BET Semis 3/14/15: Georgetown - Xavier Discussion

[RockawayHoya]

Game turned when Jabril finally decided enough was enough and got his team fired up by refusing to back down to a bully. The others responded. Cope benefitted when Reynolds went to the bench, and by the time he got back, it was too late to shut Cope down.

The press was a tremendous adjustment. I was Editeded when we just let St. John's run 30 seconds off the clock every possession in the 2nd half comfortably 2 weeks ago. We need to do anything we can to speed up the game when we get behind like that. The press didn't force direct turnovers, but it clearly rattled Xavier and threw their offense out of sync.

Needed this result, even if it wasn't a win. Teaching point especially to the young guys that the game is never over and to continue competing even if things aren't going your way.

[Highsmith]

Mar 13, 2015 23:25:30 GMT -5 hoyainla said:

So was it the tech or the press that was the difference?

The tech lit the fire and the press kept it burning. Plus shots started falling.....that always helps. I sill stand by my comment during the bad stretch that we need to shoot jumpers like crazy til the next game. Just making a few would have stopped the bleeding. Hopefully Copeland and even White got the cobwebs out.....if they could make a few jumpers along with DSR, Tre and Jabril? Things could get interesting!

[SFHoya99]

Mar 13, 2015 23:24:31 GMT -5 justsaying said:

the last two games late we are down and then we start attacking out of desperation and then we start clicking; that it's what it takes in tourney ball. attacking from the start as if there is two minutes left and you are down. the whole game play as if you are desperate for points

We attacked all game.

We made shots in the last eight minutes.

[hoyainspirit]

Mar 13, 2015 23:19:03 GMT -5 HometownHoya said:

Take the last 8 minutes, stretch it over 40 and do it 6 more times.

Best stretch of ball we've played in a while. Too bad it came so late, but we feel dangerous again.

[KHoyaNYC]

After we stopped taking wild, desperate looking shots, we became a cohesive offensive unit again. What a difference. It was a befuddling 13 min stretch of stink in the second half but we played a fine final 7 mins. First half was completely fine on offense we just missed shots after a good start. Oh, we also figured out the Stainbrook puzzle in the second half by keeping our hands up and forcing him baseline. Finally! Too bad all of this didn't result in a win but at least we made it a close winnable game.

[hoyatables]

Credit to Hop for some really solid defense on Stainbrook during the rally.

[Deleted]

I appreciate the sentiment that the guys "didn't give up" at the end. Problem is, we got the "giving up" taken care of in the middle 20 minutes of the game. The last 8 minutes were certainly fun to watch, but don't do much to erase the other 112 minutes we played against Xavier this year. Okay, maybe 104 or so - I like the 19-11 lead that we took in the first 8 minutes tonight.

I posted about this about a month ago, and I'm disappointed that it still holds true: this team has an uncanny ability to go completely stagnant for 10-12-15 minutes at a time. It happened multiple times against X, @ Villanova, and we even gave up a 20 point lead at Seton Hall before righting the ship and blowing them out. I was hopeful that we had put it behind us, but the middle 20 minutes of the game tonight might have been our worst 20 minutes of the year. We needed the halftime break to regroup, get our bearings, make some adjustments, and make a run. Instead, we came out of the locker room exactly the same way we went in, and X got a lead that was just big enough. And let's not kid ourselves: if they had made even a couple of free throws between the 5:00 and 1:00 marks, the margin probably would've stayed around 6 or 7 at least, and there would be a lot less talk about what a great "comeback" we had.

I also really wanted this one for he sake of the conference. The ACC moved its final to Saturday night, so we're now competing with them. They didn't get the UVA-Duke or UNC-Duke matchup that would have attracted every casual basketball fan's attention tomorrow night. They got UNC-ND. If the Big East were countering with Georgetown-Villanova, the Garden would have been rocking, and we might have gotten some people to sit up and notice the Big East on a big night in the sport. Instead, Villanova-Xavier will attract exactly zero attention outside of Philadelphia and Cincinnati.

