Recap: Georgetown 56, Villanova 54

Just a numbers dump for now - hopefully some text added later tonight.


Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Visitor                         Home      
.            GU                              Villanova 
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            33        31        65

Effic.         94.2      76.0      85.5        79.5      85.5      82.4 

eFG%           58.0      47.5      53.3        29.2      45.2      36.7 
TO%            35.3      41.2      38.1        29.4      31.7      30.5 
OR%            33.3      38.5      36.0        47.4      28.6      39.4 
FT Rate        16.0      30.0      22.2        66.7      52.4      60.0 

Assist Rate    57.1      87.5      68.2        57.1      62.5      60.0 
Block Rate     22.2      18.2      20.7         0.0      25.0      10.3 
Steal Rate      8.8      15.8      12.2        23.5      12.7      18.3 

2FG%           76.5      41.7      62.1        38.9      45.5      41.4 
3FG%           12.5      37.5      25.0         0.0      30.0      18.8 
FT%            75.0      83.3      80.0        81.2      72.7      77.8

GU                    Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ                
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
Summers, DaJuan        49    15.1    71.5    10.8        47     95.8      9.0       +1.8   
Mescheriakov, Nikita   34     6.0   180.2    10.8        34     84.9      5.8       +5.0   
Monroe, Greg           52     6.7   113.3     7.6        52     82.3      8.6       -0.9   
Wright, Chris          59    16.2    85.4    13.8        58     72.0      8.3       +5.5   
Freeman, Austin        27     4.0    51.1     2.0        25     80.3      4.0       -2.0   
Clark, Jason           43     6.2   107.6     6.6        44     84.7      7.5       -0.8   
Sapp, Jessie           25     5.8    26.2     1.5        27     53.3      2.9       -1.4   
Vaughn, Julian         16     1.2    41.2     0.5        16     65.6      2.1       -1.6   
Sims, Henry            25     3.3    17.7     0.6        27     78.5      4.2       -3.7   
TOTALS                 66    64.4    84.3    54.3        66     79.4     52.4       +1.9    

Villanova             Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ             
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
CLARK, Shane           29     1.6    93.3     1.5        31     83.5      5.2       -3.7   
CUNNINGHAM, Dante      62    12.0   103.1    12.4        61     84.4     10.3       +2.1   
REYNOLDS, Scottie      57    18.5    65.8    12.2        58     77.3      9.0       +3.2   
REDDING, Reggie        57     9.0    93.3     8.4        57     79.8      9.1       -0.7   
ANDERSON, Dwayne       45     9.7    80.8     7.9        46     71.9      6.6       +1.3   
PENA, Antonio           3     1.0     0.0     0.0         2     50.0      0.2       -0.2   
FISHER, Corey          40     8.6    55.0     4.8        37     91.7      6.8       -2.0   
STOKES, Corey          37     6.4    96.0     6.1        38     75.5      5.7       +0.4   
TOTALS                 66    66.8    79.5    53.2        66     80.1     52.9       +0.3

HD BOX SCORE

GU vs Villanova
02/28/09 Noon at Wachovia Center (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Final score: GU 56, Villanova 54

GU                      Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Summers, DaJuan        28:26  + 2  16/45  2- 2  3- 6  3- 3  8/34  1/12  0/47  8/49  2/21  1/17  1/21   3
Mescheriakov, Nikita   21:44  + 5  11/37  3- 3  1- 2  2- 2  5/24  1/10  1/34  2/34  0/15  2/11  1/16   3
Monroe, Greg           31:16  - 2   8/44  4- 8  0- 0  0- 0  8/36  3/14  1/52  1/52  1/23  0/19  4/24   3
Wright, Chris          36:18  +10  13/54  5- 7  0- 3  3- 5 10/43  5/16  1/58  3/59  0/26  0/24  4/31   1
Freeman, Austin        16:10  + 0   2/20  1- 2  0- 1  0- 0  3/19  1/ 7  0/25  2/27  1/10  0/12  2/12   5
Clark, Jason           24:53  + 3   4/38  2- 3  0- 1  0- 0  4/28  3/14  0/44  2/43  0/19  3/13  1/21   2
Sapp, Jessie           16:21  - 5   2/14  1- 2  0- 1  0- 0  3/16  0/ 4  3/27  3/25  0/10  0/12  1/12   0
Vaughn, Julian         09:44  + 2   0/12  0- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/10  0/ 4  1/16  1/16  1/ 8  1/ 7  0/12   0
Sims, Henry            15:08  - 5   0/16  0- 0  0- 2  0- 0  2/15  1/ 7  1/27  2/25  1/13  0/10  1/16   3
TOTALS                 40:00       56    18-29  4-16  8-10    45 15/22  8/66 26/66  6/29  9/25 20/33  20
.                                        0.621 0.250 0.800       0.682 0.121 0.394 0.207 0.360 0.606    

