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Post by professorhoya on Nov 4, 2024 18:07:30 GMT -5
I get that they're freshman, but the staff has to allow both Sorber and JH to facilitate the offense this season. They're both too talented as passers not to. 6. Julius Halaifonua, C, Georgetown Hoyas
Scouting report: Halaifonua elected to reclassify to play this year late after winning MVP honors at the NBA Academy Games in Atlanta in July. The 7-footer has a huge frame and a versatile inside-out skill set to go along with impressive passing ability and an excellent feel for the game. He has already made his senior national team debut for New Zealand, and is drawing rave reviews early on, suggesting he'll play a bigger role than expected despite being 18 years old with some things to work on from a conditioning and defensive standpoint. -- Givony
How he fits: The Hoyas entered the summer in desperate need of an impact big man and beat out North Carolina for Halaifonua. There are certainly minutes up for grabs, given Georgetown's struggles down low last season. Coach Ed Cooley only brings back Drew Fielder from that group, with the rest of Halaifonua's frontcourt competition coming from fellow freshmen. -- BorzelloI'm getting a Monroe-lite vibe from the description of his game. Am I offbase? He could be a dark horse. Polynesian off the charts athleticism, size and power. Toughness from being a rugby player. Should be able to seal off his man and rebound. I think it comes down to whether he can avoid fouling/foul trouble and stay on the floor for him to make an impact this season. Maybe like a mini Steven Adams |
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Nov 4, 2024 18:32:21 GMT -5
Not to be too tough on our student publication, but the tease in that Tweet (or X) and the headline don't really match what is in the article. Aside from one paragraph, it's basically people saying they are excited to attend games. After the flattering and generous write up, Cooley should definitely give the paper more attention this season. |
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on Nov 5, 2024 8:45:52 GMT -5
Not to be too tough on our student publication, but the tease in that Tweet (or X) and the headline don't really match what is in the article. Aside from one paragraph, it's basically people saying they are excited to attend games. Unfortunately our student publications are a shell of what they once were. Bailey Heaps isn't walking through that door, ya know? |
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on Nov 5, 2024 9:02:43 GMT -5
Not to be too tough on our student publication, but the tease in that Tweet (or X) and the headline don't really match what is in the article. Aside from one paragraph, it's basically people saying they are excited to attend games. Unfortunately our student publications are a shell of what they once were. Bailey Heaps isn't walking through that door, ya know? Bailey has done quite well for himself- a DOJ alum in the Honors Program! www.keker.com/Lawyers/bailey-heaps |
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CTHoya08
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Post by CTHoya08 on Nov 5, 2024 10:20:54 GMT -5
Are the fans the most important part of any sport? That seems rather dubious to me.
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cnyhoya
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Post by cnyhoya on Nov 5, 2024 11:23:00 GMT -5
Are the fans the most important part of any sport? That seems rather dubious to me. Please tell me this is excellent sarcasm... |
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rhw485
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Post by rhw485 on Nov 5, 2024 13:35:07 GMT -5
I'm mostly silent during the offseason. Just a few quick thoughts before we kick off tomorrow and things I'm focused on:
Defense
As we all know, the ability to turn around the defense to anything resembling a passable level is critical for this team. And while I'll be eager to watch how it actually looks from an organization / effort / communication point, I also like looking at the shot chart distribution (hoop-math.com)
Opponent attempts and FG %
2022-2023
At the Rim; 40.7% attempts / 57% FG %
Three point: 39.5% / 38.9%
Mid-range: 19.8% / 34.9%
2023-2024
At the Rim; 40.9% attempts / 66% FG %
Three point: 38.5% / 35.2%
Mid-range: 20.6% / 38.4%
I feel like this is a really easy way to see what's happening. Ewing's last year was highlighted by teams getting exactly what they wanted between 3s and the rim, and lighting us up for 38.9% from 3 because everything was corner 3s and so wide open.
Last year we really weren't able to change the shot distribution much, 3 pt defense returned to somewhat earth at 35.2%....and in exchange teams made 66% off their shots at the hoop. Hoop-math doesnt have an easy way for me to sort across everyone, but i'd think that combo rim and 3 point attempts is near the top of the country, and giving up 66% at the rim is unsustainable. So will we see anything resembling efforts to limit shots from 3 AND defend the rim better.
