ewu vs. georgetown...in portland

[GoldenEagle]

I tried to register to get on the Hoya forum to ask a couple questions but I guess have not passed their background check yet.

They seem to think their bulky center can defend Jois. He must be much quicker than he was at UCLA. They also think the EAGS guards are not athletic and will have problems with their defense.

 

[EWUSigep447]

Tickets are $100 a pop... Real bummer. The girlfriend and I can't do that on our graduate school budget I'm guessing that will be how most students feel about it. We will just have to throw a watch party and watch it on TruTV (whatever that network is).

 

[Screamin_Eagle174]

Tickets are $100 a pop... Real bummer. The girlfriend and I can't do that on our graduate school budget I'm guessing that will be how most students feel about it. We will just have to throw a watch party and watch it on TruTV (whatever that network is).

Just for the one game, or for the weekend?!

 

[Potomac Griz]

They seem to think their bulky center can defend Jois. He must be much quicker than he was at UCLA. They also think the EAGS guards are not athletic and will have problems with their defense.

The good news is their bulky center only plays about 21 mins a game. Bad news is he seems to be more consistent than when he was at UCLA. Big guy that's for sure....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYWTk79Z4vw[/youtube]

Guessing you guys will do a lot of zone and collapse on him whenever he gets the ball. An extra set of hands swatting at the ball might be able to cause some turnovers or at least keep him from bulldozing his way to an easy bucket.

He's going to be a load though to deal with even then... While their team 3point shooting percentage isn't great, they do have some decent shooters on the roster. A few guys between 35 and 40% from 3 who could hurt your zone.

That said, Georgetown has kind of a nasty recent history (for them anyway) of getting upset early in the tournament. Maybe you guys add to that history and give them another first round loss to chew on. Going to be an interesting game... run on them offensively, make Smith get down the court in a hurry and he'll need a breather quickly.

Being captain obvious here but like most teams going up against top 4 seeds from big conferences, it's going to require playing an almost perfect game and shooting incredibly well from 3 to beat them. I do worry what Smith can do though against your undersized (compared to Big East size) posts...

Out of curiosity, how's your 7footer? He far enough along to maybe be used to bother Smith inside a bit if you need more bulk? Or do you think you have a better shot just harassing him with lots extra hands from pesky guards collapsing on him when he gets the ball?

 

[Obzerver]

Poking fun of The Red Zone and our program? They play Football in the Patriot League where they won 3 games last year and have the distinction of playing in the smallest stadium in D1(2500 capacity).

 

[EWURanger]

They seem to think their bulky center can defend Jois. He must be much quicker than he was at UCLA. They also think the EAGS guards are not athletic and will have problems with their defense.

The good news is their bulky center only plays about 21 mins a game. Bad news is he seems to be more consistent than when he was at UCLA. Big guy that's for sure....

Guessing you guys will do a lot of zone and collapse on him whenever he gets the ball. An extra set of hands swatting at the ball might be able to cause some turnovers or at least keep him from bulldozing his way to an easy bucket.

He's going to be a load though to deal with even then... While their team 3point shooting percentage isn't great, they do have some decent shooters on the roster. A few guys between 35 and 40% from 3 who could hurt your zone.

That said, Georgetown has kind of a nasty recent history (for them anyway) of getting upset early in the tournament. Maybe you guys add to that history and give them another first round loss to chew on. Going to be an interesting game... run on them offensively, make Smith get down the court in a hurry and he'll need a breather quickly.

Being captain obvious here but like most teams going up against top 4 seeds from big conferences, it's going to require playing an almost perfect game and shooting incredibly well from 3 to beat them. I do worry what Smith can do though against your undersized (compared to Big East size) posts...

Out of curiosity, how's your 7footer? He far enough along to maybe be used to bother Smith inside a bit if you need more bulk? Or do you think you have a better shot just harassing him with lots extra hands from pesky guards collapsing on him when he gets the ball?