Villanova               Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
CLARK, Shane           19:34  - 3   2/25  1- 3  0- 1  0- 0  4/21  0/ 6  2/31  1/29  1/13  0/16  0/11   2
CUNNINGHAM, Dante      36:46  + 0  13/53  4- 7  0- 0  5- 6  7/41  0/11  1/61  2/62  2/27  4/29  5/24   2
REYNOLDS, Scottie      34:30  - 4  12/48  1- 4  1- 6  7- 9 10/37  4/11  4/58  6/57  0/26  0/27  1/23   2
REDDING, Reggie        34:29  + 7   8/51  3- 4  0- 0  2- 2  4/38  2/11  1/57  4/57  0/23  3/26  1/20   3
ANDERSON, Dwayne       29:49  - 4   7/35  2- 3  0- 2  3- 4  5/33  1/ 9  2/46  3/45  0/21  3/23  4/21   2
PENA, Antonio          01:48  + 0   0/ 1  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 3  0/ 0  0/ 2  1/ 3  0/ 0  0/ 3  0/ 0   2
FISHER, Corey          21:28  + 0   6/32  1- 5  1- 3  1- 2  8/28  0/ 6  0/37  3/40  0/15  1/23  1/11   2
STOKES, Corey          21:36  - 6   6/25  0- 3  1- 4  3- 4  7/24  2/ 6  2/38  1/37  0/20  1/18  2/15   0
TOTALS                 40:00       54    12-29  3-16 21-27    45  9/15 12/66 21/66  3/29 13/33 16/25  15
.                                        0.414 0.188 0.778       0.600 0.182 0.318 0.103 0.394 0.640    

Efficiency: GU 0.848, Villanova 0.818
eFG%: GU 0.533, Villanova 0.367
Substitutions: GU 28, Villanova 36

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: GU 0-0, Villanova 0-1
Layups/Tips: GU 12-19, Villanova 7-14
Jumpers: GU 6-10, Villanova 5-14

Fast break pts: GU 4 (0.083), Villanova 6 (0.182)
Seconds per off. poss: GU 20.1, Villanova 16.2

More on luck

I noticed a discussion of luck and consistency on HoyaTalk tonight, and that thread pointed to an article by John Gasaway on Basketball Prospectus.

Gasaway provides a list of top lucky and unlucky teams, based on winning percentage compared to net efficiency. This is something that I set up to track a while ago, but just have been too busy to get around to posting. Now that I've been scooped, I thought I'd just dump what I've got.

First, to define terms:

• winning percentage is for conference play only, as are all following stats
  
• net efficiency is simply the difference between offensive efficiency (points scored / 100 possessions) and defensive efficiency (points allowed / 100 possessions)
• luck is the difference between actual winning percentage and expected winning percentage, based upon net efficiency

So how do we determine expected winning percentage? Well, there is a fairly strong correlation between net efficiency and actual winning percentage. Here are the actual winning percentage versus net efficiency numbers for the past five seasons (2005-2009) for the Big East:




I've colored the markers for this season (through 2/26) in blue, all previous seasons in red. The horizontal and vertical black lines represent the break-even points, either as net efficiency is zero or winning percentage is 50%.

The diagonal black line is the best linear fit to the data and the dashed blue lines are the 99% prediction bands - there is only a 1 in 100 chance that a team will lie outside of the prediction bands.

