Last Six Games

[CO_Hoya]

In 2005, G'town was 15-6 (7-3) heading into its last 6 games. The team went 1-5, beating WVU, then losing 5 in a row, including bad losses at NDU, at SJU and home against Prov.

In 2006, G'town was 17-4 (8-2) heading into its last 6 games. The team went 2-4, with a particularly egregious loss at S. Fl.

In 2007, G'town is 18-5 (8-2) heading into its last 6 games. The only obvious "gimmie" is at Cincinnati, but G'town will likely be favored in all six games (maybe not at Nova).

Admittedly, is getting harder and harder to find fault with JTIII's body of work at Georgetown, but finishing out the season has been an issue each of his first 2 years.

I'm looking forward to see if he and the team can get through these games strongly.

[theexorcist]

Good point.

Though, to be fair, you should include last year's Big East tournament, where Georgetown went two and one, before making it to the NCAA tournament, where they thumped a number two seed before losing to the eventual national champion in the final seconds.

But, like I said, good point.

[CO_Hoya]

Well, the NCAA tourney committee takes record in last 10 games into account for seeding. And the Hoyas are at the point now where they need to start worrying about seeding, not just making the tourney.

Post-season is another matter entirely.

[bubbrubbhoya]

Really good thread, CO. I was just thinking about this myself...especially the 2005 5 game L streak. Obviously, anything can happen, but there are a few reasons I think this year is different. First, in 2005 we were clearly overachieving through January. This was still Esherick's team, and is was a miracle that JTIII had made them that good that fast. In 2006, Brandon Bowman disappeared for the month of February...literally, he was not seen. Sead probably made as much of a contribution as Bowman that month (this is not to knock Brandon on his 4 years' work, because he basically kept this team relevant for my four years on the Hilltop. In Esh's last year, Bowman was the only reason to show up for games. But it is a fact that last February, he wasn't there for the most part.). Thankfully, Brandon showed up again against 'Cuse and continued playing well through the BET and NCAAs, which was a big part of our late success. This year, I think that our stars are showing up at the right moment in the season, and if their consistent monster performances over the past several games are any indication of future events, Jeff and Roy look primed for the stretch run. Jeff finally seems to have developed the killer instinct, and Roy has that crazy look in his eyes. Also, lost in the big numbers yesterday was the huge fact that Roy played a record number of minutes and seemed to improve as the game went on (IMO), showing that his fitness is better than at any other time in his career. Seeing if he can do the quick-turn and perform against the Inbreeders is big, but I think he'll do just fine. In short, this year should be different because the boys are ready for the big time, and they don't want anything stopping that. Oh yeah, there's also a guy named Wallace out on the court. And DaJuan. And Jessie...

[TBird41]

cohoya said:

In 2005, G'town was 15-6 (7-3) heading into its last 6 games. The team went 1-5, beating WVU, then losing 5 in a row, including bad losses at NDU, at SJU and home against Prov.

In 2006, G'town was 17-4 (8-2) heading into its last 6 games. The team went 2-4, with a particularly egregious loss at S. Fl.

In 2007, G'town is 18-5 (8-2) heading into its last 6 games. The only obvious "gimmie" is at Cincinnati, but G'town will likely be favored in all six games (maybe not at Nova).

Admittedly, is getting harder and harder to find fault with JTIII's body of work at Georgetown, but finishing out the season has been an issue each of his first 2 years.

I'm looking forward to see if he and the team can get through these games strongly.

I think the way the teams were constructed the last two years had a lot to do with the fades.

JT3's first year, we relied heavily on two freshman (Jeff and the Rainmaker) and featured another in our rotation (Roy!). They wore down as the season went on, and as they did, so did our team. Not to mention the fact that the team was only about half way through the 1.5 seasons JT3 said a team full of "freshmen" would need to learn the offense.

Last year, the Hoyas had a 6+ man rotation. 6 players logged 800 minutes, with Jessie getting about 500 (or 16.0 a game). I think they started to wear down as the season came to a close. Only 7 players had double digit minutes.

