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Saturday, February 05, 2005

Taking Stock

Okay, we we're 7 and 3 in the Big East. When Hoyatalk did a poll at the beginning of the season, it asked how everyone thought we'd do in conference: 1-15, 2-14, 3-13, 4-12, 5-11, 6-10, 7-9, or 8-8. It didn't even have an option to say we'd have a winning season! The majority picked 6-10, btw. This team is just incredible. Tyler Crawford stepped up big tonight. Where did that come from? Winning at the RAC is always a big achievement. Clearly, the fantastic freshman three of Green, Hibbert, and Wallace, have hit some sort of a wall, though. We've played more BE games than any other BE team so hopefully having this week off will allow them to get back into the swing of things. Lord knows, we'll need them down the stretch. We need to win 4 out of the next 6 to guarantee a place in the Dance. 3 wins might do it, but we'd probably be sweating it out without a win or two at MSG. We have three home games (West Virginia, Nova, and Providence) and three away (St.John's, Notre Dame, and UConn) left. These are all winnable. Naturally, West Virginia, Providence, and St.John's are the most winnable, but even UConn doesn't scare me with the way they've been playing.

7 comments:

Diamond_Mike said...

Check out this Rutgers's fan's take on how well-coached our team is. Sounds like what we would have said about other teams last year:

http://rutgers.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=641&tid=48016955&sid=&style=2

Jester of Magellan said...

Thanks for the analysis, Mike. Did you watch the game on ESPN Full Court? I have to say, I'm pretty pumped. I love looking at the Big East standings and seeing 5 top-25 teams surrounding our beloved Hoyas. That being said, we definitely need to come out strong in these games down the stretch. I'm actually pretty scared about both ND and UConn. Both teams have been playing poorly lately and could feel like their backs are against the wall when they play us. They're both good teams (UConn more than ND), and if they really bring it we could be in trouble

Italian Stallion said...

To be honest, the two teams that scare the most are Nova and St. Johns (Johnies have looked tough lately) and Nova is in the same boat as us and looking for some sort of validation on their season. Plus, Nova is always up for a GU game. But, playing them at home I think this ends up being a "W" for GU.

I'm trying to go to the St. John's game, as it would be my first look at this team in person.

Although 3 or 4 of the next 6 is probably most realistic, the prospect of going potentially 13-3 in Big East play isn't fully unreasonable.

Diamond_Mike said...

I listened to it on the radio. I think the next TV game is against Notre Dame on ESPN Classic. People who saw the game on TV in NJ/NY or at the RAC said we looked very good -- much better than the last two games. I'm very happy we have some time off now, though. JTIII needs to have these guys work on beating a press too. In the last two games we almost Eshed it up when the other team started the full court. I agree with you, Mike, in that I think we should be most worried about the teams that have something to play for down the stretch. I was disappointed that West Virginia won for that reason. They're not completely out of it yet. Providence is done; as is St. John's -- although they are never easy in the Garden. Nova and UConn with both be fighting for a tourney bid; and maybe Notre Dame will too, although their season is starting to unravel. Huge meltdown last night on ESPN against Cuse.

Diamond_Mike said...

A satirical piece on Dickie V.'s love of the ACC and Duke:

http://www.thebrushback.com/mikekrzy_full.htm

After listening to him call the Cuse game, I thought this was particularly funny. He's enthusiastic about every team, but somehow he keeps bringing up ACC teams and Duke in particular. He also defended the ACC when it was brought up that the Big East is 6-1 against them this year. He pointed out (correctly) that the ACC teams who fell to the Big East teams are not the very best in the ACC (NC State(3-6), Clemson(2-7), UVA(2-7), VaTech(5-4)). What he didn't mention is that most of the Big East teams that beat them are weak too (St. John's(2-7), Providence(0-8), West Virginia(3-6)) -- GU and BC accounted for two of those wins -- both against Clemson. The ACC's only win was Wake over Providence. So, in evenly matched games (although VaTech is 4th in the ACC!), the Big East is 4-0 against the ACC. When a commentator overlooks something so obvious bias can reasonably be inferred.

Diamond_Mike said...

This is more for Ryan -- where is Ryan?!?!

There is a rumor that Julius Hodge punched Tony Bethel last week. Sounds like the Wolfpack is unraveling.

http://redmen.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=23747

Jester of Magellan said...

As far as the ACC v. Big East comparisons go, I have no doubt that Dick Vitale was inexcusable in his apologetics. That being said, I think it's actually a very interesting comparison. There is no doubt that if you were to compare the leagues as a whole, most of the teams in the Big East are better than the teams in the ACC. But I think there is a strong argument that the teams at the top of the ACC are stronger than the teams at the top of the Big East. Don't get me wrong BC and 'Cuse are good, but I thin UNC, Wake and (gulp) probably Duke are better.