hoyas315
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,096
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Post by hoyas315 on Jan 25, 2020 13:00:33 GMT -5
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Post by johnnysnowplow on Jan 25, 2020 13:04:37 GMT -5
Written on January 13. Butler The Bulldogs lost in the national championship game in the first two years of last decade, and now in the first year of the 2020s, Butler is No. 3 in the NET, No. 5 on kenpom.com and No. 6 in the AP poll as the program is on pace for its highest single-season win total since the Brad Stevens era. Speaking of Stevens, the Boston Celtics coach who engineered those back-to-back Final Four runs in 2010 and 2011, Butler is now three coaches removed from him, so while he helped the school get into the A-10 and then the Big East, this program is bigger than any coach. Barry Collier, Thad Matta, Todd Lickliter, Stevens, Chris Holtmann and now LaVall Jordan have helped Butler earn, then shed, its feel-good label and become something bigger. Butler is a one-point road loss to Florida away from being undefeated, it has a top-25 offense and top-10 defense, and a wealth of experience. The Bulldogs are monsters on the defensive glass and defending the 3, while scoring easily inside the arc on offense. If the first half of the 2019-20 season is any indication of how Butler's next decade will go, don't be surprised if the Bulldogs hang another Final Four banner or two in the near future. It’s absurd that seton hall isn’t on this list. They’re as good as any team in the country. Probably better.
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 25, 2020 16:12:56 GMT -5
St. John's is up 11 with a minute left on the road @depaul..
DePaul has to get rid of Leito, probably their AD too...
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hoya9797
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,204
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Post by hoya9797 on Jan 25, 2020 16:16:47 GMT -5
They needed to fire the AD a long time ago. She might finally be on her last legs but it’s seemed that way before and he’s survived.
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One
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 192
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Post by One on Jan 26, 2020 13:16:02 GMT -5
Depaul has a lot of talent this year. Shame they start every game with the equivalent of a 5 point deficit named Dave Leitao.
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hoyas315
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,096
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Post by hoyas315 on Jan 26, 2020 15:13:43 GMT -5
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 26, 2020 18:07:00 GMT -5
Creighton gets to 5-3 in the league with a win over Xavier @ home...
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drquigley
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,381
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Post by drquigley on Jan 27, 2020 9:54:46 GMT -5
What's Nova doing with Chris Archidiacano? Announcers during Nova's last game kept saying Nova has no depth at guard. Archi is a 6'5" guard who had an outstanding high school career and obviously knows the Nova system. Very surprised he's not seeing more pt but knowing Wright he will probably dominate by senior year.
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 27, 2020 10:21:20 GMT -5
What's Nova doing with Chris Archidiacano? Announcers during Nova's last game kept saying Nova has no depth at guard. Archi is a 6'5" guard who had an outstanding high school career and obviously knows the Nova system. Very surprised he's not seeing more pt but knowing Wright he will probably dominate by senior year. www.vuhoops.com/2020/1/10/21059760/villanova-basketball-arizin-news-wildcats-jeremiah-robinson-earl-justin-moore-bryan-antoineAnd just to round out the class, we have Eric Dixon and Chris Arcidiacono. You haven’t heard much from these to this season because they’re simply not playing. Eric Dixon is on schedule to take a red shirt for the season, and the younger Arcidiacono hasn’t seen the court since November 21st. From everything we’ve heard, these two are hard workers and making great progress in practice. At this point they won’t be a part of the normal rotation, but we should expect them to be solid players for Nova in the future.Dixon is listed at #67 on the 2019 RSCI top 100...
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bostonfan
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,508
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Post by bostonfan on Jan 27, 2020 10:29:02 GMT -5
What's Nova doing with Chris Archidiacano? Announcers during Nova's last game kept saying Nova has no depth at guard. Archi is a 6'5" guard who had an outstanding high school career and obviously knows the Nova system. Very surprised he's not seeing more pt but knowing Wright he will probably dominate by senior year. www.vuhoops.com/2020/1/10/21059760/villanova-basketball-arizin-news-wildcats-jeremiah-robinson-earl-justin-moore-bryan-antoineAnd just to round out the class, we have Eric Dixon and Chris Arcidiacono. You haven’t heard much from these to this season because they’re simply not playing. Eric Dixon is on schedule to take a red shirt for the season, and the younger Arcidiacono hasn’t seen the court since November 21st. From everything we’ve heard, these two are hard workers and making great progress in practice. At this point they won’t be a part of the normal rotation, but we should expect them to be solid players for Nova in the future.Dixon is listed at #67 on the 2019 RSCI top 100... Nova doesn't have any seniors on their roster that see any significant minutes. I would assume the biggest issue they are going to have is keeping that roster together for next year and beyond. They have some kids that were highly rated recruits that do not play much at all. With the way things are in college today, you have to think a few of those kids are going to at least think about transfer opportunities. If everyone stays next year for them, and the only rotation player I could see leaving after this year is Bey who could enter the draft, they are going to be really tough next year.
