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Post by JohnJacquesLayup on Jan 8, 2007 22:20:29 GMT -5
4 LOSSES AND WE'VE NEVER BEEN LOSING AT HALFTIME. 6 POINTS AT HALFTIME, STRETCHED TO 9 EARLY AND WE BLOW IT.
OPPONENTS MAKE ADJUSTMENTS, WE DON'T.
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Locker
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,265
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Post by Locker on Jan 8, 2007 22:25:56 GMT -5
This team is the king of the brain-fart game, dating back to last year. This was really ugly tonight -- a very bad loss.
On the plus side, the Hoyas tend to look like world-beaters the next time out. We beat ourselves tonight, and I won't be surprised if we run Pitt on Saturday.
But still: ugh.
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Jan 8, 2007 22:26:11 GMT -5
we played scared....end of story
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Highsmith
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,490
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Post by Highsmith on Jan 8, 2007 22:26:12 GMT -5
Our defense continued, however I don't think I have seen a team this clueless on how to break a press in a long time. It was exactly the same time after time after time.......why the continual passes backwards when you are so close to the line and could dribble or pass it over.......why no cutters to the middle to turn and pass to the wing and get some 2 on 1's or 3 on 2's.........why was there no one willing to attack the pressure with the dribble- all of those options were there and we rarely did any of them. There had better be some 2-3 hour practices solely devoted to breaking the press (not to mention shooting free throws). This game tape will be playing in Pitt's locker room from now until Saturday......you can bet they will press us like a wrinkled shirt all game long.
I feared the letdown, but I didn't think we would just be plain old inept......the energy was there- we were just completely baffled by Nova's pressure. I don't think we got more than one basket breaking the press, if that......how frustrating to watch the exact same thing beat us over and over!!! Either Bilas or Raftery mentioned how us taking close to 10 seconds to bring the ball over every time (when we didn't have a TO) was completely taking us out of our rhythm on the offensive set.....this really seemed to be true- we didn't have time to run the offense and got a lot of rushed shots and Nova just kept up the pressure the whole way. We absolutely need to regroup and BEAT PITT!!!! OK, I think I have vented enough that I can go to bed.....OK, maybe just a little more..... LEARN HOW TO BREAK A BASIC PRESS.....PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Jan 8, 2007 22:29:12 GMT -5
maybe we don't have the personell to break pressure......as good as jon is, he's not that explosive one-man press break this team needed tonight. Jeff, as good a ballhandler he is, can't break pressure by himself either.
two things killed us tonight.
1) we needed that quick, explosive point guard that we won't have until next season. 2) we needed to attack the pressure and make them pay once the ball passed half-court. we never even did that once.
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Highsmith
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,490
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Post by Highsmith on Jan 8, 2007 22:30:59 GMT -5
You don't need explosive guards to break pressure, you need quick, crisp passing and guys coming to the ball. I lost count of how many floaters we threw all the way across the floor that got picked off by Nardi and crew.
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Post by guhoyasfan36 on Jan 8, 2007 22:33:53 GMT -5
NOTE TO COACH: Get ball to middle of court and reverse downcourt. Press is now broken. Set up offensive Stand around perimeter 40 foot from basket making sure not to pass inside to man posting up with really good position Let shot clock run down to a second Heave shot up and Repeat
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Post by daytonahoya31 on Jan 8, 2007 22:34:00 GMT -5
Highsmith
I see what you're saying....but you also need that one guy capable of breaking pressure by himself....and that's where jon's lacking....nova's pressure only looked tough....it wasn't.....a great guard can break a 1-2-2 by himself...but I do understand what you're saying
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RDF
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by RDF on Jan 8, 2007 22:37:53 GMT -5
Good hustle and grit--but TERRIBLE BASKETBALL. How do you not attack pressure or change what you do when it's obviously not working? This game was there to not only win--but win easily and this is a very, very, very, BAD LOSS--credit Nova for the grit, taking fight to GU and stepping up at key moments but this is worst I've seen Hoyas outcoached since III took over--really a poor job and the staff better get things worked out soon because you are going to see this type of pressure from here on out--and it's okay to have some mistakes--but make them going FORWARD AND ATTACKING and not retreating and playing tenative.
Miserable loss at home against a mediocre team and if the guards can't handle the pressure/ball and push it into frontcourt--then it's not going to be a very successful year in Big East. Don't get me wrong EVERYONE contributed to the misery but the guard play, sloppy passing, and atrocious care of basketball was at an all time low.
