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Post by afalcon10 on Dec 10, 2007 23:37:25 GMT -5
We have not played a team that has received a single vote in either poll all year long.
With the exception of Memphis, we will not play one until 3 games into the big east season against UConn.
Cause for concern once we hit big east play or not? So far the national media seems to think so. What do y'al think?
(Note I didnt take a stance im just asking what you guys think so dont yell at me like you always do)
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idhoya
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Post by idhoya on Dec 10, 2007 23:43:38 GMT -5
Keep winning it won't matter.
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RBHoya
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Post by RBHoya on Dec 10, 2007 23:57:20 GMT -5
This is a team that's starters include 4 guys who started in the Final Four, won a big east regular season title, a big east tournament, etc. They don't need to face tough competition in the OOC schedule to get adjusted to high-level play. They've been there before. They will be fine when they eventually start playing tough opponents in the big east. They've done it before. We've got 1 other starter and 2 other major contributors who also have ample experience at a high level. And Chris and Austin are getting the hang of things. We'll be fine.
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Post by youngjeezy on Dec 10, 2007 23:59:32 GMT -5
III's quote that's been circulating around here lately about the OOC being the "preseason" in his eyes should answer everything - he isn't going to schedule an OOC like memphis' because the big east is a brutal conference and he wants to acclimate the freshmen to the intricacies of the princeton offense.
not to mention, we ALWAYS get better as the year goes on... and we can't argue with results, with III off to his best start ever.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 11, 2007 0:10:53 GMT -5
I don't think it is a great thing our OOC schedule has been so weak. It both gives us less competition and possibly reduces our seed. In other years, it might keep us out of the tourney.
So I don't think it is great. Unlikely that it is debilitating. And how much could this team have done? III was undoubtedly a bit worried that Hibbert would go pro, and some of these games were set up years and years in advance. Alabama could have been a Top 15 team with Steele as well.
That said, I'm still not a fan of 250 RPI and up except during Finals and maybe the first game. While I appreciate time for the frosh, there's a balance there I don't think we're striking. But it won't be the reason we do or don't go far this year -- the BE is always tough enough.
(P.S. Disagreement is not yelling.)
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Post by hoyastrong on Dec 11, 2007 0:11:55 GMT -5
The rankings don't really matter of course, but still, we are unlikely to fall if we keep winning, and we may just get bumped up by others losing. So yeah, keep winning at this point, doesn't matter against who.
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Dec 11, 2007 0:13:34 GMT -5
Frankly its a joke of an OOC scheule.
We should never have a weak one like this again, especially if we are regularly considered to be a preseason top ten team. There should at least be four opponents each seaso from a major/BCS conference. I will be nice and include Memphis as a qualifier even though Conference USA is no longer major. memphis however is big time. We played a joke of a Michigan team but we knew way ahead of time that the Wolverines would not be good early on; that coach takes awhile before he can get his new teams to exceute they way he needs them to. But at least Michigan is in the Big 10. Alabama qualifies because its in the SEC. I would hope that if the Big East/SEC challenge did not take place, III would have found another high major team to play against to make up for it. But where is that 4th high major team in the OCC?
Last season there was Michigan, Oregon, Duke and Vandy. And three of those four games were on the road! Next season there will be Memphis and Duke. Hopefully two more high majors, at least, will be added. I know coach was trying to get something done with Kansas and possibly Tennessee. To be fair his hands are a bit tied because he can't guarantee dates of games at Verizon. Nonetheless it is absurd to have both so few games compared to other schools as well so few quality oponents. As I wrote in another thread the one big plus is that the Hoyas at least play so many games on the road.
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RBHoya
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Post by RBHoya on Dec 11, 2007 0:19:59 GMT -5
Michigan is a game that was scheduled last year, a return from when we played @ Amaker's Wolverines. 'Bama, prior to this season, looked like a good team. Granted III probably could have used one to two other major conference teams, but it's not necessarily as easy as wanting it to happen and then making it so. There's definitely a lot more that goes into scheduling than most people remember.
And again I must emphasize, who cares? We're in the Big East--if we win games, we'll be in great shape.
