Bullet Points: Hype and anti-Hype

I was at the Charleston Classic last week [editor's note: also see Alan's Hoya Hoop Club report here], and while I sometimes tend to watch a little less closely live than on television (what with the replays at home and the frothy beverages on the road), there's something different about seeing a game live. You notice some things you don't see as easily on television, and conversely, it distorts some things you see more clearly on television.

If you have good seats, that is. If you're up in 400, you really don't see anything. Especially with my deteriorating eyesight.

But luckily, Carolina First Arena is small (5,100 capacity and about a five row "upper" deck) and the worst seats we had were about ten rows from the court.

Thoughts, mine and others:

• The defensive intensity is there. I don't know how our defense will handle teams with a stronger inside game or exceptional offensive rebounding, but there seems to be the necessary level of intensity there to make this as good a defense as it can be. Chris Wright, in particular, is really setting a tone of flying around out there. There were relatively few defensive breakdowns as well.

• It might be because the players are playing less minutes. I've never really taken to the argument that the team wore down because of fatigue over the course of the season last year. It's a logically odd argument, and the facts don't really back it up. But Hoyatalk poster HoyaChris mentioned at the Classic that he though in game fatigue really hurt the level of defensive intensity last year, and that's completely logical. Perhaps Chris Wright's and the other players' intensity level is coming from their ability to rest mid-game as opposed to playing 38 minutes.

• The young guys seem to be bringing a higher level of intensity. Our upperclassmen are very workmanlike, and there's no issue with that. But it logically seems like you'd want a mix of personalities, and the younger players seem to be bringing a higher level of intensity. A much more confident Hollis Thompson was all over the place during the tourney. Nate Lubick is a constant bundle of energy as well. Markel and Vee are very active, and Henry, when he's confident, is constantly moving.

• Jason Clark or Hollis Thompson will be the best player on next year's team, but Markel will be the leader. We're five games into the season and Markel Starks is already into his next career as assistant coach. He's constantly pointing things out and directing, even from the bench. He seems to have assumed a leadership role already (but not an ego-driven one -- see my Hoop Club Blog for a little Markel tidbit). That's a fantastic thing to see in your point guard.

• Hollis is making the leap. Hollis has added several new elements to his game that weren't evident last year. He had several good drive and scores, as well as showed off a mid-range jumper at least once. Perhaps most importantly in the short term, he's gotten strong enough that his energy on the boards is actually manifesting itself in rebounds. The effort was there last year; the result wasn't.

• Jason Clark has developed a nice little mid-range game. I'm not sure it's a great development simply because this team has done well avoiding those low-efficiency mid-range shots as a whole. But with little low post game, it's nice to have an option to backdoor cuts and threes.

• Julian is shotblocking and offensive rebounding, but he isn't shooting well, isn't defensive rebounding well and turns the ball over. This is an issue for me. As we face taller teams, none of this is going to get easier. Right now, his ORating is below 100 (even with the offensive boards). He's really our only low post option, so it hurts the team when he isn't effective (whether b/c of shooting or turnovers) and his lack of defensive rebounding makes it tough to make a case for him as a defense-only player. And that's fundamentally an issue because...

• As good as Henry Sims and Nate Lubick have looked at times... I'm not ready to count on them just quite yet. Nate had a good game versus ODU and has looked a bit more "freshman" since. Henry has now had two good games in a row, but it's about 30 total minutes. I'm hopeful, because I've always seen a ton of potential in him. And if he continues to play like this it takes the pressure off of Vaughn. But I'm not sure either of the Hoyas are as good as they've looked.

• Why isn't the offense better? The team is shooting very well right now. Four starters have an ORating of 113 or better, with Austin at 140. So why is the team ORating only about 110? It's turnovers. Everyone with a TO Rate of under 23 (Wright is the highest at 22.2) has an ORating over 113. That's FIVE players (those starters plus Vee). Vaughn is at 23 (and a 92 ORating - ugh) and everyone else is above 26% turnovers! Only Henry manages to get about 100 in ORating despite an awful turnover rate. Everyone else is abysmal. Turnovers will kill this team if they don't take better care of the ball.

