Off Balance?
There are a few statements I can make with relative certainty after the Hoyas loss to the St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, 2/28:
1. The Game was decided in the first half after the Hoyas came out listlessly and sloppily to start the game, and there seemed little anyone could do in the second half to stop the Red Storm, even DSR, whose 29 points could not dent St. John’s early advantage.
2. St. John’s clearly doesn’t [stink, suck, insert word choice here] anymore, and at the same time I don’t believe they beat the Hoyas with superior play, but the Hoyas lost with inferior play, i.e., substandard to what we have seen in some prior games. Credit Coach Steve Lavin for turning the program around with a few good athletes/basketball players. St. John’s faces league bottom dweller Marquette then #6 Villanova in its final two conference games, on the road, with its current 20-9 overall record and 9-7 in conference. Bet they finish 21-10.
3. Yesterday was the last day of February, so conference tournament and post-season tournaments are around the corner. One might say that March Madness, in a loose sense, has begun.
4. The Hoyas aren’t where they want or need to be in this New Season aka March Madness. This is the time when teams want to win games on the road or at least keep them very close and have a chance to win on the road.
Some positive, well meaning fans may rationalize this loss as: “Well, we got them at home, they got us at home” or “We have two games remaining in the conference season and we’ll win at least one” or “We have clinched the first-round bye in the BIG EAST tournament”. Great attitude perhaps, but …
… it all depends on the team’s goals. Without knowing, goals might include everything from, for example, 20 wins, to a conference regular season championship, a conference tournament championship, an NCAA tournament berth (denied last season), a first-round win, that is, in the field of 64, to a Sweet Sixteen. At this point in the season, a few of those potentially remain as viable and one is likely (the tournament berth) but even the latter has not yet been bestowed on the Blue and Gray. At 18-9, 10-6, this is respectable in the BIG EAST as we who drink from the Eastern Well believe we have one of the best heeled basketball conferences in the nation. We will learn The Truth later this month, when our expected 6 BIG BEAST teams in the NCAA tournament face teams from other major and mid-major conferences and outcomes will inform us.
With a game at Butler Tuesday night 3/3 (now #2 in the conference, where the Hoyas once resided) and a final home Senior Day contest with NIT-bound Seton Hall on 3/7, the Hoyas could still potentially finish with 20 regular season wins but not without much stronger play and effort.
Problems in New York: There were several, including the prior mentioned coming out flat in the first half and unable to dig out. The Hoyas were down 11 at the half, 43-32, after St. John’s led by as many as 15 points and were in clear control of the game before a crowd of nearly 14,000 at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The Hoyas had problems at both ends. Offensively, unable to hit short, easy jumpers and convert in the paint, Georgetown finished the game with 37.9% from the field, 37% from the arc and 52.6 (10 for 19) from the free throw line. Even a DSR streak in the second half couldn’t save the Hoyas as they could not stop the Johnnies defensively, especially Phil Greene IV, who scored a career-high 26 points, and Sir’Dominic Pointer, who had a career-high tying 24 points while grabbing 8 rebounds in leading their team to a convincing 81-70 victory. Hoya defense was in short supply, and so were minutes for Josh Smith, who fouled out with 5 points after playing a total of 8 minutes. DSR finished with 29 points and senior Mikael Hopkins, who recently lost his starting role to freshman Isaac Copeland, added 10 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Aaron Bowen, again performing well in a limited reserve role (17 minutes), finished with 8 points on better than 50% shooting overall, and 2 for 3 from the arc. Bowen is one of the Hoyas better athletes and defenders and could have been more effective for the Hoyas in the 23 minutes that he didn’t play.
More Problems: While DSR scored 29, the other 4 starters totaled 19 points. Hopkins (10) and Bowen (8) off the bench scored 18. Problem: Smith, 8 minutes, 5 points, 5 fouls. Freshmen starters Peak, Copeland and reserve White shot 4 for 19 (roughly 25%) for a total of 13 points. The only real surprise was Copeland, who has been playing so well of late, although he grabbed 8 boards. Peak and White have been struggling of late. Aside from a 46 to 39 rebounding advantage, which was not obvious from watching the game, St. John’s bested the Hoyas in every category, with only 7 turnovers to the Hoyas 13, and shooting percentages of 45% from the field, a torrid 50% from the arc and 65.6% from the line, with many more chances (21-32). Much of the heat generated by the Hoyas occurred in the first half when the Hoyas’ Jabril Trawick and St. John’s Chris Obekpa were hit with double technicals after some amped up action fighting for the ball. Trawick also fouled out after only 28 minutes of play, 5 points, 2 boards and 3 turnovers in an uncharacteristic poor showing by the Hoya Ironman.
The Answers: Now that I have pointed out the difficulties the Hoyas faced in New York, stay tuned for The Answers, as proposed by this Blogger.
Well, not this Answer, but we could hope! 🙂
The Red Storm Beat the Hoyas Handily, 81-70, Avenging Prior Loss in DC
Off Balance?
