Georgetown - Notre Dame 11/16/2024 Discussion

[jwp91]

The Fighting Irish are next up. The computers think it will be a very close game.

[jwp91]

Here is some good news...

The Fighting Irish shot 47.5% from 3 in their first game. Cooley has a full week to focus on better defense of the 3-point shot. He is an opportunity to help the players figure it out.

[MCIGuy]

Nov 10, 2024 14:23:43 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Here is some good news...

The Fighting Irish shot 47.5% from 3 in their first game. Cooley has a full week to focus on better defense of the 3-point shot. He is an opportunity to help the players figure it out.

They seem to have little of an interior game. Take away the three!

[MCIGuy]

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

[jwp91]

Nov 10, 2024 16:55:03 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

Have you watched the last two games?

We faced the 281 and 293 ranked KenPom teams. They gave us some adversity but we found a way to overcome and win. Other high major teams blew these teams off of the court. Wait URI is not a high major...

I am done watching Georgetown lose by 40 which is what would happen if you sent this team in November/December against Houston, Rutgers and Alabama.

You are talking crazy.

[zxhoya]

Nov 10, 2024 16:59:40 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:55:03 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

Have you watched the last two games?

We faced the 281 and 293 ranked KenPom teams. They gave us some adversity but we found a way to overcome and win. Other high major teams blew these teams off of the court. Wait URI is not a high major...

I am done watching Georgetown lose by 40 which is what would happen if you sent this team in November/December against Houston, Rutgers and Alabama.

You are talking crazy.

This is funny but true. ND and Shrewsberry hasn't had to pull themselves up from the depths of high major purgatory like Cooley an GU is having to do and I'm not mad at EC's scheduling this season......next season hopefully will be more in line with high major scheduling.

[DFW HOYA]

Nov 10, 2024 16:55:03 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

Cooley had little choice but to schedule weak coming off a nine win season, for three reasons: 1) he needs wins--a middling start would be pilloried in the press as it relates to Cooley making progress, regardless of outcome, 2) for the second consecutive year Georgetown could not get into a MTE, so the pool of good teams for a single game is diminished. Georgetown was also not selected for the 2025 and 2026 Maui Invitational, so this is a problem going forward until they start to win, and 3) a lot of good non-conference games are network driven and the Hoyas are not a priority for ESPN or Fox at this point because they aren't a TV draw. That the 100th Georgetown-Syracuse game was parked at the ACC Network is all you need to know about where both programs are right now.

[nbhoya]

Keep playing through Sorber.

[calhoya]

Nov 10, 2024 17:31:44 GMT -5 zxhoya said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:59:40 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Have you watched the last two games?

We faced the 281 and 293 ranked KenPom teams. They gave us some adversity but we found a way to overcome and win. Other high major teams blew these teams off of the court. Wait URI is not a high major...

I am done watching Georgetown lose by 40 which is what would happen if you sent this team in November/December against Houston, Rutgers and Alabama.

You are talking crazy.

This is funny but true. ND and Shrewsberry hasn't had to pull themselves up from the depths of high major purgatory like Cooley an GU is having to do and I'm not mad at EC's scheduling this season......next season hopefully will be more in line with high major scheduling.

Completely understand your point and it is a valid reason for scheduling weak opponents during the early part of the season for a team with so many new players. However, it is somewhat of old school thinking and the logic of this approach as a one year necessity for a largely new team only makes sense if Cooley can retain the core of this team for next season. Otherwise we will be starting over again next year and again he will be wanting to schedule weaker opponents to break in another new team. I am afraid that the world of college free agency is going to dictate changes in traditional thinking and with the exception of a few coaches who have the ability to retain players everyone else is going to have to learn to bring their “new team” together very quickly and not sacrifice the quality of the OOC schedule when fans will want to see good matchups in November and not wait for January.

[hibernatinghoyafan]

Please win. Would be amazing to be 8-0 heading to Morgantown

[blueandgray]

This team still needs to gel and a win against ND would give them a lot of confidence. The TCU lost happened at a critical time of the team’s development last year….we need a different trajectory for this team.

[zxhoya]

Nov 10, 2024 21:42:51 GMT -5 calhoya said:

Nov 10, 2024 17:31:44 GMT -5 zxhoya said:

This is funny but true. ND and Shrewsberry hasn't had to pull themselves up from the depths of high major purgatory like Cooley an GU is having to do and I'm not mad at EC's scheduling this season......next season hopefully will be more in line with high major scheduling.

Completely understand your point and it is a valid reason for scheduling weak opponents during the early part of the season for a team with so many new players. However, it is somewhat of old school thinking and the logic of this approach as a one year necessity for a largely new team only makes sense if Cooley can retain the core of this team for next season. Otherwise we will be starting over again next year and again he will be wanting to schedule weaker opponents to break in another new team. I am afraid that the world of college free agency is going to dictate changes in traditional thinking and with the exception of a few coaches who have the ability to retain players everyone else is going to have to learn to bring their “new team” together very quickly and not sacrifice the quality of the OOC schedule when fans will want to see good matchups in November and not wait for January.

