BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Cincinnati @ Georgetown

January 27, 2007



Last weekend the Cincinnati Bearcats finally broke through and got their first Big East win under Mick Cronin when they defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers in overtime. The win streak did not last long as they were shot out of their own building on Wednesday when Pittsburgh turned back the Bearcats 67-51.

Georgetown has won three consecutive games coming off their win over DePaul from Wednesday. The Hoyas continue to shine on the defensive side of the ball, holding five of their six Big East opponents 58 points or under and did the same to eight of their previous nine out of conference opponents.

In their win over DePaul, the Georgetown frontline led the way with Jeff Green scoring 19 pts and Roy Hibbert and Dajuan Summers coming up with key contributions. This is the strength of the Hoyas and they will look to go right at the weakness of the Bearcats. Cincinnati spent so much time worrying about the mis-match that Pitt's Aaron Gray enjoyed over the Bearcat frontline that they let the Pitt shooters free and paid for it. Look for a similar result with Jonathan Wallace finding room outside as Cincinnati tries to slow the Hoya frontcourt.

Cincinnati will look to pressure Georgetown and speed them up. The Hoyas are susceptible to full court pressure, but how long can Cincinnati keep it up with essentially a rotation of six basketball players and one football player? They might cause the Hoyas some discomfort with their ahtletic abaility, but over the course of 40 minutes, the Hoyas will grind them down and make them pay.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 71 Cincinnati 54

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DePaul @ Georgetown

January 24, 2007


The Depaul Blue Demons continued to be consistently inconsistent by laying an egg offensively at home against Louisville over the weekend to even their conference record at 3-3. Georgetown swept a New Jersey swing last week defeating Rutgers on Wednesday and Seton Hall on friday to move to 3-2 in the conference.

Not much on the internet about tonight's game, the city of Chicago is gearing up for the Superbowl apparently:

Hoyas Look for Top Option (Washington Times)




Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

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If you can figure out this DePaul team then you are very special. With top talent like Wilson Chandler and Sammy Mejia and a solid supporting cast like Karron Clarke, Will Walker, Draelon Burns, etc., it is mystifying that this team would struggle to score at hime like they did against Louisville (50 pts) and Pittsburgh (49) pts, not to mention their 53-pt performance against St. John's to open conference play. Depaul is also a solid defensive team, but their ability to score the basketball comes and goes way too often. Part of the reason is the inconsistent play at point guard where they seem to run with Jabari Currie and Will Walker and turn to Cliff Clinkscales when all else fails. This has led to a very inconsistent team and that is obvious from their results.

If the Blue Demons are looking to crank up the offense, it is going to be very tough tonight against the stingy Georgetown Hoyas. Pittsburgh was the only Big East team to score more than 58 points against the Hoyas, who have only yielded more than 60 pts once since November 22nd besides their loss at Pittsburgh. Georgetown has struggled facing pressure and their thin backcourt can be vulnerable to physical and athletic guards. The Hoyas have a clear frontline advantage in size and ability with Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green and Dajuan Summers, but the disappointing season from Green who was widely expected to raise his game as a junior might be the biggest reason the Hoyas have fallen from a preseason top 10 ranking to outside the top 25. Now, they are trying to put their season back on track to gear up for a tough finish in the conference schedule.

The Hoyas are 7.5-pt favorites and an 8-pt predicted winner by Pomeroy. The Hoyas should be able to hold off the Blue Demons and get a win on their home floor.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 67 DePaul 58

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown @ Seton Hall

January 19, 2007



Georgetown completes their road swing through New Jersey in a rare Friday night game as they travel to the Meadowlands to meet Seton Hall. On Wednesday, the Hoyas held Rutgers to 13 points in the 1st half in their win at the RAC to even their conference record at 2-2.

Seton Hall has won all three of their conference home games to date and sits ahead of Georgetown in the Big East standings at 3-2. The Pirates escaped Wednesday with a 69-68 win over Providence as the Friars' last second attempt to win rolled off the rim.


