The Morning After: Well Hopefully It's All Out of Our System

I was hoping this was a drug and alchohol fueled nightmare worthy of Hunter Thompson.

Defensively, last night seemed like an aberration. Early on you could tell it was going to be “one of those nights” for Seton Hall, and if a team is that lights-out then there’s only so much you can do. I’ve been pretty impressed with the team’s defense all year, most games they hold the opponent to a significant scoring draught. The Hoyas have a defense that will keep them in most games, barring those times when an opposing guard heats up and starts going ballistic.

The offense worries me a bit though. For all the games where the Hoyas clamp down on the other team’s scoring, it seems like there are just as many where Georgetown goes 5-6 minutes without a FG either. Then we start seeing that frustrating offense where everyone passes around above the arc for 25-30 seconds before taking a long shot or driving in hoping for contact or to make something out of nothing. The O seems reliant on either very close shots or 3s, it doesn’t look like the Hoyas get much from the midrange. They need to get the offense on track again before the BET and NCAA tournaments, because even with a good D a team eventually needs to put some points up in order to keep advancing.

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/super-page/seton-hall-upsets-georgetown-and-storms-the-court-not/

…is I literally spent all day defending the Hoyas to my colleagues. Most guys in my group are big on college ball and I will tell you that G’town has essentially become a punchline in our group thanks to late season collapses and early 1st round exits (last year every single guy in my pool picked us to be upset except me…) I thought this year’s team was different. We play great D I thought and great D doesn’t have off nights like shooters do. Everyone on my betting forum, ESPN, and Vegas pegged the Hoyas for the upset. NO WAY would we go down like chumps again. G’town -1.5??? SIGN ME UP. Needless to say i am $250 poorer and have been getting the business all morning. G’town has pretty much cemented its rep as huge chokers here at my job and it’s pathetic.

We are weak inside. We cannot finish strong and at least get to the line. It keeps happening and then they give up and die by the jump shot. This needs to be addressed. This team is starting to soften like a ducolaxed stool. Hall was hot but their shots were not pressured, another sign of a softening mental state. They need to get off the bus angry for every game from now on, no matter who we’re playing.

Agree, last night’s game was probably going down as a L no matter thanks to SHU once in a lifetime shooting performance.

Still, some of the concerns above about the offense need to be addressed moving forward. I feel like other teams have set plays like screen the screener or baseline alley-ops that are meant to get guys open shots or easy dunks. I don’t really see that in our game, nor do I see wrinkles like a pick and roll that gives us various options to get a good look or even a backscreen for somebody to get an open jumper on the perimeter. Worst case in games last night, they should send an extra crasher for offensive rebounds. I love our offense and don’t want to deviate but I do want to keep the other team from feeling comfortable against what we’re running because we’re predictable. Also, when we’re in a rut, I’d just like some other options to score. It would probably help open up our regular offense too.