KHoyaNYC
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,900
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Post by KHoyaNYC on Mar 20, 2021 17:59:33 GMT -5
The loss is infuriating because we lost being soft and succumbed to the same problems that have historically plagued our team - no 3-pt defense, poor offensive shot selection, and allowing a marginal player to have a career game against us. I still think Ewing did a helluva job turning this ship around post-COVID and is deserving of another year, but we have to continue to show progress and improvement and not regress back to what we saw today.
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iowa80
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,402
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Post by iowa80 on Mar 20, 2021 19:02:10 GMT -5
In the nobody asked me file:
The team played very poorly today. There should be no excuses (e.g hot shooting by the Buffs) since the usual issues resurfaced.
There are villains and heroes--no names named--and anyone who watched knows. But these guys got us there. Hold your heads high, Hoyas.
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dense
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 5,014
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Post by dense on Mar 20, 2021 19:09:35 GMT -5
The problems on defense were what they were but the problems on O were bigger because this team has no one who can break their man down and get into the lane. Colorado's defense the way they play, thats the only way to make them pay.
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saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,898
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Post by saxagael on Mar 20, 2021 19:22:13 GMT -5
Travel and rest day tomorrow. Monday is gym day. I was suprised Thursday how many D1 players were back home in DC area in the gym getting runs and work in. I hope we open the Thompson center to any DC players that want to improve over the summer (post COVID vaccine ofcourse). There are so many NCAA rules around who can work out on campus is they are above 7th grade and not signed a letter of intent. Most universities invest in their athlete's training rooms and they protect it to make sure it stays in top condition and when it isn't after 5 to 10 years it moves to the student work out centers. Then there is liability, insurance isn't cheap but more problematic is a kid getting injured in their facility. But, a lot of school run camps for pre-high school and others for those in high school. Some high school are invite only, some more open, and some are a mix. That said many of the travel teams in the DC area have access to fairly good training facilities through schools their work out in. The crazy one is Team Durant that uses the St. James in Alexandria and that place is just nuts. Most of the private school games have been played there as they are cleaning between games by staff. The place is immaculate, massive, and stacked with top end equipment. But, most programs don't have that money to provide that, but many have access to something that is decent / workable. The big thing also people trained and certified trainers. One of the things the DMV has is an abundance of former D1 and pro players from this area. Most want to be in coaching and training. Many become certified trainers and open training centers in old warehouse space and put in a half court or full court and training equipment. The rent on these places is relatively cheap, the liability insurance is their highest expense. There are quite a few former D1 players who stayed at their colleges and were assistant coaches and when head coach changes they are at the end of that rope and come back to the DMV and open shop or work in with others at their locations. Over the years have had long conversations with these guys and their road map and it is to get back to coaching at a private high school or even public high school. With all the former players around DC and DMV they are donating money to improve the equipment around DC rec centers and PG County too. They aren't the St. James, but have good courts and workout areas with good equipment. It could be a ton better, but it is improving. None of the Universities have opened their player's facilities to players outside the school. Maryland's facilities are amazing. Part of the pitch is to incoming players that they have their own work out area that has top level equipment, well maintained and is just for the team or the schools players. It is a regular part of the pitch that schools repeat in pitches to prospective players. For Georgetown this is big as they had horrible facilities prior to the Thompson center and reecruiting with poor facilities is really difficult. There are quite a few players who JTIII was trying to recruit who listed the facilities as their main reason they didn't come to Georgetown.