Here are the pregame stories and previews from around the internet:

Seton Hall/Georgetown Scouting Report (Courier News)
Hoyas Work on Quick Turnaround (Washington Post)
Garcia Lifts Hall's Hopes to Contend in Conference (Star-Ledger)
Seton Hall Starting to Step-up (Star-Ledger)
Hall's Garcia Makes Stylish Return (NorthJersey.com)

Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


I have a feeling Georgetown will be glad when this one is over! This will be the Hoyas third road game of the week. The oddysey started Saturday night with a late tip at Pittsburgh and after a quick trip home, the Hoyas were off to New Jersey for a Wednesday game at Rutgers. They stayed in New Jersey, practicing at Princeton on Thursday, for tonight's game with Seton Hall at Continental Airlines Arena. A brutal stretch that will really tes thr Hoyas mental resolve, especially their thin backcourt that will see pressure from Seton Hall all game long.

After tonight, Georgetown returns home for four of their next six games. They can not afford to look past tonight's game as Seton Hall is coming together and are especially tough at home where they have won all three league contests so far. However, the Hoyas definitely present their toughest home challenge to date.

Georgetown has already played one game on a similar short turnaround and they were beaten by Villanova as they had a very difficult time against the pressure used by the Wildcats. Seton Hall is going to come at the Hoyas in a similar way, using fullcourt and 3/4 court traps and presses with their smaller line-up. If Georgetown can get past the press and set-up their offense, they should find their mis-matches inside with Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green. However, their Princeton-style offense will have to be run quicker, because Seton Hall is not going to allow them to get into their offense quickly or easily. The think Hoyas backcourt of Jonathan Wallace, Jesse Sapp and Jeremiah Rivers, and maybe Tyler Crawford, are going to have to be sure with the ball and take advantage of the mis-matches the Hoyas have. Georgetown is deeper, but much of the depth is very inexperienced.

Seton Hall is definitely brimming with confidence and are enjoying their new style of play under Bobby Gonzalez. They will run and press all game and the addition of John Garcia inside gives them a little more size and muscle to match-up with a team like the Hoyas. However, the added depth that Garcia provides will be neutralized tonight because senior Grant Billmeier injured his knee in the win over Providence and is unlikely to play tonight. Not sure how ready Garcia is to play more than 10-12 minutes after his first game action came just a day ago. Seton Hall is a thin team and the emotional win on Wednesday has Bobby Gonzalez concered about fatigue and they play a team that definitely forces you to play for the entire shot clock on both ends of the ball. Seton hall relies on their perimeter games, tired legs late could make it very tough on the Pirates as every possession against Georgetown is a long one and an important one.

Georgetown is currently a 6-pt favorite and a projected 8-pt winner by Pomeroy. Those numbers look pretty good to me. Seton Hall will cause some problems for the Hoyas with their pressure, but Georgetown's defense will make it tough for Seton Hall to score and when their legs tire in the 2nd half, I think Georgetown pull away.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 70 Seton Hall 62

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown @ Rutgers

January 17, 2007

It has not quite been the season the Georgetown Hoyas had expected to this point. The best news, however, is that the calendar still says mid-January and their is plenty of time for the Hoyas to get things together. Facing Rutgers could generally be considered an elixir for what ails you as the Scarlet Knights are facing a tough road with first year coach Fred Hill.

Here are the pregame stories and previews from the internet:

Rutgers/Georgetown Scouting Report (Courier News)
Rutgers Prepared for Hoyas Defense (Star-Ledger)
Hoyas Hit the Road (Wash Post)
Hoyas Can Draw from Loss to Pitt (Wash Times)



Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


I will be kind and describe the Rutgers offense as anemic. Coming off a 37-pt outing, on their home court, the Scarlet Knights on the season are averaging 60 PPG and some nights they put up similar point numbers to what Quincy Douby would on his own last season as a team. When your struggling to score, the last thing you want to see is the Georgetown Hoyas come to your gym. The Hoyas allow just 55.6 pts a game and their deliberate style of play on the offensive ends only helps squeeze the life out of opponents even more.

