Georgetown Game Thread

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Originally Posted by OTRMUSKIE

Kentucky Jelly starting to earn his nickname. Other then that, same ole crap. Can’t shoot, not discipline on shot selection, naji playing street ball at times. I feel so bad for Q, I hope he can play again and turn things around. You don’t have to shoot just set up the players for good shots. I just don’t see how this team can go 8-6 rest of way to get a PIG. 9-5 would prob be enough to not be PIG. Saturday will be telling as to how we will finish down the stretch. I hope I’m wrong but this game tonight wasn’t any indication of this team turning it around.

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Were you at the game? This team came out with way more energy. The crowd had more energy. I saw a different team out there tonight.

I can't argue that the weaknesses, we have seen so far this year, went away. This is still not a great shooting team and missed free throws down the stretch helped make for the finish shaky. But our guys hustled. They didn't (always) settle for the three and played solid defense. Honestly, I saw enough of a difference in the play of this team that I'd have been positive even if they had lost. Q shouldn't bear the blame for the disappointment this season but as others have noted, tonight his absence from the lineup was a positive. Others stepped up with more energy and better teamwork. I still think we will need Q but probably not as a starter and, I hope to see a different attitude from him if and when he does play again.

Is this the team we thought they were before the season started? No. that team probably never existed outside of our collective hopes. But, it was a better team tonight than we have seen for awhile. I hope they keep it up.

Whether this is a cover excuse or not, but Steele just said that the reason Q didn’t play was because he “Tweaked his knee” in pregame.
Uhhh, OK?? Welp....

Much improved D & rebounding. 25 three attempts still too many for my liking, especially with several bad selections. Tandy a big plus to the offense but I sure hope he learns how to guard someone. Paul will shoot better. All in all, a good night.

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Originally Posted by Masterofreality

Whether this is a cover excuse or not, but Steele just said that the reason Q didn’t play was because he “Tweaked his knee” in pregame.
Uhhh, OK?? Welp....

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Another conspiracy ?

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Originally Posted by Masterofreality

Whether this is a cover excuse or not, but Steele just said that the reason Q didn’t play was because he “Tweaked his knee” in pregame.
Uhhh, OK?? Welp....

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So, is that the Xavier Way or the Butler Way?

I watch the game and other then defense it was the same
Ole crap. 25 3’s for a team who can’t shoot 3’s is insane. When we focused on shooting 2’s we were so much better. Cut down the 3’s to 12 attempts and you will be much more effective. But for anybody to say they say a major difference tonight then you’re wearing blue lenses.

I thought the effort was consistently there, which is an improvement. Unfortunately, the team's shortcomings didn't just magically disappear.

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Originally Posted by Masterofreality

Whether this is a cover excuse or not, but Steele just said that the reason Q didn’t play was because he “Tweaked his knee” in pregame.
Uhhh, OK?? Welp....

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For the record I had this quote at 7:16pm in this thread... I should have put “BREAKING NEWS” in front of it. Damn. Further proof the coaching staff reads the board during the game for advice.

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Originally Posted by xu82

Does anyone else want to punch McClung in the face? He’s their JP.

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does this need to be said about every white player? it couldn't be more annoying

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Originally Posted by SM#24

Much improved D & rebounding. 25 three attempts still too many for my liking, especially with several bad selections. Tandy a big plus to the offense but I sure hope he learns how to guard someone. Paul will shoot better. All in all, a good night.

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Damn, tough crowd. KyKy can shoot, if Travis has to hide him on defense, sobeit. I know it's early but tonite may have been the first episode of "A Star is Born". Maybe Q could play the role of stopper on D, and Tandy is scorer on Offense.

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Originally Posted by SM#24

Tough night for Scruggs shooting...2-15/1-6

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to have paul play this badly and still win comfortably is very good. he just couldn't get anything to fall tonight, but he played well i thought other than that. 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks, and stayed out of foul trouble. he couldn't even hit layups there at the end. if he plays a little better it's a blowout.

the story is obviously kyky though. 7-13, 4-8 from 3, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 to, 18 pts. monster game

and it's not being talked about much on here, but the defense was much improved. held georgetown to their lowest total all season. their next lowest game was 60 @ providence when they didn't have mcclung. impressive effort from the guys on that end.

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Originally Posted by scoscox

does this need to be said about every white player? it couldn't be more annoying

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What the hell does THAT mean? Were you not watching the game? You don’t know me. You going THERE could not be more annoying.

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Originally Posted by xu82

What the hell does THAT mean? Were you not watching the game? You don’t know me. You going THERE could not be more annoying.

