DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 30,717
|
Post by DanMcQ on Mar 15, 2019 10:38:58 GMT -5
Can’t shoot 16% from three point range and expect to win a modern college basketball game. When we kick the ball out, who is going to make the three? I thought Malinowski or Pickett would be our money guy, but it didn’t pan out. Need to recruit some real shooters. If you don’t play effective defense none of that matters. That is the fatal flaw leading to most of this team’s losses.
|
|
iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,402
|
Post by iowa80 on Mar 15, 2019 10:42:48 GMT -5
Seton Hall fans lambasted Willard as a terrible game coach for most of his first five years. There is a learning curve in the college game at each level. By every account Patrick works very hard at his craft. He has already gotten better with halftime adjustments. He will continue to improve. There are hires at the assistant level that would very likely help speed the process. That needs to be looked at.
|
|
|
Post by FrazierFanatic on Mar 15, 2019 10:46:26 GMT -5
Can’t shoot 16% from three point range and expect to win a modern college basketball game. When we kick the ball out, who is going to make the three? I thought Malinowski or Pickett would be our money guy, but it didn’t pan out. Need to recruit some real shooters. If you don’t play effective defense none of that matters. That is the fatal flaw leading to most of this team’s losses. Bingo. We gave up 50 points in the first half. Five O. As you would absolutely expect with a team full of underclassmen, we quickly developed a sense of panic, a (justified) mindset that we needed to score on every possession in order to have any chance, and they tightened up, forced bad shots and desperate turnovers. We played better defense after halftime with adjustments - although some of it was undoubtedly Seton Hall losing focus and intensity with the big lead. We will be better defensively next season, so that by itself will make us better.
|
|
madgesiq92
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,400
|
Post by madgesiq92 on Mar 15, 2019 10:50:57 GMT -5
Seton Hall fans lambasted Willard as a terrible game coach for most of his first five years. There is a learning curve in the college game at each level. By every account Patrick works very hard at his craft. He has already gotten better with halftime adjustments. He will continue to improve. At Iona, Willard was responsible for the biggest RPI turnaround in the history of college basketball. If I remember correctly he took a bottom 5 RPI Iona team that was 2–28 to a 20 win season, NCAA and Top 75 RPI In 2 years. Willard had replaced Jeff Ruland as coach. Ruland’s hiring had been based on the fact that he was Iona’s most iconic player.
|
|
|
Post by bornhoya on Mar 15, 2019 11:05:16 GMT -5
Ewing needed to make a decision early in the game if he was going to let Miles get his and take away the rest of the team or run two defenders at him a game and make them win without him. Glad to see people take up for Jessie, he can’t pass hisself the ball
|
|
DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 30,717
|
Post by DanMcQ on Mar 15, 2019 11:21:39 GMT -5
Glad to see people take up for Jessie, he can’t pass hisself the ball This is true, but early in the second half he scored at will down low. Why leave that spot to drift around at the 3 point line? Guarantees 2 things: no shot where you have a height/talent advantage and no big in position to get a rebound.
|
|
|
Post by professorhoya on Mar 15, 2019 11:44:45 GMT -5
Fortunately, Ewing will not have a nephew on next year’s team who is also probably a great young man that he has known since birth.. So maybe he will be able to see things more clearly. From a long term team chemistry point of view this scares me: how does it look to his teammates when Patrick gives Trey so much slack? Everyone ( on the team) knows he is Uncle Patrick, everyone ( on the team) sees Alonzo sitting right there during games. From an admittedly outsiders point of view, it just doesn’t feel right. IMHO Raferty’s continual weird propping up of Trey during the debacle was affirmation that the situation felt strange to him. Patrick has done some real solid things in his two years and elevating the perception of the program has resulted and I am overall positive for the future, but this kind of stuff bothers me. I would argue Trey’s teammates are equally responsible. A vocal leader like Akinjo or senior Govan should have told Trey to stop shooting the damn ball. If it were anyone else they probably would have done that. But with Alonzo sitting right across the court they seemed too intimidated to say anything.
|
|
|
Post by FrazierFanatic on Mar 15, 2019 11:46:32 GMT -5
Seton Hall fans lambasted Willard as a terrible game coach for most of his first five years. There is a learning curve in the college game at each level. By every account Patrick works very hard at his craft. He has already gotten better with halftime adjustments. He will continue to improve. At Iona, Willard was responsible for the biggest RPI turnaround in the history of college basketball. If I remember correctly he took a bottom 5 RPI Iona team that was 2–28 to a 20 win season, NCAA and Top 75 RPI In 2 years. Willard had replaced Jeff Ruland as coach. Ruland’s hiring had been based on the fact that he was Iona’s most iconic player. It was his third year at Iona not his second. And Iona never made the NCAA's when he was there. It took him 6 years at Hall to make the NCAA'S. So yeah, there is a learning curve at this level.