Teams that lay above and to the left of the fitted line are "lucky" in the sense that they have a better winning percentage than a team would expect to have based on net efficiency. And teams below and to the right of the fitted lines are unlucky.

The infamous 2006 Notre Dame team has been the unluckiest team in the five years I've run - they ended the year 6-11 (including a loss in the BET), but would have been expected to end up 10-7. Actually their expected won/loss record in the Big East was 9.7-7.3; I'm not a big fan of decimal wins and losses, but I'll use the extra significant digit to distinguish between teams (below).

That same year, the Syracuse Orangemen ran off four improbable wins in a row in the BET, which makes them the luckiest team in the last 5 years.

We can also glean a bit more from the graph:

• While the conference is normally thought of as the Big 5 (UConn, Pitt, Louiville, Marquette and Villanova), the net efficiency rankings indicate that 'Nova may be just a bit behind those other four, and at about the same level as West Virginia.
• It may not be apparant by winning percentage, but the efficiency stats indicate that there is a big jump between the top-12 teams in the conference and the bottom four (Rutgers, USF, St. John's, DePaul).
• While there are some lucky and unlucky teams, this year there are not gross outliers either way - at least not yet.
• It's always important to keep in mind that this analysis is for the conference season as a whole, and doesn't account well for injuries (D. James, J. Dyson, etc.).
  

Note: The actual method used by Ken Pomeroy (and probably John Gasaway) to calculate luck is based on Pythagorean winning percentage. The math is a bit more complicated, but the results are essentially the same as the graph presented above - the only big differences are for extremely good or bad teams, such as DePaul. For the table below, I'll use this more rigorous method.


Here's a table summarizing this year's teams, ranked by luck.

.                 Wins  Losses   Exp Win  Exp Loss   Luck
Cincinnati          8     7        5.6      9.4       2.4
Providence          9     7        7.1      8.9       1.9
St. John's          4    11        2.3     12.7       1.7
Villanova          11     4       10.4      4.6       0.6
South Florida       3    12        2.4     12.6       0.6
Louisville         13     2       12.7      2.3       0.3
Marquette          12     3       11.7      3.3       0.3
Seton Hall          6     9        5.7      9.3       0.3
Connecticut        14     2       14.1      1.9      -0.1
Pittsburgh         12     3       12.6      2.4      -0.6
Notre Dame          7     8        7.7      7.3      -0.7
DePaul              0    15        0.9     14.1      -0.9
Syracuse            8     7        9.1      5.9      -1.1
Georgetown          5    10        6.4      8.6      -1.4
Rutgers             1    14        2.5     12.5      -1.5
West Virginia       8     7       10.4      4.6      -2.4

As Gasaway says, Cincinnati, Providence and St. John's are the luckiest teams so far this season in the Big East, and Georgetown and West Virginia are amongst the unluckiest (for some reason, he left out Rutgers).

Updated conference stats, by half

If there's one thing you can count on around here, it's that we'll pander to special requests.

With prodding from a poster over at HoyaTalk, here's an updated tempo-free box score for conference games only, broken out by half:

.                     Offense                            Defense
.           1st Half  2nd Half   Total         1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Record                            5-10
Pace          31.6      33.3      64.9

Eff.         103.9     104.1     104.1           98.6     114.2     106.8
Eff. Margin    5.3     -10.1      -2.7

eFG%          53.2      50.2      51.7           50.0      53.5      51.8
TO%           23.0      20.5      21.7           23.0      17.6      20.2
OR%           36.7      34.1      35.4           33.8      40.5      37.2
FTA/FGA       24.1      45.8      35.0           24.8      51.0      38.2
FTM/FGA       15.9      32.7      24.3           17.0      34.2      25.8

Assist Rate   56.7      59.0      57.8           53.7      61.7      58.0
Block Rate    13.3       9.7      11.4            8.0       7.3       7.6
Steal Rate    10.8       9.9      10.3           12.7      10.1      11.3

2FG%          50.4      53.2      51.8           47.7      54.5      51.3
3FG%          39.1      29.6      34.4           36.3      34.1      35.2
FT%           66.0      71.4      69.5           68.7      67.1      67.6

Recap: Louisville 76, Georgetown 58

Well, this isn't much fun anymore. If you're looking for a meltdown, head on over to HoyaTalk.

