Beat Marquette!

Why Do We Fall? 

Round 2. Georgetown vs. Marquette. Let's Go Hoyas! GO AND GET IT! TAKE IT! IT'S YOUR'S! Play good defense, make those little plays that add to the big picture (charges, playing scrappy, and attacking the basket). A WIN!. This is exactly what I'd tell my team's. From the start of the game, my point guard is in control of the flow of the game. 

His decision making will always be key from start to finish along with the other guards. Having junior guard Jabril Trawick back in the starting lineup was a great move at the right time. His basketball IQ is off the charts. This helps a great deal since 90% of this game of hoops is played mentally. I think everything happens for a reason good or bad, but as long as you stay the course even through the storm there would be daylight sooner than later.

Play inside, outside basketball right from the start, & all the way through. It's called "GTOWN BASKETBALL" right Hoyanation? That Gtown thump defense go and get it! Big East basketball baby all day! Keep the crow quiet! The Hoyas have overcame adversity all season. Beat Marquette! Go Hoyas! 

It ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. – Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa)

Set It Off Hoyas!

Smart play and inside, outside play led to only 3 turnovers last game vs. Xavier see below photo's courtesy Christine Burns: 

The defensive effort was AMAZING! 

Offensive firepower

These Marquette Beat Georgetown buttons though? 

Let's Go Hoyas! Click here

My post game thoughts on Hoyas 74-52 win over Xavier

Great to see a great comeback win off of a loss especially on the home front. When I walked into the Verizon Center I started feeling something good could happen today for the Hoyas and Hoyanation and it did. The Hoyas dismantle Xavier 74-52. Before tip-off, Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" was played.  I was happy, the fans were happy, as a matter of fact fans were clapping their hands and swayed to the music, The player's rocked to it, and smiled to beat of the music. 

HAPPY!

From the smiles I saw looseness and lots of energy. Maybe we should play some more early games. Lots of energy is there from a good night's rest ey? The insertion of junior guard Jabril Trawick (13 pts. 4 asts. 3 rebs.) back in the starting lineup was a great move for the Hoyas. Trawick proved to be a big factorafter missing Game One with a broken jaw. The Hoyas’ frontcourt played better than it had in recent games, providing more breathing room for sharpshooters like Starks and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera.

“I knew that we needed to get off to a good start, and I knew that with Coach putting me back in the starting lineup, that was the reason why,” said Trawick, who made 5 of 8 shots and added four assists and three rebounds. “We got off to a couple slow starts the last couple of games, so we wanted to come out and be the aggressors and set the tone.”

The defensive intensity was there from beginning to end. The Hoya defense became contagious. “We were out-hustled, out-scrapped, out-played, out-coached, out-everythinged,” coach Chris Mack said. “We were non-competitive from the first minute on. We played unsure. We played with no toughness. We just took it for 40 minutes.” 

Decision making became contagious. Smart play was contagious. Only 3 turnovers for the whole game. Amazing! I always said Trawick had a very high basketball IQ coming into college and this still stands today. I would watch him run the point guard position in the Kenner League and he would run the offense just as well as any college point guard I've seen and his strength and aggressiveness is a big plus. 

He had very few turnovers playing the point guard position for his team during summer league play. “Ithink we did a very good job of taking care of the basketball today across the board, and I think attention to detail was there today,” Starks said. “We missed that at times throughout the year.” 

The Hoyas shot well today,  52.2% from the field 25-48. I like the aggressiveness and decision's to play inside, outside basketball which lead the Hoyas to shoot 73.1%, 19-26 from the free throw line. Also, the Hoyas shot 41.7%, 5-12 in three pointers. Senior point guard Markel Starks (22 pts. 4 asts. 3 rebs.) caught fire early. His play today was stellar. He just let his game come to him. Senior Nate Lubick (9 pts. 7 rebs. 2 blks. 1 ast.) led his team in rebounding. Great communication!