|
|
|
Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Mar 15, 2019 12:15:53 GMT -5
At Iona, Willard was responsible for the biggest RPI turnaround in the history of college basketball. If I remember correctly he took a bottom 5 RPI Iona team that was 2–28 to a 20 win season, NCAA and Top 75 RPI In 2 years. Willard had replaced Jeff Ruland as coach. Ruland’s hiring had been based on the fact that he was Iona’s most iconic player. It was his third year at Iona not his second. And Iona never made the NCAA's when he was there. It took him 6 years at Hall to make the NCAA'S. So yeah, there is a learning curve at this level. And that's why high-major programs generally don't hire people with no collegiate head coaching experience. Clearly, Ewing is our coach and he's in it for the long-haul, but the time for growing pains is getting close to an end, or over. He was an assistant coach for 15 years in the NBA, and now he's got two full cycles under his belt. I expect improvement. As an aside, Willard was incredibly lucky he got the chance to continue at Seton Hall, despite five terrible seasons where his best conference record was 8-10. Seton Hall would have been justified in firing him after 2015. Indeed, the Whitehead recruiting class and its potential may have been the only thing that saved him. But, it's extremely rare for a coach like Willard to struggle for 5 years and turn it around like he did. If Georgetown had the same record Seton Hall did Willard's first 5 years, there would be loud clamoring for a change.
|
|
|
Post by FrazierFanatic on Mar 15, 2019 12:28:49 GMT -5
It was his third year at Iona not his second. And Iona never made the NCAA's when he was there. It took him 6 years at Hall to make the NCAA'S. So yeah, there is a learning curve at this level. And that's why high-major programs generally don't hire people with no collegiate head coaching experience. Clearly, Ewing is our coach and he's in it for the long-haul, but the time for growing pains is getting close to an end, or over. He was an assistant coach for 15 years in the NBA, and now he's got two full cycles under his belt. I expect improvement. As an aside, Willard was incredibly lucky he got the chance to continue at Seton Hall, despite five terrible seasons where his best conference record was 8-10. Seton Hall would have been justified in firing him after 2015. Indeed, the Whitehead recruiting class and its potential may have been the only thing that saved him. But, it's extremely rare for a coach like Willard to struggle for 5 years and turn it around like he did. If Georgetown had the same record Seton Hall did Willard's first 5 years, there would be loud clamoring for a change. It would certainly be interesting to see what would develop if we missed the NCAA's for 3 more years. But hopefully we never have to find out! There were certainly some pretty widespread concerns about Patrick's lack of college and head coaching experience. I think his many years as an NBA assistant - and even more importantly, the pretty much universal acclaim from those he worked under for how hard he worked to learn the job - helped balance out those concerns. He is learning. He was absolutely better at in-game adjustments this year, although not close to mastering it yet. We are better than we were last year. I am confident we will be even better next year.
|
|
Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,642
|
Post by Bigs"R"Us on Mar 15, 2019 12:34:22 GMT -5
Jessie is All-BE and a senior and yet he is unable to take over a game on the offensive end. Forget the defensive liability. He is playing his worst basketball at the end of the season. So frustrating. Too nice and passive out there.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 12:37:12 GMT -5
Could count on 1 hand the people who had 9-9 in BE play before BE play started.
We're moving in the right direction....
|
|
|
Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Mar 15, 2019 12:52:43 GMT -5
Could count on 1 hand the people who had 9-9 in BE play before BE play started. We're moving in the right direction.... Definitely. I think most of us would have said 9-9 was a good result at the beginning of the year. There's lots to improve on all around, but I am hopeful that next year we will be anxiously awaiting Selection Sunday without worrying about the bubble.
|
|
hoyainla
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Suspended
Posts: 4,719
|
Post by hoyainla on Mar 15, 2019 12:56:25 GMT -5
We finished last year at 94 in KenPom and as of today we are 94 in KenPom with the exact same AdjEM.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 13:02:26 GMT -5
We finished last year at 94 in KenPom and as of today we are 94 in KenPom with the exact same AdjEM. Do you need a hug? Lol Step away from the computer for a second and consider the fact we started 3 freshman... They were all key/primary players... We finished 3rd in the BE.. They all return next year... Computer rankings aren't the be all end all. Imo things are moving in the right direction and it's backed up by results on the court.