I think 7'1 Fred Jorg may need to see some minutes in this one. Not that I think he's going to be able to defend their big guy on a consistent basis, but we're not going to be able to hack away at him with Jois, Reid, and Bliz the entire game. He definitely presents some problems. Jorg's quickness still needs work but if there was ever a game we really need him to contribute it's this one.

 

[msu_agfan]

Good luck from a Bobcat fan. I hope you represent the Big Sky well. I am hoping for two wins for you guys! We are weak as a conference at the Center position, but you have a strong team and I am hopeful!

 

[hoyaguest]

Georgetown fan - few quick notes. 1. Don't take Hoyatalk as a barometer for our "fans" - we certainly don't. 2. I don't think most people are making fun of the school for being a "directional" university - I think if anything, it's more a feeling of apprehension facing another "small name" school given the Hoyas recent tourney history.

I think while most people are thinking/expecting we should win this game, we aren't taking EWU for granted, especially given your long-range ability (key for upsets), and the fact that relying on a few freshman, Georgetown has been somewhat inconsistent this year (wallop Villanova one day, but can't beat Xavier in three tries - that kind of thing).

As far as Smith at center, he HAS slimmed down a bit from last year to this and is generally a step quicker. He's always had good hands. One of the bigger issues has been the fact that he's so much bigger than most other people, so in some games he tends to get called for a lot of fouls from people bouncing off him, and conversely, others don't get fouled for hacking away at him. That could end up being a factor here (especially given EWU's FT%) - how tightly the game in general, and Smith in particular, is called for fouls.

I hope we win...but aside from that, good luck.

 

[Jwp91]

Another Hoya fan here...

I can see why you like your draw as the Hoyas have been upset in recent years. One downside of playing a team that has been upset is that the team won't look past you. You will get our players upmost respect. As the #4 seed, the Hoyas are clearly favored. Any Hoya fan will acknowledge that this team can lose to anyone, but we have enough talent to beat just about anyone. When we on, we are very tough. We ran Villanova off the court in one of our meetings.

To provide more info for your enjoyment, we have an interesting contrast in centers. Joshua Smith is at times unstoppable in the post - even for players his height. When Joshua sit which is usually about 1/2 the game, Hopkins comes in. Hopkins is a very athletic defender and rebounder who does just fine on the perimeter. Hopkins seems the better defender to match up with your mobile center.

Defensively the Hoyas are a strong team. We are consistently among the leaders in FG defense in the Big East. We have a lot of length. We have several 6'5"-6'9" super athetic guys who play tough defense. It is not uncommon to see Big East first team opponents with their lowest output of the season against the Hoyas.

If you can get streaky from 3, then you have a good shot. If you want to run, this suits us just fine. We have the athletes to get up and down.

Looking forward to a great game.

 

[Hoyas]

Georgetown Alum/Fan here. I'm terrified of you guys, but this should be a good game. 3 players that shoot above 40% from the 3? Yeah, I don't like the sound of that, but I think we can pull this one out.

Good luck and hope it's a good game!

 

[EWUSigep447]

Tickets are $100 a pop... Real bummer. The girlfriend and I can't do that on our graduate school budget I'm guessing that will be how most students feel about it. We will just have to throw a watch party and watch it on TruTV (whatever that network is).

Just for the one game, or for the weekend?!

Hey SE, that is just for the one EWU/GU game. The general public's tickets go one sale at noon. All sessions cost $264, I believe.

Edit: To clarify, watching only the EWU/GU game will cost $100 a ticket.

 

[jerrylh]

Hi Guys!!

Another Georgetown fan/alumnus here.

I would like to add to the comments of my colleagues above which are pretty accurate.
We are somewhat of a schizophrenic team. If you see the team that smashed Villanova, or the one that had Wisconsin beaten until a last minute meltdown, or the one that took Kansas down to the final minute, you can forget about it. However, if you see the one that played so poorly against Xavier the first two times, or the once that almost lost to Creighton last week then you will probably win.

