Upside/downside

[prhoya]

Up:
Roy and Jeff 13/15 FTs
Juniors leading the way
Sapp, Crawford and Egerson producing
Wallace 3/5 from 3s
---
Down:
FG defense
Jeff and Tyler 2/11 from the 3s

[DanMcQ]

UP:

1-0.
Frosh got some run and nobody got hurt.

DOWN:

Frosh clearly need seasoning.
Guards will take some time to get it right.
GUHoyas.com Gametracker a no show.

[GIGAFAN99]

Gametracker and Ewing both. That was the biggest surprise.

Freshmen are freshmen. Not worried about game 1 (though I don't think you leave Rivers in at all in the second half). I think we could have abandoned some of the weird lineups after the first half a little more but hey we won.

Wallace, Sapp, Crawford, Egerson, Green, and Hibbert right now. Hopefully that expands by Big East time but the usual suspects minus Ewing are the core right now. Expect to see a lot of them versus Vandy.

[Nevada Hoya]

Mack was a DNP. Injury?

[sweetness]

How did Crawford look? I know he brings a ton of intangibles, but we need better 3pt shooting to keep the defenses honest. From listening on the radio, Sapp and Egerson both appeared to make big plays when needed.

[rihoya09]

Crawford was eager and willing to shoot the open 3 when he got the look. I thought he did not force anything and took the shots when they were available, unfortunately he did not knock them down though.

[nychoya3]

Yeah, Crawford's box score doesn't tell the tale. All of his shots were "good" shots, and his form looked good. If he continues to do that, he'll shoot over 33% from three on the season and be a very important player for us.

I liked Egerson's second half too. Both Marc and Tyler are very physical players, and I like what they bring.

This was NOT a good game overall, but it was good enough. Our defense will need to improve.

Anyone think Roy was sick or something? He didn't play many minutes, and looked like he was dragging somewhat. Too many missed layups for the big guy, but he's the least of my worries.

[Boz]

Crawford's shot may not have been great today, but I thought is rebounding was outstanding. Box score doesn't have that stat yet, but that was one highlight that stood out to me amid a game of few highlights (Jeff Green's gravity defying dunk notwithstanding).

Just one opinion. Off to drink in memory of Jack Palance.....

Tyler.....you......are my number one..............guy!

[millerj9]

nevadahoya3 said:

Mack was a DNP. Injury?

He warmed up w/ the team and didnt appear to be hurt. I have no idea why Macklin didnt play. Only 3 players didnt get on the court today: Macklin, Sead, and Izzo. [EDIT: Spann didnt see the court either] That is not good company for Macklin to be in.

[millerj9]

boz1 said:

Crawford's shot may not have been great today, but I thought is rebounding was outstanding. Box score doesn't have that stat yet, but that was one highlight that stood out to me amid a game of few highlights (Jeff Green's gravity defying dunk notwithstanding).

Just one opinion. Off to drink in memory of Jack Palance.....

Tyler.....you......are my number one..............guy!

Tyler's rebounding today was outstanding. He was playing much bigger than his 6'3 frame. In the first half, it seemed like he pulled down a ton of boards.

EDITED: the yahoo box score now has all stats. Tyler was the leading rebounder w/ 9 (Green 7, Hibbs, 5, Sapp, 4...)

BTW, guhoyas.com already has a picture and a recap of the game on its site. If i remember correctly, the site wasnt updated as quickly last year. kudos

[LizziebethHoya]

It was a good game, but one I did not want to sit through this early in the season.

Upside: Tyler's rebounding and overall play...I expect big things from him this season. JWal also looked great.

Downside: Jeff and Roy put up the numbers, but there is not much to note. Jeff was amazing...sometimes. At other points in the game, I was wondering where he went. He seemed a bit hesitant. Speaking of hesitant, ROY. He towered over the other team, yet was not playing with force. He was trying to lay the ball in the basket with a soft touch instead of really using strength and putting it in. There was at least 2 or 3 times when he had to shoot the ball 4 or 5 times before it went in.

The frosh and PEJr have work to do. A win's a win, but I hope they get into shape for the next game.

[hoyaboy1]

Spann didn't play either.

