iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Jan 2, 2024 15:16:19 GMT -5
Hoyas 80
Jays 78
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,398
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 11, 2023 23:13:53 GMT -5
I am not a Georgetown Alum, but a college basketball fan. I find it sad that an institution as prestigious and rich and Georgetown cannot find the wherewithal to get an appropriate sized arena built near campus!! Define “near.” I’m assuming that you are familiar with the Georgetown neighborhood. See also DFW’s comment above.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 11, 2023 16:00:00 GMT -5
They were not clearly better than us. It was a winnable game lost (and won) by our terrible wide-open 3s and SU shooting 45% from 3 instead of their average 19%. I was planning to write a bigger post about this, but I have not had the time. But, in short, our defense is abysmal, and by multiple analytics sites, at least, worse than last year: Ken Pom: Defense Ranking 2022: 240; Defense Ranking 2023: 311 Bart Torvik: Defense Ranking 2022: 213; Defense Ranking 2023: 273 Haslametrics: Defense Ranking 2022: 243; Defense Ranking 2023: 290 One of the things I expected to improve drastically this year was defense, yet it hasn't happened yet. This is surprising, because while Cooley generally has not had elite-level defense, he's also really never had bad ones, except his first year at Providence (after which it got a lot better), and his first couple of years at Fairfield (after which it got a lot better). So, in that sense this is not precedented--when Cooley took over two other programs, their defense has been pretty bad to start (in the case of Providence, it got worse than it was under Keno Davis in year 1, before getting better) and then improves over time. This is surely a matter of both teaching and personnel. So, I fully expect it to get better. Still, why are we so bad this year? Obviously, the personnel has something to do with it. But, what's interesting is that we are very bad on defense, yet for totally different reasons than last year. Last year, essentially the team had no focus and allowed other teams to take tons of open threes. Our rotations/help defense were abysmal. Under Cooley that's much improved. For example, last year teams shot 38.9% against us from three (really bad), whereas this year our 3 point defense is allowing 29.9%, good for 61st nationally. A huge improvement. In point distribution, opponents are getting only 24.9% of their points from three point range, compared to 37.2 last year. Again, a huge improvement by Cooley and the team. But our two point defense is worse, indicating we are getting killed in the paint (which the eye test also clearly shows). Opponents are shooting 52.3% against us from two, compared to 50.4% last year. That means our interior defense is not cutting it. I do not mean to put this all on Cook's shoulders, but it's largely on him (and of course, Cooley, for not getting more help by recruiting better players; losing Akok hurt on this). Wabab/Akok were better defenders than Cook/Massoud/Fielder. Another reason why I think we are doing worse (but I think it's not the main factor) is switching all, which sometimes creates [See above for more.] Epps and Brumbaugh are consistently being “bullied” into the paint, resulting in points at key times, and there isn’t a lot there to rescue them. This will likely continue to be a problem against skilled guards.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 11, 2023 15:12:34 GMT -5
Many of our threes were shots we should not have taken. Syracuse was / is clearly better than us.
