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Post by IlladelpHoya on Dec 30, 2006 18:14:01 GMT -5
Like the approach from team, just need to finish some plays--especially Roy--took it strong to hole but getting his junk swatted. Needs to be a bit stronger in his legs/base and power up--think we look better today with Macklin/Green combo out there. RDF, don't take underestimate what it's like to get your junk swatted when taking it strong to the hole.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 30, 2006 19:14:26 GMT -5
Loved that Green kept taking shots even when he was down 0-7. He finally found his shot and then team needed it by the time he did. He had a couple of sick plays in the first half -- was really hustling hard. Loved his effort. I agree about that. It showed aggression. Much better than his taking two total shots against Duke. As for comments by folks that the team looked better with the Green/Macklin combo out there...can we not go down this road again? Its bad enough that fans on this board are so inconsistent (just a few days ago Macklin was "lost" and not expected to get too many minutes per game in the BE and egerson was regressing in terms of his shooting...now they are back on our good side it seems). But what exactly happened out there when Green/Macklin were paired up? Its not as if the Hoyas went on their best run of the game or anything. And Green had zero points to show for it. Maybe I'm missing something. Macklin, who will be a stud, had a great move with his early basket. Other than that he got a nice dunk after finding himself under the basket with the back of his defender turned towards him (thanks to a great drive and dish by Ewing---something I wish the guards would have tried doing today). And he had a late basket during garbage time in the last minute. But he can't post up anyone right now, his presence on defense in the paint is not as strong as Roy's and he is not yet dominating on the boards as of yet to say he adds that dimension when he is on the court. Plus Roy is still shooting an amazing percentage and unlike with Vernon the defense is actually schemed to stop him. When you look at how closely each team pays attention to Roy and double down on him immediately when he touches the rock, its clear his presence on the court is more responsible for open looks on the perimeter than any other Hoya player. If Roy wasn't any good the defense of the other teams would not waste as much effort guarding him. And if Jeff misses a layup, turns the ball over, blows a dunk, misses an open jumper or takes two lousy shots in a big game, don't imply that Roy is at fault by suggesting it would be better for Jeff if Macklin was out on the court with him. Simply blame Jeff for not playing up to his capabilities. Because having Macklin on the court is not going make those jumpshots go in or make Jeff concentrate more on making a point-blank layup. Besides its not as if Hibbs is clogging the lane on anything. He (too often for my tastes) leaves the paint to get the ball, hand it off and set screens. However I'm glad to see the announcers calling the game point out that Roy is constatntly working and moving and trying to make himself a taget in the paint as well as pointing out a few times that his teammates (the guards) do not deliver the pass once he is in the best position to score. A few of us have mentioned this all season long. This is not to say Roy played great because he didn't. His lack of snaring the ball, the missed free throws, etc could have been very costly against a superior team. Still when a guy plays a B- to a C game against a high D1 school and still maanges to shoot 6 for 8 and dish out three assists and keep the opposing centers (including Michigan's leading scorer Courtney Sims) from putting up a lot of points, that's says a lot about his ability. Well. at least to me it does. Some more thoughts..... Sapp seems to be back to missing a lot of shots. I hope he finds that touch again because he has all the tools in the world to be an outstanding player. I loved his drive in the first half but I must say if he is going to do that, draw the defenders and still not pass to his big man who is left open in the paint, then he must AT LEAST make the layup. I don't recall Tyler taking four shots. Still he, Vernon, Jeremiah, Egerson and Patrick are still seeing quality minutes. That suggests III will rely on 9 to 10 during BE play too. That makes me happy. I do wish thought that Spann had gotten a chance to prove himself and I still want to see GTown press more. One of these days this team will learn how to put away a squad at the end of the first half rather than give them life in those last few minutes before halftime. In a nutshell the Hoyas were shooting lights out in the first five minutes of each half to put a lot of distance between themselves and Michigan. But after that there were too many lulls (more in the first half than the second though). The first half lull in fact reminded me of similiar ones against Oregon and Duke in which Gtown did not take advantage of the scoring droughts of those two squads. Obviously they lost both those games. Luckily for the Hoyas Michigan isn't as good as the Ducks and Blue Devils. How great was it to play in Ann Arbor. Its one of those arenas I have seen on TV a hundred times and its almost surreal to see the Hoyas on that particular court.
