Clearly a tale of two halves. I don't know if it was the lay-off in between games, Dajuan Summers foul trouble in the first half and maybe even Monroe's foul trouble in the first half (can't remember but I think he picked up two early fouls), but we looked flat and weak and were making Providence look really good. Having watched the game four days ago, I can't tell you much about the first half but frankly I remember thinking right after the game that I didn't remember much about the first half. I pretty much blocked it out then and there is no real need to dwell on it now, other than to point out that we cannot start off games like that. We can't play that badly and expect to get back into games against better teams. We are young and that is going to happen. We were at home so early mistakes can be made up more easily, and we didn't get down by too much so our mistakes were recoverable. For all I know, it could have been some adjustment that JTIII made. He did switch to a zone in the second half that really did give Providence problems but I can't remember if that happened in the first half or not.
Dajuan getting in foul trouble is killing us but it opened the door for Henry Sims to have a break out game – if playing 15 minutes and scoring like 5 points can be a break-out. I do think that when Sims was in the game on the defensive side of the court, he was anchoring one of the back-sides of the zone we were in and doing a great job. He battled for rebounds even when he didn't get them. Ran the floor well for one of his baskets and had a really nice long outlet chest-pass that he flipped all the way down the court that ended up in a basket. Big thing too was he recognized one of our guards going down court the second he got the rebound on the defensive side which is something you can't teach. He has good instincts and as he gets more confident, he will contribute more and more. He is one of the goofier looking players we have had in a long time with his big ole head and the way he runs the floor barely lifting his feet but he will develop more and more as the year goes on (and we clearly need him because we cannot rely on Julian Vaughn alone for depth in the post) and really contribute. He does have good hands catching an assist from Monroe inside once and when he gets more confidence, he will start to show that he can shoot well for a guy his height. He has to be more aggressive and he will be. He held his own against the big white guy Providence had, and that guy wasn't skinny but realistically he will still get manhandled inside by bigger, older players until he gets his sea legs about him.
Jason Clark with his Inspector Gadget arms and his yo-yo dribble a la John Jacques is starting to show more and more what he can do. He is going to be a factor on the offensive glass all the time and in passing lanes and in transition on defense because he is all over the place with relentless energy and his long arms really throw people off. I just don't think people think he will get to the ball sometimes because of where he is standing or how tall he is and it takes too long for people to adjust to that. 24 minutes for him is huge as is the fact that he was on the floor with the ball in his hands during key stretches in the second half during the big 21-2 run we made on them and when the game got close at the end. Until Jessie Sapp gets out of his shooting slump, Clark might be more effective to have on the floor with Wright than Jessie but I have to believe Sapp will come around. (Jessie was 1-6 and as a team we shot over 50%. When Jessie gets his shot back and Dajuan Summers stops fouling and whining, things could really start taking off for us. In the meantime, Clark and Sims benefit with playing time and will hopefully continue to respond. We can't always count on the freshman though).
Wright and Freeman broke out of their slumps. They shot a combine 14-21 with Wright going 2-3 from behind the arc. That was great to see and was key to our victory. The reality is that all of that was made possible by Greg Monroe having 13 points 11 rebounds 5 steals and 2 blocks. Most importantly though, he had 8 assists as a center which is ridiculous (I am the master of the obvious). Wright and Freeman don't shoot like that if they aren't being set up by Greg directly or by the fact that he is drawing so much attention and setting up his teammates. Monroe put together most of that stat line in second half which makes what he did even more amazing. You all saw what he did. Any one of the things he does is amazing but what makes him incredible is that he can do all of the things he does. A 6'11" freshman center playing in the Thompson style offense that makes the kinds of passes that he does within the offense in the middle of January is incredible. That he can play as polished and as poised and as in control to fake a pass, see nobody is around him about 15 feet from the hoop, and then just shoot a jumper and drain is calmly is nice. That he breaks down big, strong post defenders with smooth back to the basket post moves spinning and faking and finishing off the glass with his left (are people going to figure out he is a lefty or can they just now stop him? Not sure). And obviously the take your defender off the dribble and dunk on his head and yell and get fouled and complete the three point play is tremendous. And then getting 5 steals? He is all over the floor on both sides of the floor doing everything. The rest of the team better catch up to him fast because nobody should expect the "we have next year" with Monroe and we better have a sense of urgency to get as far with this kid as we can. Monroe as a sophomore at G-town would be a huge gift but we cannot count on it in the least.
It was pretty nice (to say the least) to see freshman Monroe, Sims, Clark with sophomores Freeman and Wright taking control of the game and dominating Providence in the second half. They all huddled together after some foul one of our guys committed and I had visions of those five being our starters next year (assuming Summers is gone to pros and Sapp to graduation) and man did that feel like a team that could really be special. Since that is not likely to be what our starting 5 looks like in 2009-10, we better take advantage of Monroe now. No better time than tonight against the Jonny Flynn show with whiny Boeheim and shady Devendorf and Harris (that kid could kill us tonight by the way) to make a statement building off that second half against the Friars. Go Hoyas. Get it done!
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