They were not clearly better than us. It was a winnable game lost (and won) by our terrible wide-open 3s and SU shooting 45% from 3 instead of their average 19%. I’d have to disagree with this, although I haven’t rewatched. There’s a reason we shot poorly from 3, and, to my eyes, it was the Syracuse D pushing our shooters a bit outside their comfort zone. In addition, they made some big shots when we made our run, and showed considerably more athleticism underneath. This is not to say we couldn’t beat them on any given day, but not that day.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 11, 2023 13:30:11 GMT -5
I’ll go with improved play from him in practice and, if called upon, in games. Do you think he's too slow to play adequate defense? That’s a possibility. I have enough confidence in Coach Cooley to a) recognize that the team needs help inside and b) not bury someone if they can actually help on the floor. There should be opportunity for Ryan to get some PT tomorrow night, so I hope he takes advantage and plays well.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 10, 2023 15:33:30 GMT -5
What will it take for Ryan Mutombo to get meaningful minutes? I’ll go with improved play from him in practice and, if called upon, in games.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 10, 2023 15:21:26 GMT -5
I think it may be the terrible way the guys played and maybe the realization that he won't be able to coach them to a respectable performance against better HM teams. I'm sure that by now he had hoped to be able to beat a team like Syracuse and realizes that he won't be able to do that with the talent he has now. Watched Marquette destroy ND last night. Give Cooley a pg like Kolek and he may not be so angry. He had a number of frustrated/ angry moments on the bench and seemed to be venting to his assistants throughout. I’m pretty certain that our play was the reason for any emotion at the presser, especially if he feels that he worked to prepare us to play better. However his rather lukewarm comments about the team before the season leads me to think he is not necessarily expecting to beat decent teams, but simply wants to see obvious mistakes kept to a minimum, which did not happen. We also need to commit to Rowan at PG for the better part of a game.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 7, 2023 19:43:07 GMT -5
Hoyas 81 Orange 75
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 7, 2023 19:31:58 GMT -5
He was asked to do to much here. At UVA, and coming off the bench, he can concentrate on what he dos well. And, of course, there’s Bennett as opposed to Patrick. He left because he didn’t want to be backup to Primo and didn’t want to come off the bench. That’s exactly what is happening at UVA. “Stock Down: Dante Harris Harris played 26 minutes in Fort Myers and scored zero points on two shots. His only other registered stats included three defensive rebounds, two fouls (including a soft push off call which canceled out his one made basket), and a pair of turnovers. I like that Harris can create his own shot off the bounce and I like that he can be an on ball pest who makes plays with his hands. More and more though he seems pigeon-holed into being Beekman’s backup and not more than that. I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong. Harris can hit an open shot, and he can create open looks, they’re just not high percentage ones. He’s a good player for this team to have, and I think he’ll benefit from more time getting into the flow of the program and the system” www.streakingthelawn.com/platform/amp/2023/11/23/23973633/virginia-cavaliers-uva-basketball-virginia-basketball-west-virginia-wisconsin-beekman-dunn-mckneelyMy UVA basketball junky friends are high on him as a role player, but he's not a major college starter. I stand by the Bennett-Ewing comment. The kid was MVP in the Big East Tournament and then went downhill with the rest of the team.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 7, 2023 19:18:56 GMT -5
Roosevelt Bouie Dale Shackleford Marty Headd Louis Orr Hal Cohen Danny Schayes
LOSERS
Sleepy BayBay Craig Shelton Steve Martin Ed Spriggs Eric Smith
WINNERS
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 4, 2023 10:24:50 GMT -5
Congrats to, hey now, prhoya for my first win of the season at 12 points off! Past winners (6): AvantGuardHoya, SSHoya, TC, Nevada Hoya, Hoyaatheart55, thedragon. No winners (1): Holy Cross. Next: Syracuse. SU KenPom#106*: 76 GU KenPom#175*: 82 *to be updated on gameday (hopefully) Just to point out that AvantGuardHoya was robbed.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 3, 2023 19:11:12 GMT -5
Being at the game and victimized by the Silver Line coming and going in terms of posting afterwards, I'm sure that I missed some similar commentary. But Epps--turnovers and all--is a baller. Tough when we needed it, not to discount Ish.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 3, 2023 14:40:53 GMT -5