There is relaly no good news in this match-up for Rutgers. Georgetown is going to be ready to go after dropping a pair of games against Villanova and Pittsburgh and John Thompson III will be challenging his players to get things back on track. They are an excellent rebounding team and will look to beat Rutgers inside and out. The Scarlet Knights will have to develop a collective shooting touch in a hurry to keep this game close.

Georgetown is a 12-pt favorite and a forecasted 16-pt winner by Pomeroy, they should have little problem in this one as long as they take care of the basketball.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 69 Rutgers 51

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown @ Pittsburgh

January 13, 2007



The Peterson Events Center has turned into one of college basketball's best home court advantages in its short lifetime on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. This Saturday, the 'Pete' will be the epicenter of the college basketball universe as the ESPN College GameDay crew calls it home for the day in anticipation og Saturday night's match-up between the Georgetown Hoyas and Pittsburgh Panthers, the two teams picked 1-2 in all the preseason conference polls.

Both teams came into the season with highest of expectations and top 10 rankings. When the two teams tip-off on Saturday, only one will find themselves ranked and the other is still trying to find a consistent groove for the season.

Pittsburgh will put their undefeated conference record and #7 ranking on the line with the enthusiastic backing of the Oakland Zoo. Pitt, led by 7'0 preseason conference player of the year Aaron Gray will try to put some distance between themselves and the Hoyas, who are coming off a Big East loss to Villanova last Monday night. The Hoyas are led by a pair of preseason 1st team all-conference picks in Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, who will both be looking to bounce back from subpar games in their loss to the Wildcats.

Georgetown had trouble with Villanova's full court and 3/4-court traps and pressure. One thing they will be thankful for in this game is that Pittsburgh plays a straight-up man to man where they do not pick up defensively until half court. However, Jonathan Wallace will have to contend with Pitt's Levance Fields on the ball. Fields is quickly stepping up as one of the best point guards in the game and will try to take the Georgetown offense out of rhythm by pressuring the ball. Pittsburgh also will stick to their man to man defense as long as they possibly can, which is also a welcomed site for the Hoyas, but they are definitely going to need to step-up their game to make Pittsburgh pay for their decisions. With the loss of Marc Egerson, the Hoya bench has become very thin in the backcourt and reserves Tyler Crawford and Jeremiah Rivers did not handle their assignments against Villanova very well. Pitt is a deep team, so bench play on the Hoya end will come into play as well.

Last year, Georgetown earned a comeback home win over Pittsburgh when they went small and moved Jeff Green to the '5' spot and sat Roy Hibbert, forcing Aaron Gray to defend Green well away from the basket where Green showed his range and hit a couple 3-pt shots and drove past the slower Gray for easy baskets. If they move to that tactic this season, Pittsburgh might be wise to play some zone. Also, the Hoyas used a match-up zone defense to collapse on Gray at the other end to make up for their smaller line-up, those are strategies they are likely to go to again.

However, when Pittsburgh is home, they tend to be a different team. They shoot the ball extremely well on thier homecourt and putting all your attention towards Gray opens up the perimeter for Levance Fields, Antonio Graves, Ronald Ramon and Mike Cook. The Panthers faces a similar attack when Florida State came to Pittsburgh in November and the Panthers blitzed the Seminoles with Gray being little of a factor. This Pitt team has more players that can beat you on the perimeter than in the past and Fields knows how to distribute the ball and everyone seems more on the same page offensively than in the past.

These are the two teams expected to be at the top in the conference. With the fired up crowd for a 9 PM tip-off, I see Pitt's homecourt advantage being too much in this one for the Hoyas to overcome and Pitt will hit some big shots from the perimeter. Georgetown will compete and the game will be slowed down at times, taking some of the crowd out, but some improved outside scoring carries Pitt to a big win.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Pittsburgh 70 Georgetown 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Georgetown @ Pittsburgh

January 13, 2007



The Peterson Events Center has turned into one of college basketball's best home court advantages in its short lifetime on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. This Saturday, the 'Pete' will be the epicenter of the college basketball universe as the ESPN College GameDay crew calls it home for the day in anticipation og Saturday night's match-up between the Georgetown Hoyas and Pittsburgh Panthers, the two teams picked 1-2 in all the preseason conference polls.

