VelvetElvis
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
pka MrPathetic
Posts: 934
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Post by VelvetElvis on Dec 30, 2008 8:25:49 GMT -5
I was listening to the post-game report while driving out of Hartford last night and they interviewed one of the asst. coaches (Patrick Sellers). His interview seemed to say UCONN lost this game by playing "half-speed". I couldn't believe that he wasn't giving GU any credit. Later on in the interview, he admitted that Thabeet got Confused and EMBARRASSED and went into a shell as a result of Mr. Monroe's offensive prowess. If anyone is interested in hearing the interview along with a pretty good A.J. Price interview, here is the link: www.wtic.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3262666the Sellers interview is about halfway through the recording and the A.J. Price immediately follows.
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Post by hoyadestroya on Dec 30, 2008 8:33:07 GMT -5
Just watched Calhoun's post game conference. His response was great, I love the humble pie! This first game goes to show it'll be a long season for everyone in the conference. I just hope we JTIII-peat as the champs and enjoy Monroe's time with this team. My Cuse friends took note last night and aren't happy having to play us twice. Can't wait now for the Panthers!
Oh, and did anyone see Steven A. Smith talk this morning about he'd only ever consider playing for Gtown or UNC ? Not sure if from him its a compliment but I'll take the love.
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OldHoyafan
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,387
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Post by OldHoyafan on Dec 30, 2008 9:39:20 GMT -5
"I hated our body language early, saw some brief spurts, then detested it the last eight minutes," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "I'm in a state of shock, I really am. To have a home game in the conference opener against a rival like Georgetown and not be excited -- there was no reason not to be excited. I don't know what team I was coaching tonight."scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=283640041This is the second time this has happened against a name opponent this season--Maryland being the other example. The Terps and Huskies have similar "emotional problems" on the court I would argue, and certainly Calhoun gets at this and is referring to his own team's effort. Question: How much of it is what we're doing to these teams? I was thinking the same thing. Check out this quote from Fox sports: "Georgetown did what it has done over the past few years: they defended, played together and rarely took ill-advised shots. The personnel may change, but the system and demeanor remains the same. "They are very solid on both ends of the floor," UConn senior point guard A.J. Price said. "They never seem to get rattled. When you look at the tape, you can't ever tell if they're up 10 or down 10 and that showed tonight." I remember the Alabama players saying the same thing last year. JT3's system on offense and defense gets into the opposing players head. Teams like UConn, Memphis, Tennessee, etc have players who play best when they just play by instinct. The Hoyas offense makes you have to go against your instincts on offense and defense. On offense the instinct is to go at player dribbling towards you to help your teammate stop him, but that is exactly what the Hoyas want you to do for the backdoor cut. On defense the instinct is to drive the lane after beating your man off the dribble or via a pick but the Hoyas switching help defense just means another player is in front of you, so you have to be thinking of where you want to pass the ball, ala back to the only open man the teammate behind you. Thats a lot to think about during the game which causes players to look slower and confused, ala Thabeet.
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DanMcQ
Moderator
Posts: 31,978
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Post by DanMcQ on Dec 30, 2008 9:40:55 GMT -5
Do not forget the head coach in all of this. It is astounding how lucky we are to have him.