Not only was this the classy move by Ed, but it was incredibly smart too. He protected these refs, who surely deserve blame, while other coaches may have lit into them. You don't think that helps get a call or two down the road? Not just from any of these 3 refs, but the entire official community will appreciate Ed had their back after a mistake like this. Maybe I'd be more upset if this was bubble bursting type of loss or during the BET, but given the result will be irrelevant at year end, other than feeling bad for the kids and the fans in the arena in the moment, nothing but good vibes and positive feelings can be taken from this game. In real time I doubt any of us thought an egregious call was made, noticing his foot on the line. The fact that he did step on the line created a scapegoat to point to instead of lamenting the fact TCU pulled off a 1 out of 100 shot at the horn, and we were just plan unlucky. In some ways it actually eased the pain of that incredibly unlucky bounce, as the focus is on the missed call and how we got robbed, as opposed to a soul crushing shot doomed the cursed Hoyas again. It was a highly entertaining game and hopefully another step in the progress of the program. In real time from Section 101, we thought he was out of bounds. We said how can the ref miss this call when we said it looked like he was OOB? WTF were they looking at, especially the trail ref? What we "thought" was proven correct. Not definitive from our POV but for FFS! You are correct, sir. That said, those of us in 101 are extraordinarily astute observers who may well have a step up on most refs.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 3, 2023 14:22:15 GMT -5
My significant other was rather surprised that I wasn’t throwing stuffed animals at the television afterwards— something that’s happened too frequently in the past. But we know the actual result, we saw a great game, and witnessed progress. I doubt that the technical (L) is really costing us anything, so I’m happy.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 2, 2023 14:33:16 GMT -5
He was asked to do to much here. At UVA, and coming off the bench, he can concentrate on what he dos well. And, of course, there’s Bennett as opposed to Patrick.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Dec 1, 2023 16:34:06 GMT -5
LeMoyne 7-31 (22.6%) Holy Cross 5-20 (25%) Rutgers 7-25 (28%) Mount St Mary's 3-15 (20%) American 9-27 (33%) Jackson State 6-21 (28.6%) Merrimack 4-15 (27%) I don't know why you are trying to be aggressively negative about something that's a strength. Our 3-point % stats are helped greatly by the fact that we've played teams that are terrible 3-point shooting teams, whether they're playing Georgetown or anybody else. LeMoyne #253 Holy Cross #165 Mt. St. Mary's #329 Rutgers #299 Merrimack #326 American #145 Jackson State #279 We're also about to play some more very bad 3-point shooting teams. Notre Dame is #311, Syracuse #277, Coppin State is #345. This will make our 3-point percentage defense continue to look good. www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/three-point-pctI think it's worth asking - is it that our 3-point defense is that good? Or have we just played a bunch of mostly bad 3-point shooting teams? Or are people rushing to judgement at a too-early point in the year based on very small sample sizes.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Nov 30, 2023 20:41:30 GMT -5
I am glad that we have Bristol for this year and next. He survived the worst coaching in Div 1 and wanted to stay and seems totally bought in. Once his 3 begins falling -and it will IMHO e.g. Howard year- he is going to be even more of an asset. Great to see his game by game improvement. Last night:14 pts (3 of 5), 4 rebounds. 3 blocks, 2 steals in 24 mins. And some big free throws. Glue guy.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Nov 30, 2023 17:56:52 GMT -5
I think Epps’ absence for the last 23 mins. or so, is being underrated by those disappointed in the result. He had 11 points in 13 mins., and may well have helped free up others from the zone. Yes, it’s Merrimack, so perhaps one player shouldn’t matter that much, but the fact is he’s been 30 plus against similar opposition and it seems likely our margin would have been different with his offense in the game.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Nov 30, 2023 17:26:27 GMT -5
Attendance is a significant issue, but the enthusiasm level among those attending is a plus over prior years. Even last night.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Nov 30, 2023 16:17:40 GMT -5
Wow, that’s a lot of ramifications for a KenPom ranking of a team that pretty much everyone, certainly including the fan base, and likely including both the present players and incoming recruits, recognized was in year one of a rebuild from the dregs. And should we really think that a KenPom abstraction seven games into his first year has anything to do with Cooley’s stated vision? I was expecting more against Merrimack. Maybe it’s just me. So wasn’t I, but I was only questioning the relevance to this team of continued focus on KenPom’s ranking in Cooley year one, since I assume that it will be a continuing theme.
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