Both teams came into the season with highest of expectations and top 10 rankings. When the two teams tip-off on Saturday, only one will find themselves ranked and the other is still trying to find a consistent groove for the season.

Pittsburgh will put their undefeated conference record and #7 ranking on the line with the enthusiastic backing of the Oakland Zoo. Pitt, led by 7'0 preseason conference player of the year Aaron Gray will try to put some distance between themselves and the Hoyas, who are coming off a Big East loss to Villanova last Monday night. The Hoyas are led by a pair of preseason 1st team all-conference picks in Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, who will both be looking to bounce back from subpar games in their loss to the Wildcats.

Georgetown had trouble with Villanova's full court and 3/4-court traps and pressure. One thing they will be thankful for in this game is that Pittsburgh plays a straight-up man to man where they do not pick up defensively until half court. However, Jonathan Wallace will have to contend with Pitt's Levance Fields on the ball. Fields is quickly stepping up as one of the best point guards in the game and will try to take the Georgetown offense out of rhythm by pressuring the ball. Pittsburgh also will stick to their man to man defense as long as they possibly can, which is also a welcomed site for the Hoyas, but they are definitely going to need to step-up their game to make Pittsburgh pay for their decisions. With the loss of Marc Egerson, the Hoya bench has become very thin in the backcourt and reserves Tyler Crawford and Jeremiah Rivers did not handle their assignments against Villanova very well. Pitt is a deep team, so bench play on the Hoya end will come into play as well.

Last year, Georgetown earned a comeback home win over Pittsburgh when they went small and moved Jeff Green to the '5' spot and sat Roy Hibbert, forcing Aaron Gray to defend Green well away from the basket where Green showed his range and hit a couple 3-pt shots and drove past the slower Gray for easy baskets. If they move to that tactic this season, Pittsburgh might be wise to play some zone. Also, the Hoyas used a match-up zone defense to collapse on Gray at the other end to make up for their smaller line-up, those are strategies they are likely to go to again.

However, when Pittsburgh is home, they tend to be a different team. They shoot the ball extremely well on thier homecourt and putting all your attention towards Gray opens up the perimeter for Levance Fields, Antonio Graves, Ronald Ramon and Mike Cook. The Panthers faces a similar attack when Florida State came to Pittsburgh in November and the Panthers blitzed the Seminoles with Gray being little of a factor. This Pitt team has more players that can beat you on the perimeter than in the past and Fields knows how to distribute the ball and everyone seems more on the same page offensively than in the past.

These are the two teams expected to be at the top in the conference. With the fired up crowd for a 9 PM tip-off, I see Pitt's homecourt advantage being too much in this one for the Hoyas to overcome and Pitt will hit some big shots from the perimeter. Georgetown will compete and the game will be slowed down at times, taking some of the crowd out, but some improved outside scoring carries Pitt to a big win.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Pittsburgh 70 Georgetown 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Villanova @ Georgetown

January 8, 2007


The 2007 edition of ESPN's Big Monday debuts tonight when the Villanova Wildcats travel to the nation's Capitol to meet the Georgetown Hoyas. In the first week of conference player, the Wildcats did not fare too well, dropping both of their contests, losing on the road to West Virginia and at home to DePaul. While Villanova struggled, Georgetown looked mighty good in dismantling Notre Dame at home.

Here are the pre-game stories and previews from around the internet:


Villanova: Don't Count us Out Yet (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Road is Looking Rough for 'Nova (DelCo Times)
Thanks to a Jolt from Ewing, No Energy Shortage for Hoyas (Washington Post)

Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


In the preseason, Villanova fans probably envisioned a 2-0 conference start when looking at the schedule for their Wildcats in Big East play. Once the games began, Villanova finds themselves at 0-2 with a pair of road games on tap this week agaianst Georgetown and Syracuse as they try to dig out of their hole. It is not going to be easy, especially tonight when they have to face Georgetown's intimidating frontline and defensive presence that throttled the high scoring Notre Dame Irish this past weekend.

