Post by FLHoya on Aug 7, 2008 22:53:08 GMT -5
The Patriot League curse continues.
Seven seasons of PL football has seen the Hoyas post a conference record of 6-39, with far too many of scores in those losses approaching 63-9. It’s almost football season again—in fact, Georgetown’s season opener is a month from yesterday—and it looks like it’ll be up to Kevin Kelly’s charges to avenge one of the most bizarre Kenner League losses for a Hoya team in recent summers.
Yes, tonight the #1 seeded Clyde’s went down in overtime in a frustrating affair against a team of…
Well…who exactly WERE these guys in green and where were they from?
This is the question a few of us posed to one of the…ummm…Blaguards’ guards(??)…after the game. What I SHOULD have asked was his name—but since he told us he went to Lafayette and given Kenner League geography rules, I’m guessing the man I was speaking to was Michael Gruner: goleopards.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/gruner_michael00.html
Michael had a darn good game, as did his teammates, primarily members of your 2008 Patriot League Champion American University Eagles.
This is because I made fun of your NCAA Tournament song in the last RECAP thread isn’t it AU?
Well, give them credit. The Blaguards didn’t stop believin’…and the only feelings Hoya fans are holding on to are confusion and disappointment.
(Did I mention that the Final Four this year is in what you could reasonably call South Detroit?)
BLAGUARDS 68 CLYDES 67 (OT)
Clyde’s fielded a starting lineup featuring Jeff Green, Austin Freeman, Julian Vaughn, and Bobby Maze. Despite what on paper would have seemed a mismatch, Clyde’s never led by more than 11 points, and that was with 3:00 to go in the first half.
The Blaguards were game from the get-go, despite surrendering FOUR early alley oops to Jeff Green, who started the game 5-5 from the field without breaking much of a sweat.
You know what ultimately made a difference in this game?
Coaching.
Seriously. Laugh if you want. But I swear, Blaguards’ coach one-upped Coach Rodney in the “he doesn’t realize this is an exhibition department” and actually used his full boat of timeouts—and smartly, usually right after his team scored a basket. Blaguards kept the game from being a quick blowout early with a bunch of perimeter baskets, but once they clawed their way back in the second half they were focused and all game, and Clyde’s had little direction at all. I can’t overstate enough how much Clyde’s to a person was completely out of this game mentally and having a terrible shooting day.
With 9 minutes to go the game was 50-48 and there was an air of nervousness in the surprisingly-full McDonough Gym. The score bounced back and forth between 1 and 3 point Clyde’s leads for six minutes until, on the stroke of 3 minutes to play, Blaguards took their first lead since 5-2, going up 61-59. It was still 61-59 with two minutes to play…
…when Austin Freeman came up with a steal and got the ball to Bobby Maze on the breakout before Maze was hacked. Maze…whose rap skills are highly praised in College Park I hear: …converted 1 of 2 FTs (even that was a small miracle for Clyde’s in the second half) to pull within one. Clyde’s soon forced a traveling violation and got the ball back. Jeff Green went right to work, easily backing his man down and converting with his patented mini-hook to re-claim the lead 62-61. And that was the game.
Or…not.
Blaguards converted a tough bank shot on a drive to the hook to go back up 63-62 with 1:03 to go. After an officials’ timeout and Blaguards 7th foul (keep track of those, it gets important in a minute), Green swooped in for his patented running hook but was clobbered en route (that’d be 8 fouls). Jeff went to the line with a chance to take the lead with two FTs.
[CLANG!]
Again, Clyde’s could only drop 1 of 2 FTs (Green was just 4-9 from the line tonight, including 3 of 7 in the second half). We’re tied at 63 with 53.4 to go.
Timeout Blaguards (I swear they took like eight of them).
A big defensive series for Clyde’s, as Blaguards missed a close shot thanks to interior defense, and Julian Vaughn snuffed out the follow attempt. So with the ball and the shot clock off, Clyde’s called a timeout with 13.6.
There’s a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent chance, I proclaimed, that Jeff Green would get the ball via some kind of designed play. Who else but one of the most clutch players in Georgetown history, and the only NBA player on the court, to take a final shot.
Well…think again. Clyde’s point guard held it…and held it…and held it…until he was finally bailed out by Blaguard’s 9th foul (still with me here—like, nine fouls as in “one more and you’re in the penalty”) with 3.5 seconds left.
So what do the Blaguards do defensively on the inbound?