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i've never heard anyone say it about a player who wasn't white in my life. not a reflection on you. i'm sure you really do want to punch mcclung. i just get tired of people saying this about every decent white player

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Originally Posted by scoscox

i've never heard anyone say it about a player who wasn't white in my life. not a reflection on you. i'm sure you really do want to punch mcclung. i just get tired of people saying this about every decent white player

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I wanted to punch Art Long in the face.

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Originally Posted by XBR1

I wanted to punch Art Long in the face.

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well punching things in the face was just part of art's nature

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Originally Posted by scoscox

i've never heard anyone say it about a player who wasn't white in my life. not a reflection on you. i'm sure you really do want to punch mcclung. i just get tired of people saying this about every decent white player

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His ability to score in multiple ways, including from behind the arc, plus his fiery attitude. The play late in the game where he got the tie up (and I think possession) in the corner was classic JP. I felt like he might be the guy to get them back in it, and that scared me. He was their spark plug player, just like JP was. You making it a race thing is what bothers me.

Look, I’m an old white guy like many of the people here. BUT, my wife’s family had a cross burned in their front yard in rural SC. Weather permitting, I’m at a park playing tennis about 5 days/week. On average 2-3 dozen people will come through daily....and I’m usually the only white guy all day.

It’s not about skin color to me, I see a similarity in their games. For some weak reason, you felt a need to go to try to make it racial. Maybe that is telling in some way?

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Originally Posted by OTRMUSKIE

I watch the game and other then defense it was the same
Ole crap. 25 3’s for a team who can’t shoot 3’s is insane. When we focused on shooting 2’s we were so much better. Cut down the 3’s to 12 attempts and you will be much more effective. But for anybody to say they say a major difference tonight then you’re wearing blue lenses.

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I guess I was wearing blue lenses. I was at the game and what I saw was a markedly more energetic offense, including a number of times that they made the one extra pass to get a really open shot. The pick’n rolls were much quicker tonight, and I think that makes a huge difference in generating better openings. Shooting still not great, but results were better. If only we could shoot free throws . . . . . . !

I like the rebounding more than anything that this lineup brought. Some better ball movement at times. Having KyKy out there with his range is huge.

Still a good win considering Scruggs and Moore gave us next to nothing.

One of these games we will put it all together.

Not buying Q tweaking his knee. This was a game was to see what this team can do without him on the floor. I love the kid, but for crying out loud he is a momentum killer with his brick laying.

A big step in the right direction Mr. Steele and team!

Glad to see Travis backed up his talk about making some changes in the lineup.

I really liked the starting 5 tonight a lot!

Kyky took a huge step forward with his confidence in BE play and will be so crucial moving forward.

Great to see everyone hustling their tails off.

Impressed with how our guys aggressively went after rebounds - especially Freemantle and Carter.

Jones played well and showed some senior leadership tonight.

Naji played hard and looked really tough most of the game, but still had his share of bad decisions.

Scruggs didn’t have his best shooting game, but looked solid running the point and passing.

While Moore continued to struggle on offense, he at least contributed some solid minutes on defense.

How wonderfully convenient that the same game Steele “tweaked” the lineup, a former starter “tweaked” his knee.

Heck, I think Steele ought to throw it out there that Moore “tweaked” his shooting hand just before the start of BE play - and it still has not quite healed yet.

Still plenty of sloppy play to clean up, but at least Steele called a few good time outs and they never allowed it to get too dangerously close.

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Originally Posted by xu82

His ability to score in multiple ways, including from behind the arc, plus his fiery attitude. The play late in the game where he got the tie up (and I think possession) in the corner was classic JP. I felt like he might be the guy to get them back in it, and that scared me. He was their spark plug player, just like JP was. You making it a race thing is what bothers me.

Look, I’m an old white guy like many of the people here. BUT, my wife’s family had a cross burned in their front yard in rural SC. Weather permitting, I’m at a park playing tennis about 5 days/week. On average 2-3 dozen people will come through daily....and I’m usually the only white guy all day.

It’s not about skin color to me, I see a similarity in their games. For some weak reason, you felt a need to go to try to make it racial. Maybe that is telling in some way?

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comparing him to JP is fine. probably not a bad comparison, although i think mcclung is better personally. not sure why that means you want to punch him in the face. i'm not going to psychoanalyze it or really delve into racial aspects, i just get tired of people inevitably saying it about every decent white player like i said. so sue me. if you're really adamant about defending your right to want to punch college players in the face, go ahead.

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Originally Posted by bleedXblue

I like the rebounding more than anything that this lineup brought. Some better ball movement at times. Having KyKy out there with his range is huge.