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saxagael
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,898
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Post by saxagael on Mar 20, 2021 20:06:05 GMT -5
I hope we open the Thompson center to any DC players that want to improve over the summer (post COVID vaccine ofcourse). There are so many NCAA rules around who can work out on campus is they are above 7th grade and not signed a letter of intent. Most universities invest in their athlete's training rooms and they protect it to make sure it stays in top condition and when it isn't after 5 to 10 years it moves to the student work out centers. Then there is liability, insurance isn't cheap but more problematic is a kid getting injured in their facility. But, a lot of school run camps for pre-high school and others for those in high school. Some high school are invite only, some more open, and some are a mix. That said many of the travel teams in the DC area have access to fairly good training facilities through schools their work out in. The crazy one is Team Durant that uses the St. James in Alexandria and that place is just nuts. Most of the private school games have been played there as they are cleaning between games by staff. The place is immaculate, massive, and stacked with top end equipment. But, most programs don't have that money to provide that, but many have access to something that is decent / workable. The big thing also people trained and certified trainers. One of the things the DMV has is an abundance of former D1 and pro players from this area. Most want to be in coaching and training. Many become certified trainers and open training centers in old warehouse space and put in a half court or full court and training equipment. The rent on these places is relatively cheap, the liability insurance is their highest expense. There are quite a few former D1 players who stayed at their colleges and were assistant coaches and when head coach changes they are at the end of that rope and come back to the DMV and open shop or work in with others at their locations. Over the years have had long conversations with these guys and their road map and it is to get back to coaching at a private high school or even public high school. With all the former players around DC and DMV they are donating money to improve the equipment around DC rec centers and PG County too. They aren't the St. James, but have good courts and workout areas with good equipment. It could be a ton better, but it is improving. None of the Universities have opened their player's facilities to players outside the school. Maryland's facilities are amazing. Part of the pitch is to incoming players that they have their own work out area that has top level equipment, well maintained and is just for the team or the schools players. It is a regular part of the pitch that schools repeat in pitches to prospective players. For Georgetown this is big as they had horrible facilities prior to the Thompson center and reecruiting with poor facilities is really difficult. There are quite a few players who JTIII was trying to recruit who listed the facilities as their main reason they didn't come to Georgetown. A lot of the D1 players home and doing school remotely are getting runs in at school gyms where they know the coaches or rec centers after hours. It is who they know and who has keys. Most are taking precautions to ensure the court is clean, ball is clean, and ensure masks are worn off court.
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Post by Problem of Dog on Mar 20, 2021 21:14:32 GMT -5
You are not winning games when your opponent shoots 16/25 from three. That’s a high percentage in a game of horse. We could have defended better, but they made them. Chicken and egg. Kind of felt like the Ohio game in 2010. At the same time we gave them a TON of open looks. Hedged way too hard and got lost on screens. And the offense was just pathetic. No semblance of a plan and no players who can create on their own to make up for that. Also re: a couple of other posts; 1) that was absolutely a flagrant two if it were on any kid who wasn't 4/4 from 3 in the previous 10 minutes 2) if we're actually going to win games moving forward, kids like Berger would be well served to try and find an Ivy or Patriot league school that will take them and where they will play
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bamahoya11
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,831
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Post by bamahoya11 on Mar 20, 2021 22:48:01 GMT -5
What a tough game. I deliberately avoided writing any thoughts after the game. Following a couple hours of screaming at my television, I decided to get outside and take advantage of a beautiful Alabama day.
Nothing went right today. The team looked both tired and unprepared. Colorado put on a clinic in how to move the basketball and make shots. Honestly, I think we would have lost this game no matter how well we played. Colorado was the better team, and they were clearly focused and well-prepared. Even so, it was frustrating that we could not do more to keep the game close. It basically was the inverse of the Creighton game. They made all their shots, we couldn’t make one, and it went downhill from there.
Today also showed, for all our talk about being “back,” how far we still have to go. My hope is that young players like Dante will grow from today and get better. They now may have a better understanding of what it takes to succeed on the big stage. As a fan, though, today was just brutal. It felt like I will never be able to enjoy the NCAA Tournament. Whatever the circumstance, it just always feels like Georgetown is unprepared.
I do want to say, though, that today shouldn’t take away from what this team did. Just making it onto the court required incredible sacrifices in the midst of a global pandemic. All of these players deserve applause for persevering and playing these games. Not only that, they over-achieved. They were supposed to finish last in the league but were competitive all season. Then, they went out and won a tournament championship. They brought a trophy back to Washington, something we will always be able to remember and enjoy. So, I don’t want today’s performance to take away from all that.
