HOYAS-Louisville RECAP

[FLHoya]

GEORGETOWN vs. LOUISVILLE (3/8/08, 55-52W)

November 22, 2004: HOYAS vs. Temple RECAP

WE ARE: STILL LEARNING

Tonight was the beginning of a new Generation of Hoya basketball. It was a rough beginning on the court. But it was, after all, a beginning. My attitude on this team is not to look for what IS right now, but for what CAN BE in time

[…]

Both on the court and in the stands, I saw some things we can build on tonight.

So let me get this statement out of the way: Temple completely outclassed us tonight. Full credit all the way to those guys. One of the "classier" performances against us in some time I might add.

It did seem in a lot of ways that the Hoyas were up against it tonight. For large stretches of the game, our lineup featured three freshman, two of whom were manning the front line defensively. And while I would say both did an admirable job at that, there were mistakes that can be worked on, which I'll point out later.

[…]

So in the end, it wasn't the most pleasant opening to the season. But hopefully most fans are thinking long-term and see that this is a work in progress.

How far have we come in four seasons?

On that night in November 2004, Georgetown fans were truly looking for what could be in time.

What was right then was uncertain—an under-the-radar forward from Hyattsville, a hard-working guard from southern Virginia who seemed happy just for the chance to be at Georgetown, a walk-on point guard who was probably more likely to make it to law school than an All-Big East team, and a really tall guy named Roy who…we didn’t know what to make of.

What had already been was forgettable—the worst season in three decades had ushered out Craig Esherick and left the Georgetown fan base weary. What could be…even in a double digit loss…was worth thinking about, if only to ignore what was.

What could be…we wondered about John Thompson III, the coach’s son with his coach’s offense.

What could be.

Those three words define the JT3 era. They define Georgetown basketball. They define our team, our fan base, where we’ve all come in four years.
What could be.

Sometimes it could be a backdoor cut that sprung open. Sometimes a breakout shooting performance and a non-conference road win. Sometimes a shocking season opening conference win at a venue that seldom surrendered victories. Sometimes a program-defining upset of the #1 team in the nation. A Sweet Sixteen. A Big East title. A Final Four.

What could be.

We’re still wondering, even four years later, even as the stakes rise from a season opener against a middle of the pack Atlantic 10 team to the first season-ending title decider in two decades of Big East play.

It’s still the same, four years later.

Still hopeful, still excited.

Still wondering…what could be.

We’re still learning too.

Those three words define the JT3 system.

Learning how to finish a season. In 2004-5 the Hoyas ended the regular season with five straight losses. In 2005-6 GTown suffered a three game losing streak in February then dropped the season finale against winless South Florida. Since then, the Blue and Gray are 23-4 in February and March.

Learning how to finish a game. In the Esherick era, it was “How will this go wrong?” In the JT3 era, the saying is “How will they pull it out this time?” Six times this season, including yesterday, a Georgetown game has been decided on the final possession. The Hoyas are 6-0.

Learning how to beat opponents. In the 2006 home finale the Hoyas beat Syracuse after five consecutive defeats. In the 2007 home final it was a victory over UConn for the first time in a decade. This February, Georgetown scored a home victory over Villanova for the first time since they moved to 7th and F Street. Last season the Hoyas lost two consecutive Big East games in early January to Villanova and Pittsburgh. They avenged both defeats. Twice.

Georgetown fell to Louisville on the second weekend in February at Freedom Hall. But they learned from that defeat.

Learned to deny David Padgett. Every time the UL do-everything big man touched the ball out high he was doubled. No easy pick and rolls, no simple assists.

Learned to attack the 2-3 zone. Wallace and Sapp were aggressive at the point, with an extra pass, a timely drive, anything to put pressure on Louisville’s 2-3 zone.

Learned where the weaknesses were. Austin Freeman hit two threes from the corner near the Georgetown bench early in the second half to build a 40-29 lead for the Hoyas. They came off of different types of passes—one a swing pass, the other fired down the baseline off of penetration. But the Hoyas learned where the weakness was. Louisville never rotated well to the corner the entire game. The shot was always open. And the Hoyas knew that. They’d learned it early on.

What could be…in the final seconds, but another poised, collected finish from the team that has produced so many of late. On a Senior Day, it was a sophomore—poised, set for the shot—that drove home the final blow that won the 2008 Big East Regular Season Championship. But it was a senior—Jon Wallace, the walk-on from Princeton who we didn’t know much about in November 2007—who threw the pass that found Summers wide open.

