Early Season Overreactions. Relax.

After requiring overtime for the Hoyas to take down a mediocre Coppin State team on Tuesday night, Georgetown fans naturally had their opinions on the team. Following the worst season in program history, the Hoyas saw the arrival of ten new players, an overhauled coaching staff and most importantly the renewed optimism that the team’s downward trajectory might finally turn around. But that optimism was short lived and, similar to last year’s opener against Dartmouth, reality was immediately slammed in Hoyas fans’ faces. Of course most of their criticism was warranted, but after one game, the overreactions rang loudest. Here are some of my favorites.

Brandon Murray is overrated

Let me make one thing extremely clear: Brandon Murray is the most talented player to play for Patrick Ewing. Coming into the year, Murray was considered to be one of the top transfers in the country, ranking as high as second on some lists. After striking out on Murray coming out of high school, Ewing and Kevin Nickelberry were able to draw him in to be the Hoyas’ number one option this season. At LSU, he was very clearly a star in the making, averaging 10 points per game and earning a place on the All-SEC Freshman Team. So as Georgetown’s roster comes together, Murray is poised to be the X-factor for the team’s success this season.

Of course it is completely fair to say that Murray’s performance in Tuesday night’s game left some things to be desired. Yes, he wasn’t much of a scoring factor coming down the stretch, scoring 12 of his 18 in the first half. Yes, he had four turnovers, most of which were sloppy. And yes, at points he looked unengaged on defense. But peel back the layers and you will discover that Murray’s lackluster performance showed reasons to be optimistic.

The most apparent of these was the fact that he was still able to play his game. Although he struggled to finish around the rim at points, he was able to get into the paint with ease. While we can be almost sure that the finishing will come along (based on past results), his ability to slash to the hoop forced Coppin State’s defense to converge on the paint which opened up the perimeter for the Hoyas’ shooters. Because of this, Murray saw himself become as much of a distributor as he was a scorer, finishing the game with eight assists. Of course this newfound role will bring an increase in turnovers until he can truly settle in. But overall, this sudden burst of unselfish play should be a sign for things to come this season. 

Among the most peculiar parts of Murray’s performance was his lackluster defensive effort. At LSU, he was statistically one of the best defenders in the country, playing an extremely aggressive style of defense that made opposing players uncomfortable in his presence, but on Tuesday night he gave up on a number of plays that led to Coppin State baskets. While slightly concerning, Murray still came away from the game with four steals and a highlight reel block (which was called a foul). Could he have shown more effort on defense? Probably, but this is only a problem if it persists.

Georgetown’s can’t guard the 3-pointer

Out of every overreaction I have seen, just based off of past seasons this might be the most fair. On Tuesday night, the Hoyas gave up an absurd 38 3-point attempts, many of which were open looks. Obviously this has been the bane of Patrick Ewing’s defenses in the past, but there are a few reasons to think this could resolve itself.

The most apparent issue was the fact that the team was testing out a full court press that kept breaking down. It is a well known fact that when full court traps fall apart, players are left open. This happened repeatedly, but once the coaching staff realizes the press isn’t working, expect the number of transition threes to decrease.

The Hoyas were also playing without their defensive anchor. While Akok Akok is this team’s best defender, Qudus Wahab is arguably Georgetown’s most important defensive piece. Wahab’s presence in the paint should allow a player like Akok to use his versatility to help on the perimeter, but when Wahab sat down with two early fouls less than three minutes into the game, Akok had to assume Wahab’s role on the interior. This, coupled with the fact that the team’s chemistry has not clicked, allowed Coppin State to exploit the less versatile Hoya defenders. 

Finally, Coppin State is a team built around shooting 3-pointers. Last year, the Eagles had the fourth highest three point rate in the country (3PA/FGA). Their entire offense is built to collapse the defense by penetrating the paint and then kicking the ball out to the corners for open looks. Of course the Hoyas should have expected this and committed less to the drive, but they didn’t and ended up paying for it. This could be a problem in the future, but don’t expect teams to shoot the deep ball as much as Coppin State.

Qudus Wahab showed signs of regression

After fouling out in just 15 minutes of play, it would be easy to think Qudus Wahab’s vacation in College Park left him in a worse place than when he left the Hilltop. I’m not going to say that’s entirely wrong because the University of Maryland is a known black hole for basketball players, but I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that Wahab regressed in his time there. 

In his 15 minutes of aggressive play, Qudus still showed that he will be an asset to this team. Considering Coppin State basically played with four guards and a glorified power forward whenever he was on the floor, it makes sense that he dominated. But whether he was matched up against 6’8 Justin Winston or 7’1 Ryan Kalkbrenner, 11 points and 10 rebounds, seven of which were offensive boards, is an impressive showing in time he played. He proved to be a player opposing teams need to worry about. While it would be foolish to justify his reckless play, the referees were calling a lot of fouls and the Coppin State guards were attacking the paint so it makes sense that he racked up the fouls that he did. Bottom line: Qudus Wahab will be just fine.  

The players do not fit well together

It is easy to understand why this was one of the more popular takes circulating after the game. After only a few minutes of gameplay, it was obvious that chemistry was going to be an issue on Tuesday night. The Hoyas were turning the ball over at an almost astronomical rate and they were struggling to run sets on offense, resorting to isolation plays after the offense inevitably broke down. It felt like they were playing streetball and there were serious reasons for concern.

But of course I wouldn’t be writing about the team’s chemistry if it was truly a long term problem. The root to this issue is simple and will likely fix itself by the end of the non-conference schedule, But simply put, nobody on this roster has stepped on a basketball court together in a competitive setting. Of course chemistry is going to be an issue when this is the case. In their first game back against a rather oddly built team, cohesion should not be the first concern for the team. 

Look, the Hoyas were sloppy out there, but at the end of the day this is one of those things that really does not concern me. Give the players some time to figure out who they’re playing with and to develop their overall identity. For the last few months, they haven’t played any real basketball together. Just let this figure itself out.

At the end of the day, the Hoyas did not play a perfect game. If these things weren’t a problem they would have won by 20+ points and overtime would never have been a question. But, shocker, they were and we were left sweating a buy game out until the very end. Ultimately, expect some improvements here. As we know, this team is very much a work in progress.

The Hoyas return tomorrow afternoon as they welcome Wisconsin Green Bay to Capital One Arena. Until then, godspeed Hoyas fans.