The New Greg & Thundersnow Show: Georgetown Beats St. John's 71-61 Led By Whittington & Lubick
by JGD on Feb 12, 2012 3:36 PM EST
in Game Summaries
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PrintIn a month, we'll look back at this game as just another double digit win over a Big East foe. Yet, anyone who watched the game will know how much of a battle it was. Georgetown defeated St. John's 71-61 today in a game that was back and forth throughout. Sophomore Nate Lubick and freshman Greg Whittington were the unlikely stars today. Lubick filled up the stat sheet with 7 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. Whittington scored 12 crucial points, all of which at huge points in the game.
The Hoyas had a very balanced scoring effort today. 7 of the 9 players that saw action had 7 points or more. Jason Clark had a very tough game, shooting 4-13 from the field, but scored 6 of his 11 points with the game in the balance. St. John's was led by Moe Harkless, D'Angelo Harrison, and John Cahill, who combined for 44 points and some of the most ticky-tack foul calls in college basketball this season.
More thoughts after El Jump.
Georgetown didn't play all that well today. For a team that doesn't shoot the ball all that well, they continue to take an unbelievable amount of three pointers per game. Today they settled for 22 threes, only making 7 of them. Many of the three point attempts were rushed, particularly from Markel Starks and Clark. That said, Starks hit 3 of 5 attempts and appears to have regained his shooting stroke, which bodes well for the next month. After the loss to Syracuse on Wednesday, one of my biggest concerns was the limited contribution of our sophomores. Today eased that concern. Lubick was fantastic throughout the game, doing everything that we expected he would do throughout the season. His performance gave Henry Sims a much needed breather, while Starks' ability to stay on the floor limited turnovers. The Hoyas turned it over only 7 times today, showing how important having a true point guard on the floor is.
St. John's was a game competitor today, especially considering they start 5 freshmen and can barely field a full team on a game-to-game basis. Harrison and Harkless are fantastic players, guys that I have no interest seeing with another year of experience. In addition, St. John's freshman Amir Garrett came out of nowhere to steal the title of the player I hate most in the Big East, ripping it from Scoop Jardine's hands. Garrett was beyond irritating today, fouling the crap out of Otto Porter and Clark on his way to his stellar 2 point, 4 rebound, 5 foul outing.
Georgetown has a week off before heading to Rhode Island to face Providence next Saturday. The Hoyas are now 19-5 overall and 9-4 in the Big East, sitting in the top 4 of the conference's standings in a year that we were expected to finish 10th. Georgetown has 3 more very winnable games coming up - Providence, Seton Hall, and Villanova - before finishing the season against the Notre Dame Mock Turtlenecks and Marquette.
Providence is next.
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Markel tied his season high with 4 assists...
good things happen when Markel penetrates. Keep it up young man.
Could you say that again, I don't think their listing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Attack attack attack……………..create opportunities for offense while disrupting their defense. Worst comes to worst they’ll go to the FT line!!!!!!!!!!!
Eastcoastteddy
by Melvin M. Tuggle III on Feb 12, 2012 10:08 PM EST up reply actions
Student attendance = EMBARRASSING
Couldn’t believe it. Empty seats everywhere. Wtf?!?!?!?!
Don't want a monday hangover I guess
they need to man up
Sad realization:
Students want to come to games against Cuse, UConn, Nova, ND, and any team in the top 20. That’s it.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 4:25 PM EST up reply actions
Note: Nova and ND because every georgetown students has HS friends who ended up going there.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 4:25 PM EST up reply actions
nova will be good turnout
its the gray out game this year
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 5:01 PM EST up reply actions
I'm seriously in favor of religating the students to the 200s or 400s
Give the die hards the bottom parts of the student section, the part they can actually fill then sell the rest to season ticket holders. We clearly don’t need all of those sections for the students. This year’s turnout is literally embarrassing for me as a former board member of Hoya Blue.
I honestly do not know what can be done. I think kids are just spoiled, lazy brats.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 5:52 PM EST up reply actions
Taking "the good" seats away
would just make students even less likely to come. Which seems like it would be counterproductive.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 6:14 PM EST up reply actions
I agree.
That’s unnecessarily punitive. Glad to hear that the board is going to be taking additional steps in the future. As a former Hoya Blur board member, seeing the turnout has been disappointing and frustrating.
I know there are some institutional issues that we can’t change such as having to play off-campus and charging for student tickets, but I do feel that Hoya Blue can put some more butts in the seats with a concerted effort.
by StPetersburgHoya on Feb 12, 2012 7:32 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
If students aren't going to show up
and if the ones who do show up barely cheer, I’d rather charge 3x as much for the seats and give the program more money. It’s not like we’ll have any less of a home court advantage.
The problem is students view those seats as a right instead of a privilege. They need to earn them, and they’re not pulling their weight.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 8:13 PM EST up reply actions
My roommates and I screamed ourselves hoarse today.
And none of us would pay $300.
Easy there...feel free to fault those that don't attend. I'm with you that far.
I know you’re frustrated, but don’t question how loud or committed the students are who have actually shown up. That’s unproductive, and they’re a hell of a lot better than the rest of the student body.
(And if any freshmen who go to the games are as clueless about basketball as I once was, they don’t know WHEN to cheer…they’ll catch on.)
.......
You guys do realize that pretty much the only students who follow Causal are the ones that waited in the snow for 3 hours this morning, right? And that for those of us who do show up hours early for every game, the student-bashing is getting really old.