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 27, 2020 13:34:45 GMT -5
St. John's is up 11 with a minute left on the road @depaul.. DePaul has to get rid of Leito, probably their AD too... This may help him...
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,212
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Post by hoyarooter on Jan 27, 2020 21:19:38 GMT -5
They needed to fire the AD a long time ago. She might finally be on her last legs but it’s seemed that way before and he’s survived. Is DePaul's AD an hermaphrodite?
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 28, 2020 14:30:50 GMT -5
Reed, Bey & Robinson-Earl listed as the top prospects...
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,901
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Post by EtomicB on Jan 29, 2020 23:34:40 GMT -5
Very nice win for Marquette over Xavier on the road without Howard for a lot of it...
Anim played very very well with 27 points...
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DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,752
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jan 29, 2020 23:49:14 GMT -5
Very nice win for Marquette over Xavier on the road without Howard for a lot of it... Anim played very very well with 27 points... Xavier was 11-25 from the foul line. Now tied with GU for 7th but owns the tiebreaker.
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drquigley
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,381
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Post by drquigley on Jan 30, 2020 10:45:37 GMT -5
Watching Xavier last night just makes me shake my head. How did we lose to them? Also watched Seton Hall game. I'm beginning to think that the BE really only has 3 quality teams this year. Seton Hall, Nova, and Butler. Marquette continues to intrigue. Three quality scorers but no real quality big men. If we had our three transfer forwards we could easily finish 3rd or fourth this year. Every other BE team is very beatable. So sad.
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hoyazeke
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,816
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Post by hoyazeke on Jan 30, 2020 11:43:24 GMT -5
Watching Xavier last night just makes me shake my head. How did we lose to them? Also watched Seton Hall game. I'm beginning to think that the BE really only has 3 quality teams this year. Seton Hall, Nova, and Butler. Marquette continues to intrigue. Three quality scorers but no real quality big men. If we had our three transfer forwards we could easily finish 3rd or fourth this year. Every other BE team is very beatable. So sad. X has always been a bad matchup for us but especially this year with our lack of depth....they have 2 really good perimeter defenders that can neutralize Mac....if Yurt can't win down low we will lose to them in DC...
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mdtd
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,567
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Post by mdtd on Jan 30, 2020 13:53:56 GMT -5
Watching Xavier last night just makes me shake my head. How did we lose to them? Also watched Seton Hall game. I'm beginning to think that the BE really only has 3 quality teams this year. Seton Hall, Nova, and Butler. Marquette continues to intrigue. Three quality scorers but no real quality big men. If we had our three transfer forwards we could easily finish 3rd or fourth this year. Every other BE team is very beatable. So sad. X has always been a bad matchup for us but especially this year with our lack of depth....they have 2 really good perimeter defenders that can neutralize Mac....if Yurt can't win down low we will lose to them in DC... A tougher, slow paced, grind you out defensively and inside team on little rest is a horrible recipe for this team. That's the game where going two bigs makes the most sense. Hopefully you can limit/win the inside battle and then take them from there. Marshall is quick enough to guard Mac and he can effectively neutralize him. Scruggs neutralizes our penetrating guards and you got a recipe for disaster. Them or Seton Hall are the worst matchups for the Hoyas. Not based on team performance, but based on the way they play and what they can/want to do. Basketball's a matchup game. St. John's is a good matchup for this team and Xavier just isn't.
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Post by grokamok on Jan 30, 2020 14:30:16 GMT -5
This year, the overall quality of the conference is excellent, rated first under many systems, though I see a few in which the BE is rated second or third. Subjectively, I see only the B10, with 12 of its 14 teams in the current bracketmatrix field and their "win" in the Gavitt Games, as a rival for the top, and attrition from that 12-team figure is likely to result from the remaining conference schedule. The BE has no real dogs -- even St. John's and DePaul, despite their conference records, have shown strength, and Providence's early conference success countered the lone real under-performance in the OOC. No other conference can say this outside of the B12, and the BE just stacks up better against them this year, especially considering two of the three BE losses to the B12 were to the current #1 team in the country, Baylor.
