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Post by JohnnyJones on Jan 14, 2011 13:47:28 GMT -5
Did Van ever come back to the Board under a new name?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Jan 14, 2011 0:24:16 GMT -5
I think it's ridiculous to say that we have a systematic problem. Last year we closed the regular season plus the BET ranked #14 in the country. In 2008 we won the BE regular season and closed the regular season plus the BET ranked #8. In 2007 we won the BE regular season, BET, and went to the final four. In 2006 we went to the sweet 16. That's not good enough for ya? Sheesh. Yes, we had a down year in 2009, and yes, we got upset in a single-elimination tournament a couple of times, once to the hottest team and player in the tourney when our big man was glued to the bench with dubious foul trouble. But that doesn't make or break a season, much less a program. The truth is that we have been very successful since III arrived. And I didn't even want him hired. I thought it was time to break with the whole JT thing altogether and start afresh with someone outside the "family." I was tired of having pops always looming over the program, like he still seems to. But I was wrong about III. He's been really good and we now have a consistent top-20 program that, in a lucky year, can be even better than that. In the meantime we haven't had a single academic, ethics, or crime scandal, unlike, say, 'cuse, UConn, or most of the NCAA football teams. I call that success, not failure. Nice post.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Jan 5, 2011 13:47:24 GMT -5
I'll also admit when I'm wrong/or commend the players/team for playing well. Anyone with a history here--like me or not--will vouch for that. I'll eat crow ... and I'll be first to start a thread/admit I was wrong. Being critical isn't being a "bad" fan. It's sharing frustration on a messageboard outlet to discuss the team. If anyone is a Hoya fan-they want them to win. I'd rather be wrong/see team win/succeed then watch a game and see the same things discussed here play out in another painful loss. I have also been on since the old Board and I will vouch for all of what I quoted above 100%. While I don't always agree with RDF, I almost always enjoy reading his posts and am interested in his perspective. I am not an Xs/Os fan, so I am not sure whether he knows what he is talking about, but my gut tells me he knows the game. Having said that, I have chosen to trust III. My hope/expectation is that if our current problems can be fixed by the coaching staff, III will figure it out and do what needs to be done. I am not sure how the archive function works on the site, but I wish I could find RDF's post from many years ago about Jay Bilas (before JB fell in love with GU and GU fans fell in love with him). Funny stuff. Keep posting RDF.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Dec 20, 2010 14:14:52 GMT -5
This team is just plain fun to watch. This is really true. I was watching Saturday on tape delay and while in years past I might have watched portions of the 2nd half (when the lead was in the 30s) in slightly faster speed, Saturday I didn't speed up at all because I was so excited to see what each next offensive possession would bring. It really is fun to watch.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Dec 7, 2010 15:29:50 GMT -5
I must say—and I only do so from the safety and security of my own office, where no projectiles from any of you can reach me in any form other than verbal—that I root for any BE team over any non-BE team. And I do so for three reasons: (1) It increses the stature of the BE. (2) It makes our numbers better when we beat them. And (3) It makes it more soul-crushing for them when we beat them. Think about it. If Syracuse were a middling team ranked 24th last year when we mercilessly beat them, would it have stung so bad? I don't think so. I think it hurts them the most when their expectations are the highest. So let them win and win and win. And then let us destroy them, leaving nothing but fiery wreckage in our wake. Agree 100%. I want what is best for the Hoyas and what is best for the Hoyas in this case is a Syracuse win - on many levels. There will be plenty of opportunities to root against the Orange once conference play kicks off.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Dec 7, 2010 1:05:43 GMT -5
Another marker in the continuing decline of print media, as Michael Wilbon leaves the WPost after 32 years. The Post spins it as his opportunity to pursue TV interests at the Worldwide Leader, but it's just as likely as he is given the opportunity to leave on his own terms rather than, as so many other journalists have found out the hard way, fail to make the budget cut. Full time columnists (and even full time writers) may be a endangered species in journalism in a few years. Wilbon joined the Post in 1979, when names like Shirley Povich and Andy Beyer were still on the first string, entering a decade where names like Bill Gildea, Dave Kindred, Ken Denlinger, David Dupree, John Ed Bradley, and Tom Boswell covered the local teams as well as anyone. The youngsters such as Wilbon, Kornheiser and Feinstein, were just getting their feet wet. Like every other daily, the Post is in steady decline. Its daily circulation (approx. 