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Post by aleutianhoya on Mar 23, 2024 21:01:52 GMT -5
Wow, thought that late game call was pretty obviously Oakland’s ball, but I guess if you watch the replay with your eyes closed it goes to NC St. 🫣 I wish I could agree. But I thought it very clearly went off Oakland. NC State got a hand on it while the Oakland kid's hand was still on it and then the Oakland kid followed through and it went out. We all wish Gohlke could have come off a stagger screen for the win.....
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 27, 2024 19:32:24 GMT -5
What's fascinating defensively is just how disconnected we are. We tried a true matchup and simply couldn't communicate enough to make it work.
On M2M we seem to have gone to full 1-5 switching, which is of course the easiest system to use. And we still can't do it right.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 25, 2024 11:49:32 GMT -5
The trick with Epps is that he's undersized so ideally you would play him alongside a bigger defense-first pass-first guard. Again, Brumbaugh could be that guy in theory though I doubt it. Can we find someone that fits that mold? May not be (in fact maybe can't be) a star. At 6’2”, Epps is not short for his position. Previously , I listed 4 recent BE POY with his same height or shorter. He’s just a lazy defender. No need to excuse it. I didn't say short. He's average height at the point. But he's small. He can got bodied and moved very easily. He's an OK on ball defender. Not great but not awful. He struggles with bigger guards and with anyone that is as quick or quicker. Comine those two? That's a lot of opposing guards! Like a lot of players, his instinct is to relax for an instant once his player doesn't have the ball and that instant makes him a poor team defender. You pair him with another guard that is short or small or even an average defender and things won't go well.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 25, 2024 8:33:03 GMT -5
It's almost always better to win than lose. Especially when you hardly ever win.
We are extremely limited defensively. Styles, Brumbaugh, and Bristol seem to be competent individual defenders and understanding of the team principles. But when any of them are out of the game, we struggle mightily. We struggle with them in the game too because Cook is so poor at team defense (except the PNR hedge and recover, which he is actually quite good at) and Epps is inconsistent. But with any of Massoud, Fielder, or Heath in there, it's a defensive disaster.
You get a five that is a competent defender (which can happen any number of ways...it could be Sorber (though unlikely off the bat)...could be Fielder dramatically improves...could be a transfer), and things change drastically.
Overall, I think Cook and Brumbaugh have proven themselves to be potentially winning players on a good team in reduced roles. Rowan is way more competent and confident offensively now than he was when BE play began. He can already defend. That's a great sign for the future. Maybe he continues to develop and can be a key cog. But at minimum he can be a 15-20 mpg guy spelling both guards. Cook is limited. But he would be a perfectly good backup five on a good team. Those are both valuable pieces.
Fielder right now would be a good backup four on a good team. Can he bulk up into a five? Can he improve quickness and be a four? Don't know. He's got the most upside of this group given his shooting abilities.
The trick with Epps is that he's undersized so ideally you would play him alongside a bigger defense-first pass-first guard. Again, Brumbaugh could be that guy in theory though I doubt it. Can we find someone that fits that mold? May not be (in fact maybe can't be) a star.
The most important thing is that I don't think anything I've written is particular profound. We've clearly identified the guys that have future value and our needs (either internal or external). Don't underestimate that. It's not always that obvious.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 19, 2024 17:17:01 GMT -5
Apologies. You're correct. Looking back it was "If DePaul was removed from the equation"...they'd be #2 across the board. To be fair they'd be #1 If you removed Gtown too. Evan Miya has 4th overall. Average Net ranking is 5th overall. It’s no big deal. I just don’t see SJU as anywhere near the NCAA conversation. I mean they are 14-12, 3 games under .500 in conference play and currently sitting in 9th place…ahead of only us and DePaul. Casting them as in the same area code as the bubble is ludicrous. The objective stats like SJU much more than their record would indicate. Fifth in BE in NET and KenPom. 40s or low 50s on both. That's why they're in the mix. But obviously they are going to need to turn things around pronto.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 6, 2024 9:29:50 GMT -5
a) "I'll wait to the end of the season" is an absolute joke - you've been complaining since last July and just laid out a parade of horribles. b) Why would it affect any of those things? Parents of current players tweet over and over that things are going to be just fine, the Class of 2024 seems bought in to where their parents are tweeting telling people like you to chill the eff out. Maybe it's just you and boya that have the issues and not the players/recruits. Sorry, but this has been such a trainwreck of an initial season that it is not at all beyond imagination that it could derail Cooley’s entire time here before it even really begins. We have the 303rd ranked defense in the country - do we have the 303rd worst defensive talent in the country? We aren’t exactly talented, but we are still underachieving. And the manner of the losses, the blowouts, the losses and near-misses to bad mid-major teams? It has just been an awful year, and even the most optimistic among us on here have pretty much stopped defending what has happened so far. The only fallback left is a solid incoming class for next season. I truly hope that works to elevate us, but we have been burned by overhyped recruits/transfers for the better part of a decade and a half, so it could well be another recipe for disaster. I do think the talent is that bad defensively. I really do. I also think the loss to Holy Cross and the other near misses show where we started. We are better than that now.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 6, 2024 9:28:20 GMT -5