Hoya Saxa, Georgetown forever.
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jester
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,008
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Post by jester on Mar 20, 2021 23:53:11 GMT -5
Astoundingly, we won 4 post season games this year - UNC, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona 5 combined! Perspective. Edit, Kansas won, Michigan state did not win in tournament. UVA and Texas lost in first round now. I guess UCLA and Nova are the blue bloods left? Interesting if Gonzaga wins it, which programs they will go through for a title!
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jwp91
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,041
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Post by jwp91 on Mar 21, 2021 4:27:11 GMT -5
One team played like it was a good team not getting any respect. After all, Georgetown was the single most popular upset pick.
The other team played like they had already achieved their season’s goals.
It was frustrating because it seemed like defensively we gave them exactly what they wanted. Wright had a phen game. If Colorado continues playing like that, they will go to the Final Four.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Mar 21, 2021 6:59:43 GMT -5
I think Q is more than "he is what he is" as he has changed his game a ton and grown since coming to Georetown. He made big improvements last year and every month or so this year he makes leaps as well. Everything Patrick has outlined as Q's focus for improving and what he is currently working on, he has grown into doing that. Ewing has outlined defending in and out as his next big focus that he Q has started focussing on, as it is a basic for what is needed at the next level. Q has the athletic ability to do it. The change is footwork and positioning as a first step as it is only step and a half to pop in and out to defend. Having feet ready to make that quick change, but also weight low enough to help the players hips pivot and change direction. Bigs get taught to play straight up, which is the opposite of what is needed to be and in and out defender. His balance to shift his weight slightly forward (much like what Berger needs to improve his defense, but not as drastic a shift as Q already is decent with weight balance). I'm looking forward to see what Q is next year. Hopefully the Hoyas get summer to work and play and not have things shut down again. Looking forward to see Q's development as well, especially in games like today where they exploited the mismatch with Q. I think all we are realistically hoping for is some marginal improvement. If he can improve defensively just enough where he can recover a bit quicker on PNR (meaning others can too) and stay in front of guys just a bit better, it makes our whole D much better. Sure, he would still get beat on switches and by the most athletic fives. But that's OK. On O, if he could face up just a bit it would be huge because it would allow him to provide offense while also opening up driving lanes because the opposing five would have to respect his shooting and leave the rim. For sure the biggest thing, and the thing I expect him to improve on, is passing out of doubles. He got better as the year went on....at least not turning it over. But the passing wasnt crisp.
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calhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by calhoya on Mar 21, 2021 7:38:35 GMT -5
Looking forward to see Q's development as well, especially in games like today where they exploited the mismatch with Q. I think all we are realistically hoping for is some marginal improvement. If he can improve defensively just enough where he can recover a bit quicker on PNR (meaning others can too) and stay in front of guys just a bit better, it makes our whole D much better. Sure, he would still get beat on switches and by the most athletic fives. But that's OK. On O, if he could face up just a bit it would be huge because it would allow him to provide offense while also opening up driving lanes because the opposing five would have to respect his shooting and leave the rim. For sure the biggest thing, and the thing I expect him to improve on, is passing out of doubles. He got better as the year went on....at least not turning it over. But the passing wasnt crisp. Agree with this assessment. Kid has potential and did improve. My frustration is that the hype from the coach and the media was simply too over the top at times and created unwarranted expectations he was not ready to fulfill. Not really fair to the kid. It's exactly the same type of hype that caused so many to be constantly (and unrealistically) disappointed in Pickett. He still has to learn when to kick out the ball, not to put the ball on the floor, particularly when surrounded in the lane and how to develop some face-to-the basket offensive moves. He is still very limited on defense particularly against a mobile big. All that said, I hope he will continue to develop under Ewing, but probably needs less hype going forward and some development time on the court to bring expectations back into line with reality.
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This Just In
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Bold Prediction: The Hoyas will win at least 1 BE game in 2023.