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Post by hoyaeighties on Dec 30, 2006 19:39:37 GMT -5
MCIGuy... EDITED ...this was their best game of the season so far man as a team...know your facts before u speak...go on ESPN.com and go to scores and looks at stats and if you saw the game it was special...I agree could have been more special, but its a good refreshing win...
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 30, 2006 19:43:53 GMT -5
How was this win "special"?
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GIGAFAN99
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Dec 30, 2006 19:50:39 GMT -5
My thoughts heading into the Big East are summed up in these numbers:
41-153
That's the opponents' shooting numbers from three since Ball State for 26.8%. The Hoyas had surrendered 38% of threes in the first 5 games of the season.
I point this out because I think this is by the far the biggest improvement in this team and it is extremely important that the Hoyas close out on shooters. Everytime one of our guards gets beaten off the dribble, I'm the happiest guy in the room. All our guards should dramatically overplay the ball on the perimeter and guard the three first. If he gets past you, there's a few very tall people down low who might have something to say about matters.
This was huge today. Michigan consistently drove the lane and instead of worrying about stopping the ball, the guards would slide over and delay him just enough to give Roy and Jeff (or Vern) time to set then sprint to the open shooter knowing that if this guy wants to go up against Roy and Jeff (or Vern), good luck with that, but they were probably going to kick it out for three.
Almost every three was rushed, in the wrong spot, had the wrong guy taking it, or just contested (the exceptions being the halftime play and another beautiful play by Michigan midway through the first but that's about it). This lead to missed threes, but more importantly long twos. Actually the Wolverines drained a fair number of their mid-range jumpers but just that fact that they were taking them showed how much we dictate the game when we close out on shooters and let our frontcourt alter shots in the paint.
The offense has come around but I think everyone pretty much knew it would the only question is how fast. But the defense was a question mark early but now looks like it is a strength for this team. JTIII is doing a good job of mixing up his looks and his guys are executing. A lot of this is just guys getting their spacing, anticipating the play, and locating the ball better. Really good to see heading into Big East.
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Post by hoyaeighties on Dec 30, 2006 19:54:21 GMT -5
Frost...Hibbert is back for another season. But he may go 20-12 next year. Fumbles, not aggressive enough, a couple of 'deer in the headlight' moments, and he STILL goes 6-8!
Roy had a good game...led team in scoring and rebounding just as he should...I'm a big Roy fan...I've watched Roy ever since he was 14...I've seen his development all the way...it has been remarkable and very surprising how fast he has learned and the way he has developed...remember Roy has to receive the ball from someone and those someones are the guards...the guards as I posted on my other post are not quickly getting the ball in the post "quickly and swiftly"...If you were listening to the whole game...its easy for me because no one was here distracting me while I watch my Hoya team play...Rafferty and Bilas both said Roy is wide open and his teammates are not getting hme the ball "consistently"...now if you noticed our field goals went up and turnovers went down from 17 to 11 mainly because the ball was getting to the right place...the post...but like I said if you watched "closely as did the announcers Rafferty and Bilas two of college basketball bests and myself...I don't mentioned myself with those special guys but we're on the same page...believe me Big Roy had a solid game, but would have been more solid if he got the ball more...yes he brought the ball down into the defense...i'm sure when he looks at the film he'll see that he needs to bring that ball up quickly so the little guys won't juking it from him...lol...talk about the good things Roy did...he does a lot of things during games on his own...steals, assists (very nice passes)...
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SoCalHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
No es bueno
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Post by SoCalHoya on Dec 30, 2006 19:58:42 GMT -5
My recap of the game. I went with my wife and father-in-law (both Notre Dame graduates). Great time!
FIRST: Shout out to the GU students (or young graduates) wearing the shirts spelling out "H-O-Y-A S-A-X-A" at the game. It looked great and was wonderful to see from across Crisler. Excellent.
