TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 28, 2014 16:26:51 GMT -5
"You really do not wish to debate the manner I which the Obamas have been grabbing with both hands every perk and expensive junket they can get their hands on do you? Say what you will about Republican Presidents, none of them ever freeloaded at taxpayer expense like this crowd." Except that's literally just made up. I've seen this talking point before and it is exactly the kind of thing that makes people cringe a bit in the context of all of a sudden our first black president is an arrogant freeloader (I mean this completely sincerely, I'm not accusing and don't think race plays a roll at all for you, but on many message boards that claim goes hand in hand with food stamp president, Michelle Obama's butt, Obama being a thug, etc...). But back to the actual reality behind all this, is Russia now some existential threat to the United States? Well, after they're done taking the parts of Ukraine they're interested in, what happens when Russia, having received no real push back from their actions in Ukraine, decides to run the same playbook on Estonia, a member of NATO?
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 26, 2014 15:44:45 GMT -5
Wallace was the best 3pt shooter (Hollis is probably underrated here, since he's the only player to make 43% + from behind the arc every season he played).
Otto had the best mid-range jumper.
That being said, I think I'd say the title of best shooter has to go to Austin or DSR. JWall didn't really shoot mid-range shots, and I don't remember him shooting much off the dribble. Hollis wasn't really a mid-range guy either, and he was a horrible free throw shooter (only 67.6% for his career!)
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 21, 2014 20:28:18 GMT -5
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 15, 2014 14:16:48 GMT -5
Not shocked--no institution that hires a man to coach basketball that wears turtlenecks with a suit could be clean
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 14, 2014 15:45:47 GMT -5
My only question is where could he have put in all of this work? Why have we not seen any pics of him in the last two months? Because not everyone wants their business out there like that simple as that He wasn't in DC, correct? That'd obviously help keep things out of the public eye. Then again, it is shocking that nothing leaked from Georgetown. The Hoyas program is a sieve.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 13, 2014 23:57:26 GMT -5
Also might be worth focusing on the militarization of our police. M16s, MRAPs and camo are what you use fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, not what you use to try and keep a protest from turning into a riot. Why is a police force in a town of 21,000 that heavily armed?
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 13, 2014 13:33:05 GMT -5
We have only had 5 guys average more than 6 ppg in each of the past six seasons. JT3's first three teams each had 6 guys score more than 6 ppg, but since the class of 2008 graduated, there have only been 5 Hoyas each year that cracked 6 ppg.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 17:02:45 GMT -5
I just got an invitation as well (though I'm in MN and won't be able to attend)--thought it was worth noting though, since the fact I got an invitation means they're sending them to everyone who donated to the IAC, regardless of amount, so anyone that did donate and wants to attend should get an invitation.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 14:09:39 GMT -5
I don't think there is anybody here who has a personal problem or animus toward Mikael Hopkins. As a person and student athlete, I think he has represented the university well. He's never complained about his role on the team, and he almost always seems to play hard. Aside from fouling, he's also shown he can play good defense. All that being said, he's the worst big man on offense that John Thompson III has ever had given the amount of minutes he has played. That's why he's getting a lot of resistance on this board. I would love it if he suddenly turned the corner this season, but the signs just are not there. As an addendum, Hopkins' O rating the last two years was 92.3 (on 21.3% of possessions), and 82.7 (junior year - on 23.7% of possessions). It's highly abnormal for a big man in John Thompson III's system to use that many possessions with such little offensive ability. I realize Hopkins was forced into that role both in 2013 and 2014, but the blunt fact is that he did not perform on the offensive end and those offensive performances are among the worst of the last 10 years on our team. I never suggested it was anything personal - it doesn't have to be anything personal for someone to see a trend and be inclined to pile on without coming to their own conclusions. Secondly, "worst big man on offense" is subjective, as others have pointed out, because it fails to take into account the Nate Lubicks of the world. I'm just tired of people looking at numbers to tell the whole story. Sure they serve as indicators but basketball