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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Musings on Georgetown-Syracuse

I don’t have a lot of time to post, but I just wanted to say that last night’s thrashing of the Syracuse Orangemen was one of the most enjoyable Georgetown games I can remember. In fact, I think I enjoyed this game more than any that I have seen in person since Roy Hibbert hit that three to beat UConn at home last year.

It was just a thing of beauty. When’s the last time we saw the Hoyas look so unstoppable with their shooting. This year’s iteration of the Blue & Grey has never looked so hot from the floor. Everything about the game was just a lot of fun, from the students chanting “Ni-ki-ta, Ni-ki-ta” as Mescheriakov left the floor after shedding his normal “deer-in-the-headlights” play for two quick and timely threes; to the monster jam from Henry Sims; to the dejected look on the face of the ‘Cuse fans who I had to contend with in the Comcast Sportsnet box (thanks to Behemoth for pulling those tickets).

Just a few quick points:

1.) It was nice to see the Hoyas put together a strong performance in a game where Monroe didn’t do a lot of scoring. His final line (10 points) is misleading. Many of those points came down the stretch when the game was already firmly in hand. Don’t get me wrong, Greg did a lot of other things (i.e., leading the team with 6 assists). It was great, however, to see other players hitting the shots. It will serve us well down the stretch.

2.) The bench was the real story of this game. If you had told me a week ago that the bench would score 29 points against a top 10 team I would have said that you were crazy. Well, it looks like crazy just happened. Not only did the bench produce some points, but they played some valuable minutes, which left our starters looking rested and ready to play down the stretch. In our losses to Pitt and Notre Dame the most apparent problem (to me, anyway) was how absolutely exhausted our starting five looked. Exhausted players = ineffective players. The more the bench develops and is able to spell the starters, the more prepared the Hoyas will be to go the distance against the other elite teams of the Big East.

3.) On a related note, how about the rise of Jason Clark. He’s looked fantastic the last few games. He really is becoming the player that we expected him to be when he came to Georgetown. He scored 12 points last night on 5 for 6 from the field (including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc). He also looked comfortable handling the rock.

4.) The flip side of the rise of Jason Clark is the disappearance of Jessie Sapp. I didn’t expect Jessie to be a star this year, but I feel like he’s fading away. It’s sad. I’ve always enjoyed the energy that Jessie brings to the floor. At times, I feel like you can actually see the boxer in him. Last night he played less time than any other starter (19 minutes) and only scored 2 points -– making him the lowest scorer of the 10 individuals that got playing time. He also had two turnovers. The only bright side was the three steals he picked up.

5.) Did anyone else notice that Hollis Thompson dressed for the game and Byron Jansen did not? Is Byron hurt? Or is there a limit on how many players you can dress for a game? If the answer to that second question is “yes,” did JTIII just choose to dress Thompson instead of Jansen? Why would you do that for a player that isn’t supposed to play this year? I could probably dig around the Hoya Talk boards and find an answer, but if someone can save me the trouble by explaining in a comment it would be much appreciated.

6.) Does this scare anyone else? C’mon just give us one more year!

Anyway, bring on Duke!

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