SECOND: Maybe I haven't been to a game in a long time, but I really liked when they were announcing the players for each team, the two players of the same position would meet at center court and shake hands, hug, etc. Nice touch.
THIRD: Vernon Macklin is a tremendous athlete, but needs a little time to develop on fundamentals. For better and for worse, it looks as though he is always trying to make every play a thunderous dunk, whether it be a drive to the basket, a rebound, or a put-back. Love the enthusiasm, though.
FOURTH: Roy altered a lot of Michigan's offense. They seemed scared. Roy had some solid blocks to confirm their fears, and that put a big smile on my face.
FIFTH: Our defense was strong. We were consistently denying them the easy basket. Sure, we broke down here and there, but for the most part, we contested M's three-pointers and made them feel uncomfortable near and in the key.
SIXTH: I was more at ease watching this game than I have been in a while. Maybe the Cal State Fullerton game at McDonough.
SEVENTH: Jonathan Wallace is a real field general out there. Other ball-handlers did pretty well, but nobody put my fears to rest like JW did. So lucky to have him.
More later...
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Post by hoyaeighties on Dec 30, 2006 20:01:53 GMT -5
jackdog...man, let me say this Roy was our leading scorer and he would have had more if the ball was going to him more "consistenly in the post"...had nothing to do with being soft...there are a lot of nonGeorgetown fans in here that call themselves Georgetown fans they are haters disguising themselves because they talk negative about our players, college kids and especially TEAM...Go Hoyas!!! Jackdog, if you really watched the you would know yourself that this was Georgetown's best game all year so far...more to come...smile
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Post by RockawayHoya on Dec 30, 2006 20:22:00 GMT -5
Important win. Not a great win, but important. It's likely no one will be singing our praises near selection time for this win, but it's one that helps our overall profile more than we'll be given credit for. For those of you interested, our RPI is currently 47, which hopefully will hold as the season goes (for comparison's sake, our OOC RPI was 71 last year). After the Duke loss, a lot of people said (correctly) that we probably had to run the rest of the OOC table to salvage it, and we did just that, so I for one am pleased.
Our defense was extremely solid today. Light years ahead of where we were against Vandy earlier in the year when we were jumping at every head and ball fake. Didn't see that much at all today. Our perimeter defense, in particular was much better at closing out on the shooter. We even trapped them along the sidelines a few times; something we never did earlier in the year. I think that's a sign of better communication between players who haven't played much yet together.
Still a little disconcerted about the turnovers, though. Our big men have to be much stronger with the ball, as they are getting stripped way too often. One big plus in this area, however, was a LOT LESS offensive fouls on our part (thank you, DaJuan). That probably more than anything contributed to us only having 13 turnovers (not 11) instead of our usual 16-17.
Hope the guys have a good New Year with their families and get ready to kick off the BE season strong. The first two games are absolutely crucial in terms of holding serve at home if we are going to rack up 11-12 BE wins. IMO, I'm still saying 10-6 BE at this point.
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Post by AustinHoya03 on Dec 30, 2006 20:27:55 GMT -5
In a nutshell the Hoyas were shooting lights out in the first five minutes of each half to put a lot of distance between themselves and Michigan. But after that there were too many lulls (more in the first half than the second though). The first half lull in fact reminded me of similiar ones against Oregon and Duke in which Gtown did not take advantage of the scoring droughts of those two squads. Obviously they lost both those games. Luckily for the Hoyas Michigan isn't as good as the Ducks and Blue Devils. How great was it to play in Ann Arbor. Its one of those arenas I have seen on TV a hundred times and its almost surreal to see the Hoyas on that particular court. I thought we played well today, generally speaking, but I noticed that, too. You could almost smell the complacency following the second half run. If I can pick up on that through my television screen thousands of miles away, think about what must be going through the collective minds of the opposing team on the court. What saved a run today was that Michigan just didn't seem to care, and Ammaker coached a horrible game. As DFW and others have pointed out, GU bounced back from UM's "mini-runs" well, and never surrendered the lead. But I'd like to see the Hoyas bounce back from a more substantial punch in the mouth at some point this season.
