BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ ST. JOHN'S

January 30, 2008

Georgetown looks to strenghten their hold of the Big East conference lead in the standings in the next few games as they face St. John's, Seton Hall and South Florida. Tonight at St. John's is the lone road game of the next three.

On the other hand the young St. John's squad is struggling under Norm Roberts. The Redstorm have lost 11 of their last 14, including last week's home disaster to Pittsburgh. In his fourth year at the helm for SJU, the lack of progress the Redstorm have made as a program under Roberts is starting to get noticed by more and more. Sure, there is eight freshman on the roster...but, by year four, the foundation should have been laid.

Weaker Foes Lie Ahead for Georgetown (Washington Times)
Down on the Farm and Up in Washington, Hoyas' Wallace Excels (NY Times)
Ewing Has Big Hand in Hoyas Success (Washington Post)

The Hoyas may be 6-1 in the Big East, but they have not exactly been cruising to victory night in and night out. The narrowly escaped with a home win over Georgetown on a last second 3-pter by Roy Hibbert, survived in OT against Syracuse as the Orange missed potential game-winners at the end of regulation and OT and on Saturday they survived Morgantown on a late three by Jesse Sapp and a last second, game-saving block by Patrick Ewing Jr. The Hoyas have been taking the opponents best shots, and although it has not always been pretty, the 6-1 record sure looks nice in this crazy conference.

Not much has been positive for St. John's, although the individual play of Anthony Mason Jr has been impressive. In losses to Pittsburgh and Louisville last week, the Redstorm managed a meager 114 points combined in the two defeats, Mason Jr scored 58 of those points. Can anyone else on this team score? Not really. St. John's strengths are in their raw athletic ability and toughness, although for a group of freshman, that is not a lot to hold their hat on in the toughest and most physical conference in the country.

In the end, this is the case of too much talent and too much experience on hand for Georgetown, who are 10-pt road favorites. The Hoyas may not look to run up and down and score a lot of points and the Redstorm will gladly play at that pace, but the Hoyas are MUCH more effecient offensively and will pull away for victory.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 74 St. John's 58

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ WEST VIRGINIA

January 26, 2008


Here is a great match-up between Georgetown and West Virginia in Morgantown slated for Saturday night. The West Virginia faithful will be ready to roll as the Hoyas come to town.

West Virginia is coming off a shaky 66-64 win over in-state rival Marshall in Charleston Wednesday. Bob Huggins has been publicly issuing challenges to his team to be tougher and better going forward and is not satisfied with their progress thus far in the season. With his calling into question the mental toughness of his squad, look for a sprited effort backed by a rabid fan base from the Mountaineers.

Georgetown has seen it all before. The Hoyas are a team with four returning starters from their Final Four squad of a year ago. With two seniors and a junior among that group, do not expect Georgetown to be rattled by the atmosphere. The Hoyas will go and run their system to generate offense and use their mental toughness on the defensive side of the court. With 7'2 Roy Hibbert inside, he could be a major factor for the Mountaineers who like to go to the basket.

One thing Georgetown must be careful is settling for 3-pt baskets without getting the ball inside. In a similar atmoshpere that is expected Saturday night, the Hoyas got away from getting the ball in to Hibbert against Pittsburgh. Hibbert is an excellent passer and when he gets a touch, defenses have to react. It is true that Pitt did a good job in denyinh him the ball, but he could have worked harder. WVU does not have much of a post presence to combat Hibbert. From there, DaJuan Summers can post and cut to the basket and shooters like Jonathan Wallace, Austin Freeman and Jesse Sapp can find their range. If they settle for the 3-pt shots against the WVU defenses, they could find themselves in trouble again.

This season, nobody seems intimidated by anyone on their home floor. The Mountaineers have an experienced group lead by the steady senior, Darris Nichols, and juniors Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff. This is a group that loves playing in the Coliseum on their campus and their home offensive stats support that feeling. Although the style used most by John Beilein is not one that Bob Huggins has used previously, the former Cincinnati coach has put the 3-pt shot and zone defense into his gameplan. Huggins is not afraid to try out of the box ideas, like using 6'2 Joey Mazzulla to guard 6'8 Kentrell Gransberry last week, defensively to slow an opponent. It will be very interesting to see what the Mountaineers use against Georgetown.

