Just a couple of odds and ends

HoyaSaxa.com has a link to a nice article about John Thompson III from the Washingtonian. Not a lot of new material, but a very nice overview of the man.

And, in light of tomorrow's game against Notre Dame, I found this old highlight package on my hard drive from the 2007 BET semi-final, an epic. We might remember the Hoyas from that game, but you can forget how good Russell Carter, Rob Kurz and Colin Falls were for the Irish that year. And Tory Jackson had his coming-out party at the Garden in the closing minutes of the game, lighting up Jessie Sapp and others.

Sorry for the lousy quality of the clip - probably why I hadn't bothered to upload to YouTube until today.

The Crossover on Display

Not the typical fare for us, but there is a nice video on the New York Times website right now discussing the art of the crossover.

It features Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, Tim Hardaway and Pearl Washington.  And Dean Berry.

Yes, that Dean Berry.

Enjoy.

All Roy Hibbert, all the time

Surprised that this hasn't been posted elsewhere on the Hoya interwebs.  Just about every good play Roy Hibbert (candidate for greatest Hoya of the '00s) made in his four years at Georgetown is now available on YouTube, thanks to a particularly obsessive fan known best at MCIGuy at HoyaTalk.

It's seven parts, each about 10 minutes long, so hopefully you've got some free time this weekend (or you can just wait until your Org. Chem lecture on Wednesday).

Here you go:

Part One



Part Two



Parts 3 to 7 of the magnum opus after the jump

UConn highlights

I slapped together some highlights from yesterday's game, for your viewing pleasure (higher quality version can be downloaded here):

Some stat pages were updated yesterday, the rest will be today.

The cleanup continues . . .

Here's the next installment in the highlight packages from last season: the Big East opener at UConn.

It's remarkable to think that this game (played Dec. 29th) represented the high-water mark for the Hoyas last season, as they came away with an impressive road win against the #2 ranked - and eventual Final Four - team. This win propelled Georgetown to the #1 overall ranking in KenPom.com's ratings . . .

Then, the wheels came off.

But we've dwelt on the '09 portion of the '08-'09 season already around here, so now let's just enjoy the highlights (to download a higher quality version, click here).

Dusting off the cobwebs . . .

After fading as badly as the Hoyas this spring, I've returned to turn the lights on, mow the lawn and pick up the newspapers - don't want the neighbors to think we've moved out!

It surely has been a quite summer around here, and elsewhere in Hoya nation, as even Hoya Hoops looks to have quieted down. Another favorite blog (TVBB) may have even gone belly-up - no posts since January! Sure, there's always HoyaSaxa and HoyaTalk to get your Kenner League fill, but even there strange things are afoot as a rogue board seems to have sprung up. And, of course, the wags at CasualHoya are still churning out the Hoya-flavored snark.

So what do we (or at least I) have to show for the months off? Not much, at least in the basketball world. But, I've started to churn through some recorded games from last season (thanks Tom!) and will try to compile at least of couple of game highlight packages.

Kicking it off is the Maryland game from the Old Spice Classic last November (to download a higher quality version, click here).

I'll try to update the links this week - HoyaBalla's board needs to get posted, at least. And as the month moves along, I'll start to crank up the HD box score program to finally churn through the rest of last Big East season, and then get to re-writing the darn thing to work a bit better for next year.

Also, I'll be dusting off some remaining charts and graphs from last season's team, as we look at what went wrong one more time as a lead-up towards what we expect (hope) we'll see this year.


P.S. - Tom, I promise to send out that Duke game DVD any day now . . .

Syracuse Highlights, etc.

Just checking in to post some highlights from the Syracuse game - I believe this is the first highlight package I've put together this season, and I now remember why I don't to this very often anymore. The motivation sprung from this thread on HoyaTalk, which I've tried to stay faithful to, other than the order (call me old fashioned, but I used a linear storyline).



This clip can also be found on the archive page, and a higher res. version can be downloaded here.

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Also, I've admittedly fallen a bit behind on updating stats on the right sidebar, both Georgetown and Big East HD box scores. I'll try to catch up this weekend, if I carve out some free time.