The bottom line: Where is player development?? What can we point to as progress?? What adjustments are being made?? What is the coaching staff instructing/preaching/teaching?? Why are the players not responding?? And lastly, what is the identify or character of the team?? 15-38 and 2 BE wins (for two seasons)/(I know we had two coaches - but you get my point). Player development: Surely, Supreme has developed. I think Fielder has too, it's just that the level of competition has increased so much that it gets lost. But he's way more confident offensively and appears to know what to do defensively even if he can't execute it. Others? Not so much that is evident. Progress: I mean, we are objectively better. The lows have been pretty darned low, but we have been "in" more games this year than last year. In any event, I wasn't expecting much this year. Adjustments: Jesus, tons. We have played a 3-2 zone for long periods. A 2-3 zone. A passive 1-2-2. We have blitzed PNR when we play man and tried to switch everything. We have tried everything under the sun defensively. We. Just. Aren't. Good. Coaching: Who knows? We never know! I will say that Cooley at timeouts (in addition to the coach speak you hear from every coach) seems to have practical thoughts. Identity: a team in transition. Right? That's what this is. There almost couldn't be any true identity at this point. But we have long experience with Cooley's teams to know what he wants....physicality, toughness, grinding.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 17:10:30 GMT -5
You truly think we didn't try to get more.amd better players? Of course he wanted a true PG and presumably hoped Rowan would develop. (Which he still could....but hasn't yet.) Epps isn't a PG. Didn't have a good game today. But still has more assists than turnovers (even if you just look at conference games). He's not the problem. Don’t know what Cooley looked for in the off-season other thanwhat is public. Do you? No. But then why are you saying he stubbornly refused to add guys. With a lack of information, go with the most logical explanation.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:59:22 GMT -5
Even if you think he didn't recruit as he should have, that's just a failure, not stubbornness. The defense has changed A TON all year. I mean, we have done an incredible number of things to try to account for our lack of quickness. You couldn't possibly call that stubbornness. This isn't Ewing and his PNR defense. Epps? What is stubborn about trying to get your best offensive player (and the only one that can create his own shots) lots of opportunities? He's tried to establish Supreme. Consistently. They run stuff for Massoud when he is in. Failure and stubbornness. Someone decided no to recruit more players. I agreed with you on defense… because it was so embarrassing. Epps had 1 assist and 4 TOs. He cannot run stuff for others and shoot like he does. That’s Spears. It’s a losing recipe. We needed an experienced, true PG in tbe off-season. Someone decided we were good to go. You truly think we didn't try to get more.amd better players? Of course he wanted a true PG and presumably hoped Rowan would develop. (Which he still could....but hasn't yet.) Epps isn't a PG. Didn't have a good game today. But still has more assists than turnovers (even if you just look at conference games). He's not the problem.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:43:25 GMT -5
You've avoided the question. How is he stubborn? Just because he refuses to play Ryan (whom you inexplicably believe is the answer to all problems)? He wasted the OOC with that defense. He didn’t recruit as he should have. Epps plays like Spears and he says it’s fine, which means the offense is going to be off when Epps has a bad game or cannot play. But, he’s having to change it up after all the embarrassing losses. Don’t be silly. I never said Ryan was the answer. He’s one of the alternatives, but Cooley has him nailed to the bench. A kid who played BE ball reasonably well in his freshman year cannot get off the bench this year? Stubbornness. Even if you think he didn't recruit as he should have, that's just a failure, not stubbornness. The defense has changed A TON all year. I mean, we have done an incredible number of things to try to account for our lack of quickness. You couldn't possibly call that stubbornness. This isn't Ewing and his PNR defense. Epps? What is stubborn about trying to get your best offensive player (and the only one that can create his own shots) lots of opportunities? He's tried to establish Supreme. Consistently. They run stuff for Massoud when he is in.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:31:22 GMT -5
Matta? They were 9th in the league last year (his first year). They've been good (not great) this year. If we aren't in a vaguely similar place next year, you'll have an argument. Ar this point, I would love 9th in the BE this year. That's fair obviously but it's not like they were gangbusters last year, which is the point.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:24:48 GMT -5
Is that a joke? How the heck has he shown stubbornness? He's changed a ton of things. He’s had to with these embarrassing losses. The perimeter defense we started with is pretty much gone. The embarrassing wide-open lay-ups were too much. At least the wide-open 3s are harder to hit. You've avoided the question. How is he stubborn? Just because he refuses to play Ryan (whom you inexplicably believe is the answer to all problems)?