I don't have too much to say about tonight's game, other than it was - statistically - the worst game of the year for the Hoyas. Worse than the Pitt game, where DeJuan Blair did whatever he wanted; worse than the Tennessee game, where Cameron Tatum likely had the game of his life, all in the last 6:00; and even worse than the West Virginia game, where the Mountaineers made sure to squeeze out the largest margin of victory possible.

Now a large reason for this being the worst game of the season is that Louisville was completely unconscious from deep, making 8 of their first 10 3FGA. That's gonna tend to skew Georgetown's defensive numbers. But the Hoyas also played poor offensively, even accounting for the customarily stellar Louisville defense.


All of this comes from the Performance Charts I update weekly (and now updated through tonight's game). If you have a look at the overall performance for the Hoyas this season (reproduced here), its clear that a sea change took place between the UConn and Pitt games.



After the UConn game, KenPom.com rated Georgetown the best team in the country. The Hoyas have been sliding down the ratings / rankings ever since, but that early season run is still skewing the overall computer numbers for the season, along with the expectations for Hoya fans going into each game.

If I look only at the 15 games played in 2009 (Pittsburgh forward), I can recalculate G'town's Pythagorean rating (per KenPom): Georgetown would rank 65th (with a rating = 0.814), just behind Siena (and 2 places ahead of Maryland), well off the NCAA bubble.


There's no cut-and-dry explanation for the free-fall - the defense has been mostly poor since the UConn game, with Georgetown defending better than expected only in the Rutgers and S. Florida games. But, if you'll forgive a fitted line, it looks like the defense has actually been trending worse all season:



For an eight game stretch between the Pitt and first Cincinnati games, the D was mediocre but never horrible. Since, there have been two strong performances (the aforementioned Rutgers and USF games), an average game (2nd game vs. Cinci) and four lousy efforts, including three of the last four. I don't see any common thread to account for the results from game-to-game, but would be happy to hear any suggestions. Pomeroy's analysis suggests all four factors contribute.


Offense, to me, is only slightly less troubling. Here, to my eye, there is a distinct declining trend since either the Maryland romp or soon afterward:



It looks like the offense declined strongly in December and January, and has now plateaued. For the middle part of the season, the offense was the great-unknown from game-to-game, leading to the blow-out win against Syracuse and the blow-out loss against West Virginia. Unfortunately, the defense has recently become even more unpredictable, making each game a crapshoot at best.


If you combine the two fitted lines and apply them to overall performance for this season since the Maryland game, you get this:



Not a pretty picture. If it's any consolation, it appears that the Hoyas may have finally hit bottom. We can only hope.


Well, that's all for tonight. I'll update the stats pages tomorrow.

As for tonight, let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE
 
.            Home                            Visitor   
.            GU                              Louisville 
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            33        34        67

Effic.         93.9      78.6      85.8       124.2     102.0     112.5

eFG%           57.9      32.8      42.2        85.0      45.8      63.6
TO%            27.3      17.5      22.2        27.3      20.4      23.7
OR%            15.4      37.5      29.7        28.6      35.3      33.3
FT Rate        78.9      25.0      45.1        55.0      87.5      72.7

Assist Rate    30.0      40.0      35.0        71.4      70.0      70.8
Block Rate      0.0       5.6       3.1         0.0      12.5       8.6
Steal Rate     21.2      11.7      16.3        18.2      11.7      14.8

2FG%           72.7      37.5      48.6        57.1      44.4      50.0
3FG%           25.0      12.5      18.8       100.0      33.3      66.7
FT%            60.0      75.0      65.2        63.6      61.9      62.5