is played on the court, not on paper. There are no stats to quantify the parts of the game that determine how much attention is drawn by a player, how much a coach gameplan towards or away from a certain player, and how a role fits into the overall scheme. Players are too often evaluated in a vacuum and different real life circumstances will yield different results even if all the remaining parts remain exactly the same. While he isn't a world beater, he is still better than the picture many have been trying to paint by using his numbers. He has the talent and the coaching and the want-to, there's no point in tempering expectations just because he hasn't reached his potential yet that's not how players get better. And it's mostly all relative even though Jabril is slated to make an impact as a senior I'd argue that a similar case can be made about him and his deficient play. His handle is average, he fouls way too much, he has a limited game off the dribble, not a great jumper, he is about as good a ft shooter as Mikael (slightly better) and is an average passer at best, all that is not to say that he still can't be an effective player. Jabril had an ORTG of 110.2 last year. He shot 51.9% from the floor and scored 9.1 PPG last year. He also looked a lot better from behind the arc after he came back from his jaw injury (and made a higher percentage--he shot 40% on 30 3PT attempts in conference). He obviously has the weaknesses you note, but his weaknesses are nowhere near as bad as Mikael's. If Mikael had played as well as Jabril did last year (especially down the stretch), people wouldn't be arguing with you.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 12:28:14 GMT -5
He's a really bad offensive player that uses 20-25% of the Hoyas possessions. A huge chunk of the atrociously bad offense of the first half of 2012-2013 was because he was playing a large role in the offense. Gunner is the wrong word to describe him, as MCI pointed out, but he wastes a lot of offense possessions (which is just death to a slower paced offense) by forcing shots / turning the ball over while attempting to force shots. He also can't finish around the rim and is a mediocre free throw shooter. And now he fouls a lot. So basically, he turns the offense into a mess and ensures games take forever by being foul prone. Not a lot of positive aspects to his game, honestly--What he brings on defense he more than cancels out by being foul prone and a horrible offensive player. And I understand there weren't a lot of other options last year, but I really, really, really don't want to see Hopkins play that much this year, unless he had the Monstars steal him someone else's game. You're using evidence from how he played during the first half of his sophomore season?? Talk about nitpicking... The only thing different in his game is that his minutes have been reduced (and his rebounding has improved some)
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 12:26:10 GMT -5
The only thing I'll object to is referring to Hopkins as a "gunner". I know many of you like looking at that usage rate info and judging players by it, but how can anyone honestly call any player in III's offense a gunner? I don't care how few minutes he played, the dude averaged a little over 5 shots per game. So it isn't as if he was chucking up shots every other time he touched the ball. If five shots per game makes one a gunner that says more about....well you know where I'm going with this. And frankly as bad as Hopkins was on that usage and efficiency fronts I'll still take him over guys like Nate Lubick who piled up "phony" high efficiency stats over the years by never taking shots unless he found himself underneath the basket with the ball in his hands. No one ever had to guard Lubick because he wanted no part in the burden of scoring. So true MCI. Hopkins at least gave us a chance to put points on the board, though he often missed his shots from close range. In contrast, Lubick for all his value actually hurt the team with his refusal to take the open shot on many occasions. Hopkins has not yet lived up to his potential, and perhaps as a result people have devalued him because the end result has thus far not matched the potential. However, his flaws were much more noticeable because of the lack of depth last year in the 4-5 positions. A full year of Smith and the presence of Whittington and/or Porter would have changed his role completely. Offensive shortcomings would not have been magnified. I think we both want the same thing out of Hopkins--a diminished role on offense where he takes/makes open shots but doesn't try to force anything. I think this year, I'd rather have Lubick from last year than Hopkins from last year, since there are likely to be 4 other guys with offensive skill on the court, unlike last year, but your mileage may vary. One problem Hopkins is going to have playing that role is his trouble finishing open shots. We'll see if he can improve his ability to finish, but Kenner reports were not necessarily encouraging on that front (maybe due to confirmation bias, but I can't say either way).
