Joshua Smith Discussion

[FrazierFanatic]

The NCAA is treating this like an injury redshirt. Since he played in less than 25% of team's games he got a full extra year. We will never know the circumstances that led them to decide that way.

[TC]

Usually we've gotten screwed on NCAA arbitrary decisions. This time we came out way ahead. Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth though, this is awesome news.

[Deleted]

You guys can’t see it… but I’m dancing

Great news!!!!!!!

[DanMcQ]

www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102313aaa.html

[chep3]

Wow this is huge (literally). Would love a 25/15 minute platoon with him and Moses for the next two years. I don't know what motivated this ruling, and I get why it's raising some hackles, but I will absolutely take it. Was hoping for 3 semesters from him, but 4 is fantastic. Hopefully, he can put it together in the next two years and get himself in shape enough to make it to the next level.

[hoyainspirit]

Hopefully, this makes us much better offensively. Thank you, NCAA.

[HoyaFanNY]

great news. III has plenty of options at the 4/5 spots now. lots of size at both spots. i'm interested in seeing hopkins play a little more at the 4 backing up nate. i think he might be more comfortable there than at center.

[Elvado]

This ruling is most fascinating in what it silently says about the mess at UCLA.

That story would be good to read.

[AvantGuardHoya]

I'm speechless. But extremely happy!

The Hoyas could develop into a very interesting team by spring. The next two weeks can't go by fast enough!!

[lichoya68]

very very very interesting SOON in an arena near you STARTING IN SOUTH KOREA OH MY yes wowoow

[SFHoya99]

Oct 23, 2013 23:15:04 GMT -5 guru said:

As it benefits the Hoyas, I'm happy. But this is a really strange decision with the potential for huge long term ramifications, mostly negative ones, across all of college basketball.

How so? Are we going to see a rash of transfers six games in? The NCAA doesn't seem overly concerned with the public view of consistency anyway, but even if this became hard and fast precedent (and I've never seen anything go that way), there's an easy line to draw on the number of games.

I think people are also missing the high chance of extenuating circumstances. Howland fostered an abusive atmosphere at UCLA at minimum; some of that has been documented in the public press. I realize a lot of people think that getting pelted with basketballs and constant verbal abuse is something someone should man up and take, but in this day and age, it's not really acceptable. And it's certainly something the NCAA could grant a waiver on.

I'm not saying something happened to Josh that was drastic; I'm just saying that the Howland regime was out of control. And I'd sure as heck grant a waiver to a kid who didn't want to play in that atmosphere anymore. There's no way Howland represented himself truthfully when he recruited these guys.

[SFHoya99]

As for the effect on the team. Fantastic. A real, reliable low post game. We haven't had that for a while. Honestly, we haven't had an automatic double since Roy.

We've had good offenses recently, but they've been very dependent on perimeter shooting. All offenses are, but ours more than most. This creates something else to go to, opens up more open shots for Markel, DSr & Cameron and will create weakside offensive rebounder opportunities.

[FrazierFanatic]

Oct 23, 2013 23:27:24 GMT -5 @yaboynyp said:

You guys can’t see it… but I’m dancing

Great news!!!!!!!

Thank goodness for small blessings!

[guru]

Oct 24, 2013 8:36:32 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Oct 23, 2013 23:15:04 GMT -5 guru said:

As it benefits the Hoyas, I'm happy. But this is a really strange decision with the potential for huge long term ramifications, mostly negative ones, across all of college basketball.

How so? Are we going to see a rash of transfers six games in? The NCAA doesn't seem overly concerned with the public view of consistency anyway, but even if this became hard and fast precedent (and I've never seen anything go that way), there's an easy line to draw on the number of games.

I think people are also missing the high chance of extenuating circumstances. Howland fostered an abusive atmosphere at UCLA at minimum; some of that has been documented in the public press. I realize a lot of people think that getting pelted with basketballs and constant verbal abuse is something someone should man up and take, but in this day and age, it's not really acceptable. And it's certainly something the NCAA could grant a waiver on.

I'm not saying something happened to Josh that was drastic; I'm just saying that the Howland regime was out of control. And I'd sure as heck grant a waiver to a kid who didn't want to play in that atmosphere anymore. There's no way Howland represented himself truthfully when he recruited these guys.

Obviously, it opens the door for first semester transfers to expect to regain that semester of eligibility at their new school. That's all I'm saying. There are a lot of bad coaches and programs out there - and the NCAA didn't improve the situation by apparently telling some reporters that Josh's weight problems played into it. There are exceptions for being fat now? It makes very little sense - the only saving grace is that the NCAA has historically not cared about conflicting decisions. What a circus.