They intentionally fouled the ballhandler!
That’d be Austin Freeman, who went to the line with 2.8 seconds left in a tie game with a 1 and 1 chance to win the game.
[MACKLIN!]
A wild heave and…we were going to overtime.
Huh?
Something about that FT or the inexplicable foul must have awakened Austin Freeman, because after Vaughn won the overtime tip, AF barreled his way through traffic and powered home a layup to give Clyde’s a 65-63 lead. But Vaughn committed his fourth foul on the other end, and BG pulled within 65-64 on one FT. But again it was Freeman-Time, and Austin knifed through traffic again to give Clydes a 67-64 lead with 2:20 to go…and their final points of the game.
Blaguards pulled back within a point off a nice drive to the goal, 67-66 with 2:05 left. Vaughn for the fourth time on the night was stuffed on a layup for a jump ball, and the men-in-green (interesting because no Patriot League basketball team has green in their colors) took over. They took the lead 68-67 with an offensive rebound putback with 1:32 to play.
Jeff Green’s mojo seemed gone as he missed a three and BG boarded. Clyde’s reached in soon after but they were three fouls from the penalty. With :48 left BG missed and Clyde’s had the ball back.
What followed was a crazy play that I can’t even fully recall. Bobby Maze drove to the goal and missed, but Clyde’s retained out of bounds. Then what I THINK happened is—Freeman missed in close, Vaughn grabbed the offensive board but HE missed the putback, Freeman boarded Vaughn’s shot and cleared it to Green, Green missed a three pointer but Clyde’s other guard took the rebound, and then after twenty or seconds or so of that madness we got a Clyde’s timeout (then a Blaguard’s timeout…told you this guy didn’t realize it’s an exhibition) with 5.1 seconds to go.
Surely now there is a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent chance that Jeff Green will get the ball and take the final shot.
Or, I mean, at least Austin Freeman.
Or, perhaps, Tennessee recruit Bobby Maze.
Hey, what once Top 100 prospect and former ACC big man Julian Vaughn?
Nope. It was the other guy. He dribbled baseline, was cut off under the basket, and tried to find a cutting (and open) Vaughn but chucked the ball of Julian’s foot as time expired on the game and Clyde’s summer campaign.
Golden Earring said it best:
Seven seasons of PL football has seen the Hoyas post a conference record of 6-39, with far too many of scores in those losses approaching 63-9. It’s almost football season again—in fact, Georgetown’s season opener is a month from yesterday—and it looks like it’ll be up to Kevin Kelly’s charges to avenge one of the most bizarre Kenner League losses for a Hoya team in recent summers.
Yes, tonight the #1 seeded Clyde’s went down in overtime in a frustrating affair against a team of…
Well…who exactly WERE these guys in green and where were they from?
This is the question a few of us posed to one of the…ummm…Blaguards’ guards(??)…after the game. What I SHOULD have asked was his name—but since he told us he went to Lafayette and given Kenner League geography rules, I’m guessing the man I was speaking to was Michael Gruner: goleopards.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/gruner_michael00.html
Michael had a darn good game, as did his teammates, primarily members of your 2008 Patriot League Champion American University Eagles.
This is because I made fun of your NCAA Tournament song in the last RECAP thread isn’t it AU?
Well, give them credit. The Blaguards didn’t stop believin’…and the only feelings Hoya fans are holding on to are confusion and disappointment.
(Did I mention that the Final Four this year is in what you could reasonably call South Detroit?)
BLAGUARDS 68 CLYDES 67 (OT)
Clyde’s fielded a starting lineup featuring Jeff Green, Austin Freeman, Julian Vaughn, and Bobby Maze. Despite what on paper would have seemed a mismatch, Clyde’s never led by more than 11 points, and that was with 3:00 to go in the first half.
The Blaguards were game from the get-go, despite surrendering FOUR early alley oops to Jeff Green, who started the game 5-5 from the field without breaking much of a sweat.
You know what ultimately made a difference in this game?
Coaching.
Seriously. Laugh if you want. But I swear, Blaguards’ coach one-upped Coach Rodney in the “he doesn’t realize this is an exhibition department” and actually used his full boat of timeouts—and smartly, usually right after his team scored a basket. Blaguards kept the game from being a quick blowout early with a bunch of perimeter baskets, but once they clawed their way back in the second half they were focused and all game, and Clyde’s had little direction at all. I can’t overstate enough how much Clyde’s to a person was completely out of this game mentally and having a terrible shooting day.