Tough game played by super sophomore D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (9 pts. 4 rebs. 2 asts.). He got to the line 8 times and scored 6 points. As a team the Hoyas had 5 blocks and 5 steals on a great defensive effort. The Hoyas had thirteen bench points, seven of those came from senior Aaron Bowen. Very valuable on both ends of the court. Would love for him to receive the ball in a lower stance and immediately attack and dunk on teams. I believe he can do this a lot more. That's just my thing.  

My thought's on Hoyas 82-60 loss to the Johnnies in the Garden

Lately, I've be thinking how both of these team's have been playing. Very good! St. John's and Georgetown both had even records in the Big East of 6-6. The perfect match up at the perfect time.. An old but new Big East conference rivalry I thought this game would be. I did know that both teams were hungry, but it was about who wanted it the most from start to finish. “We were hungry for this win,” said Harrison, who finished with 24 points and solidified his place at the front of the list for the Haggerty Trophy. “We came out with a lot of energy and sustained it for 40 minutes.”

From the start of the game the Johnnies went up 15-0 with 13:42 left to go in the first half. It's like they came out of the starting blocks way ahead of the pack. By 10:49, second half, the Hoyas managed to pull within seven points on a basket made by Aaron Bowen assisted by Jabril Trawick. Before this play Trawick had just made a three pointer. 

I found these interesting paragraph's in the New York Times sports article this morning about the Johnnies conditioning, not saying the Hoyas are not conditioned because they are. Last night the Johnnies seem to have to the edge on lots of hustle plays. 

"Throughout the course of its march back to respectability in the Big East, St. John’s came to rely on two numbers. The first is 60, which is the name of a daily practice drill passed down from the special assistant Gene Keady, who inherited it from Eddie Sutton, who learned it from Hank Iba — a ball-control and passing exercise that rewards sound decisions and fundamentals. 

A point is awarded for each successful pass, 5 points for a layup, 5 points for every foul. There is no dribbling. First team to 60 points wins. And the losing team runs 17s: sprints the width of the court, back-and-forth, 17 times in no more than 1 minute 2 seconds. If even one player fails to finish in time, the pattern is repeated, as many times as it takes to beat the clock. “We’re in shape,” the senior guard D’Angelo Harrison said last week, with a wink.

If it all sounds like training camp revisited, that is essentially the back-to-basics approach that Coach Steve Lavin and the Red Storm needed to take after losses in their first five Big East games. His team needed to retool, said Lavin, who made certain that happened by using a coach’s heavy touch: mindless drilling and endless sprinting."

Something did seem different about the Johnnies this time around. They were getting the extra rebounds, loose balls & and ones. I thought in a crucial situation with 6:11 to in the game, down by ten points and still with a chance to comeback and win the game, the referee makes a bogus double technical foul call that put junior guard Jabril Trawick, the Hoyas defensive stopper, on the bench for good with five fouls. 

This would would quickly changed the momentum of the game on the defensive end for the Hoyas. Soon afterwards there was a turnover by Starks with 5:30 to go in the game.Still down by twelve points the Johnnies missed a jumpshot, Starks recieves a pass from teammate Aaron Bowen he pushes the rock and quicky shoot's a three pointer and misses.. 

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. -Roger Bannister

At this time game in the game a better decision should've been made to get to the basket.. There was still plenty of time to set the offense up and call a play or timeout. This would've been a smart decision to make and execute in a crucial situation. Soon afterwards, the Hoyas failed to score d for almost four minutes.
The Hoyas had been playing pretty good defense and chipping away at the score.Down 12 with 5:12 left to go in the game get to the basket. Keep chipping away, keep playing smart I was thinking. The Hoyas were shooting at a very high percentage from the free throw line, so this was a given. The Hoyas were 15-17, 88.2% from the line. Johnnies were 22-30, 73.3% from the line. Starks played 40 minutes once again. I think he needs more rest along the way. This will help a great deal. Still have some more games to win need ALL of his energy mentally and physically. 

Alhough the the Hoyas got 26 points from the bench. Thirteen of those point came from Trawick, nine from teammate Aaron Bowen.. The Hoyas had fourteeen turnovers. Seven of those turnovers came from the Hoyas guards in during some crucial sitiuations. I have to give the Johnnies defense some credit as well. Leading scorer for the Hoyas was D'Vauntes Smith-rivera, (15 pts., 3 asts., 2 stls., 1 reb.). Nate Lubick ( 6 pts., 4 asts., 6 rebs.). Freshman Reggie Cameron only play eight minutes and ended up scoreless tonight. 