He’s learned what to do in these situations long ago.

(AHEAD: How far we’ve come in four years…in the PLAYER EVALUATIONS)

[FLHoya]

PLAYER EVALUATIONS

Continuing with the then-and-now theme, I’ve taken a look back at my RECAP of the Georgetown-Temple game in November 2004 and clipped the Player Evaluations for our three seniors who competed in that game. Jon Wallace started at the point, but Roy Hibbert in fact came off the bench (and played the same number of minutes as Ray Reed!). The starting lineup that day: Wallace, Cook, Owens, Bowman, Green.

Jon Wallace (Then): 3pts, 1-5FG (1-4 3pt), 1RB, 2A, 23mins

JONATHAN WALLACE: I saw a little of him at Kenner this summer and I felt he could definitely contribute this year. The "walk-on" tag is kind of ridiculous--we should know to look beyond that b/c of the circumstance. And what do you know he started and got 23 solid minutes of burn, most at the point position. See the above comments on him as a "talker"--I think in this offense that is clearly developing as we speak, having good on-court communication and leadership is going to be key. Nice to see it coming from a freshman. Now looking beyond the 1-5 (1-4 from 3) shooting, I will say he's got the best looking shot and ball arc on the team, it's incredibly pure. His 3-pointer was pretty swell looking. This is someone I hope can develop some consistency as a true point--this will be a longer term process, he is a freshman after all. But I see some potential for a solid 4-year contributor and possibly a solid PG for once.

Jon Wallace (Now): 9 pts, 3-7FG (1-2 3pt), 2-2 FT, 3RB, 2A, 1TO, 2STL, 38mins

I guess the potential panned out.* Jonathan Wallace will finish his career having started every possible game in a Georgetown uniform—not bad for a walk-on given no guarantees about his playing time when he followed JT3 from Princeton to the Hilltop. Jon won’t be on any Top 10 lists of Greatest Georgetown Players of All-Time, but I’d submit he’s one of the most important players to ever walk through McDonough Gym. Great players—talented players—come along all the time. But leaders are rare. Jon is one of the finest leaders I have ever seen on the basketball court.

Jon’s three point shot has always been his deadliest weapon during his career, and I think today was actually an endorsement of that fact despite his only getting two three point shots off out of seven field goal attempts. Louisville’s perimeter defense was aggressive, particularly in attacking Jon when he got a high screen on the perimeter. You could tell Pitino made it a point of emphasis to limit Jon’s looks at the basket. And that’s great—it’s one more thing an opposing team has to worry about, and the more of those the better.

Now—I happened to see Jon Wallace in Kenner League again this past summer. What he was working on most was attacking from the perimeter—getting to the basket or taking a pull up jumper. He knew how to take his game to the next level—become more of a threat to opposing defenses, as opposed to a one-trick pony. It kind of comes and goes with Jon this season, but fortunately he’s been as aggressive as ever of late.

In the end though, it’s his will to win and tireless work ethic that sets him apart. There’s nobody you’d rather have at the line with a chance to tie or win late than Wallace, as he proved against Villanova and Marquette. There’s nobody you’d rather have taking that last shot, as he proved against North Carolina. If you’re looking for someone with heart, Wallace is your guy, as was evident when he muscled a shot over two guys nearly a foot taller to give Georgetown the lead late on Saturday.

Of course, if you want someone to win it with their head, Jon’s your guy too. Dajuan Summers knows what up—he said he made that shot because he was set and ready to shoot. Summers made the shot, Wallace made it happen. A simple little dribble to draw the defense’s attention, and recognition of the corner jumper that had been there all afternoon and Louisville and never been able to rotate on in time. Sometimes it’s not the shot itself that wins the game.

(*NOTE: You’re not laughing even close to as hard as I am reading those Temple paragraphs.)

Roy Hibbert (Then): 12 pts, 4-8FG, 4-4FT, 10RB, 0A, 24mins

ROY HIBBERT: I think most people tonight were very encouraged with Roy--he seems to be on a faster track than anticipated. He had a 10 reb, 5 off. performance like Green, and they were both active on the boards. Roy got outtipped a few times by Temple's center, so he could have had even more. Offensively was the surprise here--I mean, first of all, he threw down a dunk in traffic, which was something I don't recall seeing in my games at the Kenner League. But he showed an interesting post up game with his slow sky hook thing, which I will now refer to in recaps as "the Constantin Popa" since it reminds me of his hook shot from back in the day. (For you early 1990s Big East fans on the board, rest assured I liked Popa and those Miami teams and I am absolutely NOT making fun of Roy, who I might add shaved his head and in contrast to Popa absolutely has all of his chromosomes in order.)