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DudeSlade
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Post by DudeSlade on Dec 11, 2007 0:20:52 GMT -5
I think the Michigan and Alabama and Old Dominion games are decent OOC games. The Memphis game is baller! The rest are remnants of Pops' scheduling and it's time to move forward. As SFHoya99 said, during Finals or the first game, I can accept it, but otherwise it should be stepped up. As strong as the BE is, we should always have 2-3 potential top 25 teams on our OOC (I say potential because at the time you have to schedule the games, so much can change like players leaving). We should have 4-5 teams in the ODU, Michigan range. The rest can be lower teams. But I feel like we are taking the SEC football and Ohio State football method for scheduling. As if we figure our conference will be perceived as being strong enough to carry us past some weak, weak OOC games. But, hell, it's worked for the SEC and Ohio St. in football, so why not for us in basketball? Whatever. Go Hoyas! Just beat whoever the hell they put on the court.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Dec 11, 2007 0:25:38 GMT -5
Next year's schedule should be good since we already have memphis at least at home with a chance of duke being at home too we can go out and schedule two more good teams because we'll be able to start those series on the road with at least one marquee home game already in the bag. The only series that will carry over till next year is the memphis, probalby @ W&M, @ fordham and @au. hopefully we're not returning the jacksonville game but if we are then @ jacksonville, but fairfield, michigan, ballstate, alabama, and radford will all be gone from the schedule, that's a lot of dead weight cleared out right there.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 11, 2007 0:25:45 GMT -5
Because good competition leads to better teams, better seeding, better recruiting (through media exposure and tv time), more revenue and happier fans...
I'm with Dudeslade. Without injury, Alabama and Memphis, both on the road, are huge. Michigan and ODU are mediocre (though playing at ODU is big). But where's the 2 other mediocre games instead of Radford and Jacksonville? I'm not sure what we got out of that Jacksonville game. Maybe we did, though. I hope so.
That said, I don't think it hurts us badly this year. But there's going to be a year where we wished we played Oral Roberts instead of Fairfield.
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Post by Fan Of The Game on Dec 11, 2007 0:48:45 GMT -5
Most years I'd agree with the need for an improved non-conference schedule...because most year's the goal is to make the NCAA's and see what happens. This year we're going to make the NCAA's regardless, our goal is National Championship all the way.
I don't buy much the "better prepared" argument. JTIII knows what he's doing. In III we trust.
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vcjack
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Post by vcjack on Dec 11, 2007 0:57:10 GMT -5
Comming into the season, we had locked in games and my opinions of why they were scheduled Michigan (a big ten name school) Fairfield (I have a feeling that we have some sort of "unoficiall" obligation to give other Jesuit schools a marquee game) Ball State (lots of drama and a larger than usual buyout) ODU (I believe that the ODU administration was focused on getting a home and home, which is why they agreed to a McDonough game) Alabama (We did not choose our opponent, it was forced on us by the conference)
Here are the new games that we picked up William and Mary (starting a thing with CAA schools? Plus ran a 1-3-1 similar to Grabby's system) Jacksonville (similar to many of our opponents like Nova as FLHoya mentioned but also Memphis) Radford (I've seen them play, they are basically the same team as Jacksonville except maybe less talented) American (local school that we can use to fill seats during winter break, see Navy/Towson last year) Fordham (see Fairfield for my Jesuit "theory", nice Fall/Winter treat for NYC area fans next year; possibly in MSG?) Memphis (blockbuster matchup)
And if you remember back in the spring there was a lot of speculation that we would be starting a series with Tennessee but it fell apart with the BE-SEC and the Memphis games ending that discussion. And I distinctly remember coach mentioning Kansas as a school he has been in contact with to try for a series but it didn't work out.
Just my observation
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Post by sleepyjackson21 on Dec 11, 2007 0:57:36 GMT -5
We've been really unlucky on that our opponents are either rebuilding or are underachieving. Fordham finished 4th last season in the A 10 and they returned all 5 starters, yet they have underachieved. Bama was top 15 when scheduled and then Steele goes down. Michigan and Ball State are in rebuilding mode. Plus the other thing people forget is that we play 18 conference games instead of 16 like the ACC. That's two more big conference games. Our out of conference schedule would look alot better if we only played 16 conference games and then added missouri and purdue. Nothing we can do about it now except to win em all.
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on Dec 11, 2007 1:07:08 GMT -5
what about pre season tourneys, has III commented on this or anything and what are your guys' opinions of this? it has given memphis, duke, etc lots early season big games. of course there is the down side of losing but unless it is in the first round to a low major school there is enough time to spring back.
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hoyaLS05
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Post by hoyaLS05 on Dec 11, 2007 1:07:59 GMT -5
Most years I'd agree with the need for an improved non-conference schedule...because most year's the goal is to make the NCAA's and see what happens. This year we're going to make the NCAA's regardless, our goal is National Championship all the way. I don't buy much the "better prepared" argument. JTIII knows what he's doing. In III we trust. I agree with you more or less, but you could also flip the "JTIII knows what he's doing argument" and say he knew what he was doing when he scheduled Duke, Vanderbilt, Oregon, and Illinois in past seasons and tried to schedule Kansas and Tennessee for this season, but that things didn't work out like he would have preferred. Who knows though? I think it would have helped to have at least one other marquee OOC opponent, but I don't necessarily think it will hurt that we didn't. We'll be fine.
