HOYAS-Temple Recap and notes

[FLHoya]

WE ARE: STILL LEARNING

Tonight was the beginning of a new Generation of Hoya basketball. It was a rough beginning on the court. But it was, after all, a beginning. My attitude on this team is not to look for what IS right now, but for what CAN BE in time.

I'm sitting in the student section again this year. I figure as long as Ramell Ross is still (finally?) playing, I can pull off the "5th year senior" thing. My attitude about my fellow student fans is similar to mine on the players: not to look at what WAS, but what CAN BE in time.

Both on the court and in the stands, I saw some things we can build on tonight.

So let me get this statement out of the way: Temple completely outclassed us tonight. Full credit all the way to those guys. One of the "classier" performances against us in some time I might add.

It did seem in a lot of ways that the Hoyas were up against it tonight. For large stretches of the game, our lineup featured three freshman, two of whom were manning the front line defensively. And while I would say both did an admirable job at that, there were mistakes that can be worked on, which I'll point out later.

I might also add that it seemed as though for the vast majority of the game Temple was taller than us at every position. I might call the Center matchup a tie. This clearly caused defensive problems for us, which a check of Mardy Collins' stat line will confirm: 8-12, 5-5 from three.

There are just some days when the other team is shooting the rock well. And boy, we were talking barely any net movement on these shots, much less rim.

Here's what I feel were the key themes tonight:

1. SHOT SELECTION

This goes deeper than the surface judgment that, yes, Temple had a far better shot selection than us. It's really a comment on defense. I think the defense was in fact the culprit in our failing to be competitive most of the game.

We opened up in a 2-3 zone it appeared, and kept it for some time. I cannot recall looking for what we played in the 2nd half. Initially, Temple's success came from ball movement, which set up a number of shots and a number of open lanes to the basket as larger defenders had to rotate out to check a shooter.

The second half saw the worst points of a constant trend throughout the night of failing to stop dribble penetration. The perimeter defense was not at a high enough level tonight, simply. By the latter stages of the second half, we were seeing a full-scale breakdown. The upshot here is that Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert are both overly aggressive defenders when it comes to shot blocking and anything requiring leaping. Allowing penetration as we did summoned our age-old demon of the back-side rebound (Jaron Brown, anyone?).

Wayne Marshall of Temple had a good game with some post moves and face up jumpers. I'm going to tackle that angle in the section on Roy Hibbert below.

Temple, on the other hand, cleary got to us defensively. It was brought up in a different thread that people at the game noted Temple's tight packed zone. It was more than tight packed, it extended out to the perimeter and especially in the second half was giving our guards fits. Lots of double teams in the corner, and a lot of the time you'd see 8 players all clustered near the Hoyas bench. Not the best ball movement set up.

Georgetown committed two shot clock violations in the 2nd half and jacked up numerous off balanced and well-contested shots as a result of the inability to create anything from the Temple defense. And our three point numbers from the second half will attest to that.

2. NO MO

This game ended when the 1st half buzzer went off, as a Temple three pointer banked in to give them a 38-25 lead at the half. I think the front page recap says that ended a 11-0 Temple run. It was a significant one.

What was shocking to me was that at no point in the game did Georgetown mount a serious scoring run. The most consecutive points we scored were 5 twice, once in each half, and 6 in a row in garbage time.

What's more, every time Georgetown made what could be called a "momentum changing play": Roy and Jeff had huge blocked shots, and Jeff threw down an alley-oop from Wallace, Temple ALWAYS came back and went on a mini-run to nullify any momentum. There was NEVER a sense in the second half that a comeback was imminent.

Credit here to Temple, because shot making by their offense was of dagger quality. And the defensive frustration factor is worth nothing--not easy to mount a comeback when you can't get a good shot in 35 seconds.

3. THE GREAT LEARNING CURVE

The offense will be a work in progress all season. I think that's to be expected, and entirely a good thing.

Everyone is likely aware by now that the starting lineup went: Wallace, Cook, Owens, Bowman, Green (as a few people pointed out, we feature the same five jersey numbers in the starting lineup as last year).

The most common lineup featured a combo of Wallace, Reed, and Cook at the guard spots, with Bowman, Green, and Hibbert.