The student-bashing
Is not aimed at the people showing up, or really for that matter, those reading the blog. It’s more frustration venting. As one of those dedicated few, it doesn’t bother you that all of your classmates are M.I.A. on gamedays?
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 6:34 PM EST up reply actions
Hard not to take what hoyasincebirth personally that’s for sure.
by christwright on Feb 12, 2012 8:16 PM EST up reply actions
Fair enough
I think the “send the students upstairs” idea is horrible.
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 8:20 PM EST up reply actions
I'm just saying
I was in Hoya Blue all 4 years and on the Board as a senior.
I sit in 118 and when I have to start the cheers on the Band side at least 75% of the time, that’s a problem. The front parts of the student section do a good job, they show up by tip off and they cheer. Everyone past the banister sits there talking to their friends and half of them stare blankly at me when I start the cheers.
If you show up to games and cheer then I’m not talking about you. And i certainly don’t want to send the students upstairs, but if they’re not creating a home court advantage then what’s the point of having them there and giving them subsidized tickets. The $125 is at least a quarter of what you’ll pay as a young alumni for season tickets for arguably worse seats.
I don’t think any decisions should be made on this year’s performance alone, but if it becomes a multi year trend then I’d rather the Basketball team make 4-5x as much money from selling those seats to Hoop Club members. If we’re going to have a poor home court advantage we might as well make more money while doing it.
I guess I just find this personally offensive.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 8:31 PM EST up reply actions
and an eighth of what you pay as an "old" alumni
once the young alumni discount expires. Getting tickets at student prices is a fantastic discount, its a real shame more students don’t take advantage of a great product (our Hoyas) at a ridiculous discount
by SomebodyBuyAustinaSteak on Feb 12, 2012 9:36 PM EST up reply actions
As someone below mentioned...we're at the low part of a school spirit cycle.
And it’s frustrating for the alumni too – hence the blowing off steam. Because a good number of people on here probably weren’t the fair-weather fans. They were the type who voluntarily showed up & suffered through games in the Esherick years, or saw the bandwagon fill up midway through the last decade and did just what you did and froze their asses off waiting outside, then watched all of that excitement fade away. Again. Really quickly.
We’re like you, 5-10 years from now. Criticism is aimed elsewhere; so please try not to take it personally.
I know you guys mean well
Its just hard not to take personally, especially when we’re just as frustrated and trying the best we can to get fans out. I talked to some of the board today, and I know there’s a lot of changes going to be made for next year, so we should look forward to improvement.
Hoya Blue
has admitted in their past emails to the students that
“we haven’t done our due diligence for a lot of this year.”
This is a large part of the problem. The student turn-out at non-Uconn games this year has been reminecent of the turn-out during the final Eshrick years — bearly filling the bottom level of the student section for most games and then packed with first-timers for the big games (Uconn this year, UCLA/Duke then). The student attendance now represents the die-hards who would go to the game regardless of ranking/TV coverage.
Hoya Blue plays an important role in getting students who may not have a burning interest in college basketball to the game because they can make the games an event that students want to go to. It’s a shame that they haven’t done more.
by StPetersburgHoya on Feb 12, 2012 5:07 PM EST up reply actions
It's worth noting that the full quote is
“Georgetown is up for the Naismith National Student Section of the Year award! Yes we haven’t done our due diligence for a lot of this year, but who’s to say that isn’t going to change?” Which I read not as “Hoya Blue hasn’t been doing our due diligence” but “the student section as a whole” hasn’t been doing our due diligence. My 2 cents.
by John Caprio's Goofy Grin on Feb 12, 2012 8:18 PM EST up reply actions
It sounds to me like a vast misunderstanding of the phrase "due diligence"
The party that failed to complete its due diligence is the “Naismith National Student Section of the Year” selection committee,* if Georgetown is nominated.
*I’m pretty sure that it’s a self-nomination thing, but I wanted to make the point re “due diligence,” so let’s just assume there is some neutral third party in charge of this.
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 8:24 PM EST up reply actions
They keep using these words. I do not think it means what they think it means
"That is crap. It is unfair."
by Iwillpaytheway!! on Feb 13, 2012 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
I'll also add that
being a senior now, I think Hoya Blue has done a lot more to try and raise awareness during these past two years than we did during my freshman and sophomore years. HB has chalked the entirety of Red Square on several occasions this year, as well as plastering Red Square, Leavey, and the rest of campus with flyers for big and not so big games. We’ve had bigger turnouts at our weekly meetings as well, which I have to believe has a trickle down effect on friends of HB members, as I see the people who show up to our meetings at all the games.
What we don’t have now that we had my freshman year was a recent Final 4 run (or any postseason wins at all, sigh). One of my favorite memories from freshman year was going to 1:40pm accounting class, turning to some of my classmates and saying “there’s a basketball game tonight, wtf are we doing here?” and then having a group of 8 or so of us get up and leave before class even started. I spent literally days of my freshman year outside the Verizon Center waiting to get into games. Without discounting the efforts of past boards, I didn’t go because of an email or a flyer. Going to games was the default option.