Chvotkin on Villanova

Evan Chvotkin sent along a link to a YouTube clip of Dr. Rich calling the end of the Villanova game, side by side with the ESPN video. I think you'll see Evan's hand make a couple of cameo appearances.

Analysis: Georgetown 58, West Virginia 57

Let me begin by acknowledging that I never did add more to the Syracuse wrap-up, and I apologize to my reader for that.

I only was able to watch parts of the 1st half of tonight's game (did I mention that I've been busy these days?), but did just go back and view the last minute on tape (or hard disk, in this case).

Once again, Jessie Sapp lead the team back from the brink in the last minute(s) of play; I'm beginning to think that Sapp becomes the de facto leader in the end-game proceedings because he is the best (only?) Hoya that can create in those situations. By this, I mean that he is likely the only player comfortable shooting from the outside off the dribble and also driving the lane for contact and/or a layup.

Let's run the numbers:

		Offense				Defense
	1st Half	2nd Half	Total		1st Half	2nd Half	Total
Pace	27	28	55
Eff.	93.9	116.1	105.4		90.2	116.1	103.6
eFG%	57.5	46.0	51.1		47.6	50.0	48.9
TO%	26.3	17.6	21.8		15.0	14.1	14.5
OR%	10.0	53.3	36.0		18.8	41.2	30.3
FTA/FGA	10.0	52.0	33.3		42.9	56.0	50.0
FTM/FGA	10.0	40.0	26.7		19.0	32.0	26.1
Assist Rate	60.0	45.5	52.4		75.0	70.0	72.2
Block Rate	8.3	0.0	3.6		30.0	26.7	28.0
Steal Rate	15.0	0.0	7.3		11.3	10.6	10.9
2FG%	58.3	62.5	60.7		40.0	33.3	36.0
3FG%	37.5	11.1	23.5		36.4	50.0	42.9
FT%	100.0	76.9	80.0		44.4	57.1	52.2

  Georgetown vs West Virginia  
  01/26/08 7:00 p.m. at WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, W.Va.  
  Final score: Georgetown 58, West Virginia 57
     
  Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF  
  Summers, DaJuan        20:33  - 8  8 /27 4 -5  0 -2  0 -0  7 /23 0 /7  2 /28 0 /28 0 /13 1 /12 2 /15  3   
  Hibbert, Roy           27:37  + 8  12/43 4 -6  0 -0  4 -4  6 /32 1 /10 0 /39 4 /40 4 /17 3 /19 7 /24  2   
  Freeman, Austin        32:15  - 4  8 /48 4 -6  0 -2  0 -0  8 /36 1 /14 0 /43 1 /45 0 /21 1 /19 6 /26  1   
  Wallace, Jonathan      24:19  + 4  6 /43 2 -4  0 -3  2 -2  7 /32 2 /13 0 /32 0 /38 0 /16 1 /17 0 /18  2   
  Sapp, Jessie           33:50  + 1  15/52 1 -3  3 -7  4 -5  10/38 2 /15 1 /46 1 /47 2 /21 0 /20 1 /30  3   
  Macklin, Vernon        08:58  - 7  2 /11 1 -1  0 -0  0 -0  1 /10 1 /4  0 /12 2 /12 0 /4  1 /5  0 /5   1   
  Crawford, Tyler        04:14  + 0  0 /6  0 -0  0 -0  0 -0  0 /4  0 /2  0 /4  0 /5  0 /2  0 /2  0 /4   2   
  Ewing, Patrick         26:44  + 14 5 /39 0 -2  1 -2  2 -4  4 /30 4 /12 2 /36 3 /35 1 /17 2 /18 4 /25  3   
  Rivers, Jeremiah       21:58  - 3  2 /21 1 -1  0 -1  0 -0  2 /20 0 /7  1 /30 1 /25 0 /14 0 /13 2 /18  2   
  TOTALS                 40:05       58    17-28 4 -17 12-15    45 11/21 6 /54 12/55 7 /25 9 /25 23/33  19  
                                           0.607 0.235 0.800       0.524 0.111 0.218 0.280 0.360 0.697      
    