All around, this looks to be a bad match-up for Villanova. Georgetown likes to make the defense play for a full 30 sceonds on one end and excels at slowing the opposition's attack on the other end with a confusing match-up zone or a man to man that features great size and length in the frontcourt. Against DePaul, Villanova struggled as they always seemed to be playing too fast and first and foremost, they are still in love with the 3-pt shot, although they do not have their four-guard line-up this year.

Georgetown had some questions entering Big East play, but they put many of them to rest as they completely drubbed Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. The Hoyas raced out to an 18-2 lead before the Irish knew what hit them and they just sucked the life out of them to complete the victory. The Hoyas have the ability to defend, rebound and run with the best of them and when they are at their best, you feel like you have to score on every possession just to stay in the game. Not a good match-up for Villanova.

The Hoyas can go inside and outside, but their 3-pt shooting is one the keys to their attack as they spread out the floor. Sometimes, they seem to fall in love too much with the perimeter shot, but they should dedicate themselves to going insode to Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green and hit the boards. The Wildcat frontline is not bad, just under utilized, especially offensively. Villanova is led by Mike Nardi and Curtis Sumpter, if the pair of seniors are on, then the 'cats will stick with anyone in the league. Georgetown's defense will key on them and see if anyone else can beat them on the road, in this instance, that is unlikely.

As a 5-pt favorite and a 7-pt predicted winner by Pomeroy, we look for the Hoyas to make it two in a row to start league play and sending Villanova a little deeper in the hole.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 69 Villanova 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Notre Dame @ Georgetown

January 6, 2007



The Notre Dame Fighting Irish put their 12-game winning streak on the line in their first true road game of the season. The Irish have gone 2-1 away from home, losing to Butler in Indianapolis (where they also beat Lafayette in the pre-season NIT) and a solid win over Maryland on earlier this season in Washington. Now they return to the site of that victory to meet an eager Georgetown team ready to erase some of the questions about their highly touted preseason squad.

The Hoyas received some surprising bad news this week when it was announced that sophomore guard/forward Marc Egerson had withdrawn from school. Egerson was a valuable player in the 6th man role for the Hoyas that added solid all-around play. Losing him, along with Josh Thornton earlier in the season makes the Hoyas' backcourt depth somewhat suspect, and that was the main question for Georgetown heading into the season.

Georgetown has been playing better of late, winning six in a row after stumbling twice against Oregon (at home) and at Duke. Earlier in the season they also dropped a game on campus in McDonough Gymnasium to Old Dominion, so the Hoyas are eager to put behind them the memory of a less than thrilling pre-conference schedule, which ended on a positive note, a win at Michigan prior to the announcement about Egerson.

Things have certainly been cheery around Notre Dame. Even the arrest of starting point guard and subsequent suspension of Kyle McAlarney has not been able to slow down the Irish as they rolled over Stony Brook and Louisville in their Big East opener. Freshman Tory Jackson becomes the man on the spot, but the Irish have also become essentially a 7-man rotation with Ryan Ayers seeing some time as the 8th man. With Russell Carter, Colin Falls and Rob Kurz, the Irish are paced by three upperclassmen that have been very consistent in their leadership and production. Freshman Luke Harangody joins Jackson as the newcomers that have made the biggest impact and have also brought added perimeter quickness (Jackson) and interior toughness (Harangody) to the Irish. The team is clicking very well together and, along with West Virginia and Providence, have been one of the surprise teams of the conference that is very fun to watch in how well they play together.

With the loss of Egerson, Patrick Ewing JR and Tyler Crawford become key players off the bench trying to fill his shoes in scoring and rebounding. The Hoya frontline will have a size advantage with Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green and DaJuan Summers and they also bring Vernon Macklin off the bench. Georgetown will look to control the tempo and make Notre Dame play defense for the full 35 seconds on most possessions and use a variety of defenses to slow the ND offensive attack that has been clicking all season.

Playing the John Thompson III match-up zone is tough for even the most experienced point guard, seeing how Jackson handles it in his first extensive test on the road is the key to the game in my opinion. I think Georgetown wins the battle inside and has enough pressure on defense to keep Colin Falls from getting hot from 3-pt range.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 67 Notre Dame 61

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