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:22:27 GMT -5
All the talk of recruiting show how little is understood about recruiting on the board. Recruiting is a 5 to 6 year effort. A program is built over years and with transfers now, the many transfer pick-ups are also players initially recruited. Cooley came in to Georgetown with only 3 scholarship players (Ryan, Heath, and Bristol) who likely would be players coming off the bench in other programs. Not having Cooley lined up early meant he only was able to pull Fielder with him. Cooley's depth of recruiting starts next year with his long time recruiting efforts coming then. Ewing left and utter mess in his wake. Ewing not being a college coach prior to Georgetown meant he had zero recruiting book and Oates had mostly retired and only had a few players he was helping land in good spots. Cook, Epps, and Styles are good adds for Cooley. Rowan wanted to come to Georgetown but Ewing had no interest. Next year there is a good recruiting class on its way. There will likely be good additions as transfers as well, as Cooley always has been able to fill in gaps with transfers. But, for this year it is going to be tough. Recruiting is not a 5 to 6-yr effort nowadays. That’s just a convenient excuse. Did you see Butler last night or is that because Matta is better than Cooley? Cooley was lined up early if you believe Fanta (and others) who told everyone through that documentary. Ewing left a mess in that no one wanted to play for him, but with what else? Cooley was supposed to be different. He found out the hard way. Do you believe that next year’s recruiting will be affected by this year’s record, like what happened this off-season? Matta? They were 9th in the league last year (his first year). They've been good (not great) this year. If we aren't in a vaguely similar place next year, you'll have an argument.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 16:16:32 GMT -5
It's early but it looks Georgetown got Patrick Ewing 2.0 and the wrong guy again. I don’t want to think so, but at least he’s as stubborn and set in his ways as the Thompson/Ewings. Is that a joke? How the heck has he shown stubbornness? He's changed a ton of things.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Feb 3, 2024 15:31:50 GMT -5
A far worse performance that I expected. We are not competitive in any way. It will be interesting to see what Cooley says in the press conference. “I failed again preparing them in 7 days time” just won’t cut it again. What do you want him to say? We aren't good. And they're one of the best teams in the country and they're shooting the lights out.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 27, 2024 17:28:29 GMT -5
I'm not arguing for more wins, I'm arguing for better play from the players currently on the team especially on the defensive end. It's also hard for me to buy the "development angle" when RB & Fielder aren't seeing near the minutes as the older players Fielder played 5 minutes today and has regressed as the season has gone on. Cooley clearly doesn’t trust him against high major bigs. Can’t defend anybody at this stage of his career. Shows some promise offensively. I think Fielder has shown much more confidence offensively with his outside shooting as the year has gone on. And defensively, I don't think he has regressed. He's just playing against bigger and better players. He's a valuable piece. He knows what he needs to work on.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 27, 2024 15:41:38 GMT -5
Not sure where your getting that - my main complaint is that he built this roster and has coached it to 1-8. I get that we were in a bad place. But we’re still there. The team should not be this bad this season. This year’s team is much better than last years if you watch the games. But the record won’t show it. And I get close losses don’t really count for anything, and the metrics still suck. But from an eye test, we are better making adjustments, inbounds plays, team cohesiveness, etc. I do think Cooley overestimated what he could get out of Brumbaugh and Fielder. Though , I think he’s gotten more out Cook than he expected. Also to discount the fact we have a very strong recruiting class next year, isn’t viewing the big picture. We are much, much better this year overall. The metrics do show it and if you were to look at only 2024 (that is, just BE play onward), I suspect it's even more obvious statistically. We are improving. You would surely rather have more wins to show for it than we do. And it's fair to criticize that we "should" be better than we are (but that's pretty amorphous). Our defense sucks. No question. But our coach is very creatively scheming to try to eliminate issues. At least four different defenses this game. Each presented problems for PC at times (and each didn't!). Cant scheme completely around lack of talent but we are trying. I'm not a moral victory guy. You don't get wins for losing. But the goal this year is improvement from the team and signs of life from guys we will have going forward.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 24, 2024 13:40:51 GMT -5