With 9 minutes to go the game was 50-48 and there was an air of nervousness in the surprisingly-full McDonough Gym. The score bounced back and forth between 1 and 3 point Clyde’s leads for six minutes until, on the stroke of 3 minutes to play, Blaguards took their first lead since 5-2, going up 61-59. It was still 61-59 with two minutes to play…
…when Austin Freeman came up with a steal and got the ball to Bobby Maze on the breakout before Maze was hacked. Maze…whose rap skills are highly praised in College Park I hear: …converted 1 of 2 FTs (even that was a small miracle for Clyde’s in the second half) to pull within one. Clyde’s soon forced a traveling violation and got the ball back. Jeff Green went right to work, easily backing his man down and converting with his patented mini-hook to re-claim the lead 62-61. And that was the game.
Or…not.
Blaguards converted a tough bank shot on a drive to the hook to go back up 63-62 with 1:03 to go. After an officials’ timeout and Blaguards 7th foul (keep track of those, it gets important in a minute), Green swooped in for his patented running hook but was clobbered en route (that’d be 8 fouls). Jeff went to the line with a chance to take the lead with two FTs.
[CLANG!]
Again, Clyde’s could only drop 1 of 2 FTs (Green was just 4-9 from the line tonight, including 3 of 7 in the second half). We’re tied at 63 with 53.4 to go.
Timeout Blaguards (I swear they took like eight of them).
A big defensive series for Clyde’s, as Blaguards missed a close shot thanks to interior defense, and Julian Vaughn snuffed out the follow attempt. So with the ball and the shot clock off, Clyde’s called a timeout with 13.6.
There’s a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent chance, I proclaimed, that Jeff Green would get the ball via some kind of designed play. Who else but one of the most clutch players in Georgetown history, and the only NBA player on the court, to take a final shot.
Well…think again. Clyde’s point guard held it…and held it…and held it…until he was finally bailed out by Blaguard’s 9th foul (still with me here—like, nine fouls as in “one more and you’re in the penalty”) with 3.5 seconds left.
So what do the Blaguards do defensively on the inbound?
They intentionally fouled the ballhandler!
That’d be Austin Freeman, who went to the line with 2.8 seconds left in a tie game with a 1 and 1 chance to win the game.
[MACKLIN!]
A wild heave and…we were going to overtime.
Huh?
Something about that FT or the inexplicable foul must have awakened Austin Freeman, because after Vaughn won the overtime tip, AF barreled his way through traffic and powered home a layup to give Clyde’s a 65-63 lead. But Vaughn committed his fourth foul on the other end, and BG pulled within 65-64 on one FT. But again it was Freeman-Time, and Austin knifed through traffic again to give Clydes a 67-64 lead with 2:20 to go…and their final points of the game.
Blaguards pulled back within a point off a nice drive to the goal, 67-66 with 2:05 left. Vaughn for the fourth time on the night was stuffed on a layup for a jump ball, and the men-in-green (interesting because no Patriot League basketball team has green in their colors) took over. They took the lead 68-67 with an offensive rebound putback with 1:32 to play.
Jeff Green’s mojo seemed gone as he missed a three and BG boarded. Clyde’s reached in soon after but they were three fouls from the penalty. With :48 left BG missed and Clyde’s had the ball back.
What followed was a crazy play that I can’t even fully recall. Bobby Maze drove to the goal and missed, but Clyde’s retained out of bounds. Then what I THINK happened is—Freeman missed in close, Vaughn grabbed the offensive board but HE missed the putback, Freeman boarded Vaughn’s shot and cleared it to Green, Green missed a three pointer but Clyde’s other guard took the rebound, and then after twenty or seconds or so of that madness we got a Clyde’s timeout (then a Blaguard’s timeout…told you this guy didn’t realize it’s an exhibition) with 5.1 seconds to go.
Surely now there is a 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent chance that Jeff Green will get the ball and take the final shot.
Or, I mean, at least Austin Freeman.
Or, perhaps, Tennessee recruit Bobby Maze.
Hey, what once Top 100 prospect and former ACC big man Julian Vaughn?
Nope. It was the other guy. He dribbled baseline, was cut off under the basket, and tried to find a cutting (and open) Vaughn but chucked the ball of Julian’s foot as time expired on the game and Clyde’s summer campaign.
Golden Earring said it best:
