2008/2009 Big East Thread

[justamush]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Pitt beat the mighty FDU 86-63. Blair had 17, Young 15, and Fields had 15 points and 8 assists, which is impressive considering I didn't think he would play.

Overall it sounded like a nice easy win, with Jamie Dixon emptying out the bench early.

[smurface]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Pitt beat the mighty FDU 86-63. Blair had 17, Young 15, and Fields had 15 points and 8 assists, which is impressive considering I didn't think he would play.

Overall it sounded like a nice easy win, with Jamie Dixon emptying out the bench early.

I went to the game..Jamie Dixon emptied the bench in both the first and second half. played Mcghee with Gibbs, Wanamaker, Woodall and Robinson a lot together, but also mixed it up a little.

Jermaine Dixon impressed me a lot, he is really quick and looked comfortable out there. Gibbs and Woodall on the other hand looked shaky, but what else can you expect from 2 freshman.

[NYJets]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Back from UConn home opener.

Hasheem was dominating tonight. Dominated the boards, and was very aggressive on offense, showed good post moves, and looked to post up and score every time down the court.

AJ played bad, and came down on his surgically repaired leg awkwardly. It looked like his knee, but they said it was his ankle, and he came back in and played, but later got ejected for throwing what the refs said was a punch, he said was an elbow or a push. I didn't really see it, and no one around me really did either, so I'm not sure.

Dyson looked great.

Kemba was inconsistent, made some spectacular plays, also tried to force a few too many passes and he didn't shoot that well.

Defense as a whole looked great early, they let up a little at times, but overall played really well.

[AJ989898]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Marquette had their first game tonight so I will give you an update of the team:

-We are currently down to 9 healthy players..the latest casualty being 6-10 Fr. Center Chris Otule. He went down with a broken foot yesterday and is expected to be out for about a month. This really criples our front line because at the center position we are down to 6-8 Dwight Burke and 6-7 Patrick Hazel. The other injured player is Joe Fulce who has a stress reaction in his knee and should be back sometime in December. Add to that we have a transfer sitting out this year ( C Liam McMorrow) and we are short a scholarship player and you can see we are hurting a bit numbers wise.

-Tonight we defeated Houston Baptist 95-64 after a slow first half. Wes Matthews was an absolute stud this game with 27 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals. He often doesn't get the respect he deserves playing alongside Jerel McNeal and Dominic James. Speaking of McNeal he had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. He did shoot to many three pointers, however. Lazar Hayward was beastly in the paint and had a nice tip slam in traffic. He finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The suprise player of the game was sophomore newcomer Jimmy Butler, a silky smooth 6-7 wing, who had 10 points and 4 rebounds.

[chilli311]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

ND beat USC Upstate 94-58. First half wasn't too impressive, but the defense really showed up for ND in the second half. Looks MUCH tighter than last year's defense, but it's too early to really tell. Harangody got a double double (30/14) while Jackson (6 points, 8 assists) and McAlarney (10 points, 6 assists, 2 steals) did everything they needed. Peoples didn't have a lot on the stat line, but he did make 3 steals.

All in all, great first outing. Can't wait for Maui...

[Cusefan]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

I was at Syracuse's Home Opener against Lemoyne college and it played pretty much how i expected it. Johnny Flynn played great as expected as did Paul harris and Arinze Onuaku. The bench also played pretty good for a first game.

But overall I thought they were pretty rusty. Devondorf and Rautins struggled from 3 point Range. Rautins did have probably one of the nicest assists i have ever seen, he will be a very good asset this year for sure.

It was a Easy win for Syracuse, they got one more warm up against Richmond until they play Florida.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

UConn was asleep at the wheel for a while tonight and let Hartford hang around for a while. It was 43-42 at one point early in the second half but won 99-56.

Price didn't play because of his ankle sprain, so Kemba stepped in with 21 points.

[Cusefan]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

UConn was asleep at the wheel for a while tonight and let Hartford hang around for a while. It was 43-42 at one point early in the second half but won 99-56.

Price didn't play because of his ankle sprain, so Kemba stepped in with 21 points.

lol they outscored Hartford 56- 14...

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yeah, they packed a tight 2-3 zone the entire game and really took away Adrien and Thabeet for a while, but you can't just forget about our guards even though we don't have great shooters. In the end, Walker, Dyson and Austrie alone outscored Hartford.

[KG]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Gonna be a long year for my Hoyas.

1. We still can't break a press. We have the worst press break play of all time. Despite starting 3 guards everyone looks around at each other waiting for the other guards to do something.

2. We're worse on the boards than last year. We got killed on the glass last year by any team that had a solid big man. This year we're much smaller and don't have any muscle at all.

3. No depth at all. 8 deep with 2 freshman coming off the bench = trouble in the Big East. If and when Monroe gets in foul trouble we're gonna be relying on a true frosh and a transfer from FSU.

4. Without Hibbert you would think that the Hoyas would play a little bit more uptempo, wrong. Halfcourt, slowdown, run the sets is the only way JT3 knows how to play. When the shot clock runs low this offense is unbearable to watch. Nothing worst than seeing your big men 22 feet away from the basket with 5 secs on the clock.

The only positive is that we are extremely young. Only 1 SR & 1 JR worth a damn. The rest all sophmores & freshman. Monroe is a stud though. He is really skilled and has a nice feel for the game. It's a shame that he will have to play major minutes at the center and get beat up all year. With another quality big allowing him to play the 4 he would be a lot better.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Caught about 15 minutes of the game, Monroe looked pretty good. Smooth player, I have no idea why the commentators were comparing him to Hibbert. You are right though, he is gonna get the Kyle Singler treatment and it will hurt him throughout the year. I didn't even see Sims on the court while I had the game on, is there any chance he'll be a contribute this year?

[KG]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Caught about 15 minutes of the game, Monroe looked pretty good. Smooth player, I have no idea why the commentators were comparing him to Hibbert. You are right though, he is gonna get the Kyle Singler treatment and it will hurt him throughout the year. I didn't even see Sims on the court while I had the game on, is there any chance he'll be a contribute this year?

Not right away but I guess that's all dependent on how he plays in these Big East tune-up games. He barely played last night and when he did he didn't know where to go or what to do. We're gonna need him & Vaughn to step up because Pitt/ND/UConn/Lville all have some big bodies down low. Braswell not qualifying really hurt our frontline depth.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yeah, I'm sure some freshman will have troubling picking up the offense. When I played in college we ran the exact same offense and the transition was very hard for some freshman especially if you've never seen or played in something similar before.

[KG]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yeah, I'm sure some freshman will have troubling picking up the offense. When I played in college we ran the exact same offense and the transition was very hard for some freshman especially if you've never seen or played in something similar before.

Personally, i hate the offense. I think it's something that small schools use to try to upset the larger schools in a 1 game situation but it has worked so it's hard to argue with its success.

[ehh]

Re: 2008/2009 Big East Thread

Yeah I agree with you there, it's not something you see very often at high-major schools who usually try to use their athletic advantage as much as possible. It's beautiful basketball when it works but you will allow lesser teams to stay in the game more often than normal.

Like you said though, G'Town has pretty much been the best program in the Big East the last three years so you can't argue with the results.