Conference play numbers so far. Player A - 34.5% overall shooting 43.1 (2pt) 25.5 (3pt) Player B - 34.8% overall shooting 42.1 (2pt) 29.6 (3pt) Nearly identical defensive impact. Player A is a stud and future all conference player. Player B can’t wait until he’s gone. Player A is better but a lot of people here are blinded by usage. Player A is Epps and Player B is Massoud. Obviously the big difference with Epps is his ability to get to the free throw line. But I certainly think an argument can be made that he's vastly overrated as a player, particularly by some of his biggest supporters on this board who like to use advanced metrics instead of watching the games. A couple key problems with Epps: 1) The way we run offense now, if he's having an off game, we have almost zero chance to win. We completely rely on him playing hero ball and scoring 20+ points per game. 2) Because he is so ball-dominant, other guys can't get in the flow on offense. Our non-Epps players generally stand around offensively and watch Epps, try to figure out what he's going to do, and look to get open for a kickout or crash the glass to get any chance to score on their own. On top of the way Cooley runs his offense through Epps, which can't be good for team chemistry, Epps is a horrendous defensive player. Opponents look to drive on him and post him up whenever they can. These problems are exacerbated when Heath is on the floor instead of Brumbaugh. While Heath can score better than Brumbaugh, he's another black hole offensively and like Epps, he's a minus defender. When Brumbaugh is in, Epps can play off the ball and the offense moves better. Additionally, while Brumbaugh is not fleet of foot, he's generally a better position defender than Heath and certainly a better team defensive player off the ball. When you take all of these things into consideration, including the fact that we're 8-11 with 13 games to go, I'm surprised Cooley has shifted minutes away from Brumbaugh and to Heath. Granted, Brumbaugh's been very bad lately offensively, and Heath can get hot like he did against Xavier. But Heath's not going to be around next year and it seems like a good time to ensure Brumbaugh (and Fielder) get 25+ mpg so the staff can figure out if they're going to be part of what they want to do next season. You don't have to use advanced stats to better see the difference. You note the FTs, which is meaningful. It's a five PPG difference. Epps does have 28 assists against 21 turnovers. Far from wonderful, but Ish is only 5 assists and 7 turnovers, which is poor. Of course, Ish has more boards. I agree completely that his style of play leads to ball watching. And he scores generally outside the bounds of offensive structure. But he's also the guy who always has the ball in his hands as the shot clock winds down because he can create.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 24, 2024 11:58:44 GMT -5
I don't mind trying anything defensively at this point. But I think there's every reason to think it would actually make things worse as hard as that may seem to believe. If you truly pack in a 2-3 (that is, tell the five to not rotate at all), you're leaving guys wide open (and I mean truly wide open) from three on every single possession without the offense having to do anything but play pattycake. They're going to make # ton of those. You can't foul hard up high anymore or it's a flagrant. And that's the only way to prevent in a sure fire way a basket from in close. I addressed the open 3s in the other post. As to fouling, the idea is stopping the ball, making your presence felt, without the flagrant foul, just like we see our opponents doing it to us. A hard foul going for the ball will not be called a flagrant unless it’s obvious to make contact with the player instead of the ball or it’s to the head. Right, most teams don't have five plus shooters. But all you have to do is screen for the ones that do. It's not very hard to scheme it if you know the defensive five isn't leaving the post. I think you underestimate the ease of fouling to make your presence felt. A lot of the baskets last night were back to the basket post moves. A lot of the fouls in that scenario would just be on the floor. It's not that easy to do. Again, I'm fine trying it. I really am. We just are going to have to agree to disagree on whether it will work.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Jan 24, 2024 10:36:10 GMT -5
I don't think it was an effort issue defensively. We just aren't very skilled and got bullied by bigger guys. We tried a bunch of different things schematically and none really worked. Some passive press. We jumped the first pass in the front court. Man. 3-2. 2-3. Switching all screens. Hedging. Doubled the post ....didn't double. You can't scheme your way out of bad. You’re right in that Cooley tried a bunch of stuff on defense. Moreover, during the post-game presser, he acknowledged that he needs to fix the defense asap. That said, Cooley didn’t try Mutombo bullying in the middle of a zone. Was he even available last night? Our walk-ons played, but not Ryan even though Drew was off offensively (0 pts?!), not rebounding and getting bullied inside. Yes, Ryan looks like he doesn’t have one mean bone in his body, but he does have 5 fouls to give. Make them shoot FTs instead of easy 2s. I don't mind trying anything defensively at this point. But I think there's every reason to think it would actually make things worse as hard as that may seem to believe. If you truly pack in a 2-3 (that is, tell the five to not rotate at all), you're leaving guys wide open (and I mean truly wide open) from three on every single possession without the offense having to do anything but play pattycake. They're going to make # ton of those. You can't foul hard up high anymore or it's a flagrant. And that's the only way to prevent in a sure fire way a basket from in close.
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