|
|
iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,402
|
Post by iowa80 on Mar 15, 2019 13:17:09 GMT -5
We finished last year at 94 in KenPom and as of today we are 94 in KenPom with the exact same AdjEM. Do you need a hug? Lol Step away from the computer for a second and consider the fact we started 3 freshman... They were all key/primary players... We finished 3rd in the BE.. They all return next year... Computer rankings aren't the be all end all. Imo things are moving in the right direction and it's backed up by results on the court. I'm good with a combination of the eye test and computer rankings. But one thing the rankings are at least decent at is equalizing for opposition. .500 in the Big East is nice. I'll take it. But this is a weak (actually too weak for my taste) Big East. And let's not forget the role of computers in deciding who dances.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 13:23:56 GMT -5
Do you need a hug? Lol Step away from the computer for a second and consider the fact we started 3 freshman... They were all key/primary players... We finished 3rd in the BE.. They all return next year... Computer rankings aren't the be all end all. Imo things are moving in the right direction and it's backed up by results on the court. I'm good with a combination of the eye test and computer rankings. But one thing the rankings are at least decent at is equalizing for opposition. .500 in the Big East is nice. I'll take it. But this is a weak (actually too weak for my taste) Big East. And let's not forget the role of computers in deciding who dances. Perception around the program matters a lot. Finishing 3rd regardless of how you view the strength of the conference helps with recruiting and fan support. You guys can poo poo it if you want but nobody who's not a Hoya fan looks that deep. They see it as progress. Year 1 we finished 9th. Year 2 we finished 3rd. 1st winning season in 5 years. That's progress in the eyes of most..
|
|
|
Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Mar 15, 2019 13:32:42 GMT -5
While I think 9-9 was an accomplishment and showed improvement and potential, I am concerned about the fact that most metrics year-to-year do show little improvement. Indeed, while KenPom shows our offense a bit improved, our defense is actually worse than last year's. Record aside, if these metrics don't get better next year, we aren't going to have improvement.
It's not just KenPom. Indeed, Battorvik ranked the 2018 team a lot better - 70th, versus 94 this year. Battorvik also said both our offense and defense were much better last year (57/95, versus 69/128 this year). Similarly, Haslametrics has us ranked 92, versus 102 last year. Sagarin has us ranked 78, and had us ranked 92 last year. In total, metric-wise it's really a wash - a few show improvement, a few show decline, and a few are neutral.
I think it's a totally reasonable position to say: (a) it's great that we are 9-9 and have a shot at the NIT, (b) that shows some level of improvement within the Big East and potential for improvement next year, but (c) it's concerning that our efficiency and metrics have essentially been stagnant for two years, and our defense may actually have been worse.
I'm optimistic we will be better next year and think we can be an NCAA team, but Ewing needs to show he can coach up a team on defense. It's got to be the major focus going into next year, or everything else on offense is essentially irrelevant. The only JT3 recruit on his roster will be Mosely. It's his time to make his statement.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 13:59:02 GMT -5
I think the reason why that doesn’t tell the whole story imo is in the 1st year most of our production came from upperclassmen who weren’t going to be around long, and this year it comes from Freshman who are.
Last year we started 3 juniors, 1 senior, and 1 freshman. This year it was 3 freshman, 1 sophomore and 1 senior. Even if your argument is the results are the exact same idk how that’s not seen as progress.
|
|
guru
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,607
|
Post by guru on Mar 15, 2019 14:03:52 GMT -5
I think the reason why that doesn’t tell the whole story imo is in the 1st year most of our production came from upperclassmen who weren’t going to be around long, and this year it comes from Freshman who are. Last year we started 3 juniors, 1 senior, and 1 freshman. This year it was 3 freshman, 1 sophomore and 1 senior. Even if your argument is the results are the exact same idk how that’s not seen as progress. Excellent point. It’s amazing how hard some posters here dig their heels in arguing that somehow 9-9 and from 9th place to T3rd isn’t actually an improvement for this program. Coaching definitely needs to get better. Patrick was always a risky hire. But he got the team in the NCAA tournament conversation this season, something that most of the Chicken Little posters here deemed impossible as the calendar year began. All in all, things are looking up.
|
|