[tashoya]

Mar 13, 2015 23:23:41 GMT -5 HometownHoya said:

Anyone that was criticizing the team in the middle of the game, now's your chance. Let's hear your arguments! Now's the time for discussion.

The crickets are deafening.

[mfk24]

Mar 13, 2015 23:24:31 GMT -5 justsaying said:

the last two games late we are down and then we start attacking out of desperation and then we start clicking; that it's what it takes in tourney ball. attacking from the start as if there is two minutes left and you are down. the whole game play as if you are desperate for points

The thing is, I really don't think this is true at all. Maybe going into the press a litte earlier, more agressive on defense despite having some foul trouble, but really the difference was made shots. Ike started hitting shots. Trawick hit a big 3. White hit a big 3. We were missing those shots all game. I think III did make an adjustment and moved DSR off the ball. Maybe he could've tried it earlier, who knows whether it would've made a difference. WE got spotted 3 points and the ball after the Tech, Ike hit the FT jumper and we started to get a little confidence going.

[bmartin]

Four things happened:
Xavier tightened up.
Copeland and White finally dialed up the intensity to postseason level.
We finally hit a few of the threes they were giving us.
That made them extend farther out and left openings in the zone for Copeland.

The key take-away here is that if Copeland and White are now ready to match the intensity of DSR, Trawick, and Hopkins, we could make a run in the tournament.

[SFHoya99]

Mar 13, 2015 23:28:53 GMT -5 RockawayHoya said:

Game turned when Jabril finally decided enough was enough and got his team fired up by refusing to back down to a bully. The others responded. Cope benefitted when Reynolds went to the bench, and by the time he got back, it was too late to shut Cope down.

The press was a tremendous adjustment. I was Editeded when we just let St. John's run 30 seconds off the clock every possession in the 2nd half comfortably 2 weeks ago. We need to do anything we can to speed up the game when we get behind like that. The press didn't force direct turnovers, but it clearly rattled Xavier and threw their offense out of sync.

Needed this result, even if it wasn't a win. Teaching point especially to the young guys that the game is never over and to continue competing even if things aren't going your way.

The game turned when Ike hit a bunch of jumpers and they missed 5 FTs. The tech helped, but it wasn't like our guys weren't fighting and trying hard before.

[Massholya]

Peak's play really troubling of late. No outside shot. Missing his lay ups and awful at the line. He's got to be able to make people pay at the line if he's gonna keep taking those drives.

[WVHoyasfan]

I am gagged!! They got out played out hustled and out coached until the tech.Its sad that the players have to rely on themselves to fire themselves up b/c the coach doesn't know how to do it come tourney time.Its like watching the movie ground hog day every year at this time.You know its coming but just don't want to believe it.

[swhoya]

DSR hit a few shots he normally does, or that lob pass was just a little lower...and who knows.

Then again, if they didn't miss a mess of FTs...

But gotta be proud that they fought back when most of us felt like turning off the TV.

[sleepy]

Mar 13, 2015 23:27:27 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Here's what just happened, and amazingly it can all be explained without discussion of effort, #want, bad coaching, etc. In fact, I wager if you took every possession and removed whether the shot went in, it'd be hard to tell which one was from which part of the game.

• We start off dominating behind a very active and effective Josh Smith. I didn't think he could do it. He did.
• After that, we miss every single open shot we take. Open threes, yes, but also several layups by people not named Josh. It's clear to Xavier that both Trawick and DSR are off early. They collapse their zone on Smith (who also goes out with foul trouble). We get plenty of open shots. We miss basically all of them, even our All BE POY. Trawick tries to force it, but know he can't hit from outside, so he's easy pickings.
• On the other side of the ball, Stainbrook and their outside shooters make their shots. This isn't luck -- all credit to them, but they aren't better shots than what we were getting. But they sink them. The early effectiveness from three keeps us from helping down in Stianbrook, who is sinking tough shots left and right.
• This basically continues until after there are less than 10 minutes left.
• Suddenly, we start making shots. And just like that, things open up. Because it's a lot harder to defend when you have to defend past the circle.
• On the other side of the ball, they begin to help us, not only with the tech but with missing a bunch of FTs. Which only seems fair because some of those calls were really ticky tack.
• At the end of the game, if we had executed on the wide open DSR three or the alley oop, I think we end up winning. After missing a bunch of FTs, they finally start making all of them. We come up just short, even with a bad game from DSR.

