Not to Beat a Dead Horse

But I thought this AP article by Joseph White did a good job summarizing what we all reported about Georgetown's position following the Oregon game.

First, J-Wal accurately identifies the major problem with the team:

"We need to stop thinking so much," said Wallace, a junior guard and the only player to have a decent game in Wednesday night's 57-50 loss to the Ducks. "And just relax and play basketball."

And the author accurately explains what a disappointment Hibbert and Green have been (reflecting Ryan and my respective positions nicely):

The losing would be easier to stomach if it were only attributable to the younger players, but the junior frontcourt duo that was supposed to lead Georgetown to its best season in a decade is off to a slow start. Green and Hibbert didn't score a single point between them in the first half of the Oregon game. They finished with nine points on combined 4-for-11 shooting.

Hibbert simply appeared to have an off night. Ducks center Maarty Leunen pushed the limits of contact nearly every time down the court, grabbing Hibbert's jersey and staying physical in the paint. Hibbert's contested 2-footers would bounce on the rim and not fall in.

But Green simply went missing in action for long stretches, a common occurrence this season. He has failed to reach double figures in three of his last four games. He took only two shots in the loss to Old Dominion, four shots in a victory over Fairfield and four shots in the loss to Oregon. He has the talent to take over a game, but he is too often concerned with making the extra pass instead of looking for his shot.

On Thursday, Green pleaded guilty to taking the lessons of being a team player to the extreme.

"That's just me," he said. "By me being myself, it can hurt me just as much as help me."

Green said he has been limited by double teams and foul trouble - he's fouled out twice already this year. He is averaging 10.8 points, close to his average (11.9) from last season, but that team had Brandon Bowman, Ashanti Cook and Darrel Owens on the perimeter to share the scoring load.

Green acknowledged that he needs to assert himself more. His coach wholeheartedly agreed. As Thompson III said earlier this year: "When he's off, more than likely we will be off."

"We've got to get him more touches," the coach said Thursday. "And he has to be more aggressive."

But the most important message from the article may have come from JT2:

Jonathan Wallace was answering question after question about Georgetown's early season struggles when a familiar, booming voice interrupted.

"What month is it?" said John Thompson, the longtime Hoyas coach and father of current coach John Thompson III.

"November," Wallace answered.

"Thank you," said Thompson, who then walked away, having made his point.

There's still a lot of season left. Bring on Duke!

On to happier thoughts....

We are getting the two best players out of Dematha in 2007 and 2008 -- two top 20 recruits, one of whom is a guard. This makes me feel warm inside on this very cold day for Hoyas fans.

Small Consolation

It doesn't take away the sting of last night's wretched performance, but at least it helps me believe that we didn't lose to an absolutely horrible team. SI.com's Luke Winn has listed the Oregon Ducks as number 14 in NCAA Power Rankings.

Oregon Ducks (6-0) If the coach of any Georgetown opponent were to come into a game saying, "We're going to guard 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert with a 6-9 guy all night, and he'll hold Big Roy to four points and zero offensive rebounds," I'd question his sanity. But that's what Ernie Kent did Wednesday at the Verizon Center, putting Maarty Leunen on the Hoyas' center & and it worked. Extremely well. After the Ducks' 57-50 win, Kent said the game plan was a matter of resistance: "Do you go big to match their size? We said no." Point guard Aaron Brooks, who led the way with 15 points, gave props to Leunen's D. "It's all about Maarty," he said. "If he hadn't done that, there's no way we could have won that game." Now, can the Ducks get more than one vote in the next AP Poll?

Calling Jeff Green (and Roy Hibbert)

There is no need to pile on so I will keep this brief.

Tonight's loss was/is a major disappointment and while you can slice it and dice it any number of ways, we are going to lose and continue to lose more games when your two alleged best players (i.e., Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert) combine for 8 points of total offense.

The expectations for Hibbert are obviously high every time he touches the ball and he did not live up to those expectations this evening. But at least he took some shots and made some attempts to go at the basket. I will cut him a little more slack because overall he has been active this season and as of last game his FG% was hovering at nearly 70%. Point is he played...he might not have played well on the offensive end but at least he played.

