Gtown's Desperation on Wednesday Night

[NYC Pirate]

For the 2nd straight game Seton Hall will play a team that is going to be desperate
to keep their season alive. That's the challenge for The Hall on Wednesday. Gtown
still has to play at Villanova and really can't afford too many more losses. I doubt they
can get an at large bid with 14 or 15 losses on their season resume. They already have 12.

So you have to believe we'll see the Gtown that almost came back in the 2nd half against
Providence. Coach Thompson does seem to have the ability to motivate his teams in these
situations when you think they're in big trouble. This time they are really up against it if they
don't win the BigEast Tournament. The next 5 are SHU, Xavier, Butler, @Marquette and @Nova

In this conference you will lose if you can't match the other teams' intensity. It doesn't matter or
so it seems if you are home or playing on the road. I don't believe we matched Butler's desperation
at The Rock and our defense was poor. This game can be huge if Seton Hall can win here. That extra
win could be a difference in getting a bid. The players and coaches have to approach this week with
a true measure of urgency. The moment of truth has arrived for both the Men's and Women's programs
at Seton Hall midway through February.

 

[shupat08]

We can very easily have 2 teams dancing, 1 team dancing or 0 teams dancing in 4 weeks.

 

[Seton75]

We out-toughed GU at the Rock, then Butler out-toughed us. I figure toughness is gonna tell the story. I hope we get back to how we were. The "they don't want to guard" comment has to really get into the guys guts and make them realize guarding and toughness are gonna be the key.

 

[Save Continental]

We should be as desperate as anyone. Our games are pretty much do or die from here on out.

 

[jcpetri]

It seems to me that the season is in the hands of the players themselves. Play hard and do all the little things that got us to where we're at now. How badly does this team want to go to the NCAA's? It's up to them. I just hope Khadeen will break out of his shooting woes in the GU game. OK, boys, how badly do you want it??/

 

[Halldan1]

We out-toughed GU at the Rock, then Butler out-toughed us. I figure toughness is gonna tell the story. I hope we get back to how we were. The "they don't want to guard" comment has to really get into the guys guts and make them realize guarding and toughness are gonna be the key.

My take, toughness didn't do us in against Butler, lack of urgency did.

The team did not come out with the same intensity that they had in previous games and playing in a league where the talent gap is not profound that often times is a the difference between a win and a loss.

 

[garyshu71]

Call it what you want, Willard did not have his team ready to play once again in a very important and winnable situation. That's three games this year that they came out flat and lost at home in winnable games. Not good at all. Maybe it's his own sense of urgency and pulse that need to be checked??

 

[Seton75]

My take, toughness didn't do us in against Butler, lack of urgency did.

The team did not come out with the same intensity that they had in previous games and playing in a league where the talent gap is not profound that often times is a the difference between a win and a loss.

Semantics..

 

[Piratefan2009]

Call it what you want, Willard did not have his team ready to play once again in a very important and winnable situation. That's three games this year that they came out flat and lost at home in winnable games. Not good at all. Maybe it's his own sense of urgency and pulse that need to be checked??

Agreed, call it what you want between "urgency" and "toughness". We are up against the same wall as Georgetown. People on this board seem to have much more confidence in our NCAA picture than the rest of the sports world outside maybe Jerry Carino and some others with a vested interest in our success. I believe the committee would actually be more lenient with Georgetown's record since they are a bigger draw for the tournament and played a tougher schedule.

Being on everyone's last four in play-in weekend bracket does not make us secure for selection Sunday. We need to start winning games and it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

 

[sportsfantatic44]

This is an absolute must win game if we want to make the tourney.

 

[NYC Pirate]

My take, toughness didn't do us in against Butler, lack of urgency did.

The team did not come out with the same intensity that they had in previous games and playing in a league where the talent gap is not profound that often times is a the difference between a win and a loss.

I tend to agree with this. IW certainly played with a great deal of focus, but the rest of the guys weren't up
to par. This is a big week for the program. The players have to understand the significance of the 2 games. You have to go into Gtown and match their mindset. You can call it toughness or a sense of urgency. It's everyone matching their skillset and even more. You can't play below your pay grade. This is business trip number one. This is the game where you limit turnovers, hit a higher percentage of free throws and 3 point shots.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Call it what you want, Willard did not have his team ready to play once again in a very important and winnable situation. That's three games this year that they came out flat and lost at home in winnable games. Not good at all. Maybe it's his own sense of urgency and pulse that need to be checked??

Give it a rest. He's 17-7 because he's been good all year. You can nitpick on most coaches across the country this year. Nobody had us in this spot. Even that loss to Creighton was a good one because he lit a fire. The guy has done an exceptional job with a team that was preseason 7th.

 

[catholicman]

Give it a rest. He's 17-7 because he's been good all year. You can nitpick on most coaches across the country this year. Nobody had us in this spot. Even that loss to Creighton was a good one because he lit a fire. The guy has done an exceptional job with a team that was preseason 7th.