Needless to say, our best player by far is Davauntes Smith-Rivera. He was pre-season pick as Big East player of the year and has already been named to the Big East first team. Although he is 6'3", is one of the best guard rebounders in Georgetown history. His shooting has fallen off a little bit this year because he was moved to point guard this year, but he is still a terrific player.

You can see that we have not shot well from beyond the 3 point line. However, we have had games where we have shot the 3 very well. As I stated above, it depends which team you see.

The problem with Josh Smith has been that he gets into foul trouble almost every game. Even if the person he is guarding get around him that has not been a major problems as our other forwards are great shotblockers as they collapse down.

The key to this game for us, will be the play of our freshmen. We had the 10th best recruiting class in the country and two of them start. When they are good, they are very very good and when they are bad they are ..... Our best freshman player is Isaac Copeland and he is going to be a star.

That said, I am very concerned about your 3 point shooters. I know that they are very good and can give us a real problem. I can assure you that we are not taking you lightly and we know very well that we can lose this game.

I am hoping for a great contest this week.

 

[EdubU10]

I'd love to make the trek down to watch and support but $100 a ticket is such a joke. NCAA has to squeeze every dollar they can out of people.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Tickets are $100 a pop... Real bummer. The girlfriend and I can't do that on our graduate school budget I'm guessing that will be how most students feel about it. We will just have to throw a watch party and watch it on TruTV (whatever that network is).

If you go to vivid seats or stubhub, you can buy upper level tickets for less than $60 per session. In fact, I even saw some really good seats for as low as $110. The $100 seats are Eastern's allotment, and I think are all 100 or 200 level.

 

[Hoyas]

I'm probably going to regret mentioning this, but Living Social has deals for these games. Looked to be about $50/ticket. That might be more affordable.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Tickets are $100 a pop... Real bummer. The girlfriend and I can't do that on our graduate school budget I'm guessing that will be how most students feel about it. We will just have to throw a watch party and watch it on TruTV (whatever that network is).

Just for the one game, or for the weekend?!

Hey SE, that is just for the one EWU/GU game. The general public's tickets go one sale at noon. All sessions cost $264, I believe.

Edit: To clarify, watching only the EWU/GU game will cost $100 a ticket.

Also, slightly wrong. The Eastern $100 tickets are for the evening session of games... They empty the arena after the morning games and reopen for Utah/SFA and Eastern/G'Town. Your ticket would be for both.

 

[EWURanger]

Thanks for the insight from the Hoyas fans. Always nice to get some fans from other schools participating in the discussion, so welcome.

Obviously, you have a good team and there's no way we're going to be favored in a matchup like this. I am particularly worried about our bigs getting in foul trouble early, because to be quite frank we don't have a ton of bulk up front and as has been pointed out we struggle defensively. That said, we will need some defensive minutes from 6'8 Kyle Reid and 7'1 Fred Jorg to help balance out the normal rotation. I just don't see us being able to rotate our normal 2-3 guys down low and hope to not get into foul trouble early. Jois is a fairly competent shot blocker but beyond that we're not terrible physical.

I think our guards will matchup ok. Drew Brandon is probably the most under-rated guard in our conference and doesn't get a lot of props, partially because of all the attention that is paid to Harvey, and partially because the Big Sky is such a guard-oriented league, but he is a special player who can play with just about anyone.

Do we have a shot at an upset? Yes. But it will all come down to shooting % because we're not going to beat a team like Georgetown in a lot of other statistical categories.

 

[Eaglefanatical]

What makes us dangerous to any team in the field is our ability to score, and not just from one or two guys. Anyone looking past that could be in for a rude awakening.

 

[Seattle Eagle]

What makes us dangerous to any team in the field is our ability to score, and not just from one or two guys. Anyone looking past that could be in for a rude awakening.

True. One thing that has been encouraging is the rest of the team stepping up when Harvey has been injured or just not on. He still doesn't seem to be in the same form that he was prior to the leg injury. Anyone else notice that?

 

[eaglesfootball]

anyone catch the over/under on this game?