I still think Georgetown is, by s slight margin, better than the rest of the pack in the Big East. The Mountaineers are one of those teams inching their way to the top of the pack trailing the Hoyas. If they want to reach that next level, they have to win this kind of game on their home floor. I think Bob Huggins pulls the right card from his sleeve to keep WVU ahead by just enough at the final horn.

NBE Blogger Prediction: West Virginia 68 Georgetown 66

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: SYRACUSE @ GEORGETOWN

January 21, 2008

One of the Big East's best rivalries is renewed tonight when Syracuse meets Georgetown at the Verizon Center for ESPN's Big Monday. The Hoyas sit atop the Big East standings with a 4-1 record after Saturday's 84-65 victory over Notre Dame. The Orange are 3-3, but in desperate need of a big win.

Here are the game previews from the local media:

Jardine Contributes to Orange (Utica Observer-Dispatch)
Orange Goes Against Rugged Georgetown (Rochester D&C)
On Offense and Defense, Hibbert Sets the Tone (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Orange are Quite Green (Washington Times)
One the Road to Syracuse, Hoyas Have No Time to Rest (Washington Post)

Syracuse is coming of a disappointing home loss to Villanova, 81-71, where foul trouble plagued the Orange. With an injury-depleted roster, SU has little room for error with six of their eight active scholarship players new to Division 1-A basketball. The two 'veterans' are sophomores Paul Harris and Arinze Onuaku, who missed all of last season with a knee injury.

So far Syracuse has won three conference games, all at home, against the three teams that are looking as though they have distanced themselves from the pack as ones NOT going to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament: St. John's, South Florida and Rutgers. Their lone two road games in the conference have resulted in losses at Cincinnati and at West Virginia, where they lost 81-61.

There is no doubt that Jom Boeheim's squad has talent. Jonny Flynn and Dante Greene are McDonald's All-Americans, Arinze Onuaku is one of the league's most improved players and Paul Harris makes an impact on every game with his athletic ability and intense effort. However, the Orange are young and they show all the bad habits that young players have. Their defense can lack consistent effort and intensity, decision making and shot selection is spotty and their toughness inside can be exposed.

On the other-hand, Georgetown returns four starters from last year's Big East championship club that went to the Final Four. Led be preseason Big East Player of the Year Roy Hibbert, the Hoyas have won four of their first five in conference play and rebounded from their lone loss, last Monday at Pittsburgh, with an impressive mauling of Notre Dame Saturday. Hibber led Georgetown with 21 pts and 5 assists against the Irish and DaJuan Summer, Jesse Sapp and Austin Freeman all rebounded from poor outings against Pitt with very effecient games.

That is the Hoya motto, effeciency. Georgetown runs a methodical and patient Princeton-style offense that keeps pressure on the defense on every spot on the floor. Hibbert's ability to pass the ball draws the opposing big man away from the hoop. Syracuse will counter the Hoya movement by playing their trademark 2-3 zone defense and try to force the Hoyas to depend on the perimeter shot. Against Pitt the Hoyas were 3-20 from three-point range in their loss. Of course, back on their home floor against ND, the Hoyas were 8-20 (40%) from the arc and 53% overall from the floor.

Georgetown will mix defenses and run an effecient offense, two things that can really frustrate a young club. I think Georgetown will be aggressive attacking the Orange zone and any form of foul trouble with the Orange tilts this game HEAVILY in favor of Georgetown. Playing on the road on a short turnaround, this game looks to be VERY tough on Syracuse, a 12-pt underdog.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 78 Syracuse 63

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ PITTSBURGH

January 14, 2008



Big Monday on ESPN kicks off with a heavyweight match-up as the Georgetown Hoyas travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers at the Peterson Events Center. The road has not been kind to Big East teams this year and, with conference play only two weeks old, Georgetown is the only team in the Big East without a conference loss.