Up:

Rebounding and FT shooting

Down:

Pretty much everything else. Hartford packed the box around Roy, and we spent lots of time passing the ball around to no avail, leading Sapp and Crawford to attempt 13 threes. There were a few times where there were huge lanes to the basket, but nobody (I noticed this especially with Sapp) wanted to drive. Egerson and at a few points Green were the only players to show any agression on offense.

I'm really not sure what roles much of the team will fill on offense. Are Sapp and Crawford going to be exclusively spot up 3 point shooters? Is Rivers going to do anything but bring the ball up? Where do Ewing and Macklin fit in?

Obviously we need a lot of work on offense, but it is certainly still really early. I was just hoping to see an adjusted offense, but it looked like the same setup as last year. If we had Cook and Owens today, we probably win by 20 - but Sapp and Crawford shouldn't be playing like Cook and Owens. With time hopefully everyone outside of Wallace, Green and Hibbert find a role in the offense.

[GIGAFAN99]

sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore;_ylt=Ai5QJMwPoDZpu3ZzAskU8hnevbYF?gid=200611110229

Full box is out.

The only big black mark: Tyler 1-8 from downtown.

Now I like confidence, but Tyler should never take 8 threes in a game ever. Nobody on this team should. Especially when he's 2-4 from two and we got good results when he and Marc stayed aggressive. I'm glad he's trying to find his range but he could have done it going 1-4 or 1-5.

Also, not a lot of assists. Need to pass the ball more and not dribble up and jack up a shot.

Other than that, a good box score for an ugly game. 12 turnovers is reasonable for game one. Good rebounding and FT shooting. Need to create more turnovers, but as long as we board and hold onto the ball ourselves, that's not a huge deal. We'll get second chance points that way.

[mapei]

I just posted in the "post-game thread" and pretty much said the same things people are saying in here. I agree with it all, and it's good to see Tyler's rebounding confirmed. He sure seemed to be grabbing them.

The worst was a sequence in the second half when they made a steal to get a basket (I think, or maybe they got a foul and nailed the FTs), after which Rivers panicked while trying to inbound the ball and ended up passing it to a Hartford guy, leading to another basket. In what seemed like an instant they closed a 6-point lead to a 1-pointer. Ugly.

[millerj9]

Up: Attendance (9,654 at today's game according to yahoo vs. 7,526 at last year's home opener against Vandy...more impressive of a increase considering the opponents)

Down: Intensity, 3 pt. % (26.1%), etc.

[hoyaboy1]

Actually, GIGA, we passed a ton and barely dribbled and jacked at all - it's just that we rarely made any pass that advanced the offense. It was mostly just lob the ball around the 3 point line. No cuts either.

Edit - I agree with Lic below that Tyler's shot didn't look great. I thought he was rushing it a lot of the time. Basically, Tyler is a guy who should be playing 15 minutes a game for hustle, rebounding, and defense. We need to be able to generate enough shots that he doesn't need to take anywhere near 8 threes in a game.

[lichoya68]

i love tyler and he hustled and rebounded the leader in that he had like four in the first five minutes but i disagree with his shot it looks sort awkward and not smooth so im not sure hes the three but eggie he hustled and hit a couple of key shot down the stretch and his three shot looked good and smooth hey a win is a win not top ten yet i agree but theyre just getiing going go hoyas beeat whoever is next

[lichoya68]

also agree the offense has got to get more than passing around the perimeter no real cuts no penatration thill the end whenwe pulled away old jesse has got to go to the hoop more hes our best penetrator and jeff tooo i think thats one mans humble opinion go hoaysssssssssssss

[Eurostar]

tyler's 1-8 from 3 was within the flow of the offense i felt. though his form looked better this summer... im not sure why. like hoyaboy said, i think he was rushing it a lot of the time. he needs to keep shooting though because they were leaving him and sapp open... those guys need to get comfortable taking those shots.

[kchoya]

The upside to being ranked to begin the season - we get mentioned on the networks more often and we don't have to watch ESPN News for 20 minutes just to see our score scroll by. The ESPN radio news update this morning mentioned Florida's game last night and mentioned we're opening our season today against Hartford, and that was is for the college b-ball info. Crappy teams don't get that kind of attention.

The downside - we're on the front page of ESPN.com under the headline "No. 8 Hoyas shake off pesky Hartford in opener "