Offense
I dont have as much of an in-depth view here, the offense is much closer to acceptable than people realize. For me, this is all about Epps. It's really difficult to build around a high-volume 6'2 2 guard...because by so aggressively targeting Mack it's clear that Cooley's evaluation is that Epps needs to be off the ball more. And as a result you now have a very small backcourt and then have the frontcourt (Peavy / Burks) focused on length and defense to offset the shortcomings of the backcourt. All of those decisions come back to Epps imo. For this team to reach whatever ceiling we think it has, Epps and Mack need to make each other better
Roster Construction
This is a bit of a tangent but there's two players I'm super focused on this year because I think they represent potential advantages that Cooley is trying to exploit in the roster
1. International Players (Julius). I think we've all wondered why Gtown wasn't more active in the international space given the global brand and diversity of the student body. I really hope Cooley continues down this path, and Julius being a hit could open up a pipeline that would be very beneficial in future years
2. Redshirt (McKenna). Very interested to see how Drew does this year. If you look at this years squad, Cooley seemed to take advantage of those extra scholarships to get people in the door and almost pre-recruit for next year (Fort and Diouf). Well McKenna was the first version of that last year...how does getting here a year early help his learning curve? Can he crack the rotation? If this works, I could see Cooley looking to do this every year and maybe get an under the radar recruit, give him some NIL, let him learn for a year and be in the program (where he'd be unlikely to transfer after the redshirt year) and then be ready to go.
Hope springs eternal. Hoya Saxa
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 5, 2024 14:33:41 GMT -5
OffenseI dont have as much of an in-depth view here, the offense is much closer to acceptable than people realize. For me, this is all about Epps. It's really difficult to build around a high-volume 6'2 2 guard...because by so aggressively targeting Mack it's clear that Cooley's evaluation is that Epps needs to be off the ball more. And as a result you now have a very small backcourt and then have the frontcourt (Peavy / Burks) focused on length and defense to offset the shortcomings of the backcourt. All of those decisions come back to Epps imo. For this team to reach whatever ceiling we think it has, Epps and Mack need to make each other better. I'm with you on defense, but I think this is putting way too much focus on Epps. I think there was already way too much consternation about his play last year -- he wasn't a spectacular player but aside from Styles' Kobe/Jordan mid-range post-up fade-away thing, no one else could create ANYTHING. So there's this perception that he's just going to jack shots, but we're adding in another high usage guards, replacing Styles with a similar usage guy, adding bigs with a LOT more offensive game and adding about seven scholarship players. He's still going to be reasonably high usage, and I suppose he could just be an incorrigable ball hog ... but I find it hard to believe that we won't see an adjustment just by adding another ~30% usage dude who is going to be the primary PG. Burks and some of the freshmen are likely to be low usage, but I think we're likely to see Mack and Epps' usage be similar at closer to 25%, with a slight efficiency increase for Epps no matter what. For me, the far bigger offensive questions are around outside shooting -- because Epps and Mack will be very ineffective if we can't hit open shots from the outside -- and around if any of the bigs can bring more than Cook did. Both of those will open up Mack and Epps more and we'll see a more virtuous cycle. It's not to say that Epps can't improve massively. Smarter shot selection, better outside shooter and better passing vision would all be great. But I don't think it is all on him. In fact, if it is all on him, we are screwed -- because that means Mack and the big men are not up to par. |
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rhw485
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Post by rhw485 on Nov 5, 2024 14:46:16 GMT -5
OffenseI dont have as much of an in-depth view here, the offense is much closer to acceptable than people realize. For me, this is all about Epps. It's really difficult to build around a high-volume 6'2 2 guard...because by so aggressively targeting Mack it's clear that Cooley's evaluation is that Epps needs to be off the ball more. And as a result you now have a very small backcourt and then have the frontcourt (Peavy / Burks) focused on length and defense to offset the shortcomings of the backcourt. All of those decisions come back to Epps imo. For this team to reach whatever ceiling we think it has, Epps and Mack need to make each other better. I'm with you on defense, but I think this is putting way too much focus on Epps. I think there was already way too much consternation about his play last year -- he wasn't a spectacular player but aside from Styles' Kobe/Jordan mid-range post-up fade-away thing, no one else could create ANYTHING. So there's this perception that he's just going to jack shots, but we're adding in another high usage guards, replacing Styles with a similar usage guy, adding bigs with a LOT more offensive game and adding about seven scholarship players. He's still going to be reasonably high usage, and I suppose he could just be an incorrigable ball hog ... but I find it hard to believe that we won't see an adjustment just by adding another ~30% usage dude who is going to be the primary PG. Burks and some of the freshmen are likely to be low usage, but I think we're likely to see Mack and Epps' usage be similar at closer to 25%, with a slight efficiency increase for Epps no matter what. For me, the far bigger offensive questions are around outside shooting -- because Epps and Mack will be very ineffective if we can't hit open shots from the outside -- and around if any of the bigs can bring more than Cook did. Both of those will open up Mack and Epps more and we'll see a more virtuous cycle. It's not to say that Epps can't improve massively. Smarter shot selection, better outside shooter and better passing vision would all be great. But I don't think it is all on him. In fact, if it is all on him, we are screwed -- because that means Mack and the big men are not up to par. Understand where you're coming from, i definitely did my share of defending Epps by arguing we didnt have a better choice for a lot of shots last year. I guess I'm just saying with Mack we in theory do have another choice. And it will be on Epps to realize that and change the way he played. I'm hopeful he can do so, but if we just have two separate people being forced to go iso ball and they merely alternate possessions doing so, that would be a failure. I understand the shooting concerns, and to me that goes back to choosing to build around Mack and Epps. Elite frontcourt shooters who can also defend simply don't grow on trees, and Cooley chose to allocate significant resources to Epps and Mack and then prioritize defense in the frontcourt as a result. So yes I agree it's shooting but that was a choice as a result of going all in on an Epps / Mack backcourt imo. It's ultimately going to be on them leveraging the gravitational pull of each other to create opportunities for the other person. I will say I'm optimistic they figure it out, that Cooley has one of them on the court at all times, and that the offense improves. |