  West Virginia           Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF  
  BUTLER, Da'Sean        34:23  - 2  12/52 3 -9  0 -2  6 -8  11/44 1 /14 0 /45 0 /47 0 /25 2 /31 2 /19  2   
  FLOWERS, John          18:12  + 4  0 /25 0 -3  0 -1  0 -0  4 /24 3 /8  1 /24 1 /25 0 /12 4 /19 2 /12  1   
  SMALLIGAN, Jamie       18:57  - 10 6 /23 0 -1  2 -2  0 -0  3 /20 1 /5  0 /26 0 /26 0 /14 0 /17 0 /10  4   
  NICHOLS, Darris        36:58  - 1  16/55 1 -2  4 -6  2 -5  8 /42 2 /12 0 /50 0 /49 0 /25 2 /30 4 /23  1   
  RUOFF, Alex            37:30  - 1  13/50 2 -3  3 -8  0 -0  11/43 3 /11 2 /52 1 /50 0 /26 0 /31 1 /25  4   
  ALEXANDER, Joe         26:05  + 4  7 /42 2 -4  0 -1  3 -4  5 /31 2 /12 0 /38 2 /36 1 /21 1 /17 2 /20  4   
  MAZZULLA, Joe          10:56  - 1  0 /12 0 -1  0 -0  0 -0  1 /12 1 /3  1 /15 1 /15 0 /7  0 /11 2 /6   1   
  BROWN, Jarrett         02:05  + 0  0 /2  0 -0  0 -0  0 -0  0 /3  0 /1  0 /4  0 /3  0 /2  1 /2  0 /1   0   
  SMITH, Wellington      14:54  + 2  3 /24 1 -2  0 -1  1 -6  3 /11 0 /6  0 /21 1 /19 0 /8  0 /7  1 /9   0   
  WEST, Jonnie           00:28  + 0  0 /0  0 -0  0 -0  0 -0  0 /0  0 /0  0 /0  0 /0  0 /0  0 /0  0 /0   0   
  TOTALS                 40:05       57    9 -25 9 -21 12-23    46 13/18 4 /55 8 /54 1 /28 10/33 16/25  17  
                                           0.360 0.429 0.522       0.722 0.073 0.148 0.036 0.303 0.640      
     
  Efficiency: Georgetown 1.055, West Virginia 1.056
  eFG%: Georgetown 0.511, West Virginia 0.489
  Substitutions: Georgetown 30, West Virginia 30
     
  2-pt Shot Selection:  
  Dunks: Georgetown 1-1, West Virginia 0-0
  Layups/Tips: Georgetown 12-16, West Virginia 4-8
  Jumpers: Georgetown 4-11, West Virginia 5-17

I've tried something new here - I've highlighted the numbers that I think are particularly telling from the tempo-free box score.

Other thoughts:

• West Virginia lost this game at the FT line - coming into the game, the Mountaineers had 73% FT in conference play, and if they had performed at that clip in tonight's game (17-23 FTs rather than 12-23), they would have won the game. This is the 2nd straight game of poor FT shooting by WVU, with their 39% FT effort against Marshall nearly costing them that game as well.

• West Virginia has been winning this year in no small part by forcing turnovers (24.6% TO Rate [43/341] coming into the game) while not committing turnovers themselves (15.5% [3/341]). This held true for the 1st half, but Georgetown was able to make adjustments during half-time to limit TOs and keep in the game.

• Georgetown continues to struggle shooting 3FGs on the road. The team shoots 43% 3FG at home, but only 32% on the road; meanwhile, their opponents shoot 31% at home and 30% on the road. I'll update team and individual splits tomorrow.

• The Hoyas out-rebounded their opponent for only the 2nd time in their last 10 games. (here, I'm using Total Rebounding Pct., rather than counting stats). West Virginia was 9th in conference in Tot. Reb. % coming into the the game. The other team to lose to Georgetown on the glass? Connecticut.

• The game was played at a tepid 55-possession pace; West Virginia had played one game this season at a pace less than 60 possessions (@ Canisius), while Georgetown had played 7 of it's 17 games sub-60 possessions coming into the game.