Posts: 10,592
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Post by This Just In on Mar 21, 2021 7:47:18 GMT -5
Colorado Buffalo's set an NCAA Tournament record in made 3pointers by going 16/25 from behind the arc
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vv83
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,329
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Post by vv83 on Mar 21, 2021 8:00:59 GMT -5
Colorado shot 37% from 3 this season. Yesterday, they shot 64%. If they had shot 9/25 (36%) instead of 16/25 - that's 21 points less, and we lost by 23 points.
There is far, far more to the loss than this extremely simplistic analysis. But on a very basic level - this game probably would have been at least somewhat competitive if Colorado shot around their normal rate from 3. But our D was so bad that most of those shots were wide open - so unlikely that they would have shot only 36% even on a day when they were not red hot.
Colorado executed their offense at about the highest level I can remember seeing a team execute their half court offense. Creighton runs a really good half court offense, with similar principles. But Creighton doesn't look like what Colorado did yesterday, even on their best day. That was a coaching clinic - you could use the video of that game to teach a seminar on running a "5 out" pick and roll offense. What Colorado did offensively yesterday was spectacular. I'm very curious to see what they look like against Florida State. Can they come close to replicating that level of execution against an athletic, very well coached defense?
I don't think there are many teams that would have beaten Colorado yesterday. Some would have stayed closer by playing better defense. But Colorado was so good in their execution - unless a team could switch everything consistently, I'm not sure there was any way to really contain that offense yesterday. I think we may have even been better off going to a zone. They probably still would have shot the lights out against our mediocre (at best) zone D. But at least it would have forced them to do something other than "5 out pick and roll" - because we clearly had no prayer of defending what they were doing with our standard drop/hedge/Ice PnR defense.
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Mar 21, 2021 8:59:46 GMT -5
Like you mention, Colorado shot 16/25 from three. You can blame our defense for some of it, but not all of it. They still needed to hit those shots on a big time stage. My guess is that Colorado will not shoot anywhere near that percentage the rest of the way. Even the best of Hoya teams can lose to a hot shooting team, Davidson and Nova ‘85 come to mind.
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hoya59er
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 170
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Post by hoya59er on Mar 21, 2021 11:33:04 GMT -5
We were flat out terrible yesterday. Very, very disappointing. Our defense and offense were equally bad. Colo had so many open shots and easy lay ups. Our players looked confused, poor body language, no confidence. That is on our coach!!
This said, I was thrilled with our BE tourney title and like most of our players.
Sad our seniors did not step up yesterday as leaders, except Carey played well.
Will we learn? Yes, we have some real recruits recruits coming, which is exciting, but they do need to be coached and grow in their ability.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Mar 21, 2021 11:54:41 GMT -5
Important lesson for the team and program yesterday even if it was a harsh lesson on the national stage. At this stage of the season, mental mistakes and lapses in effort get punished. Fundamentals like boxing out, passing with two hands, planting your pivot foot, etc. become even more important. Making the right play means doing your job.
Unfortunately, I did think the team got caught up in the moment somewhat. One of my biggest fears was that our guys would try to do more than they were capable of and end up not playing within themselves. When that happened and we fell behind early, you could just tell that, collectively, between the bad body language and the drop in defensive intensity because things got tough on the offensive end, that getting off the mat after taking a few haymakers early wasn't going to happen. Guys starting panicking; you could see it especially at the free throw line in the first half. Whatever confidence (maybe overconfidence prior to the game) was gone pretty early.
Key sequence was the flagrant 1 (or 2 if the refs were at all aware of simple things like rules of the game): Tim makes those 2 FTs and we get another bucket to cut it to 7 or even 6 and that could've been a huge momentum swing. Tim misses both, we turn it over and then give up a 3 on the other end, and now what could've been a 6-7 point deficit is 14 in the blink of an eye. That 60 second sequence pretty much buried us.
Give credit to Colorado. Well coached, made the fundamental plays, and clearly did their work in scouting us. They knew that we were a really good shooting team and forced us into less efficient areas on the floor (how many long 2s did our guys take yesterday?). They were more and happy to let us dump it into Q, knowing he wasn't going to hit a high enough percentage to make a difference and that their depth would make any foul trouble a non-factor. Also goes to show you how valuable a stretch 5 is in today's game. Even just threat of a guy who can't be left alone on the perimeter makes spacing so much easier and really causes issues when you overhelp on defense.