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 5, 2024 15:22:10 GMT -5
Understand where you're coming from, i definitely did my share of defending Epps by arguing we didnt have a better choice for a lot of shots last year. I guess I'm just saying with Mack we in theory do have another choice. And it will be on Epps to realize that and change the way he played. I'm hopeful he can do so, but if we just have two separate people being forced to go iso ball and they merely alternate possessions doing so, that would be a failure. Yes, merely alternating possessions would be a failure (it'd also be an improvement -- always having one on the court is a massive plus!). But I guess my point is that isn't all on Epps. It's on the whole team. And not just in terms of decision making. If Mack doesn't translate well to the Big East, then guess what, we don't have two options. If the bigs are overwhelmed and can't score or hold onto the ball, then we don't have options. I'm not as concerned about the former, but I also think it's reductive to boil it down to whether Epps chooses to play team ball. For one, we need to actually have these other options. In addition to Mack translating and the young bigs showing some offense, the third piece is that outside shooting. Because both Epps and Mack are going to look terrible if opponents can pack the paint. Without spacing, the bigs become less effective and our driving becomes less effective and suddenly those other options aren't good options ... then what Epps chooses is largely irrelevant. Even when we get to the decision making ... Mack had similar shooting usage rates and only a bit higher assist rate. He wasn't exactly spreading the ball. Now, again, he was the best option, but he's ball dominant as well. I think it is on both of them to try and make off-ball Epps work. Epps needs to be willing to move without the ball, be effective off the catch and shoot and driving off the close out ... but Mack needs to get him the ball, too. My inclination is this: if we see a lot of hero Epps, I think it is more likely that the rest of the team isn't as good an option as we would like. I see this positioning a lot, but I really can't do it. We came into the year with very little talent on the roster, coming off a poor year, and really not being able to withstand another terrible year. I know many people wanted to jettison Epps, but that's an absurdly risky move. I know, I know -- he's a 100 efficiency player with high usage and in a straight numbers sense, that's an anchor on the upside of any team. But he was the only player who could create on last year's team. He's also the most talented* returning player on the team, even if inefficient. You had a very poor transfer window last year, and while you can sell PT and a rising Georgetown to incoming freshmen, transfers are often looking for a better team. The market was also uncertain; we saw how basically everyone misjudged the big man market. How do you let Epps go? You can't just replace him with Mack -- you still literally have one ballhandler. The replacement 2 guard will either be a Curtis Williams type or a mid-major type but are you going to get a major conference scorer with our record even with what is presumably decent money? Kadary Richardson was not coming here. I see why people struggle with Epps; I just really don't think you can take that risk especially since if you get bigger you have to replace him likely with 2 players -- a 2 guard and a backup PG to Mack. As for the rest of the team, while I have had the thought that many of the choices were compensating ... I don't actually think it was that specific or conscious. I think Cooley wanted a real PG and got one, and then went and recruited for a Cooley team, getting who he could. Epps or no Epps, I'm not sure the players look that different, I guess. Styles only had a 4 pt edge on Peavy on efficiency from last year, so our biggest gap is actually likely to be Cooks 113 to the big men, and that has little to do with Epps. I think the most likely scenario is this: Mack translates well. Epps improves but still isn't a knock down guy and he really isn't an off ball guy. There's more trading off than people like. Epps is still a gunner, because that's who he is. Just not as big of one. If I had to guess, 5% improvement each way -- 26% usage at 105/106 efficiency. The bigs show flashes but struggle with strength and turnovers. Our outside shooting is enough of a problem to make the above harder. We're still a bit better offensively, but we resort to hero ball more than people would like because we're too young and not well rounded enough to really make defenses stretch. Epps is blamed almost exclusively despite usually having 1-2 guys on the court with Wayne Bristol's offensive game. It's one of the reasons I am so curious to see us try and run the offense. I think the pick and roll can become much more reliable for us with these bigs. And while I'm not a huge pick and roll guy ... it is a relatively simple way to take advantage of the players on the court with offensive skills. If I'm wrong about this ... I think the most likely place is that I am really underestimating Peavy. He's a strong slasher ... if the shot has gotten any better, then we are a much more diversified team. *I'll take an argument for Fielder, but his age, foul issues and experience don't change my argument. Imagine Fielder being our top returner? |
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traversb
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Post by traversb on Nov 5, 2024 18:48:33 GMT -5
I am not going to quote the Epps stuff just because it will clog the page. After he got put in the starting lineup at Illinois he had the 2nd highest usage despite being the 5th best Ill player on the floor most of the time. It effectively derailed the Illinois season so I don't think we can just assume if he goes back to his old ways it's because he is not surrounded by talent. Up until this point in his career he is just a high usage inefficient player that doesn't care how ineffective he is. He has a scorer's mentality. Everyone is saying the right things now about how he has changed, understands his role etc. It's possible this is true and if it is the season will go much better than if he reverts to his old ways.