It seems one of Cooley's strongest attributes is that of a salesman and convincing very young men in this age of open free agency, to remain at GU, is his biggest task. He's done a good job of recruiting so far, but you have to continually re-recruit your own players as well. Listening to his press conferences, it's plainly clear that that's exactly what's he's doing......fingers crossed.

[MCIGuy]

Nov 10, 2024 16:59:40 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:55:03 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

Have you watched the last two games?

We faced the 281 and 293 ranked KenPom teams. They gave us some adversity but we found a way to overcome and win. Other high major teams blew these teams off of the court. Wait URI is not a high major...

I am done watching Georgetown lose by 40 which is what would happen if you sent this team in November/December against Houston, Rutgers and Alabama.

You are talking crazy.

Coach them up. I don’t think the Maryland Terps are any more talented than the Hoyas and yet they blew both of their cupcake teams away. Why is that?

Last season’s Hoyas? Totally get how they didn’t have much. This season’s version is superior and should not have to squeak out wins. They also need to be better battle-tested going into the BE, even if it means getting a couple of bloody noses in the process. Have you seen the Notre Dame roster? Not exactly full of studs. Hell, we even beat them on their home court last season WITHOUT Epps in our lineup. And we didn’t beat anyone last season. Yet with a freshman guard (practically unheralded coming out of high school) Markus Burton leading the way, the Irish were able to steady themselves to the point that they had a far more respectable showing in the ACC then the Hoyas had in the Big East. And with additions via the portal this season of players no one has ever heard of, Shrewsberry is bold enough to put his troops through a gauntlet. I am not trading the Hoyas roster for the roster on Notre Dame. I think our players are more talented. But maybe I am alone on this. Cooley didn’t seem to have that faith when he moved the start of the series against Maryland back one year and came up with an awful overall schedule. I can understand how some here may not want any part of Alabama after how we looked against Lehigh, but I have seen enough college hoops to know that sometimes the players wake up and rise to the occasion when playing a higher caliber opponent. This is because it makes for a more exciting contest and because they don’t want to be embarrassed. I am not a Cooley basher, I support him. But I cannot get behind this schedule; this isn’t the 80s or 90s anymore. The only way a team can harm itself by losing to a superior team during the early schedule is if the collective confidence on the roster takes a hit. But it’s the coach’s job to instill that confidence back.

[MCIGuy]

Nov 10, 2024 17:57:44 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:55:03 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

I commend Shrewsberry for his scheduling. Like Cooley he is in his second season but he has scheduled Georgetown, Houston, Rutgers, Alabama and Georgia! Perhaps one or two of those games are part of some ACC vs Other Conference showdown. It is still a heck of a schedule nonetheless. I wish Cooley had tried something similar because there is no excuse for this horrible selection of games Gtown has lined up.

Cooley had little choice but to schedule weak coming off a nine win season, for three reasons: 1) he needs wins--a middling start would be pilloried in the press as it relates to Cooley making progress, regardless of outcome, 2) for the second consecutive year Georgetown could not get into a MTE, so the pool of good teams for a single game is diminished. Georgetown was also not selected for the 2025 and 2026 Maui Invitational, so this is a problem going forward until they start to win, and 3) a lot of good non-conference games are network driven and the Hoyas are not a priority for ESPN or Fox at this point because they aren't a TV draw. That the 100th Georgetown-Syracuse game was parked at the ACC Network is all you need to know about where both programs are right now.

Solid argument although #1 is a bit iffy considering the press doesn’t pay any attention to Gtown anyhow.

[seaweed]

Per KenPom this is #66 visiting #97. Will be in da house pulling for the upset!

[calhoya]

Unless and until one of the Hoyas emerges as a legitimate 3 point threat I think every game against a decent to good opponent is going to be a struggle. It is the most glaring hole in this team's overall game. Hoping that there is an answer on this team who has yet to show his shot ability. Based upon two games (admittedly a very small sample) I am encouraged that the Hoyas are capable of defending the three--at least when they are focused and not playing both small guards together.

Against ND (which plays tonight for those who want to watch) the questions will be can the Hoyas clean up the careless TOs, can someone guard the shooters on ND, particularly their coach's kid, and can we present a couple of deep threats on offense to keep ND from packing in the defense around our bigs. Shrewsbury is a good coach (actually he was my choice to replace Ewing--not complaining about Cooley though) and he will not allow us to just feed Sorber or the other bigs on the inside unless we present a threat from deep. Hope these kids spend the week working on their shooting.

[ColumbiaHeightsHoya]

Mack needs to improve his distribution game. His passing has stunk the first two games. If we get anything from him on drive & kick situations even average shooters should be good enough. This was the Brumbaugh game last year. He played well that game. Just have to focus on gelling as a D unit and playing inside out.

[jwp91]

Nov 11, 2024 2:53:15 GMT -5 MCIGuy said:

Nov 10, 2024 16:59:40 GMT -5 jwp91 said:

Have you watched the last two games?