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

GU                    Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ             
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
Summers, DaJuan        49     6.5    53.5     3.5        50    113.2     11.3       -7.8
Wright, Chris          61    15.5    71.2    11.0        60    110.2     13.2       -2.2
Mescheriakov, Nikita   27     4.5    71.6     3.2        27    118.9      6.4       -3.2
Monroe, Greg           51    10.7    89.0     9.5        50     95.3      9.5       +0.0
Freeman, Austin        46     5.4   126.1     6.8        47    107.6     10.1       -3.3
Clark, Jason           35     7.6    71.1     5.4        36    105.3      7.6       -2.2
Sapp, Jessie           40     9.1   100.4     9.2        40     87.5      7.0       +2.2
Vaughn, Julian         11     1.8   257.7     4.7        11    156.3      3.4       +1.3
Sims, Henry             6     0.5   200.0     1.0         6    132.2      1.6       -0.6
Wattad, Omar            9     1.0     0.0     0.0         8     76.8      1.2       -1.2
TOTALS                 67    62.7    86.7    54.4        67    106.6     71.4      -17.1    

Louisville            Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ             
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
WILLIAMS, Terrence     64    14.4   109.7    15.8        64     76.5      9.8       +6.0
CLARK, Earl            63    17.0   115.2    19.6        62     71.1      8.8      +10.8
SAMUELS, Samardo       42    10.1   106.9    10.8        41     84.8      7.0       +3.8
McGEE, Andre           38     0.8   253.4     2.1        38     70.5      5.4       -3.3
SMITH, Jerry           35     6.2    93.7     5.8        36     81.9      5.9       -0.1
KNOWLES, Preston       31     5.9   116.3     6.9        29    101.2      5.9       +1.0
SOSA, Edgar            29     4.2   109.2     4.6        29    101.3      5.9       -1.2
SCOTT, Will             4     0.0     -       0.0         5    136.0      1.4       -1.4
SWOPSHIRE, Jared        4     1.0     0.0     0.0         5    100.0      1.0       -1.0
GOODE, George           7     1.4    47.6     0.7         8    131.6      2.1       -1.4
JENNINGS, Terrence     18     5.0   141.5     7.0        18     69.6      2.5       +4.5
TOTALS                 67    66.1   110.9    73.3        67     82.9     55.5      +17.8

HD BOX SCORE

Louisville vs GU
02/23/09 7:00 at Verizon Center
Final score: Louisville 76, GU 58

Louisville              Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
WILLIAMS, Terrence     38:36  +14  10/72  3- 7  0- 2  4- 9  9/42  7/19  2/64  2/64  1/35  2/24 10/36   2
CLARK, Earl            36:29  +19  22/72  2- 7  3- 3  9-13 10/42  3/18  4/62  4/63  0/31  1/23  7/35   1
SAMUELS, Samardo       21:39  +12  10/47  4- 5  0- 0  2- 4  5/22  2/11  1/41  4/42  1/18  1/11  3/21   3
McGEE, Andre           21:22  +17   3/45  0- 0  1- 1  0- 0  1/26  2/14  2/38  0/38  0/15  0/13  1/20   4
SMITH, Jerry           22:09  +14   8/40  1- 3  2- 3  0- 0  6/24  0/11  0/36  2/35  0/12  0/11  2/17   0
KNOWLES, Preston       17:15  + 9  10/35  2- 4  2- 3  0- 0  7/20  1/ 6  0/29  0/31  0/22  1/13  0/20   2
SOSA, Edgar            18:38  + 1   6/31  3- 3  0- 0  0- 0  3/18  2/ 6  0/29  2/29  0/20  0/11  0/17   3
SCOTT, Will            02:00  - 1   0/ 5  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 2  0/ 2  0/ 5  0/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 0  1/ 1   1
SWOPSHIRE, Jared       03:31  - 1   0/ 4  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 2  0/ 1  0/ 5  1/ 4  0/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 2   1
GOODE, George          05:57  - 4   0/ 5  0- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/ 9  0/ 2  0/ 8  0/ 7  0/ 9  1/ 7  0/ 9   0
JENNINGS, Terrence     12:24  +10   7/24  1- 2  0- 0  5- 6  2/13  0/ 6  1/18  0/18  1/ 8  1/ 6  1/ 7   4
TOTALS                 40:00       76    16-32  8-12 20-32    44 17/24 10/67 16/67  3/35  8/24 26/37  21
.                                        0.500 0.667 0.625       0.708 0.149 0.239 0.086 0.333 0.703    

