BET Thursday: Hoyas vs. Nova Rubber Match

[GPHoya]

Make Reynolds go left. A little match-up zone to avoid fouls. FOTP's point about blocking calls is very good. Five men rebound the deep misses. Jeff Green plus any two others on offense.

Syracuse, Pitt and Louisville are all more dangerous than Villanova. If we play our game against Villanova, we win. The other three could beat us even if we have a decent day as Pitt has already shown.

Villanova accomplished its mission for this tournament today. We start ours tomorrow.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Go hard at them and make them take fouls. I want to know the name of Nova's 10th man by the end of the game.

[DonkDonk]

williambraskyiii said:

its all about the younnng jeeeeeeezy tomorrow. mark it down. depaul's big ballhandlers penetrated AT WILL against Nova...DaJuan should get an oppty to do the same as long as he keeps the O-ffensive fouls in check. plus he's got a mean streak and is probably Editeded he hasn't been shooting well.

but it comes down to getting big roy the rock early on for a couple message baskets...he wont have nardi trying to teabag him at least.

you're right...and although I'm probably the fifth one on this thread to emphasize it, and the fact that it may be the one constant during our HOT streak of about 3 weeks ago, it was getting Roy the ball early that set the tone. well, that and we couldn't miss 3 pointers.

If any freshman can keep confident play going on the big stage, it will be Young Jeezy.

btw, I'm saying we're still hot, but haven't been playing quite as crisply as we were a few weeks ago.

[YB]

sans Nerdi, I don't think they have a real advantage in the backcourt. I might even take our guards there.

Reynolds is a great one, no doubt. He could put them on his back. But so can Green or Hibbert. If we play our game, we should win- but Nova is a good team, and our guys should respect that.

[hoyatmf]

You know what I hate more than anything ... smugness. How can a team that we beat in their house be so confident? I want to see the Hoyas EMBARASS Nova tomorrow. And there is no reason to FEAR any team out there. After we destroy Nova, I want THE CUSE. And then I want PITT. This is all about serving notice. Somehow despite winning the Big East outright, these opposing fans think they are going to walk all over us. The next three days we are going to let the rest of the Big East know what we all know-Georgetown RUNS the Big East. MSG is OUR HOUSE. Go Hoyas!!!! Instill the FEAR.

[prhoya]

It'll be a great start to our BET run. Shut down Reynolds, rebound and keep the TOs low.

IMO, Dajuan will be a pleasant BET surprise.

[Locker]

I'm dying to see us execute our offense like we regularly did a few weeks ago. It's been too long since we've seen the Georgetown version of the Beautiful Game. Bring back DaJuaninho!

[HoyaSpirit]

I agree fatique should not be a huge factor, though it could be more of a factor than for most teams in that Nova's strength versus us has been the full court press and the half court high intensity pressure d (different than Cuse's zone half court which tends to pack it in more so and apply less pressure). And combine that with Nardi being out, and they might tire in the last 10-15 mins. They will have the edge the first 10-15 from having no rust and having just played on that court for a full game the previous day.

I think frankly regardless of the fatigue we should beat these guys by 10-20 points simply because JT3 has known for several days that we had a 50 percent chance of playing them and the team should be ultra-prepared to:

1. break the full-court press AND go right at them to burn them for easy buckets. the team has had all week to prep for this.

2. if they overplay us in the half-court, then beat your man on the dribble and get a 3 on 2 for an open look. if a guy overplays you, it's not hard to go around him. we should burn them on this.

3. refrain from making needless fouls. do not get into the bonus. otherwise, we're giving them points - even in the single bonus.

4. hit the boards - put your body on a guy to block out

If we do the above, we should win by 15-20 points. If we do even half of the above well, we should win by 5-10. we improved against the full-court press in game two, and that helped us win.

[FrazierFanatic]

bigdog said:

I can't emphasize enough that the seeding means nothing in this game. Take away Sapp's miracle 3 at halftime or JG's huge jumper in the final seconds and we're 0-2 against the team we're playing tomorrow. In Vegas, I don't think we should be more than a 2 points favorite, if that.

In some ways, we might be playing the Big East championship right here in round 2.

Can you tell I'm a nervous wreck about this one?

Take a breath, Dog - we shall thrash them soundly. Mr. Reynolds will be made to look quite human for a change, and Mr. Green and Mr. Hibbert shall have their way. Make your plans for Friday night. So sayeth Frazier.

[njcoach]

Fatigue is not a factor yet. These kids are, what ... 19, 20 years old? They practice hard every single day.

Key on the perimeter defense. Sapp on Reynolds. No easy threes from Sumpter. Win by ten.

