U-G-L-Y

The officiating at today's game was horrendous. The Messieurs Kersey, Breeding, and Burr combined to give Georgetown a sixth man on the floor. However, no matter how biased the officiating might be, referees cannot hand a team an 18 point loss. Oh yes, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Forgive me, Tory Jackson, I must start with you. I know that we are dealing with a freshman point guard in a new offense. However, he needs to play smarter. I believe all four of his turnovers were telegraphed passes directly into the arms of the opponent. Jackson has plenty of talent but when pressured, like most young players, he panicked. He is part of a team that beat Alabama and Maryland, therefore there is no reason to doubt his ability. He needs to be confident that he cant break down defenses with his dribbling. He needs to always be smart with his passes, as turnovers kill momentum. Most of all, he needs to improve into a solid one guard very quickly. This is asking a lot, but the season's success hinges on the effectiveness of the point guard play.

Colin Falls frustrates me to no end. The young man has shown incredible talent. However, 1 for 7 will not cut it. I would give a lot for Colin to consistently score 10-15 a night. I know he can get red hot and drop 20+ in less than ten shots, but all I want now is consistency. With normal output from other players, 10-15 points from Colin Falls equals a win. If his foot injury or some other problem prohibits him from scoring that many on a daily basis, the team would be better without him on the court for 30 minutes a night. He does play solid defense and is the vocal leader of the team, but his lack of mobility creates serious offensive problems if he cannot make his shots.

Rob Kurz was OK. He and Harangody got into foul trouble and could not be very productive down low, which crippled the offense. A lot of those fouls were questionable, but I have already addressed that. Kurz did shoot well from the line, which is a good trait in a big man. Not his best output, but he did the best he could.

Luke Zeller again had an unproductive offensive night. A little bit in every category, but not enough with the two other big men having to ride the pine for extended periods. Obviously, having our best big men in foul trouble was crippling, but Zeller needed to step it up in a situation like today. He was unable to provide a force under the basket, which made our perimeter players resort to poor shot selection.

Russell Carter has a very poor game as well. Shooting 1 of 6 from long range, his poor shot selection doomed our already dim hopes. Carter took a lot of poor shots and was not patient as the game slipped out of grasp. Part of the problem was the lack of an inside threat, but his poor shooting compounded it.

Harangody was unable to produce with four fouls. Ayers was awful the defensive side of the ball, letting his man make backdoor cuts at will. Peoples was ineffective, but did not turn the ball over. Zach Hillesland was probably the player of the game, collecting 7 points and 7 rebounds. He was the guy to step it up when Kurz and Harangody were on the bench. It boggles the mind why our 6-11 starter cannot be as succesful.

After falling behind 18-2, the team fought back well at the end of the half to cut the deficit to 11. However, poor outside shooting and no inside presence added kept the Irish from getting closer. The defense did play very well in the first half. Georgetown shot well over 50%, but turned the ball over on half their possesions. For the game, the Hoyas had one more turnover. There were plenty of opportunities to close the gap, but poor offensive play kept the Irish from taking advantage.

Ok, now what? It was a terrible game. The team shot 30% (18% from 3-point) and lost by 18 even though they had eight more attempts. No one had a good day, and there is plenty of room for improvment. All have shown the ability to play better. Since Brey has shown that he will continue to play Falls through hot and cold streaks, we must hope that Colin has seen his worst output for a while. Time to move on, put this behind us, and hope West Virginia looks a lot like Louisville.

New streak starts Tuesday.