GU                      Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Summers, DaJuan        28:21  -20   4/38  1- 4  0- 4  2- 4  8/42  1/13  2/50  0/49  1/18  0/32  4/13   3
Wright, Chris          36:02  -12  12/52  2- 8  1- 4  5- 8 12/47  1/15  0/60  4/61  0/30  1/35  3/23   4
Mescheriakov, Nikita   14:24  -14   5/21  0- 0  1- 1  2- 2  1/12  1/ 5  0/27  3/27  0/15  0/ 9  0/ 8   4
Monroe, Greg           29:52  - 7  10/45  4- 7  0- 0  2- 2  7/32  1/11  2/50  3/51  0/23  1/20  4/18   3
Freeman, Austin        27:02  -20   8/38  4- 5  0- 1  0- 1  6/34  0/ 9  2/47  0/46  0/22  1/27  2/18   3
Clark, Jason           22:37  -10   4/30  1- 3  0- 1  2- 2  4/26  1/ 9  1/36  2/35  0/18  2/18  0/13   2
Sapp, Jessie           25:02  - 3   9/41  2- 5  1- 5  2- 4 10/36  2/12  4/40  0/40  0/21  1/25  1/18   4
Vaughn, Julian         08:37  - 5   4/12  2- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/16  0/ 3  0/11  0/11  0/ 8  3/13  0/ 6   1
Sims, Henry            03:12  - 3   2/ 4  1- 1  0- 0  0- 0  1/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 6  0/ 6  0/ 1  0/ 2  0/ 0   1
Wattad, Omar           04:51  + 4   0/ 9  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 6  0/ 2  0/ 8  1/ 9  0/ 4  0/ 4  0/ 3   0
TOTALS                 40:00       58    17-35  3-16 15-23    51  7/20 11/67 15/67  1/32 11/37 16/24  25
.                                        0.486 0.188 0.652       0.350 0.164 0.224 0.031 0.297 0.667    

Efficiency: Louisville 1.134, GU 0.866
eFG%: Louisville 0.636, GU 0.422
Substitutions: Louisville 32, GU 32

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Louisville 3-3, GU 4-5
Layups/Tips: Louisville 7-16, GU 8-16
Jumpers: Louisville 6-13, GU 5-14

Fast break pts: Louisville 11 (0.196), GU 4 (0.093)
Seconds per off. poss: Louisville 18.0, GU 17.8

Recap: Marquette 78, Georgetown 72

Sorry for the tardy post - it'll have to be a numbers dump for right now. I'll try to add some commentary tomorrow.

Edited to add:
- Doesn't look like I'll have time to add much, so I'll just round up some links and quotes from the blogosphere. As always, see HoyaTalk and HoyaSaxa for discussions and links from the traditional media.


HoyaHoops
The Hoyas missed shots from close range, failed to collect defensive rebounds, and turned the ball over at critical times. Marquette meanwhile continued their remarkably consistent play and pulled away in the final moments.


Cracked Sidewalks
The game was a see-saw battle through the first 32 minutes. The final 8, Marquette slowly outlasted Georgetown, playing tight defense, nurturing a 2 point lead into a 4 point lead, into a 6 point lead, outscoring GTown 17-10 over the final stretch, not counting an uncontested 3 as time expired and the game decided.

Georgetown sinks to 5-9 in the Big East, their NCAA chances slipping away, despite their schedule, which is the 3rd toughest in the country. One could see them winning the NIT with their talent, unless they go on a serious run in the BET.


Robert Churchwell's Revenge
Greg Monroe is an ultra-talented 6-foot-10 center for whom the Marquette Golden Eagles had no answer today. If the Georgetown Hoyas had wanted to, and if Monroe had been up for it, they could have run the entire second-half offense through him and won this game. He wasn't in foul trouble, the defense was working, and there were plenty of half-court sets, even some transition opportunities, that called for Monroe to forcefully take the ball to the basket and score.

