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.

Coach Thompson, Simply in Numbers

Below I've put four stats into context for the entirety of John Thompson III's time as head coach of the Hoyas.

I've included the Pomeroy rankings from 2012, because as Brian notes in this awesome article here, they are a very strong predictor of the year-end numbers.  I haven't used the conference win predictions because there is a difference to my mind between the two [editor's note:  this is Alan's gentle way of saying he doesn't believe them].

I'm not going to write up an analysis for now; draw your own conclusions.

1.  Winning

Regular Season Conference Wins

     Team   2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012     Avg
 1   Pitt    10   10   12   10   15   13   15    -     12.1
 2   Lou      -    6   12   14   16   11   12    -     11.8
 3   Vill    11   14    9    9   13   13    9    -     11.1
 4   Conn    13   14    6   13   15    7    9    -     11.0
 5   Syr     11    7   10    9   11   15   12    -     10.7
 6   Marq     -   10   10   11   12   11    9    -     10.5
 7   WVU      8   11    9   11   10   13   11    -     10.4
 8   Gtown    8   10   13   15    7   10   10    -     10.4
 9   ND       9    6   11   14    8   10   14    -     10.3
 10  Cincy    -    8    2    8    8    7   11    -      7.3
 11  SHU      4    9    4    7    7    9    7    -      6.7
 12  SJU      3    5    7    5    6    6   12    -      6.3
 13  Prov     4    5    8    6   10    4    4    -      5.9
 14  USF      -    1   12    3    4    9    3    -      5.3
 15  Rut      2    7    3    3    2    5    5    -      3.9
 16  DeP      -    5    9    6    0    1    1    -      3.7


Pomeroy Rank         

     Team    2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012     Avg
 1   Lou       -   38   12    6    4   43   14   17     19.1
 2   Pitt     22   12   13   21    5   31    4   50     19.8
 3   Gtown    42   14    5    7   27   13   40   13     20.1
 4   WVU      30   16   32   19    9    8   21   37     21.5
 5   Syr      17   51   37   38   15    4   11    4     22.1
 6   Conn     13    4   49   22    3   56   10   28     23.1
 7   Marq      -   28   38   11   19   33   32   18     25.6
 8   Vill      4    7   19   43   14   21   33   64     25.6
 9   ND       48   27   20   28   38   38   15   43     32.1
 10  Cincy     -   42   113  98   85   75   23   52     69.7
 11  SHU      92   84   81   103  73   72   59   42     75.8
 12  Prov     50   71   67   74   80   88   96   139    83.1
 13  SJU      84   108  101  126  116  67   42   144    98.5
 14  USF       -   162  131  101  135  83   127  137   125.1
 15  Rut      118  69   166  164  141  156  78   124   127.0
 16  DeP       -   82   46   95   198  172  202  152   135.3

Quick thoughts: The biggest difference between the two is probably 2012, as well as noting that there's only a small difference (less than one win) between 3rd and 9th in average conference wins. After that it could be schedule strength, under-performance in conference play, and/or luck.

a look at the offense and defense after the jump

Deep bench, short rotation

JT3 subs in five players - documented! (Joseph Silverman / The Washington Times)

Alan's excellent post about likely minutes for the upcoming season got me thinking about John Thompson III's reputation for playing a short rotation.  I think this rep was developed in his first two seasons, when the cupboard was mostly bare beyond the first 6 or 7 players on the roster.  But now that he's been coaching the Hoyas for six seasons, I wonder if this reputation is myth or reality.

But before I can dig into the question of whether JT3 goes with fewer players than he should, I need to work through some basics and find a reasonable measuring stick.

First, we need to decide what constitutes being part of the rotation for a player, rather than just playing garbage minutes.  Next, we need to have some meaningful comparison of the size of Georgetown's rotation versus what other coaches/teams run.  Finally, we'll need to consider what to do about injured/suspended players and their effect on the rotation.