I think that with a fair weather fan base like we have at Georgetown, the team’s success has a big effect on student turnout. Seniors and juniors like me are used to teams that flame out at the end of the year and get bounced in the first round of the NCAA (or worse, the NIT). As we start to (knock on wood) have some postseason success, I think that will change future class’s view of the team, as well as the expectation that games are a MUST GO TO and not a “well if I’m not too hung-over maybe I’ll swing by for the 2nd half” event. Again, just my rambling 2 cents.
by John Caprio's Goofy Grin on Feb 12, 2012 8:47 PM EST up reply actions
I think this, more than anything, explains the cycles of attendance
My sister is current senior. She’s had season tickets the whole time she’s been at Georgetown. I talked to her earlier this evening and when I asked wtf is going on with attendance, she cited the Sunday afternoon gametime. When I said that we had tons of Saturday noon games, she said “Saturdays, sure, but Sunday is homework day.” I think that if the team had more recent postseason success, people would be more likely to view the games as the thing to do, and planned “homework day” around them.
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 8:53 PM EST up reply actions
I'm really glad to hear that Hoya Blue is doing their best
I know several of the current board and I agree they’re at all of the games, so I’m glad to see they’re doing other things as well.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 9:00 PM EST up reply actions
Gutty February win
Glad to see Nate and Greg come up big. We will need them down the stretch
Ronnie Thompson - DBag?
Did anyone else hear Adrian Branch at halftime say that he spoke with Ronnie Thompson before the season who said “I dont think this team wins a game”? If so, somebody please smack Ronnie around until he apologizes publicly.
smack adrian branch
i doubt that is true.
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 5:02 PM EST up reply actions
These Hoyas don't take any shit
Johnnies tried to get in their faces often but these guys shrugged it off and played hard. Offensive consistency is still a concern but no one will question this team’s toughness – and from a fan perspective that is awesome.
casual awards
should be named according to various whitney houston songs
by The Lorry Michel Backrub on Feb 12, 2012 4:35 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
It seemed like we couldn’t get consistent inside penetration today and were settling for far too many perimeter shots. This wasn’t just a Henry thing — Clark and Hollis, for example, seemed unable to penetrate off the dribble either. Are the Johnnies surprisingly good at clogging the middle of the court (a few dribble penetration attempts did appear to lead to absolute muggings) or are we just failing to push inside hard enough?
From what I could see
They were letting defenders mug ball-handlers before the drive, but calling bumps inside.
That was bad for us, good for the Johnnies.
(Again, this is coming from somewhere wearing very blue-and-gray glasses).
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 4:55 PM EST up reply actions
Hollis got seriously mugged every time he was on the floor.
He was double-teamed on just about every touch. It seemed like the Redmen were permitted to push him nearly out of bounds on every touch beyond the arc. He finally got creative and moved closer to the rim.
Couldn’t help but notice how much more effective Henry Sims was from the high post compared to low. They really clogged us up and slowed us down inside the FT line, where the zebras allowed the Johnnies to whack us with impunity. When we have that kind of advantage in size and reach, which seems to be occurring often now (read Otto and Whittington), it is that quick ball movement that gets guys open and defenses scrambling to hold on to their jocks. The key to our offense is anything that keeps the rockl moving.
yeah
The post-game presser from the Johnnies’ end helped clear this up for me: their game plan was to keep Clark and Hollis out of the game by swarming on them whenever they had the ball. I think this explains why neither was able to effectively penetrate — the mugging began as soon as they tried to go anywhere. Hence why Whitt and Otto played such a key role for us, I suppose.
This game looked a lot worse than you'd think from the box score
Hoyas shot 49%, 17 assists, only 8 turnovers, +8 rebounding margin. The only real drag on offense was Jason eating up possessions with bad 3-point attempts.
by Northeast Corridor on Feb 12, 2012 5:02 PM EST reply actions
Quick aside
A friend of mine and I are arguing about Greg Monroe. Is there anyone on the planet that would argue Monroe isn’t the best player on the Pistons right now? He is trying to claim Ben Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and Brandon Knight are all better.
Didn't they trade Prince?
And your friend is dumb
by More like Awesome Freeman on Feb 12, 2012 5:09 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Your friend is either trolling you
Or stupid.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 5:19 PM EST up reply actions
If it wasn’t for Blake Griffin getting hurt
He would be the best 2nd year player in the league.. minus Jeremy Lin of course…
Who watches the NBA?
"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." - Churchill
by Esteban d' Amur on Feb 13, 2012 8:19 AM EST up reply actions
I don't
except for… L I N S A N I T Y ! ! !
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Feb 13, 2012 11:54 AM EST up reply actions
Concerning attendance
I know that 100%, if we had busses that went straight to the Verizon Center, people would go.
/sarcasm. It’s just such a hassle to take the bus to Rosslyn, get out, get on the subway, transfer to Red line, and then get to the stadium. end/sarcasm.
But in all seriousness, that’s the complaint I hear a lot. I get my ass to every game regardless, because I would want people at my games if I was a D-1 athlete. For some reason or another, we don’t do direct trips, and attendance is showing how inconvenienced our students are.
Also, we charge students $125 for tickets
which some consider to be expensive. When you count in metro trips, you’re probably close to $150 for the season. When you have a large, studious student body like we do, you have to really get people to games, and charging that amount does not convince the person at Georgetown to study to go see us play USF.
they used to bus people
problem was that people would leave the games early in order to catch the buses back since more people took the buses home than to verizon.
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 5:38 PM EST up reply actions
there has to be SOMEONE who can figure out how to do this effectively
how about if you get there earlier, you get to leave on the first bus. But no buses leave until the horn sounds. Why is that complicated? Or am I naive?
it's more complicated than that - scheduling the first departure time from campus is easy
when students are lined up & clogging the sidewalks outside Verizon, i think it’s a different sort of problem? also, busing and estimation of the number of passengers was more feasible when fewer students went to games…but increased attendance (and performance) once JTIII was hired proved to be the double-edged sword that killed that transportation scheme.
you should see the buses they have lined in in McDonough parking lot to take students
There are no less than 20 buses just waiting, and my bus left with 10 people on it. And we’re talking DC Trails tour buses. Fill those up, and take students. I just feel like direct trips would get the job done. Students can figure out how to get back, or use the buses at rosslyn to get home.
i wonder how much those cost?
versus hiring plain yellow school buses that would go all the way to Verizon Center. the school has to have run a cost comparison, right? we have a business school…
and I"m in the business school
and I would guess, NO. because DC Trails is the official sponsor and travel provider of your Georgetown Hoyas…
They stopped the buses after the '05-'06 season
Attendance was not a problem for the next couple of years. They did give us metro passes through the ’08 season though, and I think ticket prices maxed out at $100.
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 6:07 PM EST up reply actions
that said, i also think that if we win a couple of tournament games this year...
(knock on wood) this will be a moot point next season, at least during Big East play.
unfortunately, we all have to do that eventually.
this isn’t syracuse. and you aren’t tim abromaitis.
Not long enough.
"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." - Churchill
by Esteban d' Amur on Feb 13, 2012 8:26 AM EST up reply actions
Forget busing them
The university obviously doesn’t want to do it since they killed any kind of transportation subsidy in like 2007 (I think). I think we should consider setting up some sort of draw at Verizon itself.
Maybe some type of halftime activity out on the concourse led by HB or some other group where students who win are entered in to a raffle for some kind of prize (maybe reimbursement of the cost of season tickets, and only season ticket holders are eligible?). No one really cares about the bogus halftime activities put on by sponsors anyway – when’s the last time you heard someone cheer for the Verizon Triple Play? The more you show up and participate, the more raffle entries you get.
It’s the kind of thing you could tie in with like a Superfan type feature – HB/another group elects a single fan or group of fans who really got after it during that particular game, and those people get raffle entries – or any number of other features. Just spitballing here.
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Feb 12, 2012 6:10 PM EST up reply actions
I think this discussion requires its own place on the homepage
and the person with the best idea over the next week (until the next game) gets Casual swag.
by Hoya Vey on Feb 12, 2012 6:13 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Think we had a fan post about it back in the beginning of the season
When attendance was REALLY woeful. Not sure this is the right forum for it, ultimately, unless we’re just looking to vent. Need some kind of town hall between people like us who care about it, and members of campus clubs with enough pull to throw a little bit of money at the elected best idea.
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Feb 12, 2012 6:16 PM EST up reply actions
the reason Hoya Blue got better...
in the middle of the decade (starting after the 04-05 season) was the Athletic Department (Kyle Ragsdale, really) stepped in and…I mean, essentially pulled off a bloodless junta. They came up with some flimsy excuse like they were going to “re-structure” the relationship between the club and the Athl. Dept. Which technically they did…but the point was, as part of this arrangement, the Athletic Dept stepped in and ran the HB elections. Had a town hall meeting, nominated candidates and stuff.
In the end, the problem with HB at the time was the leadership was really lazy…so much so that they didn’t really contest the election and just gave it up. I guess you could’ve blamed poor attendance on how awful Esherick’s final years were—believe me, I was there, it was soul-crushing—but I got the impression then that even if we were a Final Four team Hoya Blue still wouldn’t have done anything.
I only hear things second hand these days, but I kind of get the same impression now about Hoya Blue.
I think this is misdirected frustration
I know Hoya Blue is at these games, and I know they care about attendance, too. It’s the other 99% of the student body that doesn’t care enough to make the trip that is the problem, hence the discussion about ways to physically get them to games, or else motivating them to get themselves there.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion – just felt compelled to defend HB since they’re not the ones slacking off the in the attendance department, so far as I know.
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Feb 12, 2012 6:27 PM EST up reply actions
Second this.
I know the president and many people on the board (I once was myself) and can attest they’re doing their best. They’re beyond frustrated because it reflects poorly on them.
I think it just goes in cycles.
Didn’t ESPN almost shut down because some duke students were leaving games at half?
I don’t know what changed between 08-09 (When we totally filed the entire student section for Memphis in the MIDDLE OF FINALS WEEK) and now… but the truth is that we’re in a bit of a down swoon.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 6:30 PM EST up reply actions
Has anyone seen a UCLA game lately?
If they’re still filling the stands, I think we’re forced to reject the Spirit Cycle Hypothesis. If they’re not…well, then we need to break the damn cycle!
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Feb 12, 2012 6:50 PM EST up reply actions
I think they are having issues as well...
with attendance.
"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." - Churchill
by Esteban d' Amur on Feb 13, 2012 8:28 AM EST up reply actions
Pauley is being renovated
so they are rotating between two different sites. I don’t think this season would be a far barometer for them
Never let facts get in the way of a good argument
by boubacarfor3 on Feb 13, 2012 9:12 AM EST up reply actions
still enough showing up
to feel suitably humiliated when the marriage proposal goes horribly wrong
Hammer of the Cuse
That was
soooo painful to watch. Probably best for the guy tho…
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Feb 13, 2012 11:56 AM EST up reply actions
could very well be...