Now people from the other thread want to know what the offense looked like tonight. This is a feeble effort, but I'll try:

The first thing I noticed is how much movement is involved for the big men. Green and Hibbert are moving around a lot. In one variation, the center is spotted at the foul line and provides passing from his position, in the post or otherwise.

You notice the ball moves around a lot more. At the very least, this forces the defense to constantly re-adjust.

The highlight of tonight, and where I think we've got some potential, is the skip pass. Darrell Owens opened the 2004-5 scoring with a 3-pointer off a superb cross court pass from the right-top of the key to the opposite corner that left him wide open and squared to shoot. It happened many times throughout the game, and when you see it work, it's very encouraging and makes you think the offense could give us a serious weapon. We do have a lot of players capable of shooting the 3. Unfortunately, in the first half we missed a lot of open ones, and by the second they weren't so open either.

As for cutting, I notice it mainly in the second half. Ramell Ross in particular I noticed flashing from the top of the key down the lane. I'm not sure we ever fed him that way.

Right now, it's mainly a ball-movement thing as I see it. Working the ball to create an open look.

What I would call things to work on:

1. Not much dribble penetration tonight. I think you've got to be able to create penetration in the lane to give the defense something to worry about other than perimeter passing.

2. Interior presence. This isn't your older brother's Mike Sweetney back to the basket post feed offense. Jeff Green didn't get many opportunities at all to work the post and what Roy did get he worked his butt off for. That's going to be an interesting thing to see develop, whether we're content running it as we did tonight or whether we'll alter for more post play as the game dictates--mind you, Temple's interior size was a huge deterrent.

One final thing I notice was a lot of teaching and talking. JT3 and Burke are both very vocal on the sidelines and are good about instructing during plays and breaks in the action. There is also a ton of on-court communicating coming from the guards. I noticed Wallace in particular is very active in directing his teammates within the offense, which I like to see.

So in the end, it wasn't the most pleasant opening to the season. But hopefully most fans are thinking long-term and see that this is a work in progress. I'm going to highlight below in each player some positives that I think can be built on. Think of the above not as criticisms but observations on where we can improve. Everything I read indicates that the coaching staff has the right outlook and focus with this team, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

(BELOW: Player evals and other observations)

[FLHoya]

PLAYER EVALS (in the order of the box score):

ASHANTI COOK: I'll bet he's tired of seeing Mardy Collins. Mardy had like 5 inches on Ashanti it seemed, and realy did what he wanted to Ashanti on the offensive end. It wasn't the brightest spot, but some days you come across a guy who's just on. Now Ashanti split the point time with Wallace and acquitted himself okay, with 4 assists and 1 turnover. So he led in assists. But I would be just as happy seeing Wallace develop over time into a true point, freeing up Ashanti to set up as a true shooting guard. There's gonna be some games this year, I can fell, when Ashanti's going to get in the zone from behind the arc and drop some 4 for 5 or 6 for 7 games on teams. Tonight it was 2 for 6. I really wish he'd have been able to penetrate from the perimeter more often, as the team needed the spark.

BRANDON BOWMAN: As far as I'm concerned in the offense we run, I give full license to players when they take 3-point jumpers that are open. Unfortunately, Brandon wasn't hitting them. In the first half, he really did miss some wide open ones. Seeing 4-12 shooting and 2 Ast, 3 TOs is going to prompt some cries of "Bad Brandon", and I can't entirely disagree. I do wish we could see more than just 1 FG from inside the arc from him. I hope given smaller players against him, he can get some penetration going, because as awkward as he is, he makes it work somehow, and as long as he doesn't rack up a ton of offensive fouls, he can go for it all he wants. Or a mid-range game, I think that'd go nice.

JONATHAN WALLACE: I saw a little of him at Kenner this summer and I felt he could definitely contribute this year. The "walk-on" tag is kind of ridiculous--we should know to look beyond that b/c of the circumstance. And what do you know he started and got 23 solid minutes of burn, most at the point position. See the above comments on him as a "talker"--I think in this offense that is clearly developing as we speak, having good on-court communication and leadership is going to be key. Nice to see it coming from a freshman. Now looking beyond the 1-5 (1-4 from 3) shooting, I will say he's got the best looking shot and ball arc on the team, it's incredibly pure. His 3-pointer was pretty swell looking. This is someone I hope can develop some consistency as a true point--this will be a longer term process, he is a freshman after all. But I see some potential for a solid 4-year contributor and possibly a solid PG for once.

