Still Struggling, Even with Southerland

I had been planning to write about the Providence game, focusing on the 31-4 run at the end of the first half, and also on how Southerland had ignited the offense. The Orange had been in the doldrums when he was out of the lineup, scoring in the fifties and sixties, and relying almost exclusively on their defense. And although their defense was reliable -- the zone remains effective, even when no one is hitting their jump shots -- if they have any hopes of advancing in the post-season, they'll need some offense to go with the defense. And I figured that Southerland's return had reignited the offense in the Providence game, allowing them to resume their early season winning ways.

But I guess I figured wrong, because Saturday afternoon, in front of the largest on-campus crowd ever to watch a basketball game, Cuse had no offense at all -- none -- even with Southerland back in the line-up. Raftery kept crediting Georgetown's zone, and their defense was impressive, but Southerland and Triche and Fair had as many good looks as the Hoyas had, but what they didn't have was someone, for example Porter, who was able to convert those open looks and put points on the board. Which makes me ask how it was that Porter had any open looks at all in the second half? I mean, he had singlehandedly kept Georgetown in the game during the first half, when they started the game completely out of sync. At half time I think he had scored sixteen of Georgetown's 21 points. So how was it that any defender left Porter alone in the second half, even for a millisecond? Doesn't it seem that someone should have been glued to the guy throughout the second half?

It's obviously the case that no team can win without being able to put the ball in the hoop. Shooting 34 percent, and only twenty percent from beyond the arc, just isn't going to get it done. Nor are the Orange likely to win big games when committing sixteen turnovers. That's what Georgetown's zone accomplished, more than interfering with Cuse's shooting. You'd think the Orange would know how to play against the zone, as they see it every day in practice, and play it almost all the time during games, but on Saturday Georgetown's zone completely bollixed them up. The Hoyas seemed to be in the Orange passing lanes all the time, and the guards were unable, most of the time, to penetrate, and create open shots for the big guys. Another problem was that Grant and Christmas simply forgot to show up. They did nothing, allowing Georgetown, in effect to play five on four, or maybe even three.

I'm hoping that the Cuse just laid an egg on Saturday. Really, there are enough shooters on the team, enough guys who can hit open threes, so that there shouldn't be many of these games when no one can score. More of a problem though, is the fact that the game was nationally televised, and so everyone was educated on how to slow down the SU offense.

Let's hope they bounce back. Go Orange.