Nov. 19, 2008
Drexel Game Preview Blog
A few hours after the final buzzer sounded on the Hoyas 71-62 win over Jacksonville Monday night, I was back in my townhouse in Burleith doing a little advance scouting on Memphis, who was playing UMass in the midnight game of ESPN's college basketball marathon. In my advancing years, I wasn't able to see much more than the first 20 minutes before falling asleep. Later that morning, work prevented me from watching the next game featuring a Georgetown early-season opponent when Drexel hosted Penn starting at 10 a.m. The AP report from the game mentioned students cutting class and drinking coffee with their breakfast at the game and being overly excited to be on TV. Those of us who have stood outside the Verizon Center for hours on end for a Saturday afternoon tipoff know the feeling. In that vein, the Dunkin Donuts has been a godsend.
We're only a couple days away now from the first Saturday afternoon game of the year. The most ambitious students will probably be buying their donuts and coffee at 9 in the morning, and if the Friday night forecast is any indication, they might need a lot of coffee. Just like what we've seen on the court, it'll be a gradual learning experience. Baby steps, as Coach says.
Monday marked our first in-game look at Greg Monroe, Julian Vaughn, Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and for all intents and purposes, Omar Wattad and Nikita Mescheriakov [sic [[I think]]]. From the front row of section 117, it was also our first in-game look at what kind of home-court atmosphere we can expect at Verizon this year. That said, I'm going to try reflecting on two things at once: How can we best describe what we saw out of our new players and our new student fans? Through painfully stretched analogies, of course.
Greg Monroe: The freshman who looks like he's been in the stands for years. Knows the fight song, gets fans around him involved, and gets loud at exactly the right time. Is comfortable with the seniors in the front of the student section. In short, likely to be the most promising debut until the oldest of the Hoya Warrior children joins the student section in ten years.
Jason Clark: New Jersey-born MSB freshman who shows a lot of potential to be special in the next few years when capitalism comes back in vogue. Dedicated fan who is a testament to the fact that it's perfectly fine that over half the school comes from his home area.
Omar Wattad: Fans are surprised to see him leading cheers this early. Great at leading "DE-FENSE" but the "Let's Go Hoyas" on Georgetown possessions was half a beat off.
Henry Sims: The late-arriving, early-departing freshman. Most likely had to get back to Harbin to write their Problem of God paper. Sure, you didn't get to see a lot of them, but you're still pretty confident that they'll be the latest in a long line of great Georgetown theologians by their senior year.
Julian Vaughn: You're wondering how the transfer fan is going to adjust to the bigger stage. After all, this isn't GW anymore; we expect more than the Colonial Army. He shows that he's clearly been in a college student section before and will definitely do a good job in the stands when the previous freshman has a Bib Lit exam to study for.
Nikita Mescheriakov: The freshman who thinks he's going to get beer into the section with his fake ID. Gets flagged by an usher for carrying when he's underage, and unfortunately that's the strongest memory we have of his performance.
I use this at times tortured analogy to make a point (I think). On Monday I was struck by two major thoughts: (a) how many faces in the student section I didn't recognize and (b) how I didn't really know anything about this team. We have plenty of information to assume what to expect out of Jessie, DaJuan, Austin, and Chris, but everything they have accomplished in the past three years was in the context of the team that was led by Roy, Jon, Pat, Tyler, and Jeff. On the one hand it's kind of disorienting watching this team figure out its identity. I pointed out to more than one person that this was one of the strangest games I had been to in that there has certainly been a generational shift to some extent, which sometimes manifests itself as trying to figure out who's going to take over the game and put down a Jacksonville rally.
But on the other hand, it's exciting to see how a new team, long on talent but not on experience, is going to start to jell and put in place the Prince-town offense. Of course we'd like to win every game by 30 points (40 against Syracuse). But, with very rare exceptions, that generally doesn't happen with this program, even early in the season. I'm pleased with a victory over Jacksonville, a solid debut from Greg Monroe, and knowing that our team is going to get better with each game.
And the students are coming along well too: For the first game, on a Monday, we can have no complaints. Sure, we'd like to see students not leave early, but they'll learn. They were loud at the right times and are learning how to be a home-court advantage. Now if we can get the rest of the lower bowl to join in, we'll be golden. And (shameless plug coming) what better way to join in than buying the 2008-2009 We Are Georgetown shirt?? The next order will be getting in on Friday, which means we'll have every adult size available on Saturday. Get yours for $15 at the Hoya Blue table outside Section 120!
Nine points might be too close for comfort for some, especially a lot of those new faces in the student section who have immediately high expectations, but a win's a win, and now let's go beat Drexel.
Speaking of, it's hard to say a lot about Drexel based on one game, but small sample size has never stopped me from drawing conclusions prematurely before: just ask my statistics professor. It looks like Drexel doesn't turn the ball over often on offense (17.2% of possessions), but forces turnovers on defense even less (10.0% of possessions). One-third of their FGAs against Penn were from beyond the arc, and in the most important advanced stat EVER (!), they played great free throw defense against Penn, limiting the Quakers to 46.4% from the stripe.
Clearly the student section at Drexel knows how to do a great Glorious Motion.
We'll get there soon. So will the team.
Saturday's game against Drexel tips off at Verizon at 1:00. No TV for this game, but it will be broadcast in the DC area on WWRC 1260. Season ticket holders, I hope to see you, and 3400 students, there for the first weekend game of the year.
Hoya Saxa,
Paul Campbell (B '09)
Generation Roy
