Games of Interest 1/16

[TBird41]

Not a whole lot going on tonight--just two games

UConn @ Pitt--Pitt leads 24-21 at the half
St. John's @ DePaul

[TBird41]

Pitt pulls it out 63-54 to go 5-0 in the Big East. UConn falls to 2-3.

St. John's is ahead of Depaul 35-27 at the half.

[RockawayHoya]

UConn gave that game away at the line. Something to take note of when they visit us in early March (i.e. no easy buckets in the paint).

[hoyanick]

UVA 76 - Maryland 63, 7:41 left.

A few observations:
1) Virginia's John Paul Jones arena is a great fit for that program. The students, in their bright orange shirts, flank the sidelines, starting about 5 rows above the floor. It holds 16,000 but sounds like a much smaller arena on TV, so actually sitting inside and watching a game must be a vibrant experience. I'm not trying to start a conversation about building a you-know-what you-know-where, or why you-know-who wouldn't want to build for who-knows-what-reason. Just sayin', pretty impressive place.

2. This talk about JT III getting outcoached is ridiculous. Watching University of Maryland play is like watching a comedy (of errors) - and I'd venture to say that, at this moment, that program has a bit more talent that our team does. And while I don't really like the guy, Gary Williams probably knows how to organize a basketball squad. I think it boils down to how well coaches are able to minimize teenage mistakes and maximize potential - JTIII does both extremely well. He inherited a program in free fall, lets not forget that. Williams seems to be doing ok in some games, and then losing players in others. Esherick lost his players somewhere along the way and they were making mistakes and regressing every game. This is not the NBA and expecting complete consistency is unreasonable.

[TBird41]

So Gary, how bout getting your guys to play some defense? No? You don't want to? You'd rather give up more than 100 to Virginia? Well, if you really want to be complaining about how not enough ACC teams were let in to the tournament at the end of the year again...

[ilovescruggs]

Interesting note about the UConn game ... Gray completely irradicates Thabeet inside. 22 pts. 19 reb. Thabeet: 1 pt., 1 Blk. Ouch. If Gray can do it, so can Roy.

Also, from the stats it looks like Gray and Ramon carried the team tonight. If the Panthers turned in that kind of effort against us, we'd be 2-1 right now. Alas for running into the buzz saw. That said, the Panthers are a very very good team.

[DanMcQ]

I watched part of the Pitt-UConn game. I guess I was not paying attention, did not realize UConn had 8 freshmen, 5 sophs and 1 senior - nice planning - shows the value of avoiding the early entry players if you can.

UConn is horrible. 10-23 from the line and almost as bad from the floor.

Thabeet took a shot to the nose early, missed a fair amount of action, and when he came back in was very timid. UConn could not stop Gray, who played a ploddingly solid game. Calhoun's ulcer must be burrowing mightily. Dickie V and Shulman said two things of interest: the first half of this past Saturday's UConn-Hoya game was "the best half of basketball" they had seen all year and UConn's puffball schedule this year had led to an incredibly soft 13-0.

[lichoya68]

good comment from dukie v good to get some love and it was the truth uconn not winning outa conn or hardly playing outa conn like how many shcools are in conn and the best half by pitt and gu WRITE IT DOWN WERE GONNA WIN SOME GAMES GO HOYAS BEAT THEM AT THE RAC AND AT THE HALL .. IM AWAY FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK AND OUTA CONTACT SO KEEP THIS BOARD MOVING AND GROOVING GO HOAYS BEAT THEM ONE BY ONE CRAWL BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PILE

[MCIGuy]

ilovescruggs said:

Interesting note about the UConn game ... Gray completely irradicates Thabeet inside. 22 pts. 19 reb. Thabeet: 1 pt., 1 Blk. Ouch. If Gray can do it, so can Roy.

Our system isn't geared to have a five like Roy or Aaron be such a focus of the offensive attack. And there aren't enough possessions in our games for even Ben Wallace to collect 19 rebounds.

[DanMcQ]

The Ok St - Texas game has been quite entertaining - in OT now.

Sean Sutton seems to have become verklempt.

[prhoya]

What a game! Durant is a great offensive player... looks awesome... but, he's not defending... Go OS! (I want Texas to fall off Top 25) 2OT

[hoyainspirit]

Now headed to third OT. Wildly entertaining. Go Texas!

[prhoya]

OS pulls it out in 3OTs... wow!

[DanMcQ]

The best part about that game: all those people have to go home to Stillwater.

;D

[RockawayHoya]

That was a sick game. Always awesome when positive plays and not mistakes decide games at the end.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

danmcq said:

The best part about that game: all those people have to go home to Stillwater.

;D

Lol. Stillwater if they're lucky. Amazing that 20,000 people showed up during a terrible ice storm.

Also, clearly someone needs to lecture these teams on end of game management - you would think a team would want to run the clock down and take a high percentage shot - instead at the end of the 1st and 2nd OTs there were break-away dunks, contested jumpers with time left on the clock, and center's attempting 3s.

[AustinHoya03]

The Texas-Oklahoma State game provides a nice opportunity for me to rant. As Rockaway pointed out, that was indeed an exciting game. Texas has some exciting players this season, including Kevin Durant and former Hoya recruit DJ Augustin. As a student at UT, I can go to the basketball games for free. Yet I cannot get into Texas basketball at all. In addition to already having a team to root for, it is no fun to root for a program like Texas. As Hoya fans, we're all salivating over what this year's freshman might do next season. Texas fans have no idea what their team will look like next season. Durant is one-and-done. Who else will leave? When the entire team left after last season, Rick Barnes said something to the extent of: "this is going to continue to be an issue we will have to deal with because I'm going to continue to keep recruiting these types of players." (He might have added, "That way, I don't have to think too much on the sidelines. Thinking gives me a rash.") So, if you want to see a couple players on their way to the league without a diploma, check out a Texas/NBA prep academy game. If you want to watch a college basketball program, stick with the Hoyas.
[/rant]

[DanMcQ]

Austin - you're dead on. St. Pete is barking up the wrong tree if he wants actual coaching and end game strategy from the two suits on the sideline of that game.

[HoyaFanNY]

durant is the best player in college, hands down.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

and Ball State wins.