The real story of this season so far has been a series of uninspired performances by Jeff Green (the Ball St game essentially does not count since this is akin to stealing from the blind). Don't get me wrong....it's not what Jeff is doing on the court, it's what he's not doing. His play, or lack thereof, has made him irrelevant. For many of this season's contests we might as well be playing with 4 men on the court. Until Green decides to wear the mantle of leader and demonstrate that leadership through his play on the court, we will continue to struggle and probably lose more games than we win. For someone who has been hyped as a top-10 NBA pick, he sure isn't playing like it.

This is a pretty simple thing...if Jeff Green (or Roy Hibbert) had a somewhat decent, not great, but decent, game this evening, we win. They didn't and we lost. End of story.

I would love to see these two, especially Green, publicly call themselves out, acknowledge the poor play, and step it up. This does not seem to be too much to ask.

On to Duke!!!

Tonight and next year

Here are a few good articles on the game tonight. Everybody is noting how Sapp and Summers have stepped it up. They will both be key this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801732.html

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-115555-9166r.htm

Also, ESPN has its updating rankings of the class of 2007. Freeman is at #9 and Wright is at #20. Is there any way one of these guys can graduate this semester? What is truly amazing is that only Sead is scheduled to graduate at the end of this year. Theoretically, we could have the entire team we have now, plus Freeman and Wright at this time in 2007. Wow.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/espn150?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fespn150


Update: Freeman dunking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc_us9bmXhw

From Insiders:

"Austin Freeman is a tremendous college prospect because he is physically strong and mentally mature young man. He is a very consistent and efficient player. He is also a very versatile player, because unlike many players today he has a complete game. He can handle, pass, shoot, defend and rebound. Freeman has elite scoring instincts and reminds me of a young Mitch Richmond. One of Austin?s special skills is that he makes every one around him better. He is a winner, has a hi basketball IQ and very good knowledge of the game. He understands his role and is the consummate team player. Freeman knows how to play with and without the ball. Austin is a very strong physical specimen with NBA skills. He should be able to make the adjustment to college very quickly because of physical maturity and versatility. Austin is a smooth perimeter player, and has deceptive quickness with the ball. He penetrates with ease and is adept going both to his right and left. Freeman is a pure scorer. He is an explosive offensive player. Austin has a tremendous mid range game with an excellent shooting touch. His strength allows him to finish in traffic and elevate with the best of them. He will be a go to guy early in his college career. He has lost weight in the past year it has helped his explosiveness. He needs to continue to improve his lateral quickness so that he will be able to defend at the highest level in college."

Oregon Cheat Sheet

I don't know much about Oregon's team this year, other than the fact that they are 5-0. That being said, they have not played the world's toughest schedule so far.

DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
11/10	Lehigh	W 77-65
11/11	Cal State Northridge	W 84-73
11/12	Portland State	W 116-68
11/17	UC-Irvine	W 85-42
11/20	at Rice	W 79-73

The one thing that is clear from Oregon's games thus far, however, is that they are definitely capable of putting up some points. Let's hope our boys are ready to play some tough D.

"Beatable"

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. The team definitely needs to focus on tonight's game against Oregon. But I wanted to briefly comment on this Saturday's big match up against Duke.

I caught the first half of the Duke-Indiana game last night. Duke was up by 12 at the end of the half, but they only ended up winning by 3 (54-51). What I took away from the game, is that this Duke team is infinitely "beatable."

Even when Duke was up big, they looked sloppy -- not at all what you expect from a Coach K team. They definitely have some players that can shoot, but no one looked unstoppable. McRoberts did not have a good game and, in my estimation, Greg Paulus is a disaster. He's supposed to be fully recovered from his foot injury, but he did not look good. That didn't surprise me, because I've always thought his play was questionable. I would take J-Wal (or even Sapp) over him any day.

I was most impressed by junior DeMarcus Nelson. But you have to assume that he hasn't been a big contributor for the Blue Devils the past two seasons for a reason. If GU plays tough defense they can make him a non-factor.

In short, after watching Duke play I feel much better about our ability to go into Cameron and win this game. Now the question becomes whether we actually do it.

P.S. - Florida, on the other hand, looks very impressive. They beat Southern University by 56! Granted, Southern was 0-5 going into the game, but the Gators victory shows that they have that killer instinct. GU needs to learn to put its lesser opponents away in that manner.

Domination

I thought that this was our most impressive performance this season. We showed that we could effectively attack a zone, albeit a weak one, and maintained balanced scoring from a number of players and on a number of different plays.

