Bubble watch, PE Jr. on ESPN homepage

[jacko]

Bubble watch article on ESPN's homepage - PE Jr.'s picture is on the ESPN frontpage, at least for now

espn.go.com/

The story:

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/bubblewatch?id=38

"Georgetown [11-5 (1-2), RPI: 54, SOS: 27] More was expected than what the Hoyas have provided thus far, and with a handful of so-so losses, a modest RPI and a 1-4 mark against the RPI Top 50, the Hoyas are far from the lock some perceive them to be. Hoyas only play one more game against a team that's currently ranked, so the chances for wins should be there, but the chance for marquee wins might not be."



I think all of our "winnable" games are very very winnable due to the dip in the of depth of the conference this year, and 2/3 of the coming Cuse, Marquette, and Pitt games could count as "marquee" - my opinion.

[hoyaLS05]

No major problems with their take on the Big East, but a little surprised about how highly they are regarding Notre Dame, although my take on them is probably skewed by our head-to-head matchup, but still, they are NOT one of three teams ahead of a "free-for-all" rest of the pack.

On a seperate and slightly unrelated note, Scottie Reynolds is starting to look prettay prettay prettay good for 'Nova. Still would take Wright tho, no worries.

[TBird41]

Some decent analysis from the 4 letter word, until they finished with this:

Hoyas only play one more game against a team that's currently ranked, so the chances for wins should be there, but the chance for marquee wins might not be.

Beating ranked teams has nothing to do with making the tournament. Beating teams in the top 50 RPI does. That's the kind of info that might be useful.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Five more games against top 50 RPI teams (plus DePaul, who is on the edge of the top 50).

In other good news for the Hoyas resume, Vandy is looking like a tough place to play these days, and the fact that the Hoyas pulled out a win where Alabama and Tennessee could not will be a factor in our favor. Additionally, Michigan is currently 3-1 in conference, and just on the outside of the RPI top 50.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

That said, why should we expect ESPN to pay attention to what actually gets teams in the tournament?

[essex]

Who'da thunk it!! We're in mid January and pundits associate us with the bubble. THE BUBBLE!! Every time I point out the realities posters attach like killer bees....STILL, HERE GOES.....

Our boys just have not cut the mustard. The P offense is so yesterday's news that only a concern for the feelings of JT III keeps it from being a laughing stock.

For the first time in years we have some shooters and now we grind out a slow, slow, slower offense...brag about 0-4 back doors a night...melt under a press...and stifle the natural instincts of real players, real modern-game players with Ivy League nonsense.

Green has gone to hibernation...Roy can go a whole game with 1-2 shots (??First round pick)...the back-court can't handle the P offense (and they probably yearn for a more up-tempo game...and we're "on the bubble."

One thing for sure: we'll claim "young' and all the other adjectival excuses...but what we're really saying is "wait 'till next year"...atr which time they'll be other excuses.

Some of us are simply tired of waiting.

Very DISSAPOINTING SEASON!!!!!

[guru]

essex said:

Who'da thunk it!! We're in mid January and pundits associate us with the bubble. THE BUBBLE!! Every time I point out the realities posters attach like killer bees....STILL, HERE GOES.....

Our boys just have not cut the mustard. The P offense is so yesterday's news that only a concern for the feelings of JT III keeps it from being a laughing stock.

For the first time in years we have some shooters and now we grind out a slow, slow, slower offense...brag about 0-4 back doors a night...melt under a press...and stifle the natural instincts of real players, real modern-game players with Ivy League nonsense.

Green has gone to hibernation...Roy can go a whole game with 1-2 shots (??First round pick)...the back-court can't handle the P offense (and they probably yearn for a more up-tempo game...and we're "on the bubble."

One thing for sure: we'll claim "young' and all the other adjectival excuses...but what we're really saying is "wait 'till next year"...atr which time they'll be other excuses.

Some of us are simply tired of waiting.

Very DISSAPOINTING SEASON!!!!!

Hello? It's mid-January. The only truly disappointing part of the season so far is the home loss to ODU. Otherwise, we've been fine - and we're getting better every game. The pundits only see the W's and L's, they can't see the progress being made with this team. Trust me - we are a top 3 Big East team by season's end and NOBODY will want to play us in the NCAAs, for which we will easily qualify

[SaxaCD]

The growth of Ewing and Summers is a really great sign for the team, and Vernon's play last night was also something to get excited about -- but I think a key for this year's team will be the development of Sapp (love the strong moves to the hoop) and Rivers, since that's the position at which we are currently thinnest. Jeremiah still seems to be too tentative with a lot of his passes, and when he doesn't set himself, his jumper is crazy, but he did some nice things yesterday as well. Love to see a few more "out of hand" games on the positive side to get all the younger guys more experience.