DARRELL OWENS: Darrell Owens made the first three pointer of the game. And for about the next 30 minutes of the game I cannot recall a single thing about him. This was a puzzling disappearing act--he only played 13 minutes for whatever reason (no one was in foul trouble). And it was one of those moments where he comes off the bench and you go: "Wow, I completely forgot about Darrell being in this game." What's more, he only took one other shot the entire game (two if you count one where he was fouled). I cannot come up with anything to describe this performance, so I appeal to others who may have noticed what was up with Darrell.

Jeff Green--The first thing I noticed about Jeff this summer was his aggressiveness. He can leap out of the building, and he goes after every rebound and block shot with reckless abandon. This is both a strength and a weakness. Defensively, there were a few times when he went for a block and took himself right out of a defensive rebound. But you look at 10 boards, divided evenly between offense and defense, against a bigger frontline, and you've got to be impressed. Now he was 2-8 shooting, one of those being an alley-oop dunk. He missed a couple bunnies off tough offensive boards, seemed off-balance on the putbacks and was leaving them short. One thing I do like was that he got to the line for 10 FTs, clearly a display of his aggressiveness. The problem is it was difficult to establish a post presence for him against Temple's front court, leaving him often to play the hi-post passer. He's working for the points he gets on putbacks and effort. Just a phenomenal energy guy who's got a high ceiling if we can find out how to use him--he can definitely play a few positions, so there's options.

RAY REED: Unfortunately for Reed, he didn't score and had the negative ast to TO ratio. Got caught on a few hand-check fouls as well. Not sure if he's 100% healed or not, but I think he's a vital part of our backcourt depth. You notice on this team that we have far more legitimate options to play every position than last year. There's no more AKD being the first guy off the bench. We can go to five different guys in the backcourt, six if you count Owens.

RAMELL ROSS: It's nice to see him healthy and contributing, really a big bonus for the team. And his 6 points and 4 boards clearly were him making the most of his 15 minutes. What I liked was that he was seemingly the only one making the sharp cuts to the basket and really proving some energy with his movement in the second half. He scored on a fast break and a cut to the rim, and I really enjoyed seeing him out there tonight. You get a guard of his height to contribute frequently and you can cause some serious matchup problems.

TYLER CRAWFORD: A very limited burn in the second half that I can't speak much about.

SEAD DIZDAREVIC: Limited burn in the first half, badly missed a three, but he did handle the ball satisfactorily in the context of the offensive movement. But I don't know if I see him developing into a scoring threat, maybe a stop-gap solution for foul trouble or end-of-half who can knock down shots in a pinch but shouldn't be seen as go-to.

ROY HIBBERT: I think most people tonight were very encouraged with Roy--he seems to be on a faster track than anticipated. He had a 10 reb, 5 off. performance like Green, and they were both active on the boards. Roy got outtipped a few times by Temple's center, so he could have had even more. Offensively was the surprise here--I mean, first of all, he threw down a dunk in traffic, which was something I don't recall seeing in my games at the Kenner League. But he showed an interesting post up game with his slow sky hook thing, which I will now refer to in recaps as "the Constantin Popa" since it reminds me of his hook shot from back in the day. (For you early 1990s Big East fans on the board, rest assured I liked Popa and those Miami teams and I am absolutely NOT making fun of Roy, who I might add shaved his head and in contrast to Popa absolutely has all of his chromosomes in order.)

So Roy showed us some offensive skill above what we expected going in--he was tied for the leading scorer as a matter of fact. Honestly, I was surprised to see him in for so long, I thought it would be a phase-in situation. But the Temple size clearly warranted it.