So Roy showed us some offensive skill above what we expected going in--he was tied for the leading scorer as a matter of fact. Honestly, I was surprised to see him in for so long, I thought it would be a phase-in situation. But the Temple size clearly warranted it.

Here's the rub: at this point in his young career, for every good defensive play Roy makes--a block, a contested shot, etc.--he's going to make 1 or 2 bad ones. He'll get pushed around, outtipped or jumped for rebounds he shouldn't be, blown by. Marshall had his way with Roy for some of the second half and Roy really couldn't do any better than he was. I'm personally excited to see him have a good game, but people shouldn't go nuts in coming weeks if a smaller center scores 15-20 on him, or if he gets outrebounded sometimes. He's young, he's tall, he's a little awkward, it's gonna happen. But he's also made some progress already.

Roy Hibbert (Now): 12 pts, 6-12FG, 6RB, 3A, 2TO, 4BLK, 36mins

That was the last time I ever referred to a running hook as “the Constantin Popa” (you think your childhoods were screwed up—these were the teams I rooted for).

The last paragraph above gets at what I think is the biggest difference between Roy Hibbert now and then. It’s something of an upset—from the time Roy broke out the spin dribble in Dayton Ohio and Gus Johnson nearly had a heart attack, it seemed like Hibbert’s offensive prowess would prove unmatchable for most BE defenders and Roy could be on the short-list for postseason awards and All-America teams. It seemed so obvious—this guy was going to be automatic whenever the ball touched his hands.

This isn’t to say Roy Hibbert isn’t a tremendous offensive scorer, with a full arsenal of post moves at that. He can still handled from the perimeter (how many “footers” as Clark Kellogg said can pull off the look-away and finger roll) and occasionally shoot from there (what’s up UConn?).

The difference in Hibbert’s game—and the reason he’s such a difference maker for the Hoyas—has been his defensive presence. So many games this season Hibbert has completely shut down interior play for opponents. It isn’t just the blocks—it’s the “influence” (a term TV announcers LOVE using when describing Hibbert’s effect on a play). Roy can block a shot without leaving his feet, but so too can he alter them, forcing drivers to chuck shots off the backboard and occasionally over the whole darn thing.

Roy was superb defensively against Louisville. The Hoyas learned a lot from the last game against the Cardinals, and first and foremost was how to shut down David Padgett. Gone for the most part were the pick and rolls that burst wide open in Kentucky. Hibbert was smart with his defensive switching (although a HUGE credit need be given to Wallace and Freeman for fronting Padgett and Caracter on switches and denying the ball) and recovered nicely (what’s up Earl Clark) when it was warranted. This was Hoya defense at its finest at times, and it’ll win us at least one game this postseason.

Hibbert has also become a gifted passer from the post, which has opened up opportunities where his own have slipped. Sadly, he’s not so gifted that a 2-3 zone can’t still give him fits. Nor can he hide from being the go-to target every defense plans around. But by involving the rest of the team he’s made the group better, and that’s more important than making SportsCenter for throwing down a spin move on some dumpy Buckeyes center.

Tyler Crawford (Then): 0 pts, 1PF, 3mins

TYLER CRAWFORD: A very limited burn in the second half that I can't speak much about.

Tyler Crawford (Now): 1RB, 1min

John Thompson III has often said that Tyler is the most important player on the roster because of what he offers to the team in spirit and effort. There’s not a greater compliment than that, especially on this team. I couldn’t care less how much or little he plays, because he’s contributed to the program in a way that far exceeds any PPG or MPG average.

Patrick Ewing Jr.: 5 pts, 1-3FG (1-3 3pt), 3RB, 2A, 6TO, 2STL, 2BLK, 24mins

I’m always intrigued by how Patrick will respond to “energy” games such as this. On one hand he can provide an undeniable emotional lift…on the other he throws passes off of the backboard.

It’s always a do-or-die with energy guys. Patrick was oh-so-close to two huge emotional lifts with dead-on three pointers (the one shot he consistently makes) and he narrowly missed them.

But he was playing some damn impressive defense on the perimeter. Not the stuff of highlights, but the stuff that frustrates the crap out of guards trying to make a catch.