Speaking of overhelping: think we gave way too much credit trying to shut down McKinley Wright on the offensive end. Wright's a solid player and I agree with posts that he's similar to Zegarowski. Difference was that we let Zegarowski take shots if he wanted them at the cost of not getting his teammates involved; we pretty much played Wright the exact opposite and you have to wonder why we went that route with Colorado having as many dangerous shooters as they do. To be fair, Dante didn't do a great job staying in front of Wright; but at some point you're going to have to concede a couple runners in the lane and force him to hit some shots instead of leaving open perimeter shooters. Tough game for Q/Tim because they just don't have that kind of mobility, but a lot of useless overhelping by Pickett/Bile off of shooters really hurt us. We've been better about this in recent games, but way too many guys caught in no man's landing trying to help when they really weren't in position to contest anyone defensively.
Big picture-wise, think the team has made a lot of positive strides the last 2 months and despite the poor result yesterday, the experience of having been there for the NCAAs and a BET run for both the returning players (even the ones that didn't get much PT) as well as the staff should be a plus moving forward. A big part of turning a program around is changing a culture of losing into one of winning, and you just have to hope that the opportunity this team gave this program to shift that culture on a much larger scale for upcoming years ends up being capitalized upon.
Great season Hoyas and thank you for helping this program take the first of what we hope are many steps back to national prominence!
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KHoyaNYC
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,900
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Post by KHoyaNYC on Mar 21, 2021 11:55:39 GMT -5
Important lesson for the team and program yesterday even if it was a harsh lesson on the national stage. At this stage of the season, mental mistakes and lapses in effort get punished. Fundamentals like boxing out, passing with two hands, planting your pivot foot, etc. become even more important. Making the right play means doing your job. Unfortunately, I did think the team got caught up in the moment somewhat. One of my biggest fears was that our guys would try to do more than they were capable of and end up not playing within themselves. When that happened and we fell behind early, you could just tell that, collectively, between the bad body language and the drop in defensive intensity because things got tough on the offensive end, that getting off the mat after taking a few haymakers early wasn't going to happen. Guys starting panicking; you could see it especially at the free throw line in the first half. Whatever confidence (maybe overconfidence prior to the game) was gone pretty early. Key sequence was the flagrant 1 (or 2 if the refs were at all aware of simple things like rules of the game): Tim makes those 2 FTs and we get another bucket to cut it to 7 or even 6 and that could've been a huge momentum swing. Tim misses both, we turn it over and then give up a 3 on the other end, and now what could've been a 6-7 point deficit is 14 in the blink of an eye. That 60 second sequence pretty much buried us. Give credit to Colorado. Well coached, made the fundamental plays, and clearly did their work in scouting us. They knew that we were a really good shooting team and forced us into less efficient areas on the floor (how many long 2s did our guys take yesterday?). They were more and happy to let us dump it into Q, knowing he wasn't going to hit a high enough percentage to make a difference and that their depth would make any foul trouble a non-factor. Also goes to show you how valuable a stretch 5 is in today's game. Even just threat of a guy who can't be left alone on the perimeter makes spacing so much easier and really causes issues when you overhelp on defense. Speaking of overhelping: think we gave way too much credit trying to shut down McKinley Wright on the offensive end. Wright's a solid player and I agree with posts that he's similar to Zegarowski. Difference was that we let Zegarowski take shots if he wanted them at the cost of not getting his teammates involved; we pretty much played Wright the exact opposite and you have to wonder why we went that route with Colorado having as many dangerous shooters as they do. To be fair, Dante didn't do a great job staying in front of Wright; but at some point you're going to have to concede a couple runners in the lane and force him to hit some shots instead of leaving open perimeter shooters. Tough game for Q/Tim because they just don't have that kind of mobility, but a lot of useless overhelping by Pickett/Bile off of shooters really hurt us. We've been better about this in recent games, but way too many guys caught in no man's landing trying to help when they really weren't in position to contest anyone defensively. Big picture-wise, think the team has made a lot of positive strides the last 2 months and despite the poor result yesterday, the experience of having been there for the NCAAs and a BET run for both the returning players (even the ones that didn't get much PT) as well as the staff should be a plus moving forward. A big part of turning a program around is changing a culture of losing into one of winning, and you just have to hope that the opportunity this team gave this program to shift that culture on a much larger scale for upcoming years ends up being capitalized upon. Great season Hoyas and thank you for helping this program take the first of what we hope are many steps back to national prominence! Basically agree with all of this. Good post.
