3 Team race for Big East Title

[FriarJ]

2014 - No NCAA (7th in conference standings)
2013- 2 seed - lose to 15th seed FGCU (Round of 64) (tied for 1st in standings)
2012 - 3 seed - lose to 11th seed NC State (Round of 32) (tied for 4th in standings)
2011 - 6 seed - lose to 11th seed VCU (Round of 64) (8th in standings)
2010 - 3 seed - lose to 14th seed Ohio (Round of 64) (tied for 7th in standings)
2009 - No NCAA (tied for 11th in standings)
2008 - 2 seed - lose to 10th seed Davidson (Round of 32) (1st in standings)

That is what I mean by underachieve. So perhaps my comment is a little misguided, because they may do well in conference, but as far as a season, I believe they underachieve considering the talent they get.

They have underachieved recently in the NCAA I agree but when you used the term always, that is what I thought you meant.

[FriarJ]

I should add also that I'm not about to crown Nova just yet. I think Xavier could easily challenge them at the top.

[hoyahooligan]

Nine deep at bare minimum. I promise you, this isn't the normal Georgetown team your use to. Lots of talented interchangeable parts.

Smith
Hopkins
Peak
Trawick
DSR

Copeland
White
Bowen
Campbell

Georgetown is playing much faster than in years past. Currently 15th in the nation in pace on offense. Last year we were 218th in this category. This is a completely different team than anyone has ever seen under JT3.
I think you are getting a little excited at your depth (and you do have that for sure). However, for a program who under JTIII has finished in the NCAA bottom 100 for tempo all but one season, setting a minimum of 9 players in the regular rotation is just unrealistic. Just like most college rotations, that rotation is eventually going to get winnowed down, and 9 sounds much more like a maximum than a minimum.

It's true of Xavier too. We have a lot of depth, with the ability to go 12 deep, 10 with significant minutes, but I doubt our rotation will be 10 come January/February.

[NJRedman]

Georgetown is not going to live up to their potential if Josh is struggling to go up and down the court.

Did you watch last night? He isn't struggling to go up and down the court.

If it's so easy for these GTown players then why did they do so bad last season? Smith is a head case and wont last the entire season. If you're counting on him you're already screwed.

Um this is an entirely different team than last year. We have 4 new players that are playing meaningful minutes, 5 if you include Smith. Smith is going to be just fine. Just wait and see.

Just fine? How long has he been in college? This is his second school? He is overweight once again? Yeah, he'll be just fine.

[yaboynyp]

Georgetown is not going to live up to their potential if Josh is struggling to go up and down the court.

Did you watch last night? He isn't struggling to go up and down the court.

If it's so easy for these GTown players then why did they do so bad last season? Smith is a head case and wont last the entire season. If you're counting on him you're already screwed.

Um this is an entirely different team than last year. We have 4 new players that are playing meaningful minutes, 5 if you include Smith. Smith is going to be just fine. Just wait and see.

Just fine? How long has he been in college? This is his second school? He is overweight once again? Yeah, he'll be just fine.

He stayed on the court last game long enough to put up 20+ and 12 boards. Can you tell me the last Big man from St Johns to do that?

His weight is down from last season and he’s been playing about 25 minutes a game on a team that is currently ranked 15 in tempo. No reason to Bash the kid he’s playing fine.

[Bluejay]

Georgetown is not going to live up to their potential if Josh is struggling to go up and down the court.

Did you watch last night? He isn't struggling to go up and down the court.

If it's so easy for these GTown players then why did they do so bad last season? Smith is a head case and wont last the entire season. If you're counting on him you're already screwed.

Um this is an entirely different team than last year. We have 4 new players that are playing meaningful minutes, 5 if you include Smith. Smith is going to be just fine. Just wait and see.

Just fine? How long has he been in college? This is his second school? He is overweight once again? Yeah, he'll be just fine.

Again? That implies he stopped being overweight at some point.

Now, that being said, he is looking beastly today and will be a tough match-up.

[NJRedman]

Just fine? How long has he been in college? This is his second school? He is overweight once again? Yeah, he'll be just fine.

He stayed on the court last game long enough to put up 20+ and 12 boards. Can you tell me the last Big man from St Johns to do that?

His weight is down from last season and he’s been playing about 25 minutes a game on a team that is currently ranked 15 in tempo. No reason to Bash the kid he’s playing fine.

What the F does SJU have to do with this conversation? Josh Smith has failed to live up to his expectations. One game against an early season OOC cupcake isn't an indication he's turned the corner. Has he ever played an entire season yet in his college career?

[yaboynyp]

Just fine? How long has he been in college? This is his second school? He is overweight once again? Yeah, he'll be just fine.

He stayed on the court last game long enough to put up 20+ and 12 boards. Can you tell me the last Big man from St Johns to do that?

His weight is down from last season and he’s been playing about 25 minutes a game on a team that is currently ranked 15 in tempo. No reason to Bash the kid he’s playing fine.

What the F does SJU have to do with this conversation? Josh Smith has failed to live up to his expectations. One game against an early season OOC cupcake isn't an indication he's turned the corner. Has he ever played an entire season yet in his college career?

22 and 11 today…St John’s plays cupcakes also bruh. Still waiting for news of anything similar from any St Johns player this decade against any level of Competition.

[chicagojayfan]

I don't think anyone can question Smith's high level ability on the offensive end. When he's on the court, he's highly, HIGHLY productive. Career effectiveFG% of .585, 10.9 rebounds/40 minutes. Career PER of 26.3. It really hurt the Hoya offense when he couldn't play last year. The had to play offense mostly on the perimeter last year and it made it tough for them if the shots weren't falling.

Obviously, his conditioning is a big question, but I don't think it directly limits the number of minutes he can play. Even when he gets tired, he can score on the block. The problem comes in on defense. He can be a liability against teams that can exploit his lack of footspeed and as a result he's also a constant risk of being in foul trouble. He averages 6.5 fouls/40 minutes played and those numbers appear to go up when facing better competition.

I think he's shown he can score on anyone, but (assuming he stays eligible the entire season) the question for the season will be how many minutes he can play against better post competition and whether or not he can take his offense up a notch. And for that, we'll know quite a bit more when they play Florida this week. They have some mobile and active bigs that will push him.

[DudeAnon]

Based on the small sample size, I would replace Georgetown with Providence in the top 3.