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Highsmith
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,490
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Post by Highsmith on Jan 8, 2007 22:42:04 GMT -5
Good hustle and grit--but TERRIBLE BASKETBALL. How do you not attack pressure or change what you do when it's obviously not working? This game was there to not only win--but win easily and this is a very, very, very, BAD LOSS--credit Nova for the grit, taking fight to GU and stepping up at key moments but this is worst I've seen Hoyas outcoached since III took over--really a poor job and the staff better get things worked out soon because you are going to see this type of pressure from here on out--and it's okay to have some mistakes--but make them going FORWARD AND ATTACKING and not retreating and playing tenative. Miserable loss at home against a mediocre team and if the guards can't handle the pressure/ball and push it into frontcourt--then it's not going to be a very successful year in Big East. Don't get me wrong EVERYONE contributed to the misery but the guard play, sloppy passing, and atrocious care of basketball was at an all time low. Agreed- I never knew the "ephus" pass or the "LaLob" if you prefer would ever be seen so much in a basketball game.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jan 8, 2007 22:57:49 GMT -5
Several good points already brought up. I'll offer a few more and re-iterate others:
1) FT shooting down the stretch played a huge role. Wallace missed the front end of a 1 and 1, and Roy missed at least 3 in the final minutes of the game. Shane Clark was 4-4 in the final minute of the game. There's the margin of victory.
2) I thought game was poorly officiated on both ends all night. Particularly egregious were Sapp being elbowed by Cunningham and being called for a blocking foul, and the 2-3 times we didn't get across the timeline in under 10 seconds. Lots of ticky tack fouls on the perimeter all night. That's not BE basketball, and the crew has to realize conference play has started.
3) Anyone else remember the BC game at Conte two years ago when we had like 10 points at half? Today was very similar to that: no player movement on offense, taking bad shots with the shot clock winding down, etc. The only difference is now we have guys like Summers, Ewing, and Macklin who will bring energy (if not consistency) to make things happen. But, the fact that we have guys like that now brings me to my next point:
4) Coaching staff deserves an F for tonight. This isn't the '04-'05 team with a scared frosh trio of JW, JG, and RH with absolutely no supporting cast. There is no reason the press should have bothered us to the extent it did today. At the VERY LEAST, an adjustment should have been made at halftime to deal with the pressure. It is very hard to run our offense with a 20 second shot clock, and 'Nova was very smart in knowing that and executing their defensive game plan. I've read several people saying JW can't break a press dribbling by himself. He can't, but I'm sure Sapp has enough speed to do so. Let him break the press. And there were several times when JG had the ball right by the timeline and he could have literally taken one dribble and gotten across. DO IT!
5) One more thought about the press: there is no doubt in my mind teams with above average or better speed (like Marquette, UConn, Nova again, etc.) will see tape of this and attempt to throw us out of sync on offense with full court pressure in the future. If we don't figure out a way to break the press consistently and efficiently (meaning making the opponent pay for the pressure by creating easy shots in transition), we are going to be in a world of trouble in all of those games.
6) I don't care what Pomeroy's stats say in this case... turnovers are killing us. This team does not value the ball, and as DFW pointed out in the chat, it is extremely difficult to win when you are not even getting up FG attempts. The fact we were up 6 at half after committing 13 TOs was a miracle in itself, and it just caught up to us later in the game when Nova decided they were going to finally hit a few perimeter shots.
7) Our defensive rebounding tonight was atrocious. We gave up so many second chance opportunities it was sickening. Nova was far more tenacious on the glass and quicker to loose balls than we were tonight. Fatigue is not an excuse because they played on Saturday too and had to travel for this game. Big negative here.
8) Another problem I had with the coaching: if you see that Roy just doesn't have it tonight (out of rhythm, couldn't get the ball to him with a shortened shot clock), take him out and put in an extra ball handler! Why leave him in there in crunch time when he's not going to do anything. I would've rather seen us go small and put Crawford in there to alleviate some of the pressure due to the press. Look, I'm not saying Roy is a bad player and needs to be benched, but if he is ineffective, you need to sit him and figure out a way to stop the #1 thing that was killing us all game, that being the Nova full court pressure. Again, another adjustment that should have been (but wasn't) made.
9) We respond so poorly after losing a lead. I have no idea why, but it seems once we give up the lead, we never regain it. Happened against Oregon. And Duke. And tonight. Team needs to get mentally tougher down the stretch of games. You would've thought that we had enough guys on the squad who had "been through the wars" of last year and were experienced enough to deal with adverse situations. But that just hasn't been the case this year. I said it in chat, and I'll say it again: great teams find a way to win without playing their best, and we are not a great team yet because we can't steal wins when we don't deserve to come out with a W.