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EtomicB
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 14,965
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Post by EtomicB on Mar 21, 2021 12:17:17 GMT -5
Important lesson for the team and program yesterday even if it was a harsh lesson on the national stage. At this stage of the season, mental mistakes and lapses in effort get punished. Fundamentals like boxing out, passing with two hands, planting your pivot foot, etc. become even more important. Making the right play means doing your job. Unfortunately, I did think the team got caught up in the moment somewhat. One of my biggest fears was that our guys would try to do more than they were capable of and end up not playing within themselves. When that happened and we fell behind early, you could just tell that, collectively, between the bad body language and the drop in defensive intensity because things got tough on the offensive end, that getting off the mat after taking a few haymakers early wasn't going to happen. Guys starting panicking; you could see it especially at the free throw line in the first half. Whatever confidence (maybe overconfidence prior to the game) was gone pretty early. Key sequence was the flagrant 1 (or 2 if the refs were at all aware of simple things like rules of the game): Tim makes those 2 FTs and we get another bucket to cut it to 7 or even 6 and that could've been a huge momentum swing. Tim misses both, we turn it over and then give up a 3 on the other end, and now what could've been a 6-7 point deficit is 14 in the blink of an eye. That 60 second sequence pretty much buried us. Give credit to Colorado. Well coached, made the fundamental plays, and clearly did their work in scouting us. They knew that we were a really good shooting team and forced us into less efficient areas on the floor (how many long 2s did our guys take yesterday?). They were more and happy to let us dump it into Q, knowing he wasn't going to hit a high enough percentage to make a difference and that their depth would make any foul trouble a non-factor. Also goes to show you how valuable a stretch 5 is in today's game. Even just threat of a guy who can't be left alone on the perimeter makes spacing so much easier and really causes issues when you overhelp on defense. Speaking of overhelping: think we gave way too much credit trying to shut down McKinley Wright on the offensive end. Wright's a solid player and I agree with posts that he's similar to Zegarowski. Difference was that we let Zegarowski take shots if he wanted them at the cost of not getting his teammates involved; we pretty much played Wright the exact opposite and you have to wonder why we went that route with Colorado having as many dangerous shooters as they do. To be fair, Dante didn't do a great job staying in front of Wright; but at some point you're going to have to concede a couple runners in the lane and force him to hit some shots instead of leaving open perimeter shooters. Tough game for Q/Tim because they just don't have that kind of mobility, but a lot of useless overhelping by Pickett/Bile off of shooters really hurt us. We've been better about this in recent games, but way too many guys caught in no man's landing trying to help when they really weren't in position to contest anyone defensively. Big picture-wise, think the team has made a lot of positive strides the last 2 months and despite the poor result yesterday, the experience of having been there for the NCAAs and a BET run for both the returning players (even the ones that didn't get much PT) as well as the staff should be a plus moving forward. A big part of turning a program around is changing a culture of losing into one of winning, and you just have to hope that the opportunity this team gave this program to shift that culture on a much larger scale for upcoming years ends up being capitalized upon. Great season Hoyas and thank you for helping this program take the first of what we hope are many steps back to national prominence! Their defensive plan has gotten overlooked due to the hot shooting they displayed, not allowing Gtown to get comfortable looks from 3 was a big key yesterday... Teams have to have a line-up that can switch everything and have threats from deep at all spots. It would have been nice to see a line-up of Bile, Pickett, Carey, Blair & Harris at some point...
