE (but it is summer), that really excites me - if you want to go far in the BE or in the post season you need freshman who can step up and contribute and improved starters - it sounds like those pieces are falling into place.

Hoya Saxa!

[hoya137]

well put by hotelhoya and wilson.

my two cents..at the risk of repeating some things.

Thornton - The kid can shoot. Was draining shot after shot from nba range during warmups. Missed shots early -- seemed a little too eager to get going, but can definitely catch and shoot and will be a zonebuster. He jumps when he shoots from three -- as opposed to Wallace and DJ who basically take set shots from behind the arc. This may help him get his shot off easier. The few times he tried to drive and shoot or drive and dish, he turned the ball over.

Sapp - This is my second time seeing Sapp play. When I saw him play at the Cap Classic, I was very impressed with his intensity and heart, but was undecided as to his overall skill at the point. He showed the same intesity tonight -- he plays smart and has fun out there. His shot looks decent and he's plays hard defensively. He also has good court vision and had good some good long passes off rebounds. His ability to dribble/drive/dish or pull up from an offensive set is TBD. But he definitely brings energy to the floor.

Edgerson - Showed up right around tip off, without any time to warm up. But once the game got going, played hard, under control and shot well. He definitely likes to release on D once the shot goes up, and that got him several easy buckets early. Overall good performance from him, though I'll be interested to see how he looks against bigger players.

Ewing - Very impressive. I watched Ewing at the Kenner a few years ago and though he was athletic, he looked kinda lost out there. But tonight, he looked comfortable, and from an athleticism perspective, he was a man among boys out there. He was all over the defensive glass, blocked multiple shots, ran the floor well, and had some explosive dunks. I watched Darian Townes play in High School and in Kenner, and for me -- there is no comparison in terms of athleticism. Ewing didn't show a back to the basket game (don't usually see that in the Kenner anyway), but in terms of atleticism, he is much more impressive than Townes. When the Hoyas brought him on, I was skeptical, but I'm sold...he will be a valuable addition to this team. As the others pointed out, it was noticable that he and Jeff enjoyed playing with each other, and hopefully, they'll push each other to improve.

Wallace - Solid is the best way to describe his play tonight. He shot really well, but he also ran the team well. He's a smart player and especially if he keeps shot consistent, he's going to be hard to replace in the lineup.

Green - Played like Jeff Green. Hit a few threes, had some nice drives, and didn't force anything out there. Did add some upper body strength. I'd like to see him get a chance to work on some back to the basket moves against sizeable big men (his main weakness), but in the Kenner, that's wishful thinking.

Crawford - The lone Hoya on the opposing team. Played hard as always, and was noticeably frustrated with a few of his turnovers. He didn't shoot much, and had several drives that resulted in turnovers. To be fair, he played out of position a good deal because his team didn't match up well against the Hoyas. Did have a sweet no look flip pass in the trenches.

Overall - I've been going to the Kenner off and on for 5 years or so..and this is the most impressed I've been with the Tombs team. The one thing that was easily noticeable was the camraderie between the guys, and from the other players (Bowman, Cook, and Hibbert) in the stands. From the start they were playing hard and having fun with each other. I feel like that will go a long way in helping this team -- having most guys here for the summer, playing together, and pushing each other.

[RBHoya]

Sounds like JW won't go quietly and good for him. A lot of people have doubted his athletecism and skillset, suggesting that he did well as a sort of stopgap point for us but would be coming off the bench for the balance of his career. Don't count him out. For me, he showed enough ability to think that he has the potential to remain a starter for years to come. He's not the athlete of some of the other point guards we'll face, but I like his distribution and court vision--the fact that he is a true point. He also has a good rapport with Jeff (roomate), Roy, and Tyler which bodes well for him. If he can improve his lateral quickness, which will help him to become a stronger defender, I think he could be our starting point for years to come.

Egerson still keeps us guessing as to his position. Anywhere from 2 to 4 I guess. JTIII's philosophy has been to recruit players and not positions, and I suppose that is Marc. Seems like hes a high energy guy and will be a good energetic sub off the bench for his first year.

Jesse is probably the heir apparent to Ashanti. 6'3 and broad, confident passer, slasher, scorer sounds like the prototypical college combo. Will probably see a great deal of minutes after this year, quite possibly even starting. Most likely serves as Ashantis back up this year, and quite possibly getting some minutes at the point too.

I have confidence in Thornton as a shooter, because every time I read about the guy its people saying how hes one of the best shooters they ever saw at the high school level. If he struggled so long to find his stroke tonight, it doesn't seem like he's quite JJ Redick or Salim Stoudamire, but he could very well be our shooting specialist once DJ retires. Minutes will be tough to come by this year for Josh though, I think... unless he has PG skills, which he might, but I havent really heard about it. If he can't play point hell most likely be behind Ashanti, Jesse, Tyler and maybe Marc on the depth chart.

Doc/Night Train/Octavius Spann still flying way under the radar.... Prediction based purely on gut feeling: this guys gonna show up and totally wow us all.

Glad to hear Pat Ewing is playing well... I've never really taken the time to research his game much but obviously a great athlete... Imagine how good he'll be year from now, and hell have a year of dealing with the system under his belt.

And of course, Jeff is an animal. Dont need to expound too much there.

[jerseyhoya34]

rbhoya said:

Glad to hear Pat Ewing is playing well... I've never really taken the time to research his game much but obviously a great athlete... Imagine how good he'll be year from now, and hell have a year of dealing with the system under his belt.

RB, if you would like some Ewing video from his Indiana days, shoot me an e-mail or PM. I'll try to get it to you, but it may exceed my mailbox limit.

[RDF]

Appreciate the recap guys and things starting off in a good way--I don't care what type of ball you are playing, 139 pts is a lot of made baskets. We've seen some past Hoya teams that couldn't hit 139 in warmups or if nobody was on floor defending them.

Not to get too excited, but if you love PE JR now, wait until he's got a year practicing with the team and learning the system---then he'll really be ready to beast! ;D

[lichoya68]

go hoyas cant wait to see these guys tonite.. my kids are "treating me" to the kenner league game with the tombs at 730 just like they are "treating me " to diinner tonite they invite and i pay GO HOYAS

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

That's funny LIC because I just treated my dad to a round of golf and brunch in much the same way.