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mapei
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,089
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Post by mapei on Jan 8, 2007 23:02:33 GMT -5
It was godawful. I agree with all the comments about the press. We just. Didn't. Have. A. Clue on offense in this game. How many inept passarounds leading to a jacked up airball as the shot clock expired? How many hideous passes leading to turnovers? We *tried* to pass it down low, but the passes were picked off time after time. Jeff was awful, Roy invisible, Jon at least was mixed. Summers, god bless him, came to play. Man I hate this "offense" when it isn't working and we don't have a plan B. To add insult to injury, section 110 was FULL of vociferous Villanova fans. What the hell? My SO and I were surrounded in row P - two to our immediate right, four to our immediate left, and two right behind us, one of whom clearly had a testosterone imbalance. It was humiliating. My worst Hoya fan experience since I bought season tickets last year.
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FormerHoya
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Post by FormerHoya on Jan 8, 2007 23:03:04 GMT -5
Tonight was Mrs. Formerhoya's first game (televised or otherwise) in this season.
I might have trouble convincing her that this is a good way to spend our evenings. On the plus side, with her high school basketball experience she was able to tell JTIII the proper way to break a press.
There was no urgency in breaking the press, and the passing was atrocious the entire game.
I'm disgusted.
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Post by guhoyasfan36 on Jan 8, 2007 23:05:07 GMT -5
I agree with Rockaway on his final point in that we are terrible when we get down. Escpecially because we slow the game down way to much to do any good. The more possesions we can get the more chances to score, the easier to get back in a game. But thats not the way of the JTIII Princeton(worthless) offense.
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Filo
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Post by Filo on Jan 8, 2007 23:10:33 GMT -5
Any ideas why TC only played 6 minutes?
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mapei
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mapei on Jan 8, 2007 23:11:27 GMT -5
One more thing: I absolutely cringe when Rivers is in the game. Somebody in another thread observed that he is in over his head. Good call.
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Post by chinatownfanclub on Jan 8, 2007 23:15:07 GMT -5
Very disappointing loss tonight. Here are the things that really stood out to me
1) There was WAY too much standing around on the offensive end. No movement. No back door cuts. We chucked up too many shots at the end of the shot clock. Coaching staff put out some atrocious offensive lineups out there including a 2 min stretch w/ Jonathan, Rivers, Ewing, Crawford, and Big Ticket. Its a little late in the season not to recognize who your offensive players are.
2) The press breaker was atrocious. Its not very hard to break a press breaker if you put the 7'2'' or even the 6'9'' guy at half court w/ 2 wing guys for him to throw the ball to over half court. Instead we kept three guys behind half court and (usually) Dajuan on one wing and Roy in the paint. It was only when the shot clock reached 27 or 26 that Roy would finally flash to the middle. We have too many athletes not to exploit a press like that. Coaching staff gets and F- for not making that adjustment. We tried to run the same press against Nova and they had a big man flash to the middle and broke it for a jump shot no sweat. Needless to say we didn't run the press again.
3) This season has the makings of Sweetney's sophomore year when we either blew out teams or lost close games. We lack the guard to create his own shot at the end of the shot clock... or game (Ashanti... we miss you). Instead, when we were down by 2 points, we tried to force an entry pass to Roy (who was defensed well all night). Turnover... game over.
4) Jerry... your teammates wear gray at home.
5) At least Florida is proving that Big Ten football was a total fraud this year.
6) I hope we blow out Pitt on Saturday.
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RDF
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 8,835
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Post by RDF on Jan 8, 2007 23:15:43 GMT -5
How sad is it that in a tough Big East game--your FR--Summers and Macklin and PE JR were the ones to have us even competitively close? If not for those 3 kids--GU would've lost by 20 tonight and might not have scored 35 points.
Bilas and Raf were PLEADING with Hoyas to ATTACK and this is exactly the same misery I saw in 2nd Half against Duke--albeit tonight was an all time low for me as a Hoya fan. To lose isn't bad. To be so disgustingly WEAK with ball and NOT ADJUST to what your opponent is doing is inexcusable.
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CO_Hoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by CO_Hoya on Jan 8, 2007 23:16:35 GMT -5
6) I don't care what Pomeroy's stats say in this case... turnovers are killing us. This team does not value the ball, and as DFW pointed out in the chat, it is extremely difficult to win when you are not even getting up FG attempts. The fact we were up 6 at half after committing 13 TOs was a miracle in itself, and it just caught up to us later in the game when Nova decided they were going to finally hit a few perimeter shots. Actually, Pomeroy's stats say exactly that - TO's are killing this team. SFHoya99 had a post about it earlier today.
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mapei
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by mapei on Jan 8, 2007 23:18:23 GMT -5
I didn't notice that PE2 was particularly noteworthy tonight. Summers and Macklin, yes.
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