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Bigs"R"Us
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,642
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Mar 21, 2021 12:34:20 GMT -5
Way too many board members let their emotions swing wildly from game to game. We win the Big East Tournament and all of a sudden Gtown is back. We lose a NCAA game and it’s back to the sky is falling.
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smokeyjack
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,300
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Post by smokeyjack on Mar 21, 2021 12:44:49 GMT -5
Important lesson for the team and program yesterday even if it was a harsh lesson on the national stage. At this stage of the season, mental mistakes and lapses in effort get punished. Fundamentals like boxing out, passing with two hands, planting your pivot foot, etc. become even more important. Making the right play means doing your job. Unfortunately, I did think the team got caught up in the moment somewhat. One of my biggest fears was that our guys would try to do more than they were capable of and end up not playing within themselves. When that happened and we fell behind early, you could just tell that, collectively, between the bad body language and the drop in defensive intensity because things got tough on the offensive end, that getting off the mat after taking a few haymakers early wasn't going to happen. Guys starting panicking; you could see it especially at the free throw line in the first half. Whatever confidence (maybe overconfidence prior to the game) was gone pretty early. Key sequence was the flagrant 1 (or 2 if the refs were at all aware of simple things like rules of the game): Tim makes those 2 FTs and we get another bucket to cut it to 7 or even 6 and that could've been a huge momentum swing. Tim misses both, we turn it over and then give up a 3 on the other end, and now what could've been a 6-7 point deficit is 14 in the blink of an eye. That 60 second sequence pretty much buried us. Give credit to Colorado. Well coached, made the fundamental plays, and clearly did their work in scouting us. They knew that we were a really good shooting team and forced us into less efficient areas on the floor (how many long 2s did our guys take yesterday?). They were more and happy to let us dump it into Q, knowing he wasn't going to hit a high enough percentage to make a difference and that their depth would make any foul trouble a non-factor. Also goes to show you how valuable a stretch 5 is in today's game. Even just threat of a guy who can't be left alone on the perimeter makes spacing so much easier and really causes issues when you overhelp on defense. Speaking of overhelping: think we gave way too much credit trying to shut down McKinley Wright on the offensive end. Wright's a solid player and I agree with posts that he's similar to Zegarowski. Difference was that we let Zegarowski take shots if he wanted them at the cost of not getting his teammates involved; we pretty much played Wright the exact opposite and you have to wonder why we went that route with Colorado having as many dangerous shooters as they do. To be fair, Dante didn't do a great job staying in front of Wright; but at some point you're going to have to concede a couple runners in the lane and force him to hit some shots instead of leaving open perimeter shooters. Tough game for Q/Tim because they just don't have that kind of mobility, but a lot of useless overhelping by Pickett/Bile off of shooters really hurt us. We've been better about this in recent games, but way too many guys caught in no man's landing trying to help when they really weren't in position to contest anyone defensively. Big picture-wise, think the team has made a lot of positive strides the last 2 months and despite the poor result yesterday, the experience of having been there for the NCAAs and a BET run for both the returning players (even the ones that didn't get much PT) as well as the staff should be a plus moving forward. A big part of turning a program around is changing a culture of losing into one of winning, and you just have to hope that the opportunity this team gave this program to shift that culture on a much larger scale for upcoming years ends up being capitalized upon. Great season Hoyas and thank you for helping this program take the first of what we hope are many steps back to national prominence! Their defensive plan has gotten overlooked due to the hot shooting they displayed, not allowing Gtown to get comfortable looks from 3 was a big key yesterday... Teams have to have a line-up that can switch everything and have threats from deep at all spots. It would have been nice to see a line-up of Bile, Pickett, Carey, Blair & Harris at some point... Would have loved to have seen a smallball lineup, but Ewing is in love with bigs (for obvious reasons). At first blush, Q played a great game, and his numbers do look very good. But we force-fed him the ball, so his usage was pretty high (arguably too high in the 3-point era), he missed a handful of chippies he has to make to merit that focus, and he was definitely a liability on the defensive end the way that CO plays.
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