Dajuan Summers: 8 pts, 3-6FG (2-4 3pt), 4RB, 1A, 1TO, 1BLK, 29mins

As I alluded to before, he knows what’s up. His game winning three pointer was good the moment it left his hand, because he was set and in a perfect shooting percentage. The biggest flaw in Dajuan’s game IMO is he doesn’t give himself the greatest opportunities to score, always shooting in transition or when he isn’t set, which drastically reduces his odds. When he puts in the little extra work to get himself into a scoring position, the results are exponentially better.

Watch Summers’ off-ball movement on that final possession if you want a good example of how to set up a defense to score.

He’s probably done the best of any player on the team to adjust to the 2-3 zone that seems a stock defense against GU the past months. Free throw line jumper to open the scoring that was picture perfect gap work in a zone, and Summers has been finding them (WORKING to get them) for weeks now.

Austin Freeman: 15 pts, 6-9 FG (3-4 3pt), 1RB, 0A, 5TO, 1STL, 29mins

He was scorching there for a while in the second half, throwing in eight straight points including the two consecutive three pointers that previewed Summers’ final dagger. Out of Louisville’s timeout though, he pumped faked out of a semi-open attempt that I wish he’d taken (if he’d made it I firmly believe the game never comes down to the final possession). He ended up dribbling into traffic and fumbling away the ball, and it started a less than stellar run of turnovers for Austin. The one and only weakness on a superb day, and it’s the obvious—he needs to be more careful handling the ball and especially on entry passes.

Jessie Sapp: 6 pts, 3-5FG, 7RB, 5A, 0TO, 1STL, 29mins

JerseyHoya kept yelling “We need Sapp back in!” And why not—he’ll get the highlights for his spin-o-rama layup, but he had another man’s game in the backcourt with his team high rebounding total and ability to get everyone involved. Very opportunistic, highlighted by his bunny on the loose ball feed from Hibbert.

Vernon Macklin: 0pts, 0-1FG, 1RB, 1TO, 2mins

The bench is definitely shortening as the Tournament draws near. Vern was spelling a winded Roy in the first half but was never going to get on the court in a close second. Puzzling missed one-handed jam—are we ever going to make dunks any more?

Jeremiah Rivers: 0pts, 0-1FG, 0-1FT, 1RB, 1TO

Darnit.

(AHEAD: Single-tracking, the winning Rival Reels track, Louisville rivals the early 2000s Irish for biggest opposing fan attendance, the GU fans give an unrivaled performance, and Rick Astley performs a Video MegaMix…in the NON-GAME OBSERVATIONS)

[FLHoya]

NON-GAME OBSERVATIONS

--As much as I enjoy visiting the Verizon Center fifteen or so times a season, I’ve gradually grown weary of the Metro system, which on weekends is the only thing less consistent than Curtis Shaw. WMATA annually finds fun ways to outdo itself in making it inconvenient for weekend visitors to the VC (or anywhere downtown for that matter)—single tracking, closed stations, track repairs, or just plain negligence (surely someone in the WMATA office is aware that large events are held at this funny looking building on 7th and F nearly every day/night and these routinely spill 15-20,000 people onto the streets above a Metro station).

Saturday featured a particularly interesting contrived inconvenience—the “closing” of the Yellow Line northbound after L’Enfant Plaza due to track repairs. This is interesting because the Yellow Line shares a track with the Green Line on its entire run through Washington DC, and the Green Line was working just fine. The result was that between getting kicked off in L’Enfant on our way in and the lack of green line trains, our party gave up and walked the 15 minutes across the National Mall and up 7th Street to Verizon.

It was actually a somewhat pleasant trip, a reminder why Washington DC is if nothing else an excellent NCAA Tournament venue. We passed by the Smithsonian museums and galleries and between the Capitol and Washington Monument. What’s more, we felt the palpable increase in buzz walking up F Street as we passed restaurants and coffee shops filled with GTown and Louisville fans milling about waiting to make their entrance. (I should hasten to add our party consisted of my girlfriend and Kurt Muhlbauer, who found us in the L’Enfant Station. He was lugging that big “Some Had Forgotten” sign you can see on the front page of HoyaSaxa.com as of right now—I wish I’d had the thought of taking his picture on the Mall, but he is the fastest walker I have ever met in my life, and I could scarcely keep within 10 yards of him.) This was one of those games where you could actually detect an atmosphere in the neighborhood outside the venue. Something important was definitely happening at Verizon on Saturday—indeed, it felt like there was an NCAA Regional being contested that afternoon. I’m sure it’ll be a neat experience for those attending the 1st and 2nd rounds in two weeks.