Here's the last few seconds, Chvotkin-style. Sorry for the small size and crappy quality - the original, higher-rez version.

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If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to check out StatSheet.com's new college basketball pages. They're still working out the kinks, but after using it for today's recap, I'm quite impressed. The main author had been quite receptive to suggestions.

Analysis: Georgetown 72, UConn 69

With just seconds left on the shot clock and the game in the balance, Georgetown turned to its best three point shooter (2-2, 1.000) to bury an open 20-footer and pull out a hard-fought win at the Phone Booth against the Connecticut Huskies.

In a game where offensive leader Jon Wallace struggled mightily with his outside shot (1-7 3FG), Roy Hibbert led with way with 20 points and 8 rebounds (both game highs). Pat Ewing and DaJuan Summers helped out in the 1st half with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 10 points, 2 rebounds respectively, while Austin Freeman stepped up in the 2nd half with 9 points on 3-4 3FG shooting.

Let's run the numbers:

	Offense				Defense
	1st Half	2nd Half	Total		1st Half	2nd Half	Total
Pace	33	29	63
Eff.	125.5	103.3	115.2		113.6	106.8	110.4
eFG%	58.3%	42.6%	50.9%		56.3%	52.2%	54.3%
TO%	12.0%	13.8%	12.8%		14.9%	20.7%	17.6%
OR%	35.3%	31.6%	33.3%		7.7%	33.3%	20.0%
FTA/FGA	33.3%	33.3%	33.3%		54.2%	34.8%	44.7%
FTM/FGA	23.3%	25.9%	24.6%		45.8%	30.4%	38.3%
Assist Rate	60.0%	66.7%	62.5%		75.0%	54.5%	65.2%
Block Rate	21.1%	33.3%	26.5%		12.5%	6.7%	9.7%
Steal Rate	9.0%	6.9%	8.0%		14.9%	13.8%	14.4%
2FG%	52.6%	26.7%	41.2%		56.3%	60.0%	58.1%
3FG%	45.5%	41.7%	43.5%		37.5%	25.0%	31.3%
FT%	70.0%	77.8%	73.7%		84.6%	87.5%	85.7%

  UCONN vs Georgetown  
  01/12/08 2:00 p.m. at Verizon Center  
  Final score: Georgetown 72, UCONN 69
     
  UCONN                   Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF  
  ADRIEN, Jeff           36:58  - 5  18/59 7 -13 0 -0  4 -4  13/44 2 /13 1 /59 0 /59 2 /31 2 /25 4 /34  2   
  DYSON, Jerome          19:46  - 3  8 /32 4 -6  0 -2  0 -0  8 /26 1 /8  2 /34 4 /35 0 /17 0 /15 1 /21  4   
  PRICE, A.J             36:55  - 2  17/62 1 -3  2 -8  9 -11 11/41 9 /17 0 /58 2 /59 0 /33 0 /22 4 /33  1   
  ROBINSON, Stanley      34:16  - 6  2 /59 1 -2  0 -3  0 -0  5 /40 2 /18 1 /56 2 /56 2 /29 0 /22 7 /30  3   
  THABEET, Hasheem       29:00  + 0  7 /53 2 -2  0 -0  3 -4  2 /35 0 /18 0 /47 2 /46 5 /26 0 /16 2 /29  3   
  WIGGINS, Doug          25:20  + 8  15/50 3 -4  3 -3  0 -0  7 /30 1 /11 1 /38 2 /37 0 /20 2 /13 4 /23  0   
  KELLY, Curtis          03:10  - 6  0 /2  0 -1  0 -0  0 -0  1 /4  0 /1  0 /5  0 /5  0 /5  0 /3  0 /2   0   
  AUSTRIE, Craig         03:43  - 6  0 /4  0 -0  0 -0  0 -0  0 /4  0 /1  0 /6  0 /5  0 /3  0 /3  0 /1   0   
  MANDELDOVE, Jonathan   05:39  + 4  2 /9  0 -0  0 -0  2 -2  0 /6  0 /1  0 /8  0 /8  0 /3  0 /5  1 /4   1   
  EDWARDS, Gavin         05:13  + 1  0 /15 0 -0  0 -0  0 -0  0 /5  0 /4  0 /9  0 /10 0 /3  0 /1  0 /3   2   
  TOTALS                 40:00       69    18-31 5 -16 18-21    47 15/23 5 /64 12/64 9 /34 5 /25 24/36  16  
                                           0.581 0.312 0.857       0.652 0.078 0.188 0.265 0.200 0.667      
    