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MacHoya
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 149
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Post by MacHoya on Dec 30, 2008 9:55:01 GMT -5
"I hated our body language early, saw some brief spurts, then detested it the last eight minutes," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "I'm in a state of shock, I really am. To have a home game in the conference opener against a rival like Georgetown and not be excited -- there was no reason not to be excited. I don't know what team I was coaching tonight."scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=283640041This is the second time this has happened against a name opponent this season--Maryland being the other example. The Terps and Huskies have similar "emotional problems" on the court I would argue, and certainly Calhoun gets at this and is referring to his own team's effort. Question: How much of it is what we're doing to these teams? I was thinking the same thing. Check out this quote from Fox sports: "Georgetown did what it has done over the past few years: they defended, played together and rarely took ill-advised shots. The personnel may change, but the system and demeanor remains the same. "They are very solid on both ends of the floor," UConn senior point guard A.J. Price said. "They never seem to get rattled. When you look at the tape, you can't ever tell if they're up 10 or down 10 and that showed tonight." I remember the Alabama players saying the same thing last year. JT3's system on offense and defense gets into the opposing players head. Teams like UConn, Memphis, Tennessee, etc have players who play best when they just play by instinct. The Hoyas offense makes you have to go against your instincts on offense and defense. On offense the instinct is to go at player dribbling towards you to help your teammate stop him, but that is exactly what the Hoyas want you to do for the backdoor cut. On defense the instinct is to drive the lane after beating your man off the dribble or via a pick but the Hoyas switching help defense just means another player is in front of you, so you have to be thinking of where you want to pass the ball, ala back to the only open man the teammate behind you. Thats a lot to think about during the game which causes players to look slower and confused, ala Thabeet. Great insight - I really enjoyed this post. It is hard to appear to be playing with heart and energy when you are constantly frustrated and taken out of your instinctual way of playing the game! I personally believe that the Hoya's had a huge hand in making the Huskies and Terps look flat.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 17,899
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 30, 2008 11:28:19 GMT -5
Yep, Oldhoya, I remember Richard Hendrix just gushing about how our team was simply so confident we were going to execute and win. Huge compliment.
I know people sometimes decry the lack of apparent fire (though that won't be an issue with this team as much), but I'll take poise anyday.
On the fire side, there's a point in the second half where Austin and Chris were openly trying to fire everyone up -- not to show up the opponent but to get everyone's juices flowing again.
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Dec 30, 2008 11:36:20 GMT -5
Yep, Oldhoya, I remember Richard Hendrix just gushing about how our team was simply so confident we were going to execute and win. Huge compliment. I know people sometimes decry the lack of apparent fire (though that won't be an issue with this team as much), but I'll take poise anyday. On the fire side, there's a point in the second half where Austin and Chris were openly trying to fire everyone up -- not to show up the opponent but to get everyone's juices flowing again. I noticed that same leadership from Wright/Freeman. If Wallace brought "poise" over the past 4 years in keeping us to our stuff in the half court, it is just as important for this year's group to maintain energy/fire to sustain our approach on both sides of the floor.
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Hoya50
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 805
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Post by Hoya50 on Dec 30, 2008 12:08:54 GMT -5
i don't think i've ever seen a uconn team quit like that team did last night. it just seemed that uconn was listless the last 6 minutes of the game exemplified by the walker turnover and uncontested layup by wright with about 3 minutes to go. it was really something to behold.
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Post by youngjeezy on Dec 30, 2008 12:28:28 GMT -5
off the top of my head... was this jt3's best coached game (or maybe regular season game) as a hoya coach? the greg offense/defense subbing was a game-saver... and notice that during that time, we drove to the hoop almost every time (so we could draw fouls and sub him out).
couldn't be happier with the entire game. BRING ON PITT.
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Dec 30, 2008 12:50:22 GMT -5
This game reminds me of the Clay-Liston fight, the first one where Liston is the Giant to be slayed, and Clay just jabbed him and jabbed him and jabbed him. Eventually, Liston quit and didn't answer the bell for the seventh round. That was Uconn last night. Once they realized that they couldn't intimidate us, couldn't out-athlete us, couldn't even outrebound us, they quit and stopped playing. It was really an amazing thing to see.
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idhoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,177
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Post by idhoya on Dec 30, 2008 13:08:27 GMT -5
That '04 Pitt game was huge because you really didn't know what to expect. Talent wasn't great either. BB, SoCal and DJ were solid, but not spectacular players at the time. It was III's first year too. People were still saying you couldn't run that princeton shiggidy at G'town. I remember ron calling me and saying Hoyas had won. I was both excited and surprised.