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lexkyhoya
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Post by lexkyhoya on Dec 30, 2006 20:50:38 GMT -5
Just got back from Ann Arbor and I have to echo what SoCal said about the GU students in the top corner. I was lucky enough to have had tickets 2 rows behind Michigan's bench and they were awesome. I'm not sure if ESPN picked them up at all, but they were loud the whole game. Big time kudos to them and the Hoyas for a great road win and a dominating performance today. On to the Irish and hopefully the start of a successful Big East season.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Dec 30, 2006 21:09:49 GMT -5
First time I have seen the Hoyas on TV this year. ;D ;D Unfortunately, I only got to see the game until the score was 16-11. And also had to opportunity to see the game at the Bus Stop in San Francisco with the Bay Area Hoyas. Hope you had a great time, guys! Would have been a great game to see with you. Jeff, came back with a vengeance after his 0-7 start. If the yahoo boxscore could be believed, he was 3-2 after that, as they had him at 3-9!? Roy's first basket was beautiful with a nice move at the baseline. Almost reminded me of one or two plays against OSU in the dance last year. Agreed with the comments on Jon. I have liked him since I saw him vs. Duke last year. He makes some big time moves and shoots very well. Again, good win. I thought we might succumb to the emotion of the "win one for President Ford" but I think Michigan had other issues that make that emotion a non-issue.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Dec 30, 2006 22:02:03 GMT -5
Sounds like a group of a couple dozen Hoya fans out-shouted another stunned Big 10 crowd. Good work everyone.
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Dhall
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Post by Dhall on Dec 30, 2006 22:16:57 GMT -5
Best stat of the game was the number of shots taken by the various players (in descending order):
Green - 9 Hibbert - 8 Wallace - 6 Sapp - 5 Egerson - 5 Others - 11
This tells me that the young guys are appropriately deferring and the leaders are taking it on themselves to lead. We will win or lose with Green, Hibbert and Wallace this year and while it's nice to know that we have a lot of people who can contribute in different ways ... I am much more comfortable allowing those three to take the lead.
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SoCalHoya
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Post by SoCalHoya on Dec 30, 2006 23:00:58 GMT -5
...continuing on my earlier thoughts.
Our team looked very comfortable 95% in the game. When Michigan would make runs, we would move back into our set, not rush, wait for the good shot and make a solid attempt. That was very comforting.
Also, Michigan just seemed out of it this entire game. There were times where a smarter team would have exploited our less experienced players. For some reason, Michigan would run the same sets and get the ball stolen, get blocked, miss a semi-contested shot...and so we lucked out a bit. But, better lucky than good, right?
Oh, and before I forget, Roy is almost there. He needs to work a bit on timing, especially on put backs. He can't be getting blocked by shorter players like he did in the first half. It's too encouraging to the other team. But, he did make up for this stuff in the second half. Once he consistently nails that Jabbarish skyhook he has been trying, it's going to be all over for other teams.
Overall, I give us a B+ on Defense and a B on Offense (we were a little sloppy at times). Grades would be higher if Crisler had been more intimdating, but in fact, it was only 2/3rds full, despite reported attendance levels. The last 7 minutes had more of us yelling "HOYA" and "SAXA" than anything else. Love it.
HALFTIME ENTERTAINMENT: M had some dog relays going on at half-time that were pretty impressive. I can only imagine we have some stuffy dog people in the DC area we can lure to a b-ball game. A big hit with everyone I saw. Good laughs and better than musical chairs.
I'm beginning to think having my wife come to games is incredibly good luck. Last time she went was against Oregon in Eugene last year.
Happy New Year to all my fellow Hoyas.
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HoyaSox04
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Post by HoyaSox04 on Dec 30, 2006 23:08:59 GMT -5
SEVENTH: Jonathan Wallace is a real field general out there. Other ball-handlers did pretty well, but nobody put my fears to rest like JW did. So lucky to have him. Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-BUT I THOUGHT WE DIDNT HAVE A REAL POINT GUARD! HOW CAN THIS OFFENSE RUN WITHOUT A TRUE POINT GUARD!
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hoyaLS05
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Post by hoyaLS05 on Dec 31, 2006 1:19:13 GMT -5
Jeff, came back with a vengeance after his 0-7 start. If the yahoo boxscore could be believed, he was 3-2 after that, as they had him at 3-9!? Ha I think it was an 0-for-6 start. As far as coming back with a vengeance goes, don't know about that. He hit a couple threes that looked totally effortless and picked up another bucket, but other than those three shots, he was pretty quiet. I feel like Jeff popped in from time to time (the three during the 11-0 run, his other three), but for the most part just kinda laid low during this one (after his 0-for-6 start, which wasn't laying low but wasn't exactly sublime). Other thoughts from Crisler: - No way in hell that there were 13,751 fans. - Michigan is a bad team. They seemed confused, timid, and just overall out of wack. We did play well, especially during certain stretches, but the Wolverines had NO desire to win this game. An usher at the arena said to me after the game, this really isn't the Michigan team we're used to seeing. I told him I think he means Georgetown isn't the opponent he's used to seeing. Honestly, I think Navy-Michigan would have been a better game. - Lot of shots that normally go down for our team missed, which is scary considering the Hoyas shot 52.3 percent. One player who did hit most of his open shots was Marc, and I was impressed by that. - Jeff needs to make his layups and dunks, but thats a minor issue going forward. - Two Michigan fans behind me kept wondering why the hell JT III didn't play Patrick Ewing Jr. more and why he didn't start. He went to Indiana first, he MUST be good! He's tall! He's athletic! What is that coach thinking? Easily, two of the most annoying fans I've ever met. One had a cup of coffee in the NFL, he told me. Dennis Wirgowski the name. - That said, Ewing played good defense -- had one steal and nearly another -- and did his usual defense/rebounding thing going. - Jessie is an interesting one. Seems to me like he's stopped going to the basket as often as he did earlier in the year. I've never had supreme confidence in him from outside, but I was really starting to like his dribble-drive penetration. Hope he gets back to that in the near future. Thats all I've got for now.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Dec 31, 2006 1:31:52 GMT -5
Your are correct. The more important thing is we are at the point as a team and a program where we can not bring our "A" game and still win by 15 on the road against a power conference opponent - its been a while since we could say that. Agreed that is wasn't an A game but what really impressed me was Georgetown's quiet confidence on the court. There was no sense of panic when the 16 point lead went to 9, they just did their work and the results followed. This is one of Coach Thompson's great strengths--he doesn't get too high or too low over a game and this manifests itself in how the players react to game situations. Even when Jeff Green goes 0-7, he was right there for the second half. Games like this also reemphasize why Jon Wallace is a consummate floor leader. Watching Georgetown set up its halfcourt sets and Wallace's ability to set up spacing among the players is really something else. Gene Smith remains my all-time favorite Hoya guard, but a case can and will be made for JW before all is said and done. The Michigan boards today read a lot like Georgetown circa 2003. The talent is there but the focus isn't there on the court nor the bench. Some, but not all, of this is directed at Amaker--I think his tactic of benching the starters against Army backfired in this game, but players like Sims and Petway just aren't clicking at a time of year they should be. Amaker can't make the threes fall, of course, but some better sets might have helped. The fact that Michigan players were spotting up for 25'+ shots when they could have driven shows everyone wasn't on the same page. Great post DFW. I agree 100%.
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2ndRyan
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Post by 2ndRyan on Dec 31, 2006 5:26:55 GMT -5
First time I got to see the Hoyas on TV this season and I only saw the second half. My viewing was informed by a lot of what I've read here the last month and a half.
Shot selection- After hitting several threes early in the half we refused to live on the outside shot. I thought we looked inside and for the back door cuts well. At one point with us up about 12 Green dribbled inside and drew contact. I thought both he and Hibbert were well-involved in the offense and the focal points.
Guard play- Some turnovers and slow reaction to the double team. In conference, quick guards may trouble us. I was pleased to see Wallace take the ball to the goal and push it forward opportunistically.
As has been written, Michigan played a poor game. After discovering what was going to get them back in the game, guard penetration for the shot or the dish, they went away from it. At the nine minute mark, they knew they weren't coming back and played like it.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Dec 31, 2006 10:27:38 GMT -5
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