There are a few statements I can make with relative certainty after the Hoyas loss to the St. John’s Red Storm at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, 2/28:
1. The Game was decided in the first half after the Hoyas came out listlessly and sloppily to start the game, and there seemed little anyone could do in the second half to stop the Red Storm, even DSR, whose 29 points could not dent St. John’s early advantage.
2. St. John’s clearly doesn’t [stink, suck, insert word choice here] anymore, and at the same time I don’t believe they beat the Hoyas with superior play, but the Hoyas lost with inferior play, i.e., substandard to what we have seen in some prior games. Credit Coach Steve Lavin for turning the program around with a few good athletes/basketball players. St. John’s faces league bottom dweller Marquette then #6 Villanova in its final two conference games, on the road, with its current 20-9 overall record and 9-7 in conference. Bet they finish 21-10.
3. Yesterday was the last day of February, so conference tournament and post-season tournaments are around the corner. One might say that March Madness, in a loose sense, has begun.
4. The Hoyas aren’t where they want or need to be in this New Season aka March Madness. This is the time when teams want to win games on the road or at least keep them very close and have a chance to win on the road.
Some positive, well meaning fans may rationalize this loss as: “Well, we got them at home, they got us at home” or “We have two games remaining in the conference season and we’ll win at least one” or “We have clinched the first-round bye in the BIG EAST tournament”. Great attitude perhaps, but …
… it all depends on the team’s goals. Without knowing, goals might include everything from, for example, 20 wins, to a conference regular season championship, a conference tournament championship, an NCAA tournament berth (denied last season), a first-round win, that is, in the field of 64, to a Sweet Sixteen. At this point in the season, a few of those potentially remain as viable and one is likely (the tournament berth) but even the latter has not yet been bestowed on the Blue and Gray. At 18-9, 10-6, this is respectable in the BIG EAST as we who drink from the Eastern Well believe we have one of the best heeled basketball conferences in the nation. We will learn The Truth later this month, when our expected 6 BIG BEAST teams in the NCAA tournament face teams from other major and mid-major conferences and outcomes will inform us.
With a game at Butler Tuesday night 3/3 (now #2 in the conference, where the Hoyas once resided) and a final home Senior Day contest with NIT-bound Seton Hall on 3/7, the Hoyas could still potentially finish with 20 regular season wins but not without much stronger play and effort.
Problems in New York: There were several, including the prior mentioned coming out flat in the first half and unable to dig out. The Hoyas were down 11 at the half, 43-32, after St. John’s led by as many as 15 points and were in clear control of the game before a crowd of nearly 14,000 at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The Hoyas had problems at both ends. Offensively, unable to hit short, easy jumpers and convert in the paint, Georgetown finished the game with 37.9% from the field, 37% from the arc and 52.6 (10 for 19) from the free throw line. Even a DSR streak in the second half couldn’t save the Hoyas as they could not stop the Johnnies defensively, especially Phil Greene IV, who scored a career-high 26 points, and Sir’Dominic Pointer, who had a career-high tying 24 points while grabbing 8 rebounds in leading their team to a convincing 81-70 victory. Hoya defense was in short supply, and so were minutes for Josh Smith, who fouled out with 5 points after playing a total of 8 minutes. DSR finished with 29 points and senior Mikael Hopkins, who recently lost his starting role to freshman Isaac Copeland, added 10 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Aaron Bowen, again performing well in a limited reserve role (17 minutes), finished with 8 points on better than 50% shooting overall, and 2 for 3 from the arc. Bowen is one of the Hoyas better athletes and defenders and could have been more effective for the Hoyas in the 23 minutes that he didn’t play.
More Problems: While DSR scored 29, the other 4 starters totaled 19 points. Hopkins (10) and Bowen (8) off the bench scored 18. Problem: Smith, 8 minutes, 5 points, 5 fouls. Freshmen starters Peak, Copeland and reserve White shot 4 for 19 (roughly 25%) for a total of 13 points. The only real surprise was Copeland, who has been playing so well of late, although he grabbed 8 boards. Peak and White have been struggling of late. Aside from a 46 to 39 rebounding advantage, which was not obvious from watching the game, St. John’s bested the Hoyas in every category, with only 7 turnovers to the Hoyas 13, and shooting percentages of 45% from the field, a torrid 50% from the arc and 65.6% from the line, with many more chances (21-32). Much of the heat generated by the Hoyas occurred in the first half when the Hoyas’ Jabril Trawick and St. John’s Chris Obekpa were hit with double technicals after some amped up action fighting for the ball. Trawick also fouled out after only 28 minutes of play, 5 points, 2 boards and 3 turnovers in an uncharacteristic poor showing by the Hoya Ironman.
The Answers: Now that I have pointed out the difficulties the Hoyas faced in New York, stay tuned for The Answers, as proposed by this Blogger.
Well, not this Answer, but we could hope! 🙂