There are a lot of factors at play, some that HB or the AD can control, some not.
I will say that I attend a bunch of on-campus sports, and this year across the board the student component has been off for whatever reason.
Also have to acknowledge again that I don’t have much insight any more into how things are going. Curious though: what HAVE they tried this year? As long as they’re trying, you can’t fault ‘em—maybe it’s just a dud year/group of students.
At some point though, you can’t hide behind a bad schedule—that’s kind of the bargain if you run Hoya Blue, I’d think…you’re supposed to come up with solutions to that.
I can testify to the efforts of HB this semester
It just is a combo of:
1) Why go when they’ll lose in the first round
2) We’re not playing anyone “good”
3) Why pay $125 when every game is on TV
It’s a problem that all leagues and franchises are facing. Look at NBA attendance in places like Detroit and Phoenix (my hometown) . Stadium attendance is down, but TV viewership is up.
Whoever comes up with a solution will make lots of money.
Those would be valid reasons
But only if we were talking about an adult fanbase and a professional brand. Obviously, playing well against great opponents will bring fans in for any type of organization, but we are talking specifically about undergrads going to their own team’s basketball games. A vast majority of these kids are not exactly shelling out a lot of their hard-earned money to support the team.
The difference between our fanbase, at the moment, and fanbases who make better showings is that, for many Georgetown students, supporting the program and going to games is just does not seem like a very fun or exciting (much less important) thing to do. At other schools, game culture is a big part of being in college, and for many Hoyas that may be true, but if it’s not a campus-wide feeling, apathy and excuses kick in.
Random thought
Would some kind of alumni tutoring program work? Some kind of pro bono thing for only loyal season ticket holders. The tutors could meet up at half to make sure their assigned students are there. Also spitballing desperately.
by Great Vengeance and Furious Anger on Feb 12, 2012 7:13 PM EST up reply actions
When I was a student ...
We had to take 45-60 minute bus rides to the Capital Center. And we liked it.
by John Coctostan on Feb 12, 2012 7:05 PM EST up reply actions
Drinking
out of flasks on the buses helped
New sig tba
by PerryMcDonald'sRightCross on Feb 12, 2012 8:14 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed...
Whatever they paid the folks to clean the buses after we were done with them, it wasn’t enough.
by John Coctostan on Feb 12, 2012 8:36 PM EST up reply actions
Drinking from flasks on Metro
Still a viable option, FWIW
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on Feb 12, 2012 8:41 PM EST up reply actions
Ah yes the D6
The most important bus for my senior year.
by Great Vengeance and Furious Anger on Feb 12, 2012 8:45 PM EST up reply actions
Only way
to keep the diesel fume-induced headaches at bay. Georgetown Gin from Wagner’s on Wisconsin just up from R St was the best.
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Feb 13, 2012 12:01 PM EST up reply actions
other ideas
- cut the price of student tickets to $100
- allow students to elect (i.e., check a box) to include the cost of season tickets in their tuition
- go back to scheduling the finals game at McDonough
- if they can’t do so now (not sure) create an online payment mechanism where a student or parent can pay for season tickets with a credit card
- send email with a link to the above online student ticket purchasing mechanism before students come back to campus in the summer
- create two types of student season tickets, those that include metro passes to the game and those that don’t
- do not sell individual game student season tickets, sell them as a pack with a less popular league opponent (e.g., a Uconn ticket gets you a South Florida ticket)
- create online student ticket accounts similar to those regular season ticket holders have to make it easier to transfer tickets to fellow students
- create an online attendance tracker (if we can get that type of ticket scan data), tie perks to attendance — things like first shot at student NCAA and Big East tournament tickets, ability to cut the line at the season’s biggest home game
by StPetersburgHoya on Feb 12, 2012 7:55 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions 2 recs
This is key
create an online attendance tracker (if we can get that type of ticket scan data), tie perks to attendance — things like first shot at student NCAA and Big East tournament tickets, ability to cut the line at the season’s biggest home game
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 8:09 PM EST up reply actions
This might blow up
the Hoya ticket office technology capabilities.
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on Feb 13, 2012 12:03 PM EST up reply actions
they do something like this at Nova for their smaller venue
All students have a chance to get tickets, but they are doled out by lottery. You get into the game by scanning your student ID.
If you get a ticket, you can use it or transfer it to another student. If you do neither, your odds of getting a ticket next time are reduced.
"I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."
I love that any student can go to any game.
With that said, I like the idea of reserving the first few rows of seats for students who attend the lesser games.
Last idea is clutch
Hoya Rewards is nice for other sports, but to be able to tie going to the “lesser” games on the bball schedule to perks for the biggest games or post season tickets has a lot of potential.
by John Caprio's Goofy Grin on Feb 12, 2012 9:09 PM EST up reply actions
They already do implicitly
The alumni ticket holders get last minute pitches to purchase heavily discounted tickets for some games, but not for others.
by StPetersburgHoya on Feb 12, 2012 9:33 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Then tie it to non-conference play?
The incentivizing of UConn/Memphis/Louisville (shit these are now our biggest in-conference games in future seasons aren’t they) seems to be the best way to go about it.
I eagerly anticipate the shitfit thrown by people who go abroad if/when such a system gets instituted.
agreed going abroad is a blind spot
But I think, on balance, if it can feasibly be done it would increase attendance at other games.