As our team has grown before our eyes these past four seasons, it’s worth nothing that the Chinatown neighborhood has undergone a major transformation along with it. Back in 2000-2001 the place was still firmly in the “legitimately sketchy” category. Now there’s a chain eatery that sells salads.

--With the attractiveness of Washington DC and Chinatown coupling with the success of Georgetown, the Verizon Center will always be an attractive destination for opposing fans. As we hit 7th and F Street we wove our way through a pack of Louisville fans—SIX tourbuses worth—that had parked themselves in front of the Verizon Center (which they deemed a photo opportunity). I was surprised by the number of out of towners making the trek to the Nation’s Capital, but not by the number of locals—I don’t think I ever had a class in grad school at GW that didn’t include at least one U of L alumnus, and we always talked about their (football) game watch events around the area. The Yellow Line (well, south of L’Enfant anyways) looked mighty red after the game…and a little blue I suppose.

--Somebody reported to me seeing a UL fan on the Metro dressed in a white Pitino suit. A Georgetown fan reportedly did the same.

--BUT…for all the buses and Metro cars chock full of Cardinals, Saturday was one for the Hoya fans, who gave their best performance of the season. This was a group effort—indeed the first sustained cheer of the afternoon came from Section 121, who engaged the student section in a rousing cheer of HOYA SAXA at 11:40 in the AM, to be followed at 11:50 by a group rendition of LET’S GO HOYAS.

Naturally, Georgetown smashed the annual average attendance record in the 2007-2008 season, as the UL game cleared 19,000 fans. But more impressive than the numbers is that the GU crowd is becoming more engaged and energized with each passing game. I think looking back the creation of the Young Alumni section(s) was one of the smartest decisions McDonough has made over the past decade or so to build attendance and atmosphere at the MCI/Verizon Center (and keep in mind—this was an Esherick era invention). Not only has the YA section added a few thousand season ticket holders into the fold, but it has effectively put up a firewall against opposing fans in the 100 level. Think back just two years to the 2006 home finale against Syracuse and picture the east student section flanked on both sides by a sea of Orange. These days it’s not Cuse alums dressed in Orange but Hoya grads dressed like the Village People in those seats. Likewise, when the Hoyas need an extra boost in atmosphere, you can guarantee it won’t take much to get Sections 118-121 (which not incidentally surround the opposing team’s bench) to stand up and be heard. It was a great college basketball atmosphere at the Verizon Center on Saturday, and Georgetown’s fans—alums and students (filled the lower level and brought their A game)—turned in a stellar performance.

--For all the StubHub related whining occurring on the Hoytalk board over the last few weeks, Georgetown fans did a pretty good job keeping their tickets in the family. The student section had a very young-alum and high-school bent to it in spots, and anecdotally it looked like a lot of people in my section had arranged for seats they knew were going unfilled to find their way into the hands of fellow GTown grads.

I did a scan around the 100 level 15 minutes prior to the Senior Day ceremonies and noted which lower level sections were completely void of Louisville fans.

A tip of the cap to your winning sections: 102, 103, 104, 111, and 118.

--So where were all of those Louisville fans? They staked their claim to several corners of the upper deck. UL groups occupied the entirety (you read that right) of Sections 412-413 and 420-422. Half of the latter group dressed in the White Out game shirts, and they brought those plastic hand clapper noise makers. Somebody suggested a la The Flu that we should call Louisville “The Clap”

--It’s beyond my abilities as a writer to describe the Senior Day ceremonies—I feel as if so many people have very personal recollections of and feelings about the Wallace-Crawford-Ewing-Green-Hibbert crew that it wouldn’t do it justice. However, here are a few videos (both YouTube and Facebook) for those who have yet to see the Senior Day intros + lineups:

Senior Day:

georgetown.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=8571409243


Lineups:


georgetown.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=8574679243

--What you don’t get to see is the layup line dunk show the Hoyas put on during their final pre-ceremony go round. Crimeny. Maybe the reason we miss so many during the game is because we’re more comfortable throwing a windmill in there. One of the more impressive sights I’ve seen pre-game.

--Not one of the more impressive sights: Austin Freeman dancing to this song:

--27 Across: Charlotte Rae

--So many gosh darned signs at the game today. Kurt’s piece made the television and the front page of HoyaSaxa.com, so that counts for something. My favorite was the kid who taped all of their season tickets and wristbands to a poster board under the slogan “Perfect Attendance (Unlike My Classes)”.