(Man, it hurts to say that. I have nothing particular against the Bears, but every time I think of their success, I go back to our NIT loss to them some years ago.)
Though there were a few big games that didn't go our way, several of these were very close (including a last-minute 1-point loss to the aforementioned Bears), and teams avoided bad losses with very few exceptions. Even the few losses to non-majors have ended up largely being to teams that have a legitimate chance of representing their conferences in the NCAAs, or even getting an at-large bid. Only Providence lost to a non-major outside the top 100 (by most measures), and the two losses to sub-100 majors were away -- it can be hard to play at well-attended campus sites, even when we're talking about Northwestern and Wake Forest.
All that said, it is looking as though we might only get 5 teams in. Swap Providence's conference record with any of the other 4 on the outside looking in, and 6 becomes a near-certainty. The upcoming second half of the conference season will tell whether this out-performance by an under-performing team OOC will mess with BE success.
Still, the committee is supposed to consider teams, not conferences, and the Hoyas' goal is clearly to get into the NCAAs this year. We have no bad losses -- all nine are to teams that are in the top 100, and six of our nine are to teams that are likely making the NCAAs at this point. Unfortunately, with the exception of the home win over Creighton, our wins within the top 100 are constrained to those likely not making the NCAAs as at-larges in the first place, and record against the field has been a significant committee consideration when evaluating teams on the bubble.
We're still in the bubble conversation due to our strength of schedule, but there are probably 10 ahead of us for the last spot, and one other team, UNC-G, could make a great argument against us if they duplicate their first-half SoCon record in the back half and get to their tourney final. The way I see it, though a 9-9 conference record would put us safely in the field, 8-10 in the conference, only one extra loss, might see us needing two wins in the BET to put us safely in, and at least one BET win to keep us towards the right side of a very soft bubble. I don't see 7-11, winning @ the Johnnies, sweeping DePaul & beating Providence at home, with only one additional win of consequence (I'd count @xavier as that, although marginal) offering us a likely at-large spot, though a 3-game run to the BET final might make things interesting.
Starting at 2-6, a 9-9 conference result is a tall order. It isn't only wishful thinking, though, at least at this point. I think we can beat just about anybody. All of our remaining games are winnable. Terrible starts (and Tuesday's terrible finish) have doomed us in some games; I don't see us as having been outclassed in our current incarnation, except, perhaps, @sh. Certainly, there are games where it appears the game plan was problematic, but I think that it has been more about execution that hasn't been at a level of which I expect our players to be capable, and consistency of this execution.
I'm usually one who, in my occasional posts, tries to point out a specific flaw (e.g., an earlier post about the weak-side wing defender collapsing to the lane unnecessarily when that should fall to the weak-side baseline defender). But here, with shifts in playing style probably wreaking too much short-term havoc, I think that our coach might do best to work on engagement to calm the over-urgency that can have players try non-existent 5-point shots, near-highlight missed assists or once-in-twenty-play steals, and to re-affirm buy-in for the plan and for the team. Our best run came during and in the wake of transfers, when the team appeared to circle the wagons and play for each other.
Despite Omer, Mac and Pickett being our main weapons, and Allen being our on-the-floor general, I think leadership on this has to come from Mosely and Blair. If it comes from them, by themselves -- like a players-only meeting -- that would be great, but it would also be fine if Ewing sits down with them to lay it out.
I'll continue to assert that St. John's is our most important rival. MSG exposure, the NY-DC rivalry, the relatively parallel paths during the existence of the BE, the fact that they are our most-played opponent (and that they own the edge, there), the lore of games past...all of this, along with the relative winnability of this Saturday's game in comparison to others upcoming and the immediacy of the need for a win, make for plenty of motivational substance. Patrick can use this to frame things; Mosely & Blair can use that to drive points home.
If Blair can get Mac to look for Mosely at the three-point line one more time a game, if Mosely can get Yurt to go up strong twice, if they both can find out what's eating Pickett, can reaffirm their confidence in Allen and can recognize in front of the team the effort of Muresan, the promise of Wahab and the importance of the rest to the ability of the team to function, if this jazzes up the team to keep their mind in the game enough to space themselves to mark a second-option shooter (Cale, Bey, Zegarowski, Anim, Tandy, McDermott), we might end up with some very good results.
Here's to that hope!
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SSHoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
Posts: 18,305
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Post by SSHoya on Feb 1, 2020 12:22:37 GMT -5
Anyone watching Creighton v Nova. Nova with only 8 points with 9 minutes to go in the half. 3/14 shooting.
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