The Panthers have overcome injuries to starters Levance Fields and Mike Cook to get off to a 2-1 start in the conference. Pittsburgh has a completly new starting five from last season and after a 64-63 road loss to Villanova to open conference play, the Panthers have won two in a row.

Here are the local media previews on tonight's game:

Panther's Young is a Slam Dunk and Then Some (Washington Post)
Plenty of Talk About Hoyas (Washington Times)
Hoyas Surged After Wins Against Pitt (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Pitt's Blair Faces Tall Order Against Georgetown (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Pitt's Blair Ready for Hibbert (Tribune-Review)
Pitt Still Evolving as Hoyas Arrive (Washington (PA) Observer)

Over the past seven years the Pittsburgh Panthers have had a lot of success, losing just 26 games in conference play. However, one team the Panthers have struggled with of late has been the Georgetown Hoyas, who have beaten the Panthers in four of the last five meetings, including a 65-42 drubbing in the Big East Conference Tournament Championship game last season.

Other than that lopsided affair, the other games have come down to the wire in back and forth contests. One thorn in the Panthers' side is no longer there as Jeff Green has moved on to the NBA, but the Hoyas still return four other starters from last year's Final Four team.

Georgetown is led by Big East preseason Player of the Year, Roy Hibbert. The 7'2 center has a signficant height advantage over a Pitt line-up that will likely have 6'7 DeJuan Blair and 6'8 Tyrell Biggs playing the post. Blair will try to use his exceptional feet and hands to work inside and Biggs will try to pull Hibbert away from the basket. On defense, the Panther big men will have to use their bodies and strength to keep the bigger Hibbert out of his comfort zone on the block. Hibbert, at times, can be bodied up, but his enourmous size advantage could lead to foul trouble for the Panthers, something that could reallu hurt Pitt with their lack of depth due to injuries. Freshman Gary McGhee (6'10) offers more of a size match-up for Hibbert and will likely see action. His play against USF's Kentrell Gransberry when Blair picked up two first half fouls was a key ingredient to Pitt's road win over the Bulls.

One of the candidates for Big East Player of the Year AND Most Improved Player is Panther forward Sam Young. The 6'6 jumping-jack from Clinton (MD) grew up close to Georgetown and now will try to lead Pitt to a win over the Hoyas. Young scored 50 points in the Panther's wins last week and is averaging over 18 PPG on the season. itt is doing a tremendous job in getting Young the ball in position to score and take advantage of his inside-out strengths. Georgetown does have the perfect player to match-up with Young in sophomore DaJuan Summers, a 6'7 F who can also go inside and out on each side of the ball. Summers also has the ability to be a dominate scorer, but in the Georgetown Princeton-style system, he shares the scoring load with the rest of the line-up.

Georgetown also has some added depth in the frontcourt with sophomore Vernon Macklin and senior Patrick Ewing Jr. Both offer excellent size, strength and athleticism for theirt positions.

On the wing, the Panthers are without senior Mike Cook for the rest of the season and redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown has stepped into his spot in the starting line-up. Brown is one of the best athletes in the entire conference and should emerge as a terrefic wing player. He is still looking for his comfort zone offesively, but in every game he makes a couple athletic plays that leaves observers impressed. For Georgetown, freshman Austin Freeman can fill up the basket quickly and will be a good match-up with Brown when they are on the floor together. This could be a major coming out party for Freeman if the freshman continues his solid play. He is averaging 13 PPG in conference action, shooting 50% from the arc (6-12) and 62% (16-26) from the floor in three games.