540,000 copies in a metro area of 5 million) has dropped by an average of 7-10% a year and while not as dire as the Washington Times (which recently reported its paid circulation at only 28,753 copies a day, or about three times the distribution numbers of The HOYA), the Post no longer competes as a national newspaper. How many of us still receive a daily newspaper at home? And that's not likely to grow in the coming years, either. Wilbon was the Hoyas' beat writer for a couple of years but has written often on the team. He'll be missed. voices.washingtonpost.com/early-lead/2010/11/michael_wilbon_is_leaving_the.htmlI agree. I thought about Wilbon and The Post (not knowing of his impending departure) this weekend when I was down in DC with my 6 year old son for the Utah State game. As I passed the news store at the airport I was reminded how when I was at GU (late 80's / early 90s) we used to pore over the WP sports section the day after games. Someone would go out early Sunday to get the paper and whenever there was a Wilbon column (or other Hoyas related column by Boswell or Kornheiser, etc.) we would all gather in the living room and one of us would read it out loud to the group. We used to savor those columns. Still enjoy them today, but it just seems different when you have access to so much information about each game instantly on the iNet. Was surprised to read Wilbon has a 2.5 year old son.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Nov 12, 2010 23:05:51 GMT -5
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Post by JohnnyJones on Nov 12, 2010 11:59:05 GMT -5
Jack, thanks for posting that link! Excellent! Hey, if you haven't seen the HBO Doc. on the making of the Darkness album, try to check it out. It isn't great throughout, but it does have some great moments... some of which were mentioned in the article you linked. I am a very serious Springsteen fan and was just alerted to Jack's post and this piece. I cannot wait to read it. I will wait to comment until after I have gotten through it. SirSaxa - I thought The Making of Darnkess was great throughout! Although I agree with that for a casual fan, maybe you wouldn't appreciate the whole hour (or 90 minutes - can't remember). The clip of Bruce and Little Steven doing an early version of Sherry Darling (with Steven playing the drums on a pillow) during the Darkness sessions will give any Springsteen fan goosebumps. Jack - thanks for the heads up on this. Like HoyaTalk during the offseason, I only head to Backstreets.com sporadically during non-recording / non-touring periods, so I might not have found this.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Apr 3, 2010 22:31:27 GMT -5
He was a no-show in some key losses and in a couple of big wins (like Louisville). Chris was a no-show in the win at Lville? You must be relying on a review of the box score, because if you had watched that game, you would recall that Chris was arguably the MVP.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 15, 2010 23:10:50 GMT -5
Slimmy da'Bobcat is a smart guy. Sucks for his two teams to be playing each other in the first round. Sports Bigamy is wrong. He had to learn this sooner or later. Thou Shalt Not Have More than One Team per Sport really should have been a commandment. HoyaTalk has its own bigamist who I was surprised to see posting on a Duke board (as a Duke supporter to be clear) leading up to the 1-30-10 game. Was very eloquent and fair in his analysis, but a bigamist nonetheless.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 14, 2010 22:42:05 GMT -5
Cincy (2 seed) and the Hall (4 seed) also made it. fixed
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 12, 2010 9:22:48 GMT -5
We currently have 6 wins against the Top 15 of the RPI (based on Warren Nolan this a.m.). I believe Kansas is the only other team in the country that has 6 Top 25 RPI wins - and I doubt those are all in the Top 15, but am not going to take the time to look it up!
9 losses is a lot, no doubt, but the list of good wins is very impressive.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 7, 2010 10:54:45 GMT -5
Definately a tough draw. Now I'm going to have to formulate a good excuse to miss class for the first hour on Wednesday, and that excuse must have a logical extension to miss the same hour again on Thursday. Hmmmmm..... any suggestions? I would suggest telling them you were diagnosed with diabetes, but we all now know that is no excuse at all. I can't wait to squish that pimp Jones between my little fingers from my seat at MSG while the guys dismantle him on the hard wood. Coach should give them a Clockwork Orange style viddying of Jones pumping his chest and strutting around our house - 24/7 eyes pried open until tip off, see how motivated we are then. Once we do that we can worry about Siberia-cuse, but I am with GeeDell - I will take a shot at 'cuse any day of the week, especially in a year where they have not seen our best yet. Only disappointment is that they gacked yesterday and won't be #1 if we get through to them. If we get through to them we will get through them. A few people have made reference to D. Jones at the end of the 2/3/10 game. What exactly did he do?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 7, 2010 8:45:44 GMT -5
