Why did PSU play us man?

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Have they not scouted us? I know that we made some threes versus Citadel but come on. If you have watched us for the past ten years you would know to pack in the zone and see what happens. Penn State looked awful and I think they will probably finish at the bottom of the Big Ten again. Let's temper our excitement until Thursday.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Just a guess -- I would think our 3-pt % coming into the game had something to do with it. I think that if we manage some decent success from the stripe, teams will find it tough to manage an effective zone against us.

In addition, I think teams that are built defensively to play man-to-man often would rather play a solid man defense than a subpar zone. There's only one Temple, and thankfully, we've gotten that game out of the way. Syracuse and others will produce different challenges, but there are only so many teams that can produce a really effective, tenacious zone defense.

[MCIGuy]

ColumbiaHeightsHoya said:

Have they not scouted us? I know that we made some threes versus Citadel but come on. If you have watched us for the past ten years you would know to pack in the zone and see what happens. Penn State looked awful and I think they will probably finish at the bottom of the Big Ten again. Let's temper our excitement until Thursday.

1)Maybe they play man-to-man. Over the years plenty of teams have played GU man-to-man despite the Hoyas poor reputation as shooters simply because its the defense those opposing teams were more comfortable with. Why play zone if you are better at playing man to man defense?

2)Forget the Citadel game. Remember what the Hoyas did against Davidson? Only a dumb coach would not consider trying to take away the three when the Hoyas are having early success at making that shot.

3)Citadel and Davidson both played zone against GU. It didn't help.

4)Once again someone is asking people to temper their enthusiasm as if most fans here are suggesting the Hoyas can take on the MJ Chicago Bulls. Come on. By the way since any objective person would say that the Hoyas are not good enough to beat the number one team in a country is it fair to tell fans to temper their enthusiasm until after the Illinois game? I mean after all its unrealistic and unfair to expect the Hoyas to beat Illinois so its equally unfair to say the fans should ONLY get excited if Gtown wins that game.

[YB]

Like I said: WOE BE TO TEAMS THAT MAN US UP!

[Cambridge]

I think we have a shot at Illinois. I know that's crazy talk, but I'm going in remembering the heroic efforts of the Sweetney led Hoyas against the Dukies two years ago. We were robbed of that game. Hell, Hoya basketball might be different had we won that one, instead of Sweetney's phantom foul out. Oh well.

My point is, we had Ronny Thompson scout them. We are atheletic and shooting well. We are actually running an offense that works in the half-court and our freshman are developing nicely. Sure, we're probably going to loose, but that means no pressure.

Let's go out there, cheer our heads off, and maybe, just maybe Jeff Green & Brandon Bowman repeat their performances...hell, how many times will Green block a Dee Brown - any guesses? I'm going with 3. Also, DJ's showing up for this game. Trust me. He puts his sneakers on one game a year. Looking at the schedule, which game is most likely? Remember his games against Duke, Tenn, etc? And Ahanti & Wallace, I have faith in their ability to make the right decisions and I'm confident they will get their shots to fall. Hibbert will show us what he has in the paint. 10 points and 10 boards for the big man. I believe, hell, every team will loose at some points...why shouldn't Illinois loose to us? We Are Georgetown!!! after all.

[SFHoya99]

"Blue Steel...La Tigre...they're the same look!"

These things need to happen for us to pull the upset, which Pomeroy puts at a 10% chance -- as good a number as any.

1) Jeff and Brandon need to outplay Augustine and Powell. We'll go small, since Augustine is not know as much as a post player, I think. If Brandon can shut down Powell, or at least slow him, there's a decent shot this happens.

2) Minimal turnovers. The Illini are really, really, quick. We'll try to slow the game to a crawl. The only thing that can speed it up (if we're disciplined) is turning the ball over.

3) Get lucky on open shots. We have to hit ours, they have to miss theirs. There's no way Wallace and Cook shut down their guards, and while Owens matches up better with Head, that'll be tough as well. But if they miss their threes, we can pack it in a bit.

[lichoya68]

not a bad game good comeback after we kinda lost it for awhile jt3 is right an important game to fall and get up again strong ... jeff green will improve every game and beat out rudy for the rookie in the big east... it seems he needs to work on his footwork when he gets the ball inside and then who knows what he will do.. prediction of 9-2 and 8 and 8 bigeast doesnot look so crazy but illinois will be really tough but who knows on any given nite go hoyas .. and the man probably was cause of our three assult vs davidson but we came back getting the ball to jeffffffffffff..

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

What I meant on waiting until the Illini is not to see if we beat them, but to see how we perform against a top caliber team. Everyone is so sensitive on this board.

[SFHoya99]

Sensitive? Neither lic's nor my comments were "sensitive". Just commenting on what would have to happen.