Keep the Faith: We were CRAP in November and Decem

[hoyas4life]

Lost against Vandy down the stretch. How about last year’s Illinois game? We scored 13(!!!) points in the first half!!! They were miserable. The Providence game to start January at which we were down at the half? And yet by February and March, the Hoyas were one of the 10 best teams in the country.

One of the more puzzling refrains on this board is how much we are missing Ashanti, Bobo, and Owens. I miss them, too. By February and March, they could shoot, pass, cut, and play great perimeter D. But don’t trick yourself into thinking these guys were shooting lights out last November and December—these guys combined were a sterling 8-24 against Illinois. Until his senior year, Ashanti had always been an erratic shooter, and that terrific step back jumper didn’t emerge until conference play. Last year, JTIII proved himself very capable of teaching things like shot selection, passing, breaking down a zone, and defense over the course of a season. In every interview, JTIII says stuff like we have a lot to learn this season, etc. I see no tremendous talent gap b/t Owens/Ashanti/Bowman and Egerson/Summers/Sapp/Tyler to suggest that something close to last year’s significant in-season improvement can’t happen again this year.

The guys I really miss are Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert a la Ohio State—those guys were beasts. Those guys shouldn't need "learning time" anymore. Jeff has temporarily become Georgetown’s Rudy Gay/Landon Donovan. It’s frustrating that they have not played more aggressively/better, but does anyone doubt that they will start playing like they can at some point?

How about Saturday? The only thing worse than our offense on Wednesday was Duke’s offense on Tuesday against Indiana. McRoberts is really slow and tentative. Paulus is slow and can’t shoot. DeMarcus Nelson is the big concern—Sapp and Egerson will both take turns shutting him down, and that Scheyer guy can shoot too.

Go Hoyas, dunk the devils in Cameron!!! dunk all over mcboberts!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Deleted]

I was nodding my head in agreement with this post until you brought up soccer.

Loser.


But for the most part, I agree with you. I will, however, point out as others have that it isn't THAT the team is losing, it is HOW they are losing. Green has looked bad, Hibbert has looked bad, Ewing has looked bad. Only Wallace and Egerson have shown improvement from last year. Who knows how important Crawford is. Summers and Rivers are hit or miss. What role does Macklin play?

These are discouraging losses in which little-to-no signs of life are apparent, unlike (as someone mentioned in another thread) the Illinois loss last year. While it was BAD as bad can be, they showed 2nd half life, Greenie was a beast... none of that so far this year.

Here's to them turning it around!!!

[SFHoya99]

Hoyas4life,

I agree completely. I'm not upset that Sapp isn't perfect, or that DaJuan doesn't know the offense yet. They started practicing October 15th -- less than two months ago! This explains the poor defense to some extent as well -- even with one or two good defenders, a defense can be awful.

What is upsetting is that the players who know the offense, who have been in it for years are not performing. Not only are they not performing, but they don't look like they are putting forth maximum effort. Jeff is passive on offense; Roy is missing on the boards and clueless on D.

Before this last game, I had no doubt Jeff and Roy's struggles (Roy has had less than Jeff) were temporary. But now I am beginning to wonder.

[Cambridge]

This team is a reflection of Green: it has no heart, no guts, no desire. He is our very own KG or ARod. Sweet.

[Dhall]

Since JTIII arrived, we have a much better record in December and January than we have in February even if you take away the cupcakes in December. We had a good March last year other than the South Florida and Syracuse losses of course, but people forget that the last two years we lost a lot of games in February when they counted (which is why we didn't make the NCAA two years ago and why our seed was lower last year). So while we may improve, other teams also improve and recent history suggests we might not finish the season so strong. Just a little reality, but why let the facts get in the way. Still keeping the faith anyway and hoping this year will be different.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

That's true about the February fade (though not March) over the last two years. I always chalked that up to the fact that JTIII stuck with a 6-7 man rotation throughout the entire season, and those guys got pretty fatigued toward the end.

Quite frankly, I don't see that happening with this group, because we've already seen a lot more of the frosh on this team than we did at any point last year.

Minutes played this season (in six games):
Summers - 109
Rivers - 86
Macklin - 56
Ewing - 55

Minutes played last year (33 games):
Sapp - 529
Egerson - 145
Spann - 34
Thornton - 20

No, I expect this team to:
a) Improve tremendously over the course of the season, and
b) Not fade down the stretch, due to a much longer bench.

[HoyaFanNY]

this 'we did the same thing last year' stuff is getting just as old a 'trust the staff' garbage. cook, bowman, and owens meant more than any of us thought.

[YB]

I certainly hope we get better as things go on; we got the "CRAP in November" part down to a science.

[GIGAFAN99]

yb said:

I certainly hope we get better as things go on; we got the "CRAP in November" part down to a science.

We do for sure. Which is why we're not done yet. Losses to ORU, ODU, Vandy in a home opener, almost losing to Norfolk...oh yeah this team has had some bad games early the past two years.

So it's not over, but it's just a killer right now because I think we could run a tight rotation with simple sets and be 6-0. Instead we're getting a lot of players experience and trying to develop the entire motion offense. I like the concept of that but the results right now sting.

[russodj]

Venom how can you say KG plays with no heart and desire, I will give you AROD and there are definitely others but no way you can say KG doesn't play passionately.

[Deleted]

russodj said:

Venom how can you say KG plays with no heart and desire, I will give you AROD and there are definitely others but no way you can say KG doesn't play passionately.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


Paging RDF...

[RDF]

russodj said:

Venom how can you say KG plays with no heart and desire, I will give you AROD and there are definitely others but no way you can say KG doesn't play passionately.

He does play passionately-until the 4th Quarter/Crunch time, then he disappears and can't be found. KG is the symbol of all that is laughable about media induced "SuperStars". Tracy McGrady is another--and so on--you are NOT a star if you can't carry your team and McGrady and Garnett have had more talented teammates then many other people who are considered overrated.

I think Green needs to be more aggressive and step up--but it's on him/Staff to decide what role he fits best.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Relax on Green fellas. He is off to a slow start. He is a college kid! Don't give me the reply that they get scholarships and therefore they are paid to play yada yada yada. If he is still playing this way come ND at home, then go ahead.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

i completely agree hoyas4life and i compeltely agree with the landon donavan comparisson. very accurate.

[CAHoya07]

Bringing back this thread, hoping people continue to keep the faith. It's a young season, as stated earlier, the Hoyas were struggling this time also the past two years, and both times either made NCAA's or were in a position to do so. This team has a lot of talent, it just has yet to put it together yet, and I believe it will.

Here's a little inspirational tidbit for you all, because when the going gets tough...:


...THE TOUGH GETS GOING!! GO HOYAS!!

[prhoya]

Let's start our way back tonight against JMU.

[fsohoya]

All those who say to hold our heads up are absolutely right. Yeah, the ODU and Oregon losses were tough, but there's really no shame in losing to Duke at Cameron, and screwy things happen to lots of teams early in the season. And it's not like either ODU or Oregon were the kind of garbage MEAC or other junk teams we used to take on almost exclusively before Big East play in past seasons, letting us roll up a bunch of early-season wins that only left us hopelessly behind the power curve once we got to the meat of the schedule.

Now is the time for the team to show what it's learned, and for fans to get out there and show both their support, and their understanding that this season isn't ending, it's just getting started.