Here are my player evals:

Hibbert--Very quiet game but had some nice rebounds. The drive and dunk was fantastic. Why the heck couldn't he defend his man? He never even put his arms up. That needs to be a focus for him this week.

Green--Back to form. Dominated the first half.

Sapp--Great game. I love how he drove to the hoop and he hit a 3. He attacks the zone better than any of our other guards.

Wallace--Quiet game. He took a terrible 3 and just wasn't hitting much of anything. He also missed a layup.

Summers--Summers is a stud. He will be a great Hoya. I love his blocking on defense and he has a nice stroke.

Egerson--Nice game. He hit a three and a sweet little mid-range. He is playing with confidence and doesn't seem to be pressing after losing the starting gig.

Ticket--Loved Vernon's dunks. He is still very raw but lightning quick and freakishly athletic. The dunk off of the Egerson miss was incredible.

Pat--The three will only embolden him.

Rivers--He's a players. His 3 looked good and he showed the ability to dribble-drive. Very happy with his game. Evidently, Doc was in the crowd last night.

All in all, a good win and fine tune-up for Oregon. We really still need to step up our defensive intensity. Oregon's guards are going to eat us alive if we don't tighten things up.

I was happy with the student turnout considering they just got back from vacation and are heading into finals ... and this was Ball State.

Articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701616.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701601.html

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-125201-8013r.htm

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-120348-6321r.htm

Update: The Post has a great video with scenes from the game and interviews with the three Thompsons.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/11/28/VI2006112800424.html

Update 2: Another Post video:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/11/28/VI2006112800640.html

Ball State

Great article from the Post over the weekend on the brothers Thompson meeting tomorrow. This has to be a wierd experience for all parties. I just hope we come out and kick some ass. I don't want this coming down to the wire. Anybody else nervous?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500585.html

Paging Mr. Green....

What the heck is going on??? We need Jeff in order to do anything this year. He turned in another lackluster performance against Fairfield. At least, Summers stepped up and carried the team. Rivers, Sapp, and J-Wal also played well. I assume they used the zone to neutralize Roy, though no one on Fairfield is taller than 6'7. Egerson and Ticket got extended PT and reportedly looked good. (Note: Summers got the start over Egerson. JTIII is using him as the zone buster.) I didn't see it but based on the box score here are my thoughts.

1. We need to twist the dagger when we build a lead. We let Fairfield back into the game at the end of the first half.

2. Summers and Ticket are going to live up to their billing sooner rather than later.

3. Rivers is better than we expected him to be.

4. J-Wall is shooting well over 50% from behind the arc. He should take the shot every time it is open. Period.

5. We are still out of sync and not clicking. Jeff needs to get out of his funk. We need to utilize Roy better and clearly our defense is not where it needs to be -- but the trajectory is correct.

Here are some articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112202174.html

http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_4708895

Thoughts on Marquette?

Does anyone have any thoughts on Marquette's victory over Duke?

I see this as bad on two fronts. First, it confirms what I've been saying for months. I think that Marquette is a very dangerous team. I would not be surprised if they finish at the top of the Big East.

Second, an early loss has to make Duke that much more hungry. That doesn't bode well for the Hoya's trip to Cameron.

The Post weighs in

Update on Crawford: Evidently, he is at home in Virginia in the care of his parents. Sounds like he is really sick. I sure hope he gets well soon!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101458.html

Moving forward

Barker once again provides some excellent analysis. This is a lot of what we have been saying. There are three ways to attack the zone (shooting over it, driving through it, or flashing to the elbow). We have opted for doing only what we are worst at (shotting over it). I keep thinking back to how we shredding the Cuse zone last year. Why can't we do that against freakin' ODU?!?!

I also want to echo something that the IPB mentioned -- Jeff Green needs to step up. He is a pre-season All-American. He can control the game against nearly any opponent. No excuses.

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20061121-115333-9704r.htm

The Backtracking Begins

CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish has a humorous look at his earlier pronouncements about how good the Hoyas are in his Monday Look Back column.

While Oral Roberts was upsetting Kansas last week, I was in Nashville watching Georgetown totally dismantle Vanderbilt. So the next day when I spoke with ORU coach Scott Sutton, one of the things he asked was what I thought of Georgetown, because his Golden Eagles play the Hoyas next month.

My response?

I told him Georgetown was big and great, and that the Hoyas might be ranked too low at No. 8. I believed every word. I thought I sounded smart. And then Georgetown went out Sunday and lost to Old Dominion. At home. By double digits.