The backcourts look pretty identical with Pitt starting a pair of seniors in Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin and the Hoyas have senior Jonathan Wallace at the point and Jesse Sapp at the off guard. Ramon is averaging 8 PPG and 6 assists in Big East action, but looked to find his shooting stroke on Saturday against Seton Hall. Benjamin has really stepped up his game since the injury to Fields, averging nearly 16 PPG in the three Big East contests. Both are good defensive players as well. Sapp and Wallace both average 9 PPG in conference play, but they each have the knack of coming up big when needed. Georgetown has added depth with Chris Wright and Jeremiah Rivers giving very good minutes. Pitt only has freshman Brad Wanamaker in the backcourt to provide relief for the starters, unless they go with a bigger line-up with Gil Brown at guard.

Georgetown is about a 2-pt favorite in this one. They have a very versatile line-up that can go big or small. I look for them to play a mixture of man to man and zone defense and if they can settle into a zone, they will force Pitt to beat them from the perimeter. Without Levance Fields to break down the defense, I think that could give the Panthers trouble. Pitt also will have to watch the foul trouble as I expect them to be physical with Hibbert in the paint, but for John Thompson III to make it a priority to point out the physical play to the officials. Jamie Dixon will have Pitt ready and he has done a masterful job putting his injury-riddled line-up together and keeping them in position to win. I expect their veterans to be ready to play and the crowd to give them that extra lift. If they hit from the perimeter, I like their chances. However, the lack of depth makes the margin of error a little too narrow for me tonight.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 73 Pittsburgh 72

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: CONNECTICUT @ GEORGETOWN

January 12, 2008


A classic Big East battle commences at the MCI Center on Saturday afternnon when Georgetown hosts the Connecticut Huskies. The Hoyas are 2-0 in the conference, cruising past both DePaul and Rutgers on the road, now they return home to host a UConn team looking to make a statement.

Here are the local media previews on the contest:

Hoyas on the Rebound (Washington Times)
Hoyas Swap Places with Connecticut (Washington Post)
Chance to Send Instant Message (Hartford Courant)
Thabeet Eager for Hibbert, Georgetown (Connecticut Post)


The Huskies have opened conference play with wins over Seton Hall and St. John's which bookend a loss to Notre Dame. Against the Irish, UConn found themselves down 19 at the half and rallied to take a 2nd half lead, but the Irish made big plays down the stretch to save the win.

The Hoyas have a little bit of everything, with 7'2 ROy Hibbert nearly matching the height of UConn's 7'3 Hasheem Thabeet. Patrick Ewing Jr and Vernon Macklin also add size and athletic ability to the mix. Multi-dimensional Dajuan Summers plays both forward spots and cool and steady lead guard Jonathan Wallace adds experience and dead-eye shooting to the Hoya mix.

Georgetown also has another element this season with freshmen Austin Freeman and Chris Wright joining junior Jesse Sapp as players who can excelt in the open court as well. If UConn is successful in pushin tempo, Georgetown adds more weapons to their traditional Princeton-style attack.

The patience and high effeciency execution that trademarks Georgetown is a touch match-up for UConn, especially this group that is still coming together as a team. The Huskies tend to lose focus at times, but their improvement has been steady and Jim Calhoun has been harping on 40-minutes of effort from this squad. The Huskies like to play fast and Georgetown is very good at preventing teams from playing at their preferred tempo.

For UConn to win this game, AJ Price is going to have to be at his very best, especially when the game slows down and UConn is forced to play in the halfcourt. Price will need to get the big men in position to score. Despite several exceptional athletes, UConn does have trouble with players being able to create their own offense in a halfcourt setting. Outside of Price and Jerome Dyson, the rest in the regular line-up are much more capable in transition or picking up baskets on the offensive glass. The presence of Hibbert will limit the advantage that Thabeet has over most teams. The Hoya depth should also be able to battle Jeff Adrien in the paint and Georgetown's experience migh be a stiff challenge for Stanley Robinson.

