Xavier - Georgetown 1/31/19 Discussion

[DanMcQ]

Your 3rd place in the Big East Hoyas need to continue their roll by taking the rematch at home.

[mfk24]

A win here would be huge. Especially going into the Nova game. We’re certainly capable, just need to cut down on mistakes and turnovers.

[Ranch Dressing]

Downside is that we are only a solid 2-bid conference right now.

Upside is that any team that plays itself into solo 3rd place will make an argument.

[Ranch Dressing]

Jan 27, 2019 16:08:48 GMT -5 Ranch Dressing said:

Downside is that we are only a solid 2-bid conference right now.

Upside is that any team that plays itself into solo 3rd place will make an argument.

And Nova will be due for a loss after we crush Xavier.

[mapei]

I feel that, of our four conference losses, this is the only team that really dominated us. Can we overcome that on Thursday? Sure, but we will have to play really well.

[wponds]

Xavier is still going with the Jones-Hankins two big lineup. Hopefully we're able to learn from the last game and find a way to stop them in the paint and on the glass

[MassHoya]

If there is any value to the loss to Xavier, it sure is motivation to play better in this game. After today, the guys can have a little swagger. I hope there is a big, loud, obnoxious crowd on Thursday. GO HOYAS!!! Beat the Mouseketeers.

[FrazierFanatic]

Jan 27, 2019 16:10:57 GMT -5 mapei said:

I feel that, of our four conference losses, this is the only team that really dominated us. Can we overcome that on Thursday? Sure, but we will have to play really well.

We had a 17 point lead. They didn't dominate us, more that we fell apart. Time to play 40 focused minutes and get to .500.

[mdtd]

Focus, play hard, beat up on Xavier.
Also, something that I noticed was that after we beat a solid team, we play poorly/lose the next 2 games.
Beat Illinois, lost to LMU, played horribly against USF but edged out a win.
Beat a very solid Liberty team, lost to SMU and Syracuse.
Beat Butler, lost to Xavier and ST. John's.
Beat Providence, lost to Marquette and Creighton.
Break this trend and win 2 straight to be.500 in the conference.

[blueandgray]

Need to win 7 of our next 10 to be in the discussion and beat either quette and/or nova once.

[mdtd]

Jan 27, 2019 17:52:26 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Need to win 7 of our next 10 to be in the discussion and beat either quette and/or nova once.

The bubble will start weakening out. 6/10 would make it, assuming we get at least a third q1 win. A win at the BET would help, but 6/10 should make it, maybe even 5/10 and a BET win, assuming our rankings in the metrics rise. 

[mfk24]

Jan 27, 2019 18:31:10 GMT -5 mdtd said:

Jan 27, 2019 17:52:26 GMT -5 blueandgray said:

Need to win 7 of our next 10 to be in the discussion and beat either quette and/or nova once.

The bubble will start weakening out. 6/10 would make it, assuming we get at least a third q1 win. A win at the BET would help, but 6/10 should make it, maybe even 5/10 and a BET win, assuming our rankings in the metrics rise. 

Not sure exactly how many wins we need but the idea that the bubble will weaken is certainly true. A few weeks ago Indiana was a ranked team and a lock for the NCAA tournament. Now, they’re slumping hard and might play themselves onto the wrong side of the bubble. Same story with Texas. Have lost 2 in a row and have ranked Kansas and Iowa st. as their next two. The difference is they have more opportunities for huge wins. Nebraska will be without Copeland for the remainder of the year, and other teams like Oregon, and a bubble team like Alabama has lost 2 straight and also has an incredibly tough stretch coming up. We need to win games to even put ourselves in the conversation. That starts with a win against Xavier.

[bearsandbulls]

Winnable folks...Every game is winnable....We may want to except Nova and 'quette but I am not so sure....Winnable, as our young team matures and delivers what PE wants on the court....Remember, 9 point dogs going in at the Garden today.....Nice win..

[SirSaxa]

If this team cuts down on turnovers, the season will get a lot brighter.

[SaxaCD]

Jan 27, 2019 23:48:13 GMT -5 SirSaxa said:

If this team cuts down on turnovers, the season will get a lot brighter.