Cooley has built a roster that should be a middle of the pack Big East team. I agree that I think it comes down to Epps on both ends. The back court defense has a chance to be bad once again. The front wing and front court defense is certainly going to be better. As rhw said Cooley has gone all in with this backcourt. I have made it known I think Epps is a perfect microwave 6 man that should be the easiest player on the floor to coach. If he is on you let him cook. If he is off you let him sit. I don't ultimately think the analytics will say that Epps i part of the best 5 man team this year but he is going to get either the most or the second most minutes so we better hope he is. I think if Cooley were to put Peavy at the 2, with Burks/McKenna at the 3, Fielder at the 4 and one of the frosh at the 5 depending on opponent that is the most balanced and effective team on both ends. I don't think shooting is a strength of this team by any means but there is certainly enough shooting on this team. I am not sure the shooters will get to shoot. I think the lineup we end up going with will be very high variance so we will get some good wins and bad losses but a net down from where we should probably end.
The good news with this roster it won't be anywhere near as bad as the last 3 years. If Cooley is a great game coach we should finally have a reason to pay attention until late in the season. If the backcourt tries to play hero ball and doesn't defend we will still win more but I don't think many people here will consider it a success.
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jwp91
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Post by jwp91 on Nov 5, 2024 19:10:12 GMT -5
I want to see Mack/Peavy/Burks/Big/Big. I think it is worth an experiment to see what it produces.
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hoyariv71
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Post by hoyariv71 on Nov 5, 2024 19:58:58 GMT -5
Really struggle to understands the hate for Epps, he literally won us games last year. He is a preseason 3rd team projection, he might be our leading scorer, let’s see what he can do with talent around him.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 5, 2024 20:38:04 GMT -5
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MCIGuy
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Post by MCIGuy on Nov 6, 2024 0:52:32 GMT -5
The Polynesian community in the region in general played a huge role I hear. Gotta use any advantage you have on the way back to relevancy. |
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 9, 2024 8:25:32 GMT -5
There’s actually a thread, now titled ‘Celebrating 1984 at 40’ - I posted some photos from the event last night, including some of Gene Smith’s remarks. I moved your so they don’t get lost. A couple is shots of Hoyas there too, including many (if not all) of the '25 team, who gene wished well this year.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 9, 2024 8:25:56 GMT -5
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 10, 2024 9:02:36 GMT -5
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thedragon
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Post by thedragon on Nov 10, 2024 10:04:50 GMT -5
The repertoire Sorber shows in this clip is salivating and wildly ahead of schedule for a freshman. Backside seal and finish. Jabstep baseline jumper. Pick N roll for a catch and finish. Pick and pop for a 3. Dribble, spin, right hand hook. I hope they're collecting NIL for next year now - it's going to cost a Brinks truck. |
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EtomicB
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Post by EtomicB on Nov 10, 2024 10:52:19 GMT -5
The repertoire Sorber shows in this clip is salivating and wildly ahead of schedule for a freshman. Backside seal and finish. Jabstep baseline jumper. Pick N roll for a catch and finish. Pick and pop for a 3. Dribble, spin, right hand hook. I hope they're collecting NIL for next year now - it's going to cost a Brinks truck. I love what I’ve seen so far and he’s gonna be a big time contributor for Gtown regardless but we have to have a little caution until we see how well he does against 2 or 3 legit athletes going against him in the front court. Even more importantly let’s see how he performs once the scout is truly in. Looking forward to it for sure. |
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