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HoyaSC
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 514
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Post by HoyaSC on Dec 30, 2008 13:17:40 GMT -5
On the "toughness" of this year's team.... perhaps this comes from Sapp? He's the senior, he's probably setting the tone in practice, the younger players would definitely be looking at him for leadership. I love the intangibles Sapp brings to this team.
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,079
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Post by sleepy on Dec 30, 2008 13:23:24 GMT -5
On the "toughness" of this year's team.... perhaps this comes from Sapp? He's the senior, he's probably setting the tone in practice, the younger players would definitely be looking at him for leadership. I love the intangibles Sapp brings to this team. He definitly brings that, but I also think Chris Wright's fearlessness that many think hamper his decision making at times, really adds to it. That along with Dajuans new maturity and leadership skills also add another dimension to our "toughness".
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FOTP
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,435
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Post by FOTP on Dec 30, 2008 13:27:08 GMT -5
I really think one of the keys this year is Wright. he is a real PG who helps us break the press and get us into the offense quickly.
Sapp is a nice ballhandler, but not a primary PG. I love him, but he just isn't a PG. Wallace wasn't a great dribbler either and was more of a small 2 guard. Again, no knock at all. They were great.
Wright just changes the entire dynamic. Harder to press us and he beats teams that overplay. Huge difference.
He is still "game young" so he'll make the bad play on the fast break, but more than worth it. Plus, the kid has major onions. I actually feel like we have 5 guys who would love to shoot the last shot in a game. No team has that. They all talk a good game, but at the end they don't want the ball.
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Dec 30, 2008 13:32:47 GMT -5
Last night, Chris made that press obselete. People were asking, in fact, why UCONN didn't press more. They pressed all game. Chris just broke it with ease. He'll do the same against the Louisville's and Marquette's of the world.
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,079
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Post by sleepy on Dec 30, 2008 13:39:24 GMT -5
Uconn tried pressing with Chris in the game, but realized they couldn't so stoped. You saw though whenever he exited the game they would put the press back on. He makes it really tough for teams to press us, with not only his dribbleing, but his passing, AND the ability to break a trap through the middle. He has gotten caught on the sideline a few times this year, but has been able to use is strength to break through them and pass out. Now, if only he could teach Jesse that move...
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EasyEd
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 7,272
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Post by EasyEd on Dec 30, 2008 13:49:38 GMT -5
I'm kinda late posting but I thought this game represents the maximum this team is capable of playing. It was an almost perfect game or at least as perfect as you can expect over 40 minutes of play. In this one game a team soundly defeated an array of extremely good players who did not play as a team. Discipline and talent over talent alone. And, wow, what free throw shooting.
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Hoya06
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 406
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Post by Hoya06 on Dec 30, 2008 14:26:06 GMT -5
Why does ANYONE play man defense against us?
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Post by guhoyasfan36 on Dec 30, 2008 14:41:40 GMT -5
Did have a chance to sift through the post yet, but I'm sure I'm as excited as everyone else is as to the results of the game. This team has the heart and effort to do whatever they want this year. Greg Monroe is The Show, what he brought to the game last night was awesome. While thabeet got his blocks monroe owned him everywhere else. Wright is unbelievable the way he can push tempo, drive the hoop, and hit the J. This is the guy any team would want at point, I think he would shut lawson down. Summers was hit and miss with the J but brought everything else that we needed. The put back slam was an exclamation to an awesome game. The sky's the limit with this team. If the bench keeps improving this look good in march!!!!
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SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 747
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Post by SirSaxa on Dec 30, 2008 15:02:08 GMT -5
Do not forget the head coach in all of this. It is astounding how lucky we are to have him. JT3 is the key to everything. We will always have good, solid teams as long as he is here. POISE is his # 1 characteristic..... his own, and it carries through to the team. I love everyone on our team, but most of all I love the Head Coach!
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