I just don't see this team becoming a fierce defensive team over night, so I agree, Sir, cutting the turnovers down is the best way to maximize our chances. The offense seems to roll along pretty well no matter the opponent. Rebound and take care of the ball!

[smokeyjack]

Agree that the key to this team maximizing potential involves valuing the ball. To me this addresses what I think are 3 of our top 6 issues. Valuing the ball means fewer TOs, better shot selection and role players like Greg and Trey staying in their lanes and not forcing things when they are on the floor. This doesn't mean you need to be timid. Look at a guy like Kaleb who is playing great by anyone's standards in limited minutes. He attacked multiple times yday, but they were the right kinds of attacks and not fadeaway jumpers (stop Trey, just stop), unbalanced, moving catch-and-chuck triples (Greg) 60-foot passes (Blair) or dribble-drives from guys with no handles (applause to Pickett for finally not making this mistake yday).

My other three issues with this team are Govan's inconsistent intensity. Actually going to disagree with MCI that yday was a great game; it was a classic great Finesse Jess/disinterested Jess game where he did many more good things than bad but could have been splendid if he just maintained his intensity throughout. JG is never going to be a good defensive player, but he can be solid if he's 100% focused. We are absolutely going to miss him next year, but he still takes way, way, way too many plays off for an all-conference player. This can be fixed but guys who are in the final two months of their senior seasons usually don't change their stripes.

Pat late game chaos. From inbounding into the corner into a double team, to his equally criminal misuse of TOs yday, to players making the same mistakes again and again and again to mystifying substitution patterns, Pat has been an unmitigated disaster as a late-game tactician, and yday was no different. We were as lucky as we were good yday. And, yeah, Mullin is worse, but is that supposed to make me feel better? Maybe the light goes on for Pat, maybe he grows, maybe he adds a bench coach who isn't a mute. But that has been a huge problem all season. Don't expect this to change appreciably this season. In fact, our best chance of addressing this issue could be for Mac and Akinjo to mature to the point that they can take over late. I think Pat does some things very well. And the guys play an aesthetically pleasing brand of hoops and are improving overall. But late-game coaching (not just players not finishing) needs serious work.

Defense. Nothing you can do to fix this when four of your five starters are an offense-first center who has always been indifferent at best on the defensive end of the floor, two freshmen guards, one of whom is very good on the ball but gets lost time and again in screening/cutting chaos and the other of whom is as poor on the defensive end to date as he is good on the offensive end (Mac) and an undersized freshman four who plays with huge heart but desperately needs 35 lbs and 18 mos in the weight room...and a center who he isn't constantly covering for playing beside him.

Loved what I saw out of 'Morko yesterday! Loved! But this team still isn't going to max out next year defensively or in W/L column without a real defensive big who can play. Yurt is a very good offensive player, but we desperately need a bigtime frontcourt recruit unless Ike has been as poorly evaluated as Mac.

[drquigley]

Absolutely agree, its all about turnovers. At one point in the second half we were up by 10 but had committed 17 turnovers! I try to keep track of turnovers during a game but usually lose track midway through the first half. One of these days we are going to commit less than 10 turnovers and find ourselves upsetting a very good team (Nova?)

[NCHoya]

Opportunity to climb our way back to .500 in the conference. I think a lot can be learned from the first time we played X, and since I believe Ewing is very good at game planning, I expect that prior experience to be a huge factor. Stopping Hankins from having another career game would be helpful and I think Govan will do just that - he has to be embarassed by his last time playing this guy.

We have the revenge factor, a home court and something to build off of from yesterday. No one should be feeling down after yesterday and Ewing has until Thursday to prepare his team. Consistency is very difficult for young teams, but a win here would show that they can put a couple of winning efforts together.

[guru]

Very nice win at MSG - should have swept the Johnnies this year, but not a bad split. The team continues to trend in a very positive direction.

From Haslametrics:

Georgetown has been playing some of its most efficient basketball of the season recently and is presently ranked 22nd in positive momentum. When playing on the road, Georgetown has played their best basketball this season. The team is currently ranked first in the country in the away-from-home metric our site tracks.

www.haslametrics.com/ratings2.php?yr=&tid=115

[augustusfinknottle]

Bench coach. Yes, yes, yes.