[hoyatmf]

Essex and Others Who are Hitting the Panic Button,

I think you all are lacking a whole lot of perspective. JT III is in the middle of his third year. In that time, he has taken us to the Sweet Sixteen and recruited players that we could not have dreamed of getting under Esherick. Maybe his early success set the bar too high. I think some might be happier with his progression if we had not made such a great run last year. I am concerned with a lot of the same issues (1) perimeter defense (2) guard play (3) the effectiveness of the Princeton Offense-especially when we are losing by a big margin a la Duke. Still, our season is not lost and we can still win every game left on our shcedule, and I would not be terribly surprised if we did. I mean look at Pomeroy's predictions. Do you really think we are going to lose more than three more conference games? I dont't (knock on wood). No one is commending JT III on how we have seemlessly moved on from Marc's departure from the team. There are a lot of things he is doing right. And of course III is not above criticism, but I think we should keep it in perspective. We were kind of overrated to begin the season and this stretch will hopefully help us rebound from a frustrating loss at home to Villanova. I ahve no doubts that we will be a tourney lock when it matters. Go Hoyas! Beat the Hall!

[Boz]

Another note for the panic-stricken:

There mere fact that ESPN lists ND as a tourney lock right now shows, in my opinion, that they are just wildly guessing right along with everyone else.

The annual ND slide, which I am happy to say we initiated, gained some serious momentum last night. I'm waiting for www.firemikebrey.com to get up and running. It'll happen within the next couple of weeks.

I thought Bob Wenzel had it closest last night when he mentioned that early conference records are no indication of where these teams are going to end up, they are more an indication of who and where teams have played their first few games.

This doesn't changed the fact that the Villanova loss was abyssmal, both for the players and the coaches, and it doesn't change the fact that the Hoyas haven't left themselves a lot of wiggle room with more early losses than expected.

But to jump from a couple of bad games to "this offense just doesn't work" is kind of like jumping from "mmm, this is good hummus" to "death to America!"

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Especially when this offense is the third most effective in the nation, from a % standpoint.

[Filo]

essex said:

Who'da thunk it!! We're in mid January and pundits associate us with the bubble. THE BUBBLE!! Every time I point out the realities posters attach like killer bees....STILL, HERE GOES.....

Our boys just have not cut the mustard. The P offense is so yesterday's news that only a concern for the feelings of JT III keeps it from being a laughing stock.

For the first time in years we have some shooters and now we grind out a slow, slow, slower offense...brag about 0-4 back doors a night...melt under a press...and stifle the natural instincts of real players, real modern-game players with Ivy League nonsense.

Green has gone to hibernation...Roy can go a whole game with 1-2 shots (??First round pick)...the back-court can't handle the P offense (and they probably yearn for a more up-tempo game...and we're "on the bubble."

One thing for sure: we'll claim "young' and all the other adjectival excuses...but what we're really saying is "wait 'till next year"...atr which time they'll be other excuses.

Some of us are simply tired of waiting.

Very DISSAPOINTING SEASON!!!!!

Seriously, I think you just trying to make this a "me against the world" thing. Do you really think you are getting attacked like killer bees around here? If so, your must be missing a couple of layers of skins.

Anyway, are you even following the team closely and watching the games? Based on your complaints, I have my doubts...

[HealyHoya]

Come on, Vandy beats Alabama, 'Nova beats ND, we beat Rutgers and if we win games we should win, we're 16-5/17-5 by the second week of February. But none of this (bracketology, bubble teams, my post) really matter...beat Seton Hall and the seeding "issue" will take care of itself.

[Locker]

We probably have one of the top three or four most efficient half-court offenses in the nation. Someone's gonna need to do a better job of explaining exactly how the stuff we run in the half-court offense is holding the Hoyas back.

Stats don't mean everything, but they are a lot more helpful than bald assertions by anonymous message board posters.

[SFHoya99]

Buzz.

[FromTheBeginning]

The only stat that concerns me and needs to be addressed immediately is the turnovers, especially the unforced, sloppy ones. Clean that up, prorate the extra shots with the shooting % and you add 8-10 points per game.

[FOTP]

Talk to me about bubbles at the end of February. This is ridiculous.

We're ok right now (not great) and have a chance to improve as the season goes along.

Let's just win the games we should and all will be fine.

[SaxaCD]

fromthebeginning said:

The only stat that concerns me and needs to be addressed immediately is the turnovers, especially the unforced, sloppy ones. Clean that up, prorate the extra shots with the shooting % and you add 8-10 points per game.

Bingo! The offense has been excellent minus the horrible TOs, and the defense has been improving. This team would be justifying it's early ranking with better care of the ball. The Hoyas are thin at guard, so it's going to be a concern all year, but that doesn't excuse the many many unforced turnovers. Iron out that kink, and the Hoyas are a whole lot of trouble for everybody still on our schedule.

[hoyaboy1]

fromthebeginning said:

The only stat that concerns me and needs to be addressed immediately is the turnovers, especially the unforced, sloppy ones. Clean that up, prorate the extra shots with the shooting % and you add 8-10 points per game.

Turnovers and forcing turnovers are our two biggest weaknesses.

Rebounding has also been surprisingly mediocre - we are around 50th in offensive and defensive rebounding. I was expecting a lot more.

[YB]

We're the third best shooting team in all of CBB. I say, let the guys improve and hold out judgement yet. They need to improve D and rebounding- let's see what they come up with.

See ya at SHU.