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 12:20:46 GMT -5
More than that, it doesn't matter what kind of leap Mikael makes, he doesn't provide offensive spacing. So if he's starting along with Josh up front, our offense simply won't work. When he's handling the ball on the perimeter, his defender will sag off and hinder our cutters. Josh won't have room to work on the block, either. With that in mind, I'm praying for Copeland to be good enough to start at the four. With Josh, we need four guys around him who can either shoot the ball, or create with the ball in his hands. Mikael does neither Wait what? With a jumper he can't provide spacing? I know he hasn't taken many and made many during games but he has a respectable jumper, has hit a three or two in an actual Hoya uniform and can take many 4s off the bounce from the perimeter there isn't much more you can ask for in terms of spacing especially from someone who is so effencinve in post-defense despite being much lighter than is usually required. He's 3/12 from behind the arc for his career. And I hope his jumper / ability to take guys off the dribble leads to points this year, which would be a nice change from the past three years.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 12:17:51 GMT -5
I have always been and continue to be dumbfounded by the negativity that surrounds Hopkins. By no means is he a star, and like most players, he has some obvious weaknesses in his game, but his play seems to bother many fans on some deeper level that I will never understand. He's a really bad offensive player that uses 20-25% of the Hoyas possessions. A huge chunk of the atrociously bad offense of the first half of 2012-2013 was because he was playing a large role in the offense. Gunner is the wrong word to describe him, as MCI pointed out, but he wastes a lot of offense possessions (which is just death to a slower paced offense) by forcing shots / turning the ball over while attempting to force shots. He also can't finish around the rim and is a mediocre free throw shooter. And now he fouls a lot. So basically, he turns the offense into a mess and ensures games take forever by being foul prone. Not a lot of positive aspects to his game, honestly--What he brings on defense he more than cancels out by being foul prone and a horrible offensive player. And I understand there weren't a lot of other options last year, but I really, really, really don't want to see Hopkins play that much this year, unless he had the Monstars steal him someone else's game.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 12, 2014 10:19:38 GMT -5
Last year JT3 had no choice. Ok well every situation isn't going to be identical. Part of being a good coach is keeping an open mind. Sims as a junior: 14MPG, 3.6ppg, 57.8%FG%, 3.2 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.1 TOs/game, 100,1 ORTG, 17.4% usage rate Hopkins as a junior: 20 MPG, 6.0 PPG, 42.7% FG%, 4.9 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.6 TOs/game, 92.2 ORTG, 21.1% usage rate Hopkins as a junior was worse offensively than Sims was as a junior. Sims was more efficient, made a much higher percentage of his shots and didn't dominate the ball like Hopkins does. Also, Hopkins stats were worse in conference than his overall stats: 5.5 PPG, 41.7 FG%, 4.9 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.8 turnovers/game, 86.6 ORTG, 20.4% usage rate. There's no reason to think Hopkins as a senior is going to turn into Sims as a senior and there's not a lot of reason to think Hopkins is going to be able to turn into a 5th option that doesn't waste possessions by forcing bad shots and turning the ball over. Gunners like to gun. That all being said, as I feel bad running down Hopkins' game, Hopkins did go from a comically bad rebounder as a sophomore to a mediocre one as a junior, so he has shown some improvement. Maybe he can turn into Nate Lubick offensively (106.5 ORTG, 12.9% usage rate) and play better defense (mainly by continuing to improve on the glass / cutting way down on his fouling), at which point he'd be a useful player, since he'd be converting open opportunities on offense, a good defender and wouldn't be using possessions that would be better used in the hands of DSR/Trawick/Smith/the freshmen.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 5, 2014 12:17:07 GMT -5
Not to pick too much but is Rabb really a true C? More of a PF, no? Either way, he would make us tons better. This is a serious question--can you please explain what the difference is b/w a Center and a PF in terms of their skills / what they are asked to do?