I’ll add a wrinkle. You could also weight certain games — for example, let’s say one of our lesser non-conference games is a bonus game where you get more points for attendance.
by StPetersburgHoya on Feb 12, 2012 9:40 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
I like that caveat
And I think it could make up for that abroad problem: if you weight the random 9 PM Cincy game or the 11 AM USF game heavier than most (make it count for 3 games or something), you’re not put at a disadvantage.
It’s just so puzzling to look at this game and not see the concrete seats filled at tip-off. You could blame HB if you wanted to for low turnout, but I’d think you’d be mistaken: a top-11 team playing at 1 PM on a weekend should be an automatic draw. If you have the tickets, you should be at the game. As I told a friend, I used to think Georgetown was a fair-weather fanbase. Today proved my theory wrong: Joe Hoya, writ large, is just a bad fan. Once you’ve reached that conclusion, you know how to proceed: with a really aggressive carrot-and-stick promotion strategy.
last two games of the season
vs. ND and @ marquette will determine whether we are 2nd in the conference or 8th.
Good talk.
I've been looking at schedules for the last hour or so
And every way I look at it, 12-6 should put us at top 5. How do you get to 8th?
Counting Wins...
is a dangerous endeavor
by VictorPage'sLeftEye on Feb 12, 2012 6:16 PM EST up reply actions
UConn did alright last year as the #9 seed
Just gotta get hot when it counts.
How about a couple of mini Kemba Walker's!!!!!!!!
Jason Clark is a lot better this year then most had predicted, he has the speed and his handling of the rock is far better then in years past. But the key ingredient for all three of our guards is the ball/shot fake. If you go back to the Cuse game it kept the defense very humble in the 1st half. The shots may have not all went our way but with Otto on the boards they will fall.
Eastcoastteddy
by Melvin M. Tuggle III on Feb 12, 2012 10:32 PM EST up reply actions
back in top ten
according to cbs
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 8:11 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Oh no
Would really prefer that we stay parked at 11… The Evil Top 10 designation seems to be our undoing every time.
by TouomouIsMyHomie on Feb 12, 2012 8:39 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Need to overcome that hurdle at some point
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on Feb 12, 2012 8:49 PM EST up reply actions
http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/player-Roy-Hibbert-11655
“WE ADD 2 STARS OF QUALITY”
wow, nice find
look at the centers ahead of roy on that list.
rankings meaningless when it comes to professional success
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 12, 2012 8:37 PM EST up reply actions
absolute beast.
I think Roy took his spot. pacers are a winning team, and Granger has not been great this year. If Granger was better, they take him and Monroe instead of Hibbert and Deng
I want to apologize for some of my more heated comments up above.
I know I get overly emotional about this issue. It’s great to hear that Hoya Blue has been keeping up the great job of promotions and really doing their best.
I guess I’m just frustrated sitting in the young alumni section and seeing the back half of the student section empty for 75% of this years games. As many of you know I’m loud and cheering every game starting the cheers on the band side. I can’t speak for the non band side perhaps it’s better on that side, but the students up near me are either not there or not cheering. It gets frustrating.
I am not blaming Hoya Blue or the die hards who are at every game. You guys are there in the front half of the student section and do a great job. I love the energy and excitement you guys bring and certainly do not want the student sections to go away.
And certainly one years bad turnout would not be enough to warrant reducing the student seating in the lower bowl, It’s have to be a 3-5 year trend of poor attendance.
It’s more just a threat which I have no way of actually enforcing. Just thinking that maybe if students thought there was even a possibility of the seats in the lower bowl disappearing that they might show up more to avoid that fate.
Again I’m sorry I offended anyone.
I’m sure you guys are just as frustrated as me if not more so.
I also recognize it’s unfair of me to project my own priorities onto the students. Not everyone at Georgetown puts Georgetown Basketball as high of a priority as I did/do.
I’m also partially frustrated because I don’t know what more we can do to improve student attendance. There are things the administration can do such as instituting a lottery system or extending Hoya Rewards points to Basketball games.
I’m also sure winning will cure most of our ills. I guess I just wish more of the current students shared the same level of passion to attend games that many of you and I have.
As far as a more solid Idea about what the AD could do to help boost attendance.
Something like targeting the 6 worst games on the the schedule and saying you have to make 3/6 of these or 4/6 of these to be eligible for tickets to the Syracuse game or you have to attend 80% of home games to get BET tickets etc.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 9:30 PM EST up reply actions
have we ever had to turn away students?
if so, I can see that. If not, the people who don’t go to games don’t care about sitting far away.
that is the main problem
arena is to big. Supply far out weigh’s demand. And with every game televised plenty of people would rather watch on TV than sit int he 400s or even the back of the 100s.
That’s why I think the BET is the only real carrot the AD has since that’s the only thing with restrictive amount of tickets. I remember that our trip to the NCAAs don’t even sell out their student allotment, BET seems to be the only thing people are willing to go to that has a limited supply.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 10:52 PM EST up reply actions
Guy I know whose kids go to Pitt
Told me that they do something similar to what you describe above
by TouomouIsMyHomie on Feb 12, 2012 10:23 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
maybe i'm wrong
but having buses to the games seems like the most important factor to increase attendance—make it easy for students to get there.