More after the jump

Game Ball: Memphis

CO has already given his player of the game to DaJuan Summers, so consider this an extra game ball.

But it has to go to John Thompson, III. In every sport, coaches who are considered geniuses at one point are often exposed when they cannot adjust their strategy and game plans to their personnel. System coaches will look brilliant when the players fit, and when it does not, their teams often fail miserably.

This year's incarnation of the Hoyas hasn't gotten enough credit for both simultaneously running the same offense and at the same time, running it differently from previous years.

CO has already detailed how the team is running more. But the team has also undergone another dramatic shift: it is driving more in the halfcourt as well, and as a consequence is drawing many more fouls. For several years, Georgetown perimeter players simply didn't draw fouls. Sapp, Freeman and Wallace all hovered around a 20 FT Rate last year. This year, Chris Wright's 39 is the lowest of the top six players.

It was that ability to get to the line that won the Memphis game -- a game we would have lost last year (well, we did lose last year). Many people questioned Thompson's ability to adjust his style to his players. Thompson has done that smoothly, without abandoning any of the principles of his offense as well.

Roundup: Our man in NJ, and other stuff

Spanning the internets to bring you the latest, or at least a subset thereof.

First, Ray Floriani checks in with another missive:

"The Sweet 16 comes to New Jersey. Georgetown faces Vanderbilt in game one at Continental Airlines Arena on Friday and now is a good time to discuss a few general facts about the SEC opposition.

This will be Vandy’s fourth trip to the Sweet 16.The most recent appearance was 2004. The school, located in Nashville, Tennessee actually was named after one of its prime benefactors, Cornelius Vanderbilt who donated one million dollars to fund the ‘academic gem of the Southeast.’ Vanderbilt opened its doors in 1873. Vanderbilt was also the first Southeast Conference school to play basketball and the first to field an African-American basketball player, Perry Wallace in 1967.

Vanderbilt plays in 14,000+ Memorial Gym which opened its doors in 1952 and has undergone several upgrades. The Commodore nickname has nothing to do with Lionel Richie. It came as a result of the school’s founder, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s love of steamboats.

Famous people in the program with over 1300 wins and an NIT (1990) Championship on the resume:

• Roy Skinner – coached in the ‘60s and ‘70s and rang up 278 wins.
• C.M. Newton – Best known for his days on the Alabama sideline, Newton put together a 129-115 record during his eight years (1982-89) in Nashville.
• Phil Cox – Scored over 1700 points during the ‘80s.
• Clyde Lee – A Vandy great in the 60’s, the 6’11’ Lee was a two time SEC Player of the Year who went on to a ten year NBA career.
• Will Purdue – Played in the late Eighties and developed into an outstanding big man. Purdue got a few NBA rings playing in Chicago with a gentleman by the name of Michael Jordan.
• Matt Freije – The school’s all time leading scorer with 1891 points, the 6’10 Freije played sparingly with Atlanta.
• Eddie Fogler – Guided the Commodores to the ’90 NIT title.
• Jan Van Breda Kolff – As a St.Bonaventure alum, even typing his name sickens me. But fair is fair. Van Breda Kolff was ’74 SEC Player of the Year and had a respectable pro career. He later coached at Vandy with a 104-81 mark for 6 seasons and a ’94 NIT runnerup.

* Current coach Kevin Stallings is in his eighth year with a 144-107 mark."


In other news:

• First, Dan Steinberg concedes a lack of coverage of the Hoyas in the Post. Then, a HoyaTalk poster receives a remarkably unprofessional e-mail response from the Post. What's next? Pistols at dawn?
• There is a very nice blog on Vanderbilt (and SEC) statistical analysis. Unfortunately, it hasn't been updated in a month or so. Lousy timing.
• KenPom updates his log5 stats for the Sweet 16.
• JTIII was named one of four finalists for the Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year.
• According to this post on MDVarsity.com, congratulations are in order for recruits Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark for making 1st team All-Met.