The pre-season 7th was a joke and is a lower bar than the fanbase and maybe even the school will allow. The team played flat against Butler. My guess is they underestimated Butler, just as they underestimated Creighton. I have no idea what the coach did or didn't do to get these guys motivated. All I know is the result. It was not good and has put us in a difficult position.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

The pre-season 7th was a joke and is a lower bar than the fanbase and maybe even the school will allow. The team played flat against Butler. My guess is they underestimated Butler, just as they underestimated Creighton. I have no idea what the coach did or didn't do to get these guys motivated. All I know is the result. It was not good and has put us in a difficult position.

God forbid we have a couple bad games. No other school in the country must have that problem.

 

[catholicman]

God forbid we have a couple bad games. No other school in the country must have that problem.

You can't have a couple of bad games this time of year, otherwise the team will be watching, forlorn, on selection Sunday.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

You can't have a couple of bad games this time of year, otherwise the team will be watching, forlorn, on selection Sunday.

I'm going to bet there's at least 5 teams in the tournament that have a clunker or 2 in the next 4 weeks. It can happen, it just can't be the norm.

 

[shupat08]

A few bad games with our OOC RPI & SOS can very well kill our NCAA tournament chances.

Somethung that cannot be argued, is thst an NCAA team will win 4 of the next 6 games.

 

[catholicman]

I'm going to bet there's at least 5 teams in the tournament that have a clunker or 2 in the next 4 weeks. It can happen, it just can't be the norm.

Because of the meltdown last year, and the history of losing here, and weird dynamics--like our penchant for losing to the RPI-busting DePaul late in the season--getting things locked up early is so important. Every time we lose, we put more pressure on ourselves.

 

[garyshu71]

I'm going to bet there's at least 5 teams in the tournament that have a clunker or 2 in the next 4 weeks. It can happen, it just can't be the norm.

This is year six, I think I know what can happen quite well.
..

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Because of the meltdown last year, and the history of losing here, and weird dynamics--like our penchant for losing to to the RPI busting DePaul late in the season--getting things locked up early is so important. Every time we lose, we put more pressure on ourselves.

How about recent history we just won 4 of the last 5. Everyone gets too damn emotional after each game, When we win it appears as though the sweet 16 will be underachieving and when we come off 1 loss we might not make the NIT. As a whole it's been a good year so far. And the Willard for the season has done a good job. No reason to be so negative.

 

[Pirate6711]

I don't think Georgetown will be desperate at all. If they play desperate, then that will play into SHU's hands. I'm more concerned with Georgetown coming out ready to play and playing to the level of their talent. Outside of the sixth man game in 2003 and Sterling's huge game a couple years ago, we have struggled big time in DC.

 

[catholicman]

How about recent history we just won 4 of the last 5. Everyone gets too damn emotional after each game, When we win it appears as though the sweet 16 will be underachieving and when we come off 1 loss we might not make the NIT. As a whole it's been a good year so far. And the Willard for the season has done a good job. No reason to be so negative.

And we did not defend homecourt against a team with a worse league record than our own. No one is sounding the siren of alarm but you. Overreaction to expressions of concern only stokes the fires of discontent even more. Lol!

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

And we did not defend homecourt against a team with a worse league record than our own. No one is sounding the siren of alarm but you. Overreaction to expressions of concern only stokes the fires of discontent even more. Lol!

Yes we lost a game. I'm not the one who brought up the previous years. Truth is in those previous years we would have folded by now. We haven't. And since you use the standings as a reference, we have lost just 1 game to a team with a worse record than us in conference. How many teams in the top half can say that? Only us and Villanova. Cant believe Mack, McDermott and Cooley can't get their kids up to play.

 

[HallX2]

You never know other than in rear view what game will cost a bid. Now every game can make or break the postseason

Yes we lost a game. I'm not the one who brought up the previous years. Truth is in those previous years we would have folded by now. We haven't. And since you use the standings as a reference, we have lost just 1 game to a team with a worse record than us in conference. How many teams in the top half can say that? Only us and Villanova. Cant believe Mack, McDermott and Cooley can't get their kids up to play.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

You never know other than in rear view what game will cost a bid. Now every game can make or break the postseason

At 3-4 nobody said we had to go 5-0 the next 5. Many said before the 3 game homestand 2-1 would be good, 3-0 would be great. We've done good enough to not be negative and people are still worried about the slide. A slide may happen, but there's no reason to be negative yet. These guys have played good ball, not perfect ball for the most part the last 2 weeks. We got dominated by Butler and lost by 6. If we play a good game vs them even at Hinkle Fieldhouse, no reason we can't walk away with the W. 1 loss is not a slide. This one loss won't cost us a bid. If we don't do the work down the stretch that will cost us a bid.

 

[donnie_baseball]

Butler is a bad matchup, and has been for years. I had both games with them penciled as a loss, long ago. I think we can sweep Georgetown, though. We have been better on the road than expected.