  Georgetown              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF  
  Wallace, Jonathan      29:27  + 0  5 /53 1 -1  1 -7  0 -0  8 /44 4 /15 2 /48 2 /49 0 /24 0 /29 1 /17  3   
  Summers, DaJuan        23:26  + 4  12/43 1 -5  2 -4  4 -4  9 /35 2 /10 1 /36 2 /39 1 /21 1 /22 4 /16  2   
  Freeman, Austin        33:37  - 3  13/56 2 -4  3 -5  0 -0  9 /50 2 /15 2 /57 0 /55 0 /27 1 /33 1 /22  2   
  Sapp, Jessie           35:44  + 11 6 /65 1 -4  1 -4  1 -2  8 /49 4 /19 3 /56 3 /57 1 /26 1 /31 5 /24  2   
  Hibbert, Roy           36:00  + 7  20/68 6 -13 1 -1  5 -7  14/54 2 /16 0 /56 1 /57 1 /28 4 /33 4 /23  3   
  Macklin, Vernon        04:00  - 4  0 /4  0 -2  0 -0  0 -0  2 /3  1 /1  0 /8  0 /7  0 /3  0 /3  1 /2   0   
  Rivers, Jeremiah       14:49  - 5  2 /26 1 -2  0 -0  0 -0  2 /21 0 /9  0 /24 0 /22 0 /12 0 /12 0 /9   1   
  Ewing, Patrick         22:57  + 5  14/45 2 -3  2 -2  4 -6  5 /29 0 /11 1 /35 1 /34 0 /14 2 /17 3 /12  3   
  TOTALS                 40:00       72    14-34 10-23 14-19    57 15/24 9 /64 9 /64 3 /31 12/36 20/25  16  
                                           0.412 0.435 0.737       0.625 0.141 0.141 0.097 0.333 0.800      
     
  Efficiency: Georgetown 1.125, UCONN 1.078
  eFG%: Georgetown 0.509, UCONN 0.543
  Substitutions: Georgetown 24, UCONN 25
     
  2-pt Shot Selection:  
  Dunks: Georgetown 0-0, UCONN 3-3
  Layups/Tips: Georgetown 10-27, UCONN 6-11
  Jumpers: Georgetown 4-7, UCONN 9-17

Witty and/or elucidating bullet-pointed half-thoughts:

• Georgetown's first half offensive efficiency was attributable as much to the low turnover rate (4 in 33 possessions) and offensive rebounding as the eFG%, which was actually lower than the Hoyas' season average entering the game (60.6%).

• The Hoyas held UConn to 20% OReb rate for the game. The Huskies had entered the game averaging 40.2%, 18th out of 341 teams, and this was an important component of their offense (see the correlation table at the bottom of the link).
  

• Holy crap! In the 2nd half, Hasheem Thabeet and friends blocked fully 1-in-3 2FGAs attempted, effectively shutting down Georgetown's inside game; by my count, the only points in the paint scored by the Hoyas in the 2nd half by someone not named Roy Hibbert was the pirouette, possible four-step prayer by Pat Ewing to tie the score at 69-69 (and that was a goaltending call).

• Coming into the game, Jon Wallace had shot 28-55 (511%) on 3FGs, while Doug Wiggins was 11-40 (27%). Wallace went 1-7, Wiggins 3-3 on 3FG for the game.

• Roy Hibbert's 5-7 (71%) FT shooting was his best performance of the year; previously, his best was 8-12 (67%) against Alabama.

That's all for now, but here are the last second highlights, Chvotkin-style (downloadable high-quality video here):