Keep fighting don't let life get you down, get up, some how, some way, there is a light, get up, climb through it, wake up, keep it moving let's go Hoyas! - GH

Up next for the Hoyas will be on the road at Seton Hall! Hoya Saxa! 

It's about NOW for the Hoyas

Out of My League 

The Hoyas are on a three game winning and hope to continue this streak at home on Monday versus Providence. Hoyanation, the Hoyas are playing with a sense or urgency. The senior's are leading the way, every else is leading in their own ways. This is amazing to see especially after watching your team lose five games in a row something I haven't seen or felt some so many years. I think after the third game the Hoyas loss, I just had to let the tears flow mostly for our team, but soon afterwards I felt better and dug deep inside of myself to understand what was going on. 

I learned from losing my son to cancer was like. These losses was nothing compared to this, so I quickly recovered from the nightmare, and moved on. Thank you Lord. This helped a lot. When I coached, I quickly remembered and in life that after the fall, it's all about solutions. What can I do to make this fall a get back upper and to move on. What do I need to do? How do I need to do it? I've found answers to those questions through deep passion, caring, considerartion and thought. I had to keep it all into perspective. 

After all, you put so much support for your team, but mostly feel for your team out there fighting so hard to overcome adversity, by developing faith in adversity to get a win for their team, and for their fans.We have to realize those Hoyas never doubted themselves, not for one moment. 

They never let up, they fought through the hurt and pain. Mental Strength, Tough Heart! They learned from their mistakes along the way and will continue to but have grasped most of what they need to make it in this stretch run in this journey to the tourney one game a time. They fixed and adjusted what needed to be adjusted. This was heroic and amazing. I thought this was a smart thing to do. I need a GIF of that dish Starks to his buddy Lubick. To me, this was Starks best complete game as true point guard. He is amazing! 

Senior leader Markel Starks and teammates David Allen, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera 

photo courtesy: Hoya Hoop Club

The guards as a one unit they've figured it out. Clock management, decision making especially under five to three minutes. Guards recognizing how the defensive transition looks off of a rebound. If the defense is not back and set, I'm pushing right pass the defense for quick two. Good push guards! Press, get it back do it again, very quickly. When do slow it down and run a play.  Kicking the ball in the paint and/or attacking. In other words "PLAYING ANGRY AND SMART!" The Gtown guards know how "dangerous" and how important they are and so do other teams. Guards nice low to the ground, eyes and in severe attack mode! 

Speed kills and got me out of my seat! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Aaron Bowen's floater in the paint off a shot missed was awesome. Oh, by the way I love floaters.Floaters are very smart shots in the paint. Floaters prevent players from going to far inside the lane getting and getting charge calls. I loved floaters. This again shows me this team has each other backs and wow what a sight to see. 

This young man is a very graceful player, sneaky (on the basketball court ha), very athletic and a winner. He is truly a difference maker for the Hoyas, he's major. Any player that plays great defense for me gets minutes it's just that simple. I remember in the FGCU game, in twelve minute Bowen had (8 pts. 5 rebs.). 

Bowen subbed into the game at the 12:50 mark with score at 50-33.Bowen played a huge roll in the Hoyas comeback with the score 65-56 with 2:17 to go in the game. After an FGCU dunk the score was 67-56, but Bowen wasn't having it he made a tip in at 2:01. Score 67-58. 

After a full timeout called by FGCU Bowen was fouled and went to the line and knocked down two more points to haul his team within seven points. Score with 1:48 to go in the game 67-60. Although the Hoyas went onto lose this game AB proved his value and his dedication to hard work, determination to stay focused and poised during games. Well earned Aaron! 

Great to see my team, the Georgetown Hoyas, playing angry. This is a great sight to see on both sides of the ball, offesne and especially defense. As the saying goes free throw and defense win championships. Photo's credit and courtesy: Christine Burns