[jester]

At least I now have higher hopes of a decent NCAA seed...and who knows if we get past (now) round 2, but if Greg was healthy with this roster I would be drooling more and my head might explode if we didn't accomplish that. Good news for team though, let's hope they take advantage early and set themselves up for the rest of the year.

[Jack]

Oct 24, 2013 8:37:57 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

As for the effect on the team. Fantastic. A real, reliable low post game. We haven't had that for a while. Honestly, we haven't had an automatic double since Roy.

I realize they are different types of player, and I admit I don't remember anything about Smith's game from whatever I saw of UCLA the past few years, but is he that much better a low post threat than Greg Monroe that we have to skip back to Roy to find a comparison? If so, that is both exciting and surprising.

[professorhoya]

Oct 24, 2013 8:36:32 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Oct 23, 2013 23:15:04 GMT -5 guru said:

As it benefits the Hoyas, I'm happy. But this is a really strange decision with the potential for huge long term ramifications, mostly negative ones, across all of college basketball.

How so? Are we going to see a rash of transfers six games in? The NCAA doesn't seem overly concerned with the public view of consistency anyway, but even if this became hard and fast precedent (and I've never seen anything go that way), there's an easy line to draw on the number of games.

I think people are also missing the high chance of extenuating circumstances. Howland fostered an abusive atmosphere at UCLA at minimum; some of that has been documented in the public press. I realize a lot of people think that getting pelted with basketballs and constant verbal abuse is something someone should man up and take, but in this day and age, it's not really acceptable. And it's certainly something the NCAA could grant a waiver on.

I'm not saying something happened to Josh that was drastic; I'm just saying that the Howland regime was out of control. And I'd sure as heck grant a waiver to a kid who didn't want to play in that atmosphere anymore. There's no way Howland represented himself truthfully when he recruited these guys.

This does bring up an interesting point though. Say the NCAA had rejected both of our requests. Then Josh would have two semesters of eligibility. Would it have been possible for him to sit out the fall semester in 2013 and the fall semester in 2014 and play in the spring of 2014 and spring of 2015 for two seasons?

And I'd also like to point out that Josh sat out the Spring semester of 2013 (and summer technically) so he didn't get an immediate waiver like alot of writers seems to be saying.

[professorhoya]

This is huge news since we lost out on the last center prospect, Elbert Robinson to LSU for 2014-2015. This takes care of the center problem for that year assuming that Josh will stay for us for two years. It's like getting an extra recruit for the 2014-2015 season.

[SFHoya99]

Oct 24, 2013 10:50:53 GMT -5 Jack said:

Oct 24, 2013 8:37:57 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

As for the effect on the team. Fantastic. A real, reliable low post game. We haven't had that for a while. Honestly, we haven't had an automatic double since Roy.

I realize they are different types of player, and I admit I don't remember anything about Smith's game from whatever I saw of UCLA the past few years, but is he that much better a low post threat than Greg Monroe that we have to skip back to Roy to find a comparison? If so, that is both exciting and surprising.

I think so. I don't mean Smith is the best frontcourt player we've had since Roy; I mean specifically he's the best player we've had in the low post on offense.

Monroe was a very talented player while at Georgetown, but he never converted overly well in the low post. He could get open shots, but he didn't make Roy-esque percentages. While I don't have the numbers, I think Greg was pretty close to 50% on close-in post ups while guarded one on one.

The result of that is that once the smart coaches figured that out, they really never double-teamed Greg in the low post. He would punish that lack of respect with automatic scores, so coaches never had to adjust. The result was less backdoor cuts, less weakside offensive boards off the double team player, less wide open threes. Greg was still a great player, especially by the end of his sophomore year, but he never shot all that well -- and as a result, created a lot less double-teams to play off.

If Smith is like Freshman Smith, he's much more like Mike Sweetney than anyone else we've seen at GU. Very smooth hands and a nice touch. Strong quickness in small bursts on offense -- he's light on his feet when he's not reacting. I don't think people will be able to single-team him in the low block. And who do you double off? Not Markel. DSR? Cameron? Smith is a good passer and our system will stress hitting the cutters and open man.

And his offensive rebounding. Wow. I don't know who is going to D Rebound on this team (Moses?), but Freshman Smith was in DeJuan Blair space -- 20%. I don't know if he'll be like that in our system (got to get back on D, playing more on the perimeter), but there's so much value in that extra shot.

[DanMcQ]

m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=collegebasketballnation&id=89408