Still a good win considering Scruggs and Moore gave us next to nothing.

One of these games we will put it all together.

Not buying Q tweaking his knee. This was a game was to see what this team can do without him on the floor. I love the kid, but for crying out loud he is a momentum killer with his brick laying.

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kyky moves the ball around quicker as well. it helps our ball movement

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Originally Posted by scoscox

comparing him to JP is fine. probably not a bad comparison, although i think mcclung is better personally. not sure why that means you want to punch him in the face. i'm not going to psychoanalyze it or really delve into racial aspects, i just get tired of people inevitably saying it about every decent white player like i said. so sue me. if you're really adamant about defending your right to want to punch college players in the face, go ahead.

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Obviously, nobody was going to get punched in the face. You chose to pretend to take that literally when it was clearly not the case, for some reason. JP was a fiery guy we loved when he was on our team, and we all said “I’d hate that guy if he was playing against us instead of for us.” More than any other guy on the team. More than Trevon, because he was just that kind of guy. I think that’s a fairly simple point to see. I’ll leave it at that.

Xavier's defense inched back up a bit to #30 in KenPom. The ragged offensive performance against a terrible defense dropped our offense down to #116.

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Originally Posted by xu82

Obviously, nobody was going to get punched in the face. You chose to pretend to take that literally when it was clearly not the case, for some reason. JP was a fiery guy we loved when he was on our team, and we all said “I’d hate that guy if he was playing against us instead of for us.” More than any other guy on the team. More than Trevon, because he was just that kind of guy. I think that’s a fairly simple point to see. I’ll leave it at that.

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i didn't take it literally at all. not sure where you're getting that. i'm glad you're letting it go. it's really not that serious. i wasn't impugning your character. it's just a trend in basketball commentary that i could do without

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Xavier's defense inched back up a bit to #30 in KenPom. The ragged offensive performance against a terrible defense dropped our offense down to #116.

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one of our better 3 point shooting nights (at 32% though that's not saying a lot) and turnover nights (only 10). 15 assists on 25 fgs is pretty solid. pretty bad from the field and the line though. if scruggs had his usual game, it'd have been a lot better

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Originally Posted by scoscox

i didn't take it literally at all. not sure where you're getting that. i'm glad you're letting it go. it's really not that serious. i wasn't impugning your character. it's just a trend in basketball commentary that i could do without

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Maybe if you don’t bring it up, it will be less of a thing.

Now, let’s hope tonight’s play is a sign of better things ahead!

We needed that win bad, and I'm glad we got it. That's the only analysis I really have, other than Tandy having himself a game. Hopefully he gains some confidence, and we come out and play tough against Creighton, some positives from this performance as well, but damn we needed that one bad.

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Originally Posted by scoscox

i didn't take it literally at all. not sure where you're getting that. i'm glad you're letting it go. it's really not that serious. i wasn't impugning your character. it's just a trend in basketball commentary that i could do without

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I think this would've gone unnoticed had someone said that they wanted to punch a Deutero Malay player as opposed to a Caucasian player.

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Originally Posted by xu82

Maybe if you don’t bring it up, it will be less of a thing.

Now, let’s hope tonight’s play is a sign of better things ahead!

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it has no effect, alas

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Originally Posted by scoscox

one of our better 3 point shooting nights (at 32% though that's not saying a lot) and turnover nights (only 10). 15 assists on 25 fgs is pretty solid. pretty bad from the field and the line though. if scruggs had his usual game, it'd have been a lot better

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Looking at the box score for games this year, Scruggs has many more games where he didn’t shoot the 3 well, than games where he did. Very inconsistent, feast or famine type 3 point shooter. Usually pretty good from 2, but not last night. Otherwise an OK game..5 assists, 3 blocks, only 1 turnover.

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Originally Posted by XUGRAD80

Looking at the box score for games this year, Scruggs has many more games where he didn’t shoot the 3 well, than games where he did. Very inconsistent, feast or famine type 3 point shooter. Usually pretty good from 2, but not last night. Otherwise an OK game..5 assists, 3 blocks, only 1 turnover.

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Hes had like 6 games (one of them being last night) where he hasnt shot at least 30% behind the arc. I'd say anything above thirty is just fine. Is he a cold blooded marksman? No, but think he is the second best shooter from deep the team has.

I am in the camp that we saw positive signs from the game. They were playing with a lot more energy, I thought I saw more movement than normal on offense. I didn't see as many boneheaded turnovers. I really hope Moore starts making some shots.

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Originally Posted by Xavier

I really hope Moore starts making some shots.