Here's the rub: at this point in his young career, for every good defensive play Roy makes--a block, a contested shot, etc.--he's going to make 1 or 2 bad ones. He'll get pushed around, outtipped or jumped for rebounds he shouldn't be, blown by. Marshall had his way with Roy for some of the second half and Roy really couldn't do any better than he was. I'm personally excited to see him have a good game, but people shouldn't go nuts in coming weeks if a smaller center scores 15-20 on him, or if he gets outrebounded sometimes. He's young, he's tall, he's a little awkward, it's gonna happen. But he's also made some progress already.

[FLHoya]

NON-GAME OBSERVATIONS

Just as this was the first game of the JT3 era for the team on the court, this was also the first game of the season and the JT3 era for the new student section. Without waxing philosophic--you can go to the Generation Burton stuff for that if you want--I saw some positive signs from the student section and the student fans in general:

--First of all, just by listening to conversations and watching people around the concourse, it was plainly evident that a number of freshman not only showed up, but showed up early. I'm told second-hand of a number of freshman running to the wrong entrance to the MCI Center after exiting the first bus to the arena. But overall the ones I heard were quite enthusiastic, you heard a lot of them talking to other fans about the experience, about how excited they were--THIS is really key. For people who've done this and know the score as it were, it's one thing to get up for the experience at MCI. But the number of freshman who came clearly suggests a solid buzz around campus and a renewed optimism about the program we simply have not seen for some years.

--The sheer number of fans was impressive as well...there were many more fans than at the Holy Cross football game Saturday, don't ya know?

Actually, the bottom level of the student section plus 3 of the 4 "upper" sections were completely full (the fourth was sold/given away to locals). First game attendance typically experiences quite a bump from the novelty factor and a number of other reasons. So we'll see how many turn out for the next game following the holiday. And see how much that buzz about the season carries over time.

--THE KURT SHIRTS. First of all, let me say how weird it was to be standing in the ticket line and then lounging around the student section pre-game and hear GUHoya2007's (real) name come up in conversation about 1,000 times. And the funny thing is, I don't think many of those kids have ever met him. It's interesting how things like this can get around, just an observation. Clearly, he must have done something right or he must have done a lot of PM'ing and IM'ing and emailing this semester about those shirts.

And by the way, HE'S FINE to those of you who are wondering. Uh, you are fine, right Kurt? Come to think of it, I didn't talk to him after the game started and I didn't see him when I left...

There was a very impressive distribution apparatus in place for handing out shirts. Let me say first of all that the majority of people did wear their Kurt shirts. But a number of volunteers had a station set up right inside the student section entrance to hand out more shirts. By the game, I'd say 95% of the section was wearing the same shirt. It looks great, really does. Actually looks better from behind because of all the roman numeral "3"s. The ONLY thing is that gray blends in too well with the existing color scheme of the MCI Center. But we got two colors to work with, and no one's gonna wear hot pink or yellow, so gray it is and gray looks good.

--Another comment about the students that encourages me: we really have a number of great individual fans in our section. It goes beyond the people dressed up and painted. The best people are the ones near the front that start cheers, and they do it consistently throughout the game. It was very encouraging to be down by 20+ but still have people seriously and enthusiastically leading "defense" chants. By that kind of point last year, aside from "Fire Esherick" chants, if people hadn't already left, we'd be treated to the insult-Courtland Freeman show.

And ANYTHING we can do to up the ante on cheering and enthusiasm is a plus.

--There's always a fun dichotomy of course between the die-hards who cheer to the end no matter what and the more jaded types for whom tonight was truly the worst display they'd ever seen. I might add the second category of people are also the ones yelling: "BOX OUT" whether or not that was a relevant point on the given rebound.

--Early candidate for funny moment of the year: one of the timeout contests was that one where we give students 5 seconds to go the length of the court and score a basket but we don't start the clock until they're about 1/3 of the way there. Well, the last girl to do it got to about the three point line, tried to pull up to shoot, and ate it. HARD. Well, more like tripped over herself and went down in a heap. We've come a long way since that kid won the car in the Chevy Scholarship Challenge.

--Your national anthem: why it's Dr. Vincent Kelly of course, still as pleasantly behind the band's playing as always. I always enjoy him.