I just feel like the buses are a weak excuse
I mean the games used to be over in PG county and you had to go on a hour bus ride to get to games and attendance was still better than this. My friends and I used to cab to games. It’s only $12 for 4 people to cab from the main gates, around the same price as metro.
In addition the D6 metro bus goes from Georgetown to Metro center. There are plenty of easy ways to get to the game in addition to metro.
the fact that we’ve gone 5 years with out buses and attendance has never been this bad says to me the buses aren’t the issue.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 12, 2012 10:49 PM EST up reply actions
i hear a student project here
SURVEY, with credits, lets get these kids working on a marketing plan and adress the real needs instead of us old guys guessing what the problem is.
The only problem is Pitt's building, the Petersen Events Center doesn't have enough room for all the students
the Verizon Center is an NBA arena, and subsequently could hold the last 15 classes that graduated from Georgetown and them some most likely.
Strictly speaking
I think your math is wrong.
But your point is well taken.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 12, 2012 10:40 PM EST up reply actions
Not quite, Basketball seating is ~20k
But again, your point is well taken.
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 13, 2012 7:42 PM EST up reply actions
Students
Can make up for all attendance problems by showing Devonta Pollard some bigtime love at the Nova game…Hoyablue should already be planning some chants…etc
Yes
Tweet at him as much as possible. He has mentioned that Syracuse and UK fans have been best at showing interest via Twitter
THAT
might be a violation of NCAA rules
by VictorPage'sLeftEye on Feb 13, 2012 12:36 AM EST up reply actions
I tweeted Noels last week
Had a pleasant exchange with him. Hopefully my semi-slutty Twitter picture and the fact that he probably assumes I’m a student (I’m not) were just as persuasive as my tweets.
Not that kind of ripper.
by hoyaripper on Feb 13, 2012 10:47 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Semi-slutty AND persuasive?
I think we’re qualified to make that judgment around here.
by HoyaSmacksYa on Feb 13, 2012 11:45 AM EST up reply actions
I think you have to be careful if you own season tickets and/or donate to Georgetown Athletics
http://www.guhoyas.com/compliance/
I don’t know the definition of “recruiting contacts” is, but would be err on the side of caution in what you say to recruits.
Manley Field House is officially closed!
by HoyaParanoia85 on Feb 13, 2012 12:29 PM EST up reply actions
Noels
When is he coming for a visit? We have to pack that place. I was embarrassed yesterday by the student turnout.
by KerryKittlesSucks on Feb 13, 2012 7:57 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions
rumors say..
that he’s coming to the Nova game. couldn’t think of a better time either. it’s the gray out game and the stadium is going to be PACKED. lots of alumni coming back also
by bleeding blue, painted gray on Feb 13, 2012 11:02 AM EST up reply actions
and pollard is visiting then too
Good talk.
by Hire Esherick on Feb 13, 2012 11:10 AM EST up reply actions
Pollard I feel we have the best chance with
mainly because Kirby has pulled it out twice with Adams and Otto. With him visiting – I like our chances at selling on big time/big city hoops with a family atmosphere. Just comes down if he is willing to leave.
Nigel-Williams Goss is a kid I wish we would get more involved with. Great athelete, Findley Prep from Portland, OR originally. 2013, 6-4 G – has been playing point, 4.0 gpa, being recruited by inter alia Harvard, UCLA and Louisville. We seem to be closer with Hart though. Nova recently offered Hart as well.
by bunk moreland on Feb 13, 2012 11:23 AM EST up reply actions
What about GULC?
The campus is a 5 minute walk from Verizon. Seems like a good place to try and drum up student attendance.
by Northeast Corridor on Feb 13, 2012 8:25 AM EST reply actions
A few issues with that
1) Law students in general do not become season ticket-holding type fans unless they already have a rooting interest in the team.
2) Wouldn’t really solve our “student attendance” problem, because they would just be getting discounts to buy seats in the sections like 118 that are next to the students. Also, we’re not talking about very many people.
3) GULC may be relatively close to Verizon, but not many law students actually live around there.
107 has had a large number of non-u/g GULC students
at most of the BE conference games this season. I suspect, however, that we’ve just about tapped out the grad student audience. I chatted with one very nice lady who was attending her first-ever basketball game because she was drawn in for one of the $10 ticket games. I doubt we get the same reaction to a season-ticket offer though.
by HoyaSmacksYa on Feb 13, 2012 9:42 AM EST up reply actions
When I was at GULC
I had a choice between the student section or the young alumni section. I was in the student section one year and young alumni the other two.
by Northeast Corridor on Feb 13, 2012 11:47 AM EST up reply actions
Another excuse I'm not really buying is the $125 is a lot for student tickets excuse
1) most college students probably have their parents pay for this fee.
2) do people not realize that with 15 home games that’s $8 a game. That’s ridiculously cheap. It also includes a $15 t-shirt.
3) I’m pretty sure the students tickets give you access to all the women’s games as well. So if you subtract the cost of the t-shirt and add in the women’s games you’re paying $3.79 per game.
seriously, this excuse just makes me angry
considering as a normal ticket holder buying 100 level season tickets, I have to pay a minimum of almost $600 for similar seats.
by SomebodyBuyAustinaSteak on Feb 13, 2012 10:21 AM EST up reply actions
1) you clarified this with a “probably”, so it’s irrelevant for the many people that it doesn’t apply to (what’s the point of that statement?)