Streaky shooting teams like us do this. Any team is easy to defend when you don't have to defend the perimeter. And we're hard to defend when we make shots. It's not rocket science and there's no need to dig into people's character.

If there was a coaching mistake to my mind it was probably too much time with teams that had no chance of scoring, but I understand the thought -- when you can't make a shot try to generate turnovers. I just disagree.

This team will go entirely on shooting. It doesn't get a ton of great shots, like some of our teams, but it gets enough to be a Sweet Sixteen team. We just miss too many open shots and we really don't make a lot of difficult shots (DSR excluded). When you make 'em, the whole offense opens up. When you don't, people stop defending whole parts of the court.

I agree with most of this except our first half shooting wasn't just caused by missing open shots. We were taking bad shots, even though they were open. They were rushed, they were taken without making the defense move, and they were taken without having anyone even around to possibly rebound. I think this team is a good shooting team when they move the ball and take smart shots. The problem is, they really haven't figured it out offensively and it looks like they won't this year. The first half and the first half of the second half they just were doing a terrible job moving the defense and getting the right guys in the right places to score. The reason more shots were falling in the second half vs the first half was the type of shot guys were getting because the defense actually had to move to guard them.

But other than that, I agree with you.

[mannyalexander]

Really positive last 6 minutes for sure, particularly for Copeland.

Hopefully they can build on this all this week and ride it to a first round victory come Thursday/Friday. In particular, I'd love to see that "comeback" version of Copeland that was there tonight for those last 6 minutes present for a full 25 minutes in our next game. I think it can be done but it's a matter of him pushing to exert his presence while on the floor and a matter of JTIII drawing up/creating opportunities for him to do it. An active mid-range game from him would do wonders in opening things on the perimeter for DSR and in the post for Josh.

[hoyasaxa2003]

It's a disappointing loss, but I am really proud of our comeback. People always say we aren't built to make comebacks. Sure, it wasn't enough tonight but unlike many of our fans here, the team didn't give up. I realize it totally stinks to lose, but you have to believe that this is good for the team in some ways. It's certainly better than a 20 minute loss.

I, for one, am still optimistic about our NCAA chances.

[DanMcQ]

In the arena, the tenor of the team and the game changed markedly when Reynolds shoved Jabril from behind. Made shots makes everything better, but things suddenly clicked for Copeland and White on the offensive end. This game could have been an incredible negative but turned into a dress rehearsal for NCAA game conditions. The white to Copeland lob that missed would have brought the house down and likely led to a win. Called play - pass just a hair high. Right in front of us and. Wide open. I loved that they tried it. Again speaks to confidence.

[HometownHoya]

Mar 13, 2015 23:34:51 GMT -5 WVHoyasfan said:

I am gagged!! They got out played out hustled and out coached until the tech.Its sad that the players have to rely on themselves to fire themselves up b/c the coach doesn't know how to do it come tourney time.Its like watching the movie ground hog day every year at this time.You know its coming but just don't want to believe it.

Does being fired up make you hit shots? Didn't realize this is NBA jam.

We have a very even keeled coach, which leads to a very even keeled team.

Did you even see Mack vs JTIII near the end? One was practically sh*ting himself, which one was that?

It may not be what everyone wants and is looking for but that is his style.

[SFHoya99]

Mar 13, 2015 23:33:33 GMT -5 bmartin said:

Four things happened:
Xavier tightened up.
Copeland and White finally dialed up the intensity to postseason level.
We finally hit a few of the threes they were giving us.
That made them extend farther out and left openings in the zone for Copeland.

The key take-away here is that if Copeland and White are now ready to match the intensity of DSR, Trawick, and Hopkins, we could make a run in the tournament.

If by intensity, you mean "executed better" I'm with you.

I didn't see effort dive. I saw shots miss.