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RBHoya
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Post by RBHoya on Dec 11, 2007 1:10:10 GMT -5
Because good competition leads to better teams, better seeding, better recruiting (through media exposure and tv time), more revenue and happier fans... Better teams.... Do you think we are not one of the top 5 teams in the country? Do you think we won't be one of the top 5-10 in the country when the dust settles at the end of Big East season? Better seeding... Not too worried about that. If the season ended today, before the Big East season was even played, is there any way we are not a #2 or better, probably a #1? People recognize that this team is pretty damn solid, regardless of the fact that we "haven't beaten anyone yet". And that lack of quality opponents thing will be even more diminshed in everyone's minds by the time we're finished with the Big East schedule. Better recruiting.... can it really GET much better? We have a top 3 class in '08 and already a 5 star stud locked up in '09. We're one player away from an ideal '09 class to compliment an ideal '08 class. And we're in good shape with all the top area players in '10. We're approaching the point where we have to worry about having TOO MUCH talent. We're step for step with the very best. Happier fans... who cares about you all? Get over it and realize we've got one of the best teams in the country, quit whining about who we play Not that I don't see both sides of this issue. I understand the points and agree with them, I just don't think it's nearly as big a deal as people seem to be making it to be recently. It's a topic for people right now, IMHO, only because we all love to complain about something, and there's not all that much to complain about right now. Hence the rise in posts about weak schedule and poor FT shooting.
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hoyaLS05
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Post by hoyaLS05 on Dec 11, 2007 1:27:52 GMT -5
Because good competition leads to better teams, better seeding, better recruiting (through media exposure and tv time), more revenue and happier fans... Happier fans... who cares about you all? Get over it and realize we've got one of the best teams in the country, quit whining about who we play RB, I know this was tongue-in-cheek, but the more I think about it, the more important I think this point is. When I think of keeping fans happy, I'm not talking about people that post on the message board. We'll watch the games and attend them whether we are playing St. Leo's or Duke. The people that can help us sell out Verizon Center and actually make some money/lose less money are might be more likely to buy season tickets if we play more high profile OOC opponents. The more tickets we sell, the more revenue we bring in, the more likely it is we can maintain a top-notch program indefinitely. Don't get me wrong though, its not like I think our OOC schedule this year jeopardizes the future, nor do I think that bringing in better home games down the line is the only key to success. But if we want to turn Georgetown into one of Washington's teams again, rather than a team that (just) students and alums root for (not that there is anything wrong with students and alums), making season ticket packages (and single-game tickets, for that matter), more appealing would help, I think.
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balla
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Post by balla on Dec 11, 2007 1:34:31 GMT -5
Because good competition leads to better teams, better seeding, better recruiting (through media exposure and tv time), more revenue and happier fans... Better teams.... Do you think we are not one of the top 5 teams in the country? Do you think we won't be one of the top 5-10 in the country when the dust settles at the end of Big East season? Better seeding... Not too worried about that. If the season ended today, before the Big East season was even played, is there any way we are not a #2 or better, probably a #1? People recognize that this team is pretty damn solid, regardless of the fact that we "haven't beaten anyone yet". And that lack of quality opponents thing will be even more diminshed in everyone's minds by the time we're finished with the Big East schedule. Better recruiting.... can it really GET much better? We have a top 3 class in '08 and already a 5 star stud locked up in '09. We're one player away from an ideal '09 class to compliment an ideal '08 class. And we're in good shape with all the top area players in '10. We're approaching the point where we have to worry about having TOO MUCH talent. We're step for step with the very best. Happier fans... who cares about you all? Get over it and realize we've got one of the best teams in the country, quit whining about who we play Not that I don't see both sides of this issue. I understand the points and agree with them, I just don't think it's nearly as big a deal as people seem to be making it to be recently. It's a topic for people right now, IMHO, only because we all love to complain about something, and there's not all that much to complain about right now. Hence the rise in posts about weak schedule and poor FT shooting. Bingo But I will add defensive rebounding and ball handling to the 'things to complain about' department. Edit: I'll add getting some more post touches for Vern, Pat, Summers, and even Freeman.
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Eurostar
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Post by Eurostar on Dec 11, 2007 2:17:09 GMT -5
Also, the Big East looks a lot less tough with Louisville's recent problems... A lot of our opponents are underachieving so far (Alabama, Louisville, Michigan), but again as long as we take care of ours and keep improving we should be fine.
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