But that doesn't work when all the guy wants to do is pass. It doesn't work when the offense works to get the big man the ball inside only to watch him dish it off at the last minute when the right play would be to shoot a hook shot, or even dunk the ball and scream the roof off the place like a real, monster big man does.

It doesn't work when there's nobody to get in Greg Monroe's ear and shout, "Okay! We get it! You're a great passer! But for God's sake, man! You're 6-foot-10! Freaking SCORE already!"


Yet Another Basketball Blog
I knew it was going to be a long day for Georgetown when a fan shouted “[obsenity] Marquette” during the national anthem. There’s just no good karma coming out of that one.


CasualHoya
We didn't play that poorly today.

If anyone wants to see me jump off the Key Bridge, I suggest you head to Georgetown immediately.


Hire Esherick
If I hear another person talk about how we can get into the Tourney by winning here and doing a backflip there, I am to throw my shoe at them.

Maybe even both shoes if the person is funny looking.


Let's run the numbers:

TEMPO-FREE BOX SCORE

.            Home                            Visitor
.            GU                              Marquette
.            1st Half  2nd Half   Total      1st Half  2nd Half   Total
Pace            31        30        62

Effic.        138.9      90.4     114.9       138.9     109.8     124.4

eFG%           64.1      50.0      58.2        70.0      40.0      55.0
TO%            12.6      25.8      19.1        15.8       3.2       9.6
OR%            43.8      15.4      31.0        30.8      42.1      37.5
FT Rate        12.5      30.4      20.0        10.0      50.0      30.0

Assist Rate    47.1      36.4      42.9        50.0      63.6      55.2
Block Rate     11.1      10.0      10.5         9.5       0.0       5.4
Steal Rate      9.5       0.0       4.8         6.3      16.2      11.2

2FG%           47.6      62.5      54.1        66.7      45.0      55.3
3FG%           63.6      14.3      44.4        50.0      20.0      36.4
FT%            75.0      71.4      72.7        66.7      66.7      66.7

INDIVIDUAL NET POINTS STATS

GU                    Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ        
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
Summers, DaJuan        48    15.3    66.7    10.2        47    115.0     10.8       -0.6
Wright, Chris          55    12.8   127.5    16.3        56    109.0     12.2       +4.1
Mescheriakov, Nikita   22     2.5    52.8     1.3        24    137.9      6.6       -5.3
Monroe, Greg           56    11.3   145.5    16.5        57    121.6     13.9       +2.6
Freeman, Austin        56     8.1   144.4    11.8        54    117.7     12.7       -1.0
Clark, Jason           22     5.3   130.6     6.9        20    127.5      5.1       +1.8
Sapp, Jessie           47     6.0    84.7     5.1        48    113.2     10.9       -5.8
Vaughn, Julian          7     0.8   200.0     1.5         6    100.0      1.2       +0.3
Sims, Henry             2     0.0     -       0.0         3    133.3      0.8       -0.8
TOTALS                 63    62.1   112.1    69.6        63    117.7     74.2       -4.6

Marquette             Off    Poss           Individ     Def             Individ        
Player                Poss   Used    ORtg   Pts Prod    Poss    DRtg   Pts Allow   Net Pts
JAMES, Dominic         63    10.2    64.7     6.6        63    101.1     12.7       -6.2
BURKE, Dwight          27     2.7   133.5     3.6        26    119.6      6.2       -2.6
MCNEAL, Jerel          63    18.5   115.7    21.4        63    107.6     13.6       +7.9
MATTHEWS, Wesley       61    11.1   157.7    17.5        60    106.1     12.7       +4.7
HAYWARD, Lazar         60    15.7   118.5    18.5        59    112.5     13.3       +5.3
CUBILLAN, David         3     0.0     -       0.0         5    149.3      1.5       -1.5
BUTLER, Jimmy          38     3.4   203.5     6.8        39    114.4      8.9       -2.1
TOTALS                 63    61.5   121.1    74.5        63    109.4     68.9       +5.5