[Big Dog]

frazierfanatic said:

bigdog said:

I can't emphasize enough that the seeding means nothing in this game. Take away Sapp's miracle 3 at halftime or JG's huge jumper in the final seconds and we're 0-2 against the team we're playing tomorrow. In Vegas, I don't think we should be more than a 2 points favorite, if that.

In some ways, we might be playing the Big East championship right here in round 2.

Can you tell I'm a nervous wreck about this one?

Take a breath, Dog - we shall thrash them soundly. Mr. Reynolds will be made to look quite human for a change, and Mr. Green and Mr. Hibbert shall have their way. Make your plans for Friday night. So sayeth Frazier.

I guess I just wanted one reasonably easy one as the no. 1 team. But maybe that will be Friday against ND! Ha!

[revsly]

I agree that Nova probably won't be tired playing tomorrow, but I think they may have a more difficult time pressing, at least for an extended time. True, the zone doesn't take as much energy, but running a full court press certainly does. It was something that Nova has had success running against us aswell, made all the more difficult by the lack of mobility by Nardi and possibly Redding. That very well may be an advantage if we can take our time and set up our offense with less pressure. Just my 2 cents

[gujake]

We need to break the press. Everybody who wants Roy to get involved is right, but it's almost impossible to get Roy in rhythm when we can't get into our offense with enough time. I think we might see a lot more of Jeff brining the ball up tomorrow.

[mapei]

Ack, the press - how could I forget?

Oh well, we have to play better than them, that's all. Very tough first-round game, though.

[coloradohoya]

I am glad we're playing Nova. I think it will be really good for us that we won. I think there are definate positives to this game we can think about:
1) We know Nova
2) We know how to beat Nova
3) Sumpter + Reyonolds shot all but two of the shots in the first half. How unbalanced could this team be without Nardi?
4) Nova's tough defensive style is probably the most similar to Syracuse's defensive style, and I think we will be used to the tough D when we play 'Cuse on Friday.
5) Nova is not playing for their tournament lives, whereas DePaul would have been.

Go Hoyas. Let's get it done.

[Highsmith]

Top 5 Things I'd Like To See In This Game (Both for us to win and as positive signs for the rest of the BET and the NCAAs)

1. Tough, effective defense on Reynolds.

2. A fairly significant advantage on the boards.

3. In the neighborhood of 12 TOs or less.

4. At least 4 of the starters in double digits for points.

5. Jessie and DaJuan combining for no worse than 45% shooting from the field and no worse than 35% from 3 pt land.

Sure, I'd love to see us greatly surpass all these goals, but I am trying to be somewhat realistic. The thing that would really make me feel good about the rest of this season is #5. I really think we need at least one of Jessie/DaJuan to play/shoot like they did earlier in the season. It was huge for us to have Wallace and at least one of these guys pretty automatic on open shots, including 3's. Recently, Jessie and DaJuan have not hit many open shots (especially 3's) at all and that has been a big part of our offensive "struggles" (I know we have been far from struggling, but our offense the last 2-3 games has not been what it was in the games right around the WVU win).

This game is the first step to some potentially great things. Let's make it a convincing step!!

[vcjack]

revsly said:

I agree that Nova probably won't be tired playing tomorrow, but I think they may have a more difficult time pressing, at least for an extended time. True, the zone doesn't take as much energy, but running a full court press certainly does. It was something that Nova has had success running against us aswell, made all the more difficult by the lack of mobility by Nardi and possibly Redding. That very well may be an advantage if we can take our time and set up our offense with less pressure. Just my 2 cents

Hey Revs, what are the ND students saying about our potential matchup?

[revsly]

Not sure, just left before it all started, but I think they are pretty confident about playing Cuse again after their first meeting. I'm sure they'd also like revenge against us, but they will be in for a tough one (as will we)

[Highsmith]

Pretty much every possible match-up we could have in the BET tournament has great potential to be a very tough game. The bottom line is that we proved over the course of the season that we are the best team in the conference and I have great confidence that as long as we bring a solid game every time out from here on (i.e. NO MORE GAMES LIKE SU!!!!), we have a tremendous chance at winning. We have many ways to beat other teams and we have shown that many times. As long as they don't all fail us at the same time (again, see the SU game!!), I love our chances against anyone. Let's just take care of business.

[PopeJohn2]

with them depleted a bit we should be able to handle them. our big men should be able to contain sumpter. if nardi is out, this game will hinge entirely upon our ability to contain reynolds. even if we are crappy offensively like we have been the past few games, we should be able to pull it out as long as we are like velcro on reynolds. stick sapp and crawford on him the entire game, use the box-1 and our guards should STOP trying to trap out on the perimeter. it never/rarely leads to a steal and it OFTEN leads to an open 3. net net we probably give 18 points for every turnover we create when we try to double team out on the perimeter.

controlled defense. aggressive in the sense that we react quickly, but no double teaming out on the perimeter please.