Recap: Georgetown 82, North Carolina State 67

Georgetown won the Charleston Classic with an impressive second half against the North Carolina State Wolfpack tonight.  Of course, I should receive full credit for the victory, as I headed out for an evening with the wife just before halftime and wasn't able to get back to the game until after it ended. But because of my personal sacrifice, I didn't get to see the good stuff (read: Henry Sims), so the recap will be brief.

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Visitor                         Home      
.            Georgetown                      North Carolina State         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            35        35        69

Effic.        106.5     131.7     119.2       106.5      87.8      97.4  
 
eFG%           47.1      54.2      50.7        56.9      30.9      42.9  
TO%            14.4      11.7      13.1        17.3      11.7      14.5  
OR%            33.3      55.0      43.9        31.2      33.3      32.6  
FTA/FGA        17.1      22.2      19.7        27.6      35.3      31.7  
 
Assist Rate    64.3      66.7      65.6        46.7      10.0      32.0  
Block Rate      4.5      29.2      17.4        15.0       3.4       8.2  
Steal Rate      2.9       5.9       4.4         8.6       8.8       8.7  
 
2FG%           45.0      51.7      49.0        54.5      37.5      45.7  
3FG%           33.3      42.9      36.4        42.9      10.0      23.5  
FT%            66.7      75.0      71.4        50.0      75.0      65.0

The big stat that jumps out at me from tonight's box score is the low turnover rate for the Hoyas.  Georgetown was averaging 22% turnovers coming into the game, but managed to commit only nine on 69 offensive possessions.  This was a big driver in the high offensive efficiency Georgetown produced today.

The Hoyas also did an excellent job crashing the offensive glass in the second half, while not getting overwhelmed on the defensive side.  As mentioned yesterday, N.C. State was not a great rebounding team last season, and the loss of Tracy Smith was probably a big deal for the Wolfpack on the glass.

This was the worst outside shooting performance by Georgetown so far this season - although 36% isn't terrible by any stretch - but the Hoyas became much more selective from outside in the Vesper half [1st half: 5/15 3FG; 2nd half: 3/7].  Conversely, Georgetown wasn't getting it inside much in the first half [6/10 on dunks, layups and tips] but really pounded it in the paint after halftime [13/18].  Partial credit to Coach Thompson for making that adjustment during the break, and partial credit to the team to playing smart once they built a comfortable lead.

Recap: Georgetown 74, Wofford 59

Well, I never did get a recap posted last night, and I probably won't have much time today to put one together either.  Just a few quick thoughts below each box:

Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Visitor                         Home      
.            Georgetown                      Wofford         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            29        34        63

Effic.        126.0     109.8     116.8        81.7     103.8      93.2  
 
eFG%           64.6      61.1      63.1        28.8      56.2      42.0  
TO%            20.4      23.7      22.1        20.4      14.8      17.4  
OR%            44.4      27.3      35.0        28.6       6.7      19.4  
FTA/FGA        25.0     116.7      64.3        38.5      50.0      44.0  
 
Assist Rate    57.1      30.0      45.8        66.7      54.5      58.8  
Block Rate     25.0       7.7      17.2        15.8       6.7      11.8  
Steal Rate     13.6       8.9      11.1        10.2       8.9       9.5  
 
2FG%           57.9      53.3      55.9        18.8      46.2      31.0  
3FG%           60.0      66.7      62.5        30.0      45.5      38.1  
FT%           100.0      71.4      77.8        90.0      66.7      77.3

The game was interesting in that the Hoyas seemed to make a deliberate effort to force the ball inside on offense, often passing up decent to very good looks from behind the 3-pt line in an attempt to feed Julian Vaughn, Henry Sims (!) or a cutter.  Georgetown had attempted 87 2FGs and 80 3FGs in their first three games - that's a 3FGA/FGA = 0.479, if you're scoring at home - but tried only 8 last night.

The game was marred a bit by the John Cahill effect, with both teams a bit confused about what constituted a foul.  By the mid-point of the second half, both teams were in the bonus and the action ground to a slog.

Georgetown was able to beat up on a couple of small teams so far in this tournament, and rebounding hasn't been a problem in either game.  North Carolina St. - the Hoyas opponent in the finals - are also not a strong rebounding team, especially now that Tracy Smith will miss the game.

Turnovers are still too frequent, as the Hoyas haven't managed to give the ball away less than 20% of the time.  The Wolfpack have been very good at both forcing turnovers and not committing many of their own so far this year, so that will likely be the stat to watch as the game unfolds on Sunday.