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Or stops shooting. I like your answer better, but I'm afraid mine might be more realistic at this point. It's been over a month since he last hit a shot.

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Originally Posted by GoMuskies

Or stops shooting. I like your answer better, but I'm afraid mine might be more realistic at this point. It's been over a month since he last hit a shot.

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I would like to see him try more inside the arc. He seems to just be forcing threes at this point and it doesn't seem to be helping him.

As much as offense has been an issue for this team, we will win games when we play lock down D and rebound the ball. There was an intensity that you saw in this game that just wasn't there the past couple of games.

I know some people get annoyed with Steele harping on how we need to play defense, but we are much more likely to score 65pts than we are to score 75pts, so we have to keep it up on the defensive end.

And it was refreshing to see them battling for rebounds. We need to win the rebounding battle to win games. +8 today. We were -17, -4, and -8 in the last three losses.

Yeah I get annoyed with Steele harping on defense, but really he is right. The way this team is going to win games is defensive effort and rebounding. They can get better on the offensive side in terms of shot selection and decision making, but otherwise they are just limited in ability on that side of the ball. It at least looked better last night, minus the few times naji did his wtf shots.

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Originally Posted by Xville

Yeah I get annoyed with Steele harping on defense, but really he is right. The way this team is going to win games is defensive effort and rebounding. They can get better on the offensive side in terms of shot selection and decision making, but otherwise they are just limited in ability on that side of the ball. It at least looked better last night, minus the few times naji did his wtf shots.

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Exactly. The sooner they all buy into this the better we will be. My hope is that the offense will start to really come around in Feb and March when it really matters.

For now, defense and rebounding will keep them in games and competitive.

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Originally Posted by Xville

Hes had like 6 games (one of them being last night) where he hasnt shot at least 30% behind the arc. I'd say anything above thirty is just fine. Is he a cold blooded marksman? No, but think he is the second best shooter from deep the team has.

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Let me first say that I think that Scruggs may well be the best all around player on the team. I hope that Steele keeps him at point and that he either has a great rest of the season or comes back next year and really becomes a point guard....hopefully both! I also agree that he is the 2nd best outside shooter on the team.

But really, that’s not saying much is it? The team is woefully lacking in consistent outside threats. Not counting games where he has shot only 1-2 three pointers, he has far more games where he has gone 1-6, 0-5, 1-4, etc than he has had shooting 3-3 or even 2-4. Fortunately when he does shoot his 3-pointers he usually does it when Xavier has someone in rebounding position and not when he is 1 on 3 (I’m looking at you Naji). Last night he hit his 1st and then missed 6 straight. I’d like to see him be a little smarter is all. When he’s not feeling it and has missed a few in a row, stop shooting them! Drive more, seek out contact, get to the foul line. Drive and dish, post you man up more. Muse your strength and long arms. But, if you’re feeling it, keep shooting it...within the offense...when you’re open. I’m OK with that.

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Originally Posted by Xville

Yeah I get annoyed with Steele harping on defense, but really he is right. The way this team is going to win games is defensive effort and rebounding. They can get better on the offensive side in terms of shot selection and decision making, but otherwise they are just limited in ability on that side of the ball. It at least looked better last night, minus the few times naji did his wtf shots.

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by XUGRAD80

Let me first say that I think that Scruggs may well be the best all around player on the team. I hope that Steele keeps him at point and that he either has a great rest of the season or comes back next year and really becomes a point guard....hopefully both! I also agree that he is the 2nd best outside shooter on the team.

But really, that’s not saying much is it? The team is woefully lacking in consistent outside threats. Not counting games where he has shot only 1-2 three pointers, he has far more games where he has gone 1-6, 0-5, 1-4, etc than he has had shooting 3-3 or even 2-4. Fortunately when he does shoot his 3-pointers he usually does it when Xavier has someone in rebounding position and not when he is 1 on 3 (I’m looking at you Naji). Last night he hit his 1st and then missed 6 straight. I’d like to see him be a little smarter is all. When he’s not feeling it and has missed a few in a row, stop shooting them! Drive more, seek out contact, get to the foul line. Drive and dish, post you man up more. Muse your strength and long arms. But, if you’re feeling it, keep shooting it...within the offense...when you’re open. I’m OK with that.

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Scruggs is NOT your prototypical PG. He just isn't. He also isn't a pure SG either. He is a classic combo guard. Trust me, I want him on my team for sure.

There is no way Steele is giving him the keys next year and committing to him he's the PG and the job is his. Odom is too good and you don't get a Top 50 guy without telling him he's gonna play and have an opportunity to earn big minutes right away.