The Creighton men’s basketball team looks to extend their winning streak to two games on Saturday afternoon when a ranked Georgetown team comes to town. With the win on Wednesday night, the Jays should still be flying high and the crowd should be engaged even more than they were on Wednesday.
White & Blue Review: Georgetown has looked pretty good so far in Big East play. How big of a surprise was the loss to Xavier earlier this week especially after the Hoyas ran Villanova out of the gym before that?
CasualHoya: Sort of a surprise but not really. The Hoyas were coming off of two emotionally-charged games – the home shellacking of Villanova and a riveting road win at Marquette, so in a way a letdown was inevitable. It stinks that it had to come right after the Hoyas cracked the Top 25 (the 2nd time Georgetown has lost right after being ranked and both times to Xavier), but at the end of the day I don’t think anyone is jumping off any cliffs about it and we’re hopeful that it’s just a blip on the radar.
CH: Indeed! The Hoyas have already demonstrated that they can compete with the big boys (narrow losses to Wisconsin, Kansas and win over Nova) and regardless of whether the Hoyas are actually ranked in the Top 25 I think they are certainly one of the top 25 teams in the country.As far as weaknesses go, the Hoyas struggle in a half-court set against teams that don’t have to double Josh Smith, and sometimes have a tendency to move the ball around the perimeter too much and pass up decent looks. Georgetown also struggles against a zone, but has improved in that respect in Big East play. Defensively the rotations on the perimeter aren’t quite as crisp, which has left them susceptible to teams that can gash them from deep. This is what has me deathly scared of your precious Bluejays.
WBR: Who has been playing the best for the Hoyas recently?
CH: The one player that has emerged recently that wasn’t much of a factor in our last game has been freshmen forward Isaac Copeland. Copeland was Georgetown’s highest ranked recruit this season but struggled in the early going to gain his footing. Finally given playing time, he has emerged as a legit scoring threat from all over the court on offense and always seems to be around the ball on defense. He’s sort of a more athletic Otto Porter.
WBR: In the last meeting in DC, it seemed the Hoyas were trying to run up the score against the Bluejays when the game was already in hand. Was there a reason for that?
CH: If running up the score is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right!But seriously, I have no idea where this question is coming from. Any basket the Hoyas get during a game is like manna from heaven. if your question was ‘Why couldn’t the Hoyas score more against Creighton?’ I would actually think it were more accurate.
WBR: Is it better having Josh Smith on the court or does he sometimes hamper the offense/defense for Georgetown?
CH: It’s better to have Smith out there, no doubt. He’s a load to deal with for opposing defenses and that creates room for guys like Smith-Rivera to get open looks. The problem is when he’s gassed he tends to pick up ticky tack fouls on the other end, which limits his effectiveness because he can’t stay on the floor. To his credit, JT3 has done a very good job managing Smith’s minutes this season and keeping him in games, even when he gets in early foul trouble.
WBR: If you were putting teams in the NCAA Tournament today, who from the Big East would be “IN”?
CH:IN: Villanova, Georgetown, Providence, Xavier, Butler.OUT: St. John’s, Seton Hall, Marquette, Creighton, DePaul
WBR: What is your final prediction? What will Georgetown have to do to make sure Creighton doesn’t create an upset?
CH: The coaches will coach and the players will play, but this one just may come down to how hard the bloggers blog. Are you up to the challenge?Final score: Hoyas 72 – Bluejays 64.
