jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by jwp91 on Jan 29, 2006 12:17:53 GMT -5
One of the biggest differences to me between the Hoya teams of the recent past versus those of the glory era is that the Hoyas have been unable or unwilling to dominate their opponents and thoroughly run them off the court. Many times in the past there would be time left on the clock but it was clear the game result had been determined. Prior to yesterday, it is difficult to remember the last time the Hoyas accomplished this.
Great teams can do this. Watching the scoreboard tickers, we see Duke, UConn, and Illinois do this all the time. And for the Hoyas to become great, they must be able to eliminate the ambiguity of a win as early in a game as possible.
As this team has been improving its play, that has been one of the aspects for which I have been waiting. Do the Hoyas have confidence to absolutely pull away and dominate their opponent relentlessly? Do we have a killer instinct to step on the opponent when they are down? We had this chance during the Notre Dame game and never put them away almost to a disastrous result.
Some could argue that our new style of play would inhibit this type of domination. Upon reflection, I am not sure that I would agree. The way we control the clock and can work to get easy looks at the basket, we should be able to turn a 12 point lead into something completely unsurmountable.
Tuesday will be another good test for the Hoyas. I believe Depaul will be missing one of their best players.
I would like to see the Hoyas realize how good that they are on Tuesday and produce a lead that demoralizes the opponent. The second half should be a great time to Jessie Sapp and Marc Egerson run the offense for the Hoyas.
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RBHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by RBHoya on Jan 29, 2006 13:15:25 GMT -5
Up until yesterday I would've said that we lack that killer instinct. When you think about it, even against the Stetsons and Savannah States, we never really completely blew anyone away. We'd go up by 20ish, and then we'd just start trading buckets the rest of the way. Stetson outscored us in the second half, and the end of the bench really wasn't playing for that long. We really didn't go for the jugular.
Yesterday's win was pretty convincing. 19 points at the end, and it was 25 or so for most of the game. Granted Cincy's shooting was pretty bad, but you're not likely to find a margin of victory much more than that in the conference, and Cincinatti isn't really considered to be a bottom-feeder in the conference. So maybe after the Duke experience, they are coming around and winning the close ones (ND) and blowing out the teams they're capable of blowing out (Bearcats). Hopefully, at least.
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lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
Posts: 17,440
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Post by lichoya68 on Jan 29, 2006 13:18:25 GMT -5
good to win close ones..... and good to run teams off the court ...respect.. fear .....and hunger .I think weve got a hugry team ......now hope we can keep it up ..... HUNGRY HUSTLING HEART ATTACK HOYAS ......... THAT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD...... exorcise the demons,,,,, ;D blue that is ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Jan 29, 2006 13:48:53 GMT -5
I guess it is a matter of degrees. A twenty point lead versus Stetson while running the Princeton is a 30+ point lead in terms of chances of losing the ballgame. That said, it is hard to win by forty when you don't run much. Until we do, we won't see really lopsided scores, but yesterday was a complete blowout.
What yesterday showed to me is how much better this team is this year than last.
Last year almost all of our legit wins were by six or fewer (WVU, ND, Pitt, Nova), and the few times we did have a larger win (Davidson, Clemson) it was almost entirely do to incredibly hot shooting only. Our losses could still get horrifically bad (UConn, Nova at home, etc) though not always.
Now, when we've lost, it has been within ten. When we win, sometimes it is close, but were getting many more of these types of games, or games where we lead by 10+ the whole way.
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Saxa71
Century (over 100 posts)
"Hope I die before I get old"
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Post by Saxa71 on Jan 29, 2006 13:54:14 GMT -5
The biggest reason that we can't run teams off the court is that while I love this team we don't have the talent of the glory years. Ewing, Morning, Matumbo and Williams were all high lotery picks. We also do not play the absoluting suffocating defense of the 80's and early 90's teams. We used to always be in the top 5 or so when it came to all the defensive catogories.
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Post by theEDGEfactor on Jan 29, 2006 15:08:32 GMT -5
i agree RB- until yesterday i woulda agreed- but really this gtown team has matured so heavily in just 1 week- this 1 week has shown them this is why you work so hard and that not to let teams back in it (aka-nd/duke)
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Jan 29, 2006 19:49:57 GMT -5
We also do not play the absoluting suffocating defense of the 80's and early 90's teams. We used to always be in the top 5 or so when it came to all the defensive catogories. I agee 71. One aspect of yesterday's game that I didn't like was the way White could repeatedly dribble and penetrate through the lane and the middle of our defense and get an easy layup. White wouldn't have gotten away with it during the Mourning, Mutombo, Ewing et al. years |
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jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,035
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Post by jwp91 on Jan 31, 2006 22:53:50 GMT -5
Well, the DePaul game was decided in 5 minutes. This team's confidence is building.
This could be a special year. Look for the Hoyas to beat Pitt.
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SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
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Post by SirSaxa on Jan 31, 2006 22:56:49 GMT -5
We also do not play the absoluting suffocating defense of the 80's and early 90's teams. We used to always be in the top 5 or so when it came to all the defensive catogories. I agee 71. One aspect of yesterday's game that I didn't like was the way White could repeatedly dribble and penetrate through the lane and the middle of our defense and get an easy layup. White wouldn't have gotten away with it during the Mourning, Mutombo, Ewing et al. years And those teams couldn't keep up with the offense these guys play. Those teams were deeper too. And it took Pops 10 years to start recruiting guys like that. |
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Saxa71
Century (over 100 posts)
"Hope I die before I get old"
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Post by Saxa71 on Jan 31, 2006 22:59:49 GMT -5
Well, the DePaul game was decided in 5 minutes. This team's confidence is building. This could be a special year. Look for the Hoyas to beat Pitt. Tonight the Hoyas looked a lot like the 80's Hoyas, very scary. Total domination on both ends. Hibbert has shown tremendous improvement and I can't remember when our shooting % was so high. It just might be a special year! |
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jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by jwp91 on Feb 9, 2006 23:21:13 GMT -5
Another fine example of this team learning to run them off the court tonight vs. St. Johns.
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Post by theEDGEfactor on Feb 9, 2006 23:36:36 GMT -5
ur exactly right jwp-if we wanted to 2nite we coulda won by 40-great effort by every1 2nite-17-4 I LOVE IT
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