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but i personally think we got the worst draw we could possibly get for the BET. Of course it is. That is why so many of us have been so obssessed with how we coud get the 6 or the 7 (the 7 even with a loss yesterday). I thought you were one of the ones in the camp - "who cares who we play at this point" (or maybe that was just if we lost yesterday?) And the noon start times really suck. While I can certainly understand the "revenge" factor (see many posts the last 24 hours), and the fact that our inconsistency of late makes it crap shoot anyway (see MCI's post above), who wouldn't rather match up against teams we have already beaten - in some cases handily and in some cases on the road - and play at night? Having said all of that, I am so pleased with yesterday's performance (in particular, of course, Austin's seamless return to form), that I am headed to NY with a fair bit of confidence - and a lot of excitement.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 23:30:38 GMT -5
DePaul just scored at the buzzer of OT #1 to send the St. John's game to OT #2 -- 70-70 SJU and DePaul headed to a 3rd OT -- 77-77 SJU wins in 3OTs 90-82. SJU now almost certainly the #13 seed playing at 2 p.m. Tuesday. They would drop to the #14 if Rutgers were to win at Pitt tomorrow. Rutgers will be the 13 if they win, and the 14 if they lose - unless Providence also beats the Hall, in which case RU would drop to #15. So PC can be either the 14 or 15. Assuming RU loses at Pitt, PC is the 14 win a win v. S. Hall and the 15 with a loss. If RU beats Pitt, PC is locked as the 15 no matter what they do tomorrow night. I think maybe we say this every year, but it seems kind of weird that going into the final day of the regular season still only 2 of 16 spots are locked in.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 23:07:13 GMT -5
DePaul just scored at the buzzer of OT #1 to send the St. John's game to OT #2 -- 70-70 SJU and DePaul headed to a 3rd OT -- 77-77
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 22:53:01 GMT -5
DePaul just scored at the buzzer of OT #1 to send the St. John's game to OT #2 -- 70-70
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 9:42:48 GMT -5
Question for the tie-breaker gurus:
3 teams are in a mini-conference and have the same record in the mini-conference (say 1-1). So you then start going down the standings.
The question is, what happens if one of the teams drops out? Say, for example, Team A and Team B are 1-0 against the top team, but Team C is 0-1. Do you continue down the standings with Team A and B - or after Team C has dropped out, do you then just flip to the two-team procedures (i.e. head to head)?
I hope that you just keep going down the standings because I believe that would be the only way we can still get the 7 seed with a loss (based on my post above).
So I disagree with the sentiment that who cares what seed we are if we lose Saturday. I think the draw is still much better as the 6/7 over the 8/9 (and I would much prefer night games!).
HoyaChris - this was the same issue you commented on the other day, but I am not sure you had it right. In Step 1 of the mini-conference rules, the last sentence would clearly bring this scenario (three teams with identical records in mini-conference) to Step 2. In Step 2, it says to continue down the standings "until one team gains an advantage" [emphasis added] - once you get to Step 2, it never says if you get down to 2 teams, revert back to the two-team procedures - I don't think?
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 1:14:45 GMT -5
When ND beat UConn last night I was thinking that the worst part of that was that if we lose Saturday, the best we could do is an 8 seed (as long as USF loses). I now think that is wrong. I think we can still get the 7 seed if we lose and: ND loses; USF loses; S. Hall wins; and Nova wins In that case, GU, ND and SHU would all be 9-9 and would have 1-1 mini-conference records. Then I think our win over Nova (who would finish in 2nd after having beat WVU) would put us 1st in that mini-conference and give us the 7th seed. Does that sound right? Not unless the rest of the teams in mini-conference are 0-2 vs. Nova Yes, that's right. So I flipped it and now have WV beating Nova and Pitt winning Saturday so that those three all finish at 13-5. In that case, we are 2-2 against those teams and ND is 2-1 -- but the fewer losses would not prevail as far as I can tell from the examples given (and S. Hall is 1-4 against that group so I assume they drop out). We then go to Marquette - bot GU and ND are 0-1. Then Lville - and we get the 7 seed because our 1-0 beats ND's 0-1!! How about that? It seems right to me, but I keep getting these slightly wrong (HoyaChris corrected me on something yesterday). Maybe I will just wait until Saturday around 4 p.m.
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Post by JohnnyJones on Mar 5, 2010 0:22:09 GMT -5
When ND beat UConn last night I was thinking that the worst part of that was that if we lose Saturday, the best we could do is an 8 seed (as long as USF loses). I now think that is wrong. I think we can still get the 7 seed if we lose and:
ND loses; USF loses; S. Hall wins; and Nova wins
In that case, GU, ND and SHU would all be 9-9 and would have 1-1 mini-conference records. Then I think our win over Nova (who would finish in 2nd after having beat WVU) would put us 1st in that mini-conference and give us the 7th seed.
Does that sound right?
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