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 5, 2014 10:19:04 GMT -5
Does Hopkins know how to be the 5th scoring option? His usage rate has always been really high--even when he was sitting on the bench a lot in the back half of 2012, he still had a 20% usage rate. When he was on the floor, he used a higher percentage of possessions than any non DSR/Markel player last year, despite having an O-Rating ahead of only Caprio, Domingo and Allen. (For comparison's sake, other 4th/5th options like Hollis in 2011 or PE2 in 06-07 used about 15-16%). I will say he did a much better job on the boards last year after rebounding like a guard that couldn't rebound in 12-13. Maybe he's just playing how coach has him playing in practice....ever think of that? III is well aware of his usage rate and still trusts him with responsibility....tts maybe? Nah. I have more respect for JT3 than to think he wants Mikael to be one of the focuses in the offense, especially considering they tried that in the first half of 2012-2013. That and his usage rate is really high b/c he turns the ball over a lot (I think he led the team in turnover rate the past two years).
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 5, 2014 9:08:42 GMT -5
Starting lineup: DSR Jabril Copeland Hopkins Smith I think Hop starts no matter what. If Josh is fit, Hop becomes a rebounder, defending 4s, and the true fifth scoring option. He can improve enough to be good in that role or at least better than the freshmen out of the gate. If Smith isn't fit, he's our starting center. So Hop it is. Does Hopkins know how to be the 5th scoring option? His usage rate has always been really high--even when he was sitting on the bench a lot in the back half of 2012, he still had a 20% usage rate. When he was on the floor, he used a higher percentage of possessions than any non DSR/Markel player last year, despite having an O-Rating ahead of only Caprio, Domingo and Allen. (For comparison's sake, other 4th/5th options like Hollis in 2011 or PE2 in 06-07 used about 15-16%). I will say he did a much better job on the boards last year after rebounding like a guard that couldn't rebound in 12-13.
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Aug 3, 2014 19:47:44 GMT -5
I havent seen any Kenner, but Peak seems like a good guy to come off the bench for a two reasons--it keeps us from playing three guards and he provides the ability to create offense, which some of us our subs lack (Hopkins, Hayes, Bowen). He seems like he'll be getting a lot of minutes regardless of whether he comes off the bench or starts. There are probably 20-25 non DSR/Jabril minutes at guard, right? so, something like Peak gets 15 at guard (Tre gets 5-10 min) and 5 at SF? Bowen gets 15 at SF, Copeland gets 15 at SF and 5 at PF, White gets 20 at PF, Hopkins gets 15 at PF and spot minutes at C, with Hayes as Smiths primary back up? Does that seem reasonable?
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Jul 30, 2014 11:45:17 GMT -5
That's weird. Pretty sure they play on campus, and I've never been to an on-campus arena that sells beer (even ones that are set up to sell beer at other events).
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TBird41
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Post by TBird41 on Jul 26, 2014 8:57:29 GMT -5
I wonder how long interest in the Big East can last when you are broadcasted on Fox Sports south as opposed ESPN like the AAC. Also having football around helps keep your conference name out there and not only in the winter. I really thought Georgetown would stay in the AAC. It was a banner year for the conference with all the winning done by teams still in the conference. I expect a down year in basketball because all the teams lost a lot of scoring and are replacing it with young talent but should be strong again the following year. Also don't get to distracted by the articles. Guys who scout and have connections with sources that we pay for have said that Skal is Memphis' to lose and literally Ole Miss is trying to thwart it. Pretty sure our tolerance of your Memphis-centric posting is going to be coming to an endpoint soon. You made your points early on and have offered nothing but homerism in every subsequent post. Go away now. Seriously. We even let his comment that Memphis isn't offering any benefits slide.
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