2) 6 of the home games were during finals/ break this year. additionally, the home games we did have this year were awful. and no one sees the t-shirt as part of the cost, let’s be honest
3) have you even been to a women’s game before? the only people who go to them are the same group of fans who are at every single men’s game yelling their faces off. this was just a way for the AD to make some extra money by upping the student ticket package cost.
4) (to somebodybuyaustinasteak) you’re really going to be upset that you’re paying more than college students who are going to support their own classmates?! you’re clearly missing the point of collegiate athletics
by bleeding blue, painted gray on Feb 13, 2012 11:00 AM EST up reply actions
you're missing the point of my post
I’m not upset about the money I’m paying. Frankly, its still a great deal for me and other alums.
I’m pissed off at spoiled, lazy, entitled students who can’t muster the energy to come watch an amazing team (and their own classmates) and show some school pride, AND are complaining about a $125 ticket price, which is ridiculously cheap.
by SomebodyBuyAustinaSteak on Feb 13, 2012 11:12 AM EST up reply actions
1) $125 for season tickets is not a serious economic burden for GU undergrads
2) Missing games because of break is totally understandable. Less understandable is not going because you think the games are “awful”. Do our students put such a premium on their time that they won’t deign to watch a top-15 team beat lesser opponents than Duke or Syracuse? I guess it is not enough to watch a good team play? If so, that’s fine, but then don’t pretend that we have a student body that are closeted great fans who just don’t have enough good reasons to come to games.
by WarmupEwing on Feb 13, 2012 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
clearly most of the students have no interest in supporting their classmates
if they were there to support their classmates they wouldn’t care about cost or quality of opponent. Clearly a large portion of the student body is missing the point of collegiate athletics.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 13, 2012 11:54 AM EST up reply actions
Not sure I agree...
So as a ‘97 – ’01 undergrad, I definitely remember not buying season tix frosh and soph year b/c I didn’t just have $100 lying around and no, my parents weren’t paying for anything. I saved money for food and weekends, and bought single game tickets when a bunch of people wanted to go.
Yeah, now I’d laugh at being able to pay that, but man, I think you’re forgetting what it’s like to be 18, out of the house for the first time and not know how to make a budget or how you’re paying for things.
i agree $125 is not chump change but...
I think its easily afforded by most undergrads. I see the real problem as this: Does anyone have any doubt that if we played all of our games at McDonough we’d average twice the student attendance?
That suggests that the problem is a confluence of difficulties combined with student laziness/apathy is driving down attendance. The administration could combat the former by offering buses, scheduling more games at McDonough, etc, but w/r/t the latter problem the students themselves need to do something,
I’d say write articles/op eds in The Hoya, talk to your fellow class mates, call out people, push to make basketball the focus of campus sports watching,,,
by SomebodyBuyAustinaSteak on Feb 13, 2012 11:44 AM EST up reply actions
I'm only a couple years out of college
I’m still friends with several seniors. I remember just fine. That being said I fell like the majority of students at Georgetown are not really out on their own and making a budget. Most people’s parents are paying for everything. I know plenty of people are in the situation you describe, but that’s probably about a third of the undergraduate population. Most of the people at Georgetown are very well off.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 13, 2012 11:53 AM EST up reply actions
STUDENT ATTENDANCE
we already started this conversation earlier this season here: http://www.casualhoya.com/2011/12/28/2667281/student-attendance
for those of you who are actually looking to provide some constructive criticism to fix the problem, you should go post there so we can have a centralized thread or start a new one.
by bleeding blue, painted gray on Feb 13, 2012 10:48 AM EST reply actions
Clearly something needs to be done to make sure going to basketball games is part of the culture at Georgetown. It should probably start in the tours for prospective students. They should emphasize the importance of Basketball at Georgetown and going to games. That will help attract students who want to attend the games.
Basketball should be emphasized more in orientation. I know they used to do a pep rally for all the freshman. I’m sure they still do that, but it should be emphasized that this is what students do and that drill it into them that going to games is fun.
They should work to make Midnight Madness more of a draw. It was not as big this year as in years past. Make it a big deal to get the students excited about the season. Maybe even throw parties after the first home game of the year and the first BE game of the year.
With a down town arena you can’t tailgate, but you can still make the games an event. Maybe Hoya Blue could organize a pre or post game happy hour at a bar in china town.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 13, 2012 11:49 AM EST reply actions
actually, there was no pep rally this year during orientation.
nso instead decided to replace it with another event, which i think was a terrible mistake and looking into it a big reason why attendance has fallen across the board. the pep rally used to include a ton of coaches coming out and essentially having a conversation with the freshmen. when jt3 came out it was like a god was speaking. this year though, the freshmen class COMPLETELY missed this.
once again, not the silver bullet of oh lets get the pep rally back next year and we’ll be back to normal, but certainly a contributing factor
What Rocks? We Rocks
by hoyablueandgray on Feb 13, 2012 12:04 PM EST up reply actions
agreed
shame it didn’t happen this year. Definitely did not help matters.
by hoyasincebirth on Feb 13, 2012 12:46 PM EST up reply actions
I still remember mine
“Fix it, Jon.”
by WallaceAtTheLineShooting2 on Feb 13, 2012 7:46 PM EST up reply actions
Transportation Issue
When we started playing in Capitol Center in Landover, we had roundtrip buses from McDonough. 90 minutes round trip. And great student turnout. Of course when we got back, we’d do our homework on a shovel.
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