Recap: Georgetown 80, Coastal Carolina 61

The stats for tonight's game seem to have failed to post over at the Georgetown Athletic site, so no recap will be forthcoming tonight.  Hopefully Mex Carey can get the problem fixed soon, and we'll try to process the stats before tomorrow's game against Wofford.

Edited:  Sure enough, Mex came through tonight, but it's way too late for any sort of a recap.  A stats dump will have to suffice.  Also, the substitution data was a bit screwed up so I've made my best-guess fixes, but I may have a couple of possessions with the wrong lineups.

If you're still looking for more on the game, Dan Hanner was there and had some comments.


Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            Georgetown                      Coastal Carolina         
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            31        33        64
 
Effic.        103.4     146.2     125.8        84.0     106.6      96.0  
 
eFG%           69.6      67.6      68.4        47.7      54.3      51.1  
TO%            32.3      18.3      25.2        25.9      18.3      22.0  
OR%            18.2      62.5      44.4        20.0      21.4      20.7  
FTA/FGA         0.0      14.7       8.8        36.4      56.5      46.7  

Assist Rate   100.0      70.0      81.2        44.4      33.3      38.1  
Block Rate     31.2      15.8      22.9        12.5      15.8      14.8  
Steal Rate      6.5       3.0       4.7        12.9      12.2      12.6  
 
2FG%           50.0      73.7      66.7        37.5      57.9      48.6  
3FG%           53.3      40.0      46.7        50.0      25.0      40.0  
FT%              -       40.0      40.0        62.5      76.9      71.4

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

Georgetown            Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
Thompson, Hollis       33   32.2   74.2    7.9      32   105.3    6.7      -1.1  
Vaughn, Julian         45   21.5  113.8   11.0      45    85.1    7.7      +3.1  
Wright, Chris          58   18.9  141.7   15.5      57    88.3   10.1      +5.6  
Freeman, Austin        39   15.1  205.9   12.1      40    85.2    6.8      +6.2  
Clark, Jason           42   25.2  167.3   17.7      44    90.4    8.0      +9.0  
Starks, Markel         15    1.9  225.0    0.7      16   144.7    4.6      -1.9  
Sanford, Vee           17    9.9  248.7    4.2      15    97.8    2.9      +1.9  
Sims, Henry            16    9.2   64.1    0.9      17    57.9    2.0      -0.5  
Benimon, Jerrelle      16   10.3   85.4    1.4      13   101.5    2.6      -0.7  
Bowen, Aaron            2   50.0    0.0    0.0       3   133.3    0.8      -1.1  
Lubick, Nate           37   19.0   31.1    2.2      38    97.4    7.4      -4.9  
TOTALS                 64         121.0   73.6      64    93.1   59.6     +15.9  

Coastal Carolina      Off     %           Pts      Def           Pts   
Player                Poss  Poss  O.Rtg   Prod     Poss  D.Rtg  Allow    Net Pts
McLAURIN, Sam          41   24.7   71.6    7.3      42   123.7   10.4      -4.2  
GRAY, Chad             33   32.5   70.0    7.5      33   125.5    8.3      -3.4  
NIEMAN, Danny          43    9.3    0.0    0.0      42   113.0    9.5      -7.0  
HOLLOWAY, Desmond      39   30.2  107.3   12.6      39   107.1    8.4      +2.1  
GREENWOOD, Kierre      45   20.6  155.5   14.4      46   124.2   11.4      +2.9  
CRAWFORD, Brandon      36   11.7  105.9    4.4      36   114.6    8.3      -2.1  
RAFFA, Anthony         10   37.1  121.7    4.5      10   108.4    2.2      +1.4  
MOORE, Dexter          17   10.7  127.9    2.3      18   129.9    4.7      -1.2  
KIRKLAND, Willie       28   20.5   75.5    4.3      27   133.9    7.2      -3.1  
GRIFFIN, Jordan         5    0.0    -      0.0       4   100.0    0.8      -0.8  
PACK, Jon              23    0.0    -      0.0      23   116.1    5.3      -5.3  
TOTALS                 64          93.6   57.4      64   119.4   76.4     -17.8

Jason Clark was star of the game - he's won it every game so far this season.