Note to Scott Sutton: Forget my scouting report.

The Hoyas clearly aren't any of those words I mumbled. Instead, they're merely the lead to the Monday Look Back.

Parrish went on to say this about the GU-ODU game:

Loss to hide from: Let's revisit that Georgetown defeat. The Hoyas were playing Old Dominion at McDonough Arena, a small on-campus facility that served as a comfort zone over the decades. Georgetown had won its past 23 games at McDonough, a streak that stretched back to 1982. Now, that streak is over, and the Hoyas probably can't wait to get back to the Verizon Center. .. or at least Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium.

Ouch!

Today's edition of The Hoya carries the following letter to the editor. It stings, but I'm glad that the editorial board at The Hoya chose to run it. Rather than have you follow a link to read this scathing submission, I decided to post the entire thing. I hope The Hoya doesn't mind.

To the Editor:

As an Old Dominion University alumnus and basketball fan, I want to congratulate the Hoyas on their fine effort Sunday. Your team is really coming together nicely. I particularly commend the superior coaching of John Thompson III. To come within 13 points of the Monarchs, even in your poor excuse for a high school gym, is quite a feat. Your kids really “nutted up” under the intense pressure that the Monarchs brought to bear.

The first time ODU played at McDonough Gymnasium in 1977, Georgetown lost 80-58. So, as the student body leaves campus to celebrate Thanksgiving, keep your chins up. You were well represented on Sunday.

Obviously, the gap has narrowed, and the Big East has become a real competitive conference. Heck, that was illustrated last year when Connecticut took George Mason into overtime. It’s gotten to the point that I believe the Big East’s top teams, on any given night, could defeat the bottom half of the Colonial Athletic Association. This type of parity is good for the game.

Again, thanks for giving ODU your best. Even though the Hoyas would be no more than a “trial horse” in the CAA, they played closely with ODU for 30 minutes. That was just the type of challenge a top conference team needs early in the season to get ready for conference play. If you were in the CAA, you would know what I am talking about.

See you next year in Norfolk.

David Jones

Old Dominion University Class of 1979

Nov. 20, 2006

The Week 3 ESPN/USA Today Poll Is In...

...and the Hoyas' loss to ODU has them dropping 8 spots to number 16.

The new number 8 team is the Duke Blue Devils, which sets up a nice match up in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: The AP poll came out not too long ago. Georgetown faired a bit better there, only dropping to 14.

Click HERE to see all the rankings.

Luke Does It Again

Though SI.com's Luke Winn leaped to the top of my list of favorite columnists for his praise of GU, he stays up there for good sports reporting.


Luke apparently traveled to McDounough for the GU-ODU game and provides an excellent insider's look at the game, as well as some great analysis. Though the game was awful, Winn's reorting is fantastic.

According to Winn, ODU's victory ranks as the second biggest upset of the young season (after Oral Roberts beating #3 Kansas). He also reports that ODU used JTIII's decision to schedule this game at McDounough as motivation. Apparently, the Monarch's showed up at McDounough and were in disbelief that this is where the 8th ranked team in the country, a member of the mighty Big East, played their games. Coach Taylor explained that this was GU's practice gym and that the only two games there this year were against ODU and Winston-Salem. ODU seemed to take this as a slight. Very interesting stuff.

For the rest of Luke Winn's thoughts, check out his College Basketball Blog on SI.com.

The Post Mortem

Here is The Post's take on the Hoyas' embarassing loss to ODU last night.

And while we're at it, here is "the Time Moretem" from The Washington Times.

We Suck

If we can't win a game like that at McDouough we don't deserve to be ranked. Period.

PS - Jeff Green sucks too. 5 PF and 2 pts. Green and Hibbert seemed to have switched brains. With about 4 minutes left in the game Hibbert did not have a single foul and Green had 4. He needs to reexamine his game.

Hoya wins Rhodes

This is good news, as it appears we've begun getting more of these, following what was an extraordinary draught from about 1997 until the early 2000s. (I believe we had 3 in1996.) GU generally gets one Rhodes per year and a Marshall every other year, on average. I would love to see those numbers go up. And I think that offering merit scholarships would go a long way to landing some of the very top students who obtain such honors. (Notice the number of Washington University students who have been winning recently.) I know there is major institutional resistence to such a program but I'd be interested to starting the debate and getting your thoughts on it.

http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=20779