HD BOX SCORE

Marquette vs GU
02/21/09 2:00 at Verizon Center
Final score: Marquette 78, GU 72

Marquette               Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
JAMES, Dominic         40:00  + 6   6/78  2- 7  0- 2  2- 4  9/60  3/27  4/63  2/63  0/37  0/34  1/30   4
BURKE, Dwight          18:09  - 4   2/29  1- 1  0- 0  0- 2  1/23  0/ 9  0/26  0/27  0/17  2/15  2/12   4
MCNEAL, Jerel          40:00  + 6  22/78  7-11  2- 6  2- 4 17/60  7/20  1/63  2/63  0/37  1/34  5/30   3
MATTHEWS, Wesley       38:34  + 9  23/76  4- 8  5- 8  0- 0 16/58  3/19  2/60  0/61  1/37  2/32  1/29   1
HAYWARD, Lazar         36:58  + 6  17/74  4- 7  1- 6  6- 6 13/56  2/22  0/59  2/60  0/34  4/32  7/29   2
CUBILLAN, David        02:49  - 3   0/ 4  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 4  0/ 2  0/ 5  0/ 3  0/ 1  0/ 2  0/ 0   0
BUTLER, Jimmy          23:30  +10   8/51  3- 4  0- 0  2- 2  4/39  1/17  0/39  0/38  1/22  1/21  4/20   3
TOTALS                 40:00       78    21-38  8-22 12-18    60 16/29  7/63  6/63  2/37 12/32 20/29  17
.                                        0.553 0.364 0.667       0.552 0.111 0.095 0.054 0.375 0.690

GU                      Min   +/-   Pts  2PM-A 3PM-A FTM-A  FGA    A    Stl    TO   Blk    OR    DR   PF
Summers, DaJuan        30:42  + 2  12/59  3- 7  2- 4  0- 0 11/39  0/18  0/47  5/48  0/26  1/19  3/26   5
Wright, Chris          34:33  - 1  17/66  2- 6  2- 5  7- 7 11/50  4/21  1/56  1/55  0/33  0/28  2/32   1
Mescheriakov, Nikita   15:03  -10   3/23  0- 0  1- 1  0- 0  1/15  1/ 8  0/24  2/22  0/16  0/ 8  0/13   5
Monroe, Greg           35:26  - 4  13/68  6- 9  0- 0  1- 3  9/48  2/20  1/57  0/56  3/33  4/25  4/31   1
Freeman, Austin        34:53  + 5  16/70  5- 5  2- 5  0- 1 10/52  2/20  0/54  2/56  0/30  0/27  5/28   1
Clark, Jason           14:08  - 1   6/25  3- 5  0- 1  0- 0  6/19  1/ 7  0/20  1/22  1/15  2/11  1/10   3
Sapp, Jessie           28:50  -15   3/45  0- 3  1- 2  0- 0  5/44  2/17  1/48  1/47  0/28  2/26  4/25   1
Vaughn, Julian         04:34  - 2   2/ 4  1- 2  0- 0  0- 0  2/ 7  0/ 1  0/ 6  0/ 7  0/ 5  0/ 5  0/ 3   0
Sims, Henry            01:51  - 4   0/ 0  0- 0  0- 0  0- 0  0/ 1  0/ 0  0/ 3  0/ 2  0/ 4  0/ 1  0/ 2   0
TOTALS                 40:00       72    20-37  8-18  8-11    55 12/28  3/63 12/63  4/38  9/29 20/32  17
.                                        0.541 0.444 0.727       0.429 0.048 0.190 0.105 0.310 0.625

Efficiency: Marquette 1.238, GU 1.143
eFG%: Marquette 0.550, GU 0.582
Substitutions: Marquette 18, GU 28

2-pt Shot Selection:
Dunks: Marquette 0-0, GU 3-3
Layups/Tips: Marquette 15-20, GU 11-20
Jumpers: Marquette 6-18, GU 6-14

Fast break pts: Marquette 4 (0.061), GU 4 (0.062)
Seconds per off. poss: Marquette 18.8, GU 19.3