Teams

GU:
I thought that this was a pretty solid season opener for the Hoyas. Thompson-coached teams don’t usually have very impressive beginnings to their seasons, maybe due to the complexity of learning the system and getting used to the style of play. That being said, it was a comfortable victory for the boys in Gray, and it gave the younger players a good opportunity to get some game time against real opponents.

WM:
William and Mary did a very good job on Saturday, and as Coach Tony Shaver put it, “We went toe-to-toe with them for about 36 minutes.” It was a hard-fought game for the Tribe, and all in all, they did a pretty good job. It didn’t look like they were intimidated at all, and they came out firing.

Players

GU:
This was a bit of a close game at times, and the leaders of this team stepped up when they needed to. As the first half was winding down, and it seemed like the players were just going through the motions, Jonathan Wallace brought focus back to the team and nailed two jumpers and got a steal in the last 90 seconds of the half.

Hibbert obviously gave the team the win with his play in the second half, going 7-8 from the field and racking in 15 points.

But the big player of this game, to me, was Jessie Sapp. Going into the season, everyone expected J-Wal and Big Roy to be the leaders of this team, but I thought Jessie had a great game and really pushed the team at times. Offensively, he had an excellent game as the second leading scorer with 18 behind Roy’s 23. He hit his jumpers and slashed through the defense to get to the hoop. Defensively, he also had a big game with five defensive rebounds and a steal. Add to that his team leading six assists and Jessie had a pretty big day for himself, making the argument that his name should be mentioned just as often as Jonathan or Roy.

WM:
In our pregame section, we pointed out that Laimis Kisielius was going to be a big name on Saturday as he was William and Mary’s leader in Points, Rebounds, Blocks, and 3 Point Percentage. He didn’t disappoint as he put up 16 points off