This year, the Hoyas have a 7+ man rotation. 8 players are averaging double digit minutes (and Egerson was also getting 20+ min a game prior to his departure). Crawford is also close, with 9.8 minutes a game.

[GIGAFAN99]

2004 was a freshman team that hit a wall.

For last year, this really could just read "We lost to USF." Otherwise we were 2-3 with losses to the #9 team in the nation at home, #3 in the nation on the road, and another NCAA tournament team on the road.

So if we beat USF, we're 3-3 beating an NCAA team and NIT team at home and finishing off the cupcake. But the cupcake bit back. We followed it up with 2-1 in both tourneys. In short, I'm not concerned that finishing poorly is some trend. We just blew USF.

[TBird41]

gigafan99 said:

2004 was a freshman team that hit a wall.

For last year, this really could just read "We lost to USF." Otherwise we were 2-3 with losses to the #9 team in the nation at home, #3 in the nation on the road, and another NCAA tournament team on the road.

So if we beat USF, we're 3-3 beating an NCAA team and NIT team at home and finishing off the cupcake. But the cupcake bit back. We followed it up with 2-1 in both tourneys. In short, I'm not concerned that finishing poorly is some trend. We just blew USF.

The "trend", if anything, is losing to a cupcake team in the last regular season game of the year when we needed the win. In 2004, we lost to PC, needing the win to have a shot at the NCAAs. Last year, we needed USF for the bye. That's the trend I'm worrying about, especially since UCONN is going to really, really, really need the game on March 3rd

[Deleted]

tbird41 said:

gigafan99 said:

The "trend", if anything, is losing to a cupcake team in the last regular season game of the year when we needed the win. In 2004, we lost to PC, needing the win to have a shot at the NCAAs. Last year, we needed USF for the bye. That's the trend I'm worrying about, especially since UCONN is going to really, really, really need the game on March 3rd

I love that Connecticut is now considered a cupcake.

[HealyHoya]

5-1 in the last 6. loss to either Pitt at home or, I'm sorry, SUcks up there.

[lichoya68]

WIN AT LEAST THREE PROBABLY FOUR OR FIVE AND MAYBE SIX.. GO HOYAS KEEP IT UP START AGGRESSIVE AND WE CLIMB MOUNTAINTOPS BEAT THE ERRRRRRRSSS ;D ;D ;D NO LET DOWNS WITH THIS GROUP ITS FEBRUARY AS ROY SAID OUR MONTH GEORGETOWNS MONTH ;D ;D ;D

[FHillsNYHoya]

Fhills is in the house for the Pitt game - Don't pick that game Healy!

[Dhall]

I'm a little worried about Wallace. He has taken some awkward shots (for him) the last two games and not looked as good. If my memory serves, he also was a main reason for the dropoff the last two years. Teams will also not let him stand wide open anymore given his statistics. Hopefully, he regroups a little bit and Sapp also continues to improve as he did at the end of last year. It's a lot easier for a shooter to hit a slump than a 7'2" guy who is basically dunking and shooting layups. Wallace is a great character guy, so my guess is that he'll be just fine.

[dc93gt]

I think Wallace will come back to form with his shooting. While his offensive numbers haven't been quite what we--maybe unfairly--have come to expect, he's still providing an enormous contribution on the court. I know many see Jeff or Roy as the leaders of the team, but I think Wallace deserves a lot of credit for the leadership he provides. There was a moment in the Marquette game where JWall literally pushed Dajuan into his position as they were getting back on defense, as if to say "hey freshman, stay sharp."

(Of course, being "the dagger," we all know Dajuan is so sharp, he's deadly.)

[hchoya]

Lets just get through tonights game and then move on from there. Can't remember the last time we had such a hard stretch run at the end of the season. The 6 games are huge, it will tell the difference between a first round bye in the Big East Tournament and a top 4 seed in NCAAs or being a 7 or lower seed in the NCAA tournament...get er done Hoyas, beat the Hicks!