We faced the 281 and 293 ranked KenPom teams. They gave us some adversity but we found a way to overcome and win. Other high major teams blew these teams off of the court. Wait URI is not a high major...

I am done watching Georgetown lose by 40 which is what would happen if you sent this team in November/December against Houston, Rutgers and Alabama.

You are talking crazy.

Coach them up. I don’t think the Maryland Terps are any more talented than the Hoyas and yet they blew both of their cupcake teams away. Why is that?

Last season’s Hoyas? Totally get how they didn’t have much. This season’s version is superior and should not have to squeak out wins. They also need to be better battle-tested going into the BE, even if it means getting a couple of bloody noses in the process. Have you seen the Notre Dame roster? Not exactly full of studs. Hell, we even beat them on their home court last season WITHOUT Epps in our lineup. And we didn’t beat anyone last season. Yet with a freshman guard (practically unheralded coming out of high school) Markus Burton leading the way, the Irish were able to steady themselves to the point that they had a far more respectable showing in the ACC then the Hoyas had in the Big East. And with additions via the portal this season of players no one has ever heard of, Shrewsberry is bold enough to put his troops through a gauntlet. I am not trading the Hoyas roster for the roster on Notre Dame. I think our players are more talented. But maybe I am alone on this. Cooley didn’t seem to have that faith when he moved the start of the series against Maryland back one year and came up with an awful overall schedule. I can understand how some here may not want any part of Alabama after how we looked against Lehigh, but I have seen enough college hoops to know that sometimes the players wake up and rise to the occasion when playing a higher caliber opponent. This is because it makes for a more exciting contest and because they don’t want to be embarrassed. I am not a Cooley basher, I support him. But I cannot get behind this schedule; this isn’t the 80s or 90s anymore. The only way a team can harm itself by losing to a superior team during the early schedule is if the collective confidence on the roster takes a hit. But it’s the coach’s job to instill that confidence back.

Everyone around the program (the players, the coaches, the media, the fans) except for you need the perception of progress and momentum that can carry into the conference season. Notre Dame, WVU, and Syracuse (Ken Pom 66, 75, and 85) will give the team more difficult tests. We will have more than enough challenge in 37 days when we play Creighton and try to avoid losing 75% of our conference matches.

[aristides]

I'm really excited for this game. It will be fascinating to see how Sorber does against quality big men in Njie and Davis. If he has another big game, my optimism may become unbridled.

Mack and Epps have had a slow start. I'd like to see them gel a bit more this game.

I want to see more of Burks. I hope he can stay on the floor more. He has more potential than I expected.

I'm loving Peavy's defense. He provides so much that doesn't show up in the box score.
Can't wait for Saturday!

[SFHoya99]

Nov 10, 2024 21:42:51 GMT -5 calhoya said:

Completely understand your point and it is a valid reason for scheduling weak opponents during the early part of the season for a team with so many new players. However, it is somewhat of old school thinking and the logic of this approach as a one year necessity for a largely new team only makes sense if Cooley can retain the core of this team for next season. Otherwise we will be starting over again next year and again he will be wanting to schedule weaker opponents to break in another new team. I am afraid that the world of college free agency is going to dictate changes in traditional thinking and with the exception of a few coaches who have the ability to retain players everyone else is going to have to learn to bring their “new team” together very quickly and not sacrifice the quality of the OOC schedule when fans will want to see good matchups in November and not wait for January.

There's nothing you've said that's wrong, but also, this seems just such a core reality that I'm not sure there's much point in constantly referring to it.

Georgetown is not in a place to be the big dog of a constant free agency dynamic. We can spend a lot on a coach and have a good NIL stash, but we will never keep up with the NIL of the blue bloods unless we find our own sugar daddy, and I think that's unlikely unless I win powerball. Combine that with the University in general and our recent history, and I think people need to be very real about a couple of things.

1. We won't win a situation where we try to be constantly poaching players and bringing in big transfers every year. Of all the teams trying this, why is Georgetown the winner here? What coach makes this work at all, much less as something lasting? It's a bad long term strategy for us, and if it ends up being the only strategy that wins in college basketball, there's a very good chance we're never good again. I don't mean we can't bring in some quality veteran transfers to supplement the team -- look at Peavy. Or it'd been great to get a veteran shooter. But if we're looking at the big winners being constant turnover and bidding for players like Richardson ... we're going to lose.

2. That leaves our strategy available -- and by the way, so far this looks BETTER than constant reloading -- as development and retention with some supplementing. Look at UConn -- some key transfers, but a developmental core plus some freshmen.

Part of that retention is going to be money. Part of it is culture. Part of it is recruiting players who seem to be more loyal and have goals more aligned with what you can sell.

If Cooley can't pull off #2, we either need to give up or go find someone who can. If it turns out strategy #2 simply can't win, or there's almost no coaches who can do it -- and I'm far from convinced that is true -- then honestly, we might need to pack it up. I suppose there's a coach out there that could turn us into a machine, but man, that path seems super unlikely.