This should be a great learning tool for Connecticut as they still have to learn to fight through a game against a good opponent that will force them to play out of their element. I think the Huskies match-up well, but until they have road success playing teams of a different style, I am going to wait on them before predicting they spring an upset.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 76 UConn 68

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ DEPAUL

January 8, 2008


Two ofthe four remaining unbeaten teams in Big East play collide in Chicago tonight as the Georgetown Hoyas meet the DePaul Blue Demons. DePaul has surprised many following the conference wth wins over Villanova and Providence to start league play. Georgetown beat Rutgers on Saturday to start Big East play for the Hoyas.


DePaul, 6-7 on the season, will face a daunting task to reach .500 on the season and to move to 3-0 in the Big East. Georgetown is deep with talent on the front line and in the backcourt. Seniors Jonathan Wallace, Roy Hibbert and Pat Ewing give coach John Thompson III the veteran leadership any contender must have. DaJuan Summers is a burgeoning star in the league and Jesse Sapp has been through the Big East battes for a few yars as well. Freshmen Austin Freeman and Chris Wright are capable of giving the Hoyas an extra gear. Added depth with Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers to round out the regular rotation that has answers for just about every situation they will face in the Big East.

One of DePaul's biggst areas of improvement the last few games has been their play at point guard, led by senior Cliff Clinkscales and junior Jabari Currie. Their more consistent play as the leaders on the floor has been a big help in the team's improvement. Draelon Burns is the go-to scorer and has a defined role, although he will find it tough to be effecient against the Georgetown defense.

DePaul definitely has the athleticism to match anyone in the conference on the wings with Karron Clarke, Dar Tucker and Will Walker. Inside, the one-two punch of Mac Koshwal and Wesley Green have greatly benefited from the improved guard play as they have gotten more touches and taken advantage.

Tonight, look for Georgetown to play with a little more purpose and intensity because John Thompson III was not at all happy with the overall effort against Rutgers. They will involve Roy Hibbert early and often and work from there. DePaul will hang tough, but Georgetown will slowly and consistently pull away with their offensive effeciency, stout defense and solid rebounding, making DePaul have to play a near perfect game to keep pace.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 71 DePaul 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: GEORGETOWN @ RUTGERS

January 5, 2008



The Big East's preseason favorite, Georgetown, will begin defense of their conference crown on Saturday as they travel to New Jersey to face Rutgers, at the RAC. Rutgers dropped their league opening contest on the road to South Florida, 68-45, Wednesday night.

Things are not going very well right now for Fred Hill Jr and his Rutgers squad. Not only were they drubbed by South Florida, who was picked 16th in the league by the coaches, but they have been without freshman Corey Chandler and his 14 PPG for a few weeks now. On Wednesday night, their other top player, JR Inman, was not in the starting line-up. I know coach Hill says it was a coaches decision, but there has to be more behind it, maybe a message was being sent and a fresh start is ahead.

The status of Chandler is still unknown, this was the game he was targeting to return, but they hoped he would be available for some time on Wednesday. Without Chandler and with Inman in and out of the line-up, Rutgers goes from a below-average offensive team to, well, not a good one at all. Against USF they shot 39% from the field with just 6 team assists in the contest. They also shot 2-16 from the arc and 1-8 from the foul line...YUCK!

On the other hand, Georgetown is one of the most effecient offensive machines in the nation. Although they have been lightly challenged this season until a date at Memphis where they were handles easily by the Tigers, look for Georgetown to flex their muscles on the road and let the rest of the league know they are serious about defending their crown.

The Hoyas will play nine-deep and it is an impressive group. Seniors Jonathan Wallace and Roy Hibbert, the conference's pre-season player of the year, are joined by sophomore, and leading soorer, DaJuan Summers and junior Jesse Sapp as returning starters from last year's squad. Other key contributors return such as Jeremiah Rivers, Pat Ewing Jr and Vernon Macklin. What makes this squad even more dangerous offensively is the addition of a pair of McDonald All-Americans in the backcourt, Chris Wright and Austin Freeman, who come off the bench.

I think Rutgers will play hard and scrap for a while, but over the course of 40 minutes, too many offensive droughts will catch up with them and Georgetown will go about business as usual and pull away consistently.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 78 Rutgers 59

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