--A new pre-game GU video made its debut tonight. It's the same highlights as all the other videos, but with a cool new premise, the WE ARE: [INSPIRATIONAL ADJECTIVE DESCRIBING NEXT FEW CLIPS HERE]. We all know how it ends. Actually got a few "We Are Georgetown" and "JT3" chants in there today.

--Cheer sheets came up in discussion this past week. I brought mine home (didn't use it much). Looks like a little newsletter. Hoya Blue letterhead, introduces themselves to new fans, says it's important to learn some cheers that have been important over the years. Gives suggestions for Team Intros, Offense/General Cheers, Defense cheers, and What to do when a foul is committed. I mean it's basic stuff, that if you go to like 3 games you learn on your own, but I am encouraged to see them take the incremental "get EVERYONE on the same first page first" approach rather than "let's think up unfunny insults about other players and pretend we're Duke" approach.

Asks at the bottom who would win in a fight: an Owl or Jack the Bulldog.

The backside has our roster, the lyrics to the FIGHT SONG (thank GOD, I can't believe people don't know that). And the promo about the drawing for the Hawaii trip giveaway.

--Which by the way is, you're supposed to have gotten a little ticket thing. You bring it to the 5(?) games pre-Winter break, and you get it hole-punched. Turn it in after, and they draw for a trip for 2 to Hawaii for that tournament. Here's my question: esp. since the Citadel game is on there and it's on turkey break, could you not just put five hole punches in there yourself? I mean, I could be eligible to win right now.

--Gallery Place, by the way, looks like it's going to be very nice when it's done. I came down early to eat and I walked around where the movie theater is.

--Finally, a shout out to the friends of mine and board members who made it tonight, and to all the GU freshman who came down for their first game. I remember my first trip to the MCI Center, and it was a pretty cool time. Way late in exam period, sprained my ankle and couldn't wear a right shoe, saw a game with over 200 combined points. You're going to enjoy the next four years a lot, and it will become a part of you whether the team returns to prominence sooner or later. I will say to all the fans there tonight and on campus, borrowing from a t-shirt slogan introduced this year for my favorite baseball team: "BE PROUD. BE BRAVE."

Both will serve us all well this season.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Thanks for the recap, FL -- fantastic reporting and analysis, as always!

[YB]

I'd just add a couple highlights:

-the powers that be were very happy with student attendance and participation- keep it up guys!

-the block by Green was SICK. I was standing about 10 feet away. All props.

-The young alum section was full to the gills. This is also a good sign.

-lots of coaching by JT3 all game.

-We need to find ways to get the young alums their t-shirts too; I am owed 2, 2007!

-overall, not as bad a taste as a 19-point loss would normally give one.

[jerseyhoya34]

YB, I know that 007 was selling before the game, but the MCI staff stopped him when the concessions opened up. Maybe we can figure it out so we can bring a box over to the section during the game and sell.

[YB]

Right, agreed. But the young alums were as active and into it as I'd seen.

[jerseyhoya34]

I did notice that over in the young alum section. I think turnout was key in the student section as well, and I was slightly surprised given how some people had already left for the holiday.

I wonder if there may be even higher young alum turnout on Friday given how it is a Friday instead of a Monday. Of course, students will be out of town, save for a few brave HoyaTalkers and locals.

[GUHoya07]

We can now sell shirts inside the arena. So those of you who either have to pick up shirts or buy shirts find us at the Citadel game, we should have a table set up somewhere.

[YB]

I hope to energize the young alums and make them into a real "other" student section in terms of energy. They had good energy and turnout last night.

[DaHoya]

Where is the young alum section, and how do young alums get tickets for it? I was able to get freebies through my office this time around, but if there's a specific section for young alums I'd definitely be interested in buying seats there.

[GUHoya07]

The young alum section is behind the basket opposite the student section. It would be nice to get that place a little rowdy so that the student section and young alum section can work together in creating a better atmosphere at games.

[CAHoya07]

FLHoya said:

--A new pre-game GU video made its debut tonight. It's the same highlights as all the other videos, but with a cool new premise, the WE ARE: [INSPIRATIONAL ADJECTIVE DESCRIBING NEXT FEW CLIPS HERE]. We all know how it ends. Actually got a few "We Are Georgetown" and "JT3" chants in there today.