--The Rival Reels 2.0 promotion ended today and crowned its winner, although the video (the one with Jack the Bulldog eating all of the boxes) can’t be found currently on the Rival Reels website as far as I can tell.

EDIT: It's this one: tinyurl.com/yrppw9

There are quite a few that didn’t make it to the Jumbotron—which I find odd because in my view there were far fewer videos than last year coming from far fewer sources—so let’s just go ahead and link to the entire page:

uncutvideo.aol.com/events/Hoya-Rival-Reels-2.0

--Two videos I WOULD like to see that appeared on the Jumobtron today: the “Who Will Answer the Call?” video (with a somewhat Phantom of the Opera) backing soundtrack that plays on the theme bandied about on HoyaTalk this week and includes highlights of all of our close victories this season (huge ovation from the crowd for each one)…AND…the Senior-themed highlight video set to my favorite AC/DC song:



--We’re back to using this for second half layups

(WARNING: NSFW):

--Georgetown continued its partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project + Merrill Lynch with a halftime ceremony Saturday.

--Dude was kicked out of 119 during halftime/second half for trying to start The Wave. I was kind of hoping security would throw him over the railing.

RECURRING TERRIBLE YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE WEEK:

Rick Astley/Howard Jones Video of the Week:

The Rick Astley Video Megamix:

Monster Ballad (not really) of the Week:

Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’”:

Do You Like Phil Collins? (Sussudio set to a bunch of scenes from American Psycho: and no, I’m not linking to the ACTUAL Sussudio scene from American Psycho as it completely obliterates all NSFW designations…but it’s on YouTube…in fact you can link to it from this video if you’re so inclined—and yes, I agree that “In Too Deep” is one of the most moving songs of the 1980s)

Hoff…Hooked on a Feeling:

Milli Vanilli (kind of sort of) singing “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”:

--Final (short) note for the 2007-2008 regular season: Thank you to all the RECAP readers and supporters (I’m looking in your direction, Section 119 Fightin’ FLHoyas). Haven’t been doing as many this season because of my new job, but I’m enjoying writing as sharing my experiences with you as much as ever.

And the next chance for that will (knock on wood) be this Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, the Hotel Affinia, and Café 31. Best wishes to everyone on their own journeys along with our team’s journey on the Road to Let’s Not Jinx Things.

[SirSaxa]

FLHoya... VERY NICE Touch to go back 4 years to start the recap. Great idea.
And.
Thanks.. once again.
Your recaps and player evals are an important contribution that we all appreciate!

[Coast2CoastHoya]

Inimitable work yet again FLHoya. Excellent job capturing the essence of the action both on and off the court.

[guru]

Great job. Thanks

[HoyaChris]

Thank You. As always, awesome.

[jgalt]

As always a great recap of a great game

FL do you have your first assessments of Jeff's game from four years ago still? i would love to read that and it is too bad he couldnt be there to celebrate with his friends.

[balla]

Good stuff FL.

[FLHoya]

Mar 9, 2008 22:46:02 GMT -5 jgalt said:

As always a great recap of a great game

FL do you have your first assessments of Jeff's game from four years ago still? i would love to read that and it is too bad he couldnt be there to celebrate with his friends.

Temple game:

Jeff Green--The first thing I noticed about Jeff this summer was his aggressiveness. He can leap out of the building, and he goes after every rebound and block shot with reckless abandon. This is both a strength and a weakness. Defensively, there were a few times when he went for a block and took himself right out of a defensive rebound. But you look at 10 boards, divided evenly between offense and defense, against a bigger frontline, and you've got to be impressed. Now he was 2-8 shooting, one of those being an alley-oop dunk. He missed a couple bunnies off tough offensive boards, seemed off-balance on the putbacks and was leaving them short. One thing I do like was that he got to the line for 10 FTs, clearly a display of his aggressiveness. The problem is it was difficult to establish a post presence for him against Temple's front court, leaving him often to play the hi-post passer. He's working for the points he gets on putbacks and effort. Just a phenomenal energy guy who's got a high ceiling if we can find out how to use him--he can definitely play a few positions, so there's options.

I have every game I recapped from about the 03-04 season on, some of the stuff from 02-03.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

"Just a phenomenal energy guy who's got a high ceiling if we can find out how to use him--he can definitely play a few positions, so there's options."

I spell "prescient" F-L-H-o-y-a

[tlphoya]

Thanks for the recaps - Always good information and lots of stuff I don't notice/get to see on my own. Looking forward to many more this year!