You know, seeing that highlight video before games still sends chills up my spine every time I see it. Just looking back at our amazing history over the past 20-30 years makes me proud to be a Hoya and motivates me to get the Paranoia started again. ;D

[MCIGuy]

Awesome once again, FLHoya. Always look forward to your reports because of their detail. The "Constantin Popa"! ;D

Cheney, infamously known for being harsh and not so generous towards his big men, commented that Marshall is the best center he has ever had at Temple. So I'm thrilled with Roy's numbers against such a formidable player and huge frontline. Like you I want to temper expectations for Roy this season, I wrote someting about that last month. Nonetheless I have felt for the longest time that Roy gets way too much criticism and has more ability and potential than people give him credit for.

I'm surprised to read that there wasn't much dribble penetration but I'm sure the Hoyas will do more of that as they get adjusted to the offense. When one skips the ball around the perimeter one doesn't just have to shoot it when the ball comes into his hands; one can take advantage of the defense shifting by dribbling and driving. For lengthy guys like Owens and Bowman who can drive all the way and finish or dish once they draw the defense this type of play should be ideal. Bowman admitted afterwards that he did not do enough dribble penetration.

I'm confident that Bowman, Cook, Ross, Owens and Wallace can hit the shots THIS SEASON to make opposing defenses respect the perimeter game. Of course Owens actually has to take a shot. . If any other player ends up as being a solid marksman (Reed, Crawford, sead) it will be an added bonus.

[nodak89]

www.thehoya.com/sports/112304/sports1.cfm

From THE HOYA

I liked the following quote the best...

"Game one of the John Thompson III era provided Hoya fans with hope that the future could be bright.
It also reminded them that there is still a long way to go."

I was very glad to see the story lead with hope.

[1803]

All of the talk seems to be about Hibbert and Green. I did not see the game, so I am just going off of what I hear. It seems to me that all of the reports said that both were aggressive on the glass, and taking the ball to the hoop. That is exactly what we need. We do need our big guys settling for jumpers on the perimeter. My Hibbert jersey has been ordered, and if anyone would like to join me on the bandwagon, feel free.

[nodak89]

1803 said:

All of the talk seems to be about Hibbert and Green. I did not see the game, so I am just going off of what I hear. It seems to me that all of the reports said that both were aggressive on the glass, and taking the ball to the hoop. That is exactly what we need. We do need our big guys settling for jumpers on the perimeter. My Hibbert jersey has been ordered, and if anyone would like to join me on the bandwagon, feel free.

I'm on!!!

55...55...55...55...55...55...55...55...55...55...55...55

[bmartin]

JTIII and staff probably are more concerned about the defense than the offense. The offense will come around as the ball movement gets better and players make quicker decisions and reads. The freshmen are good and will get a lot better.

After watching the game, I will be very surprised if Temple is not the best team in the A-10. Mardy Collins and Wayne Marshall will be tough matchups for any team. Collins broke the game open with his outside shooting, then after Georgetown had to go to man defense, Marshall showed some nifty low-post moves and a soft touch.

From 27-25, Temple had the 11-0 run to end the half on three 3's and two foul shots. Collins made the first three and assisted on the other two. Collins then made a 2 and a 3 on Temple's first two possessions of the 2nd half, to finish a 16-2 run for a 43-27 lead. Once that lead was opened, Thompson had to change his strategy on both ends of the floor to take more risks in order to try to catch up.

[MCIGuy]

After watching the game, I will be very surprised if Temple is not the best team in the A-10. Mardy Collins and Wayne Marshall will be tough matchups for any team.

Collins is a good player and he has been picked to be a First Team All Atlantic Ten player. Still perhaps we are overrating him. He has played well twice against GU but this is a guy last season who shot, as a second or third option, 37.7% from the field and 29% from the three point line. In every important category outside of assist/turnover ratio he put up inferior numbers in an inferior conference during the 2003-2004 season than Bowman did. And yet he was the best player on the floor the other night. Was that just a rare great game for him? Did he have the advantage of being familiar with a system after two years while Brandon has to learn and get comfortable with a whole new one? Great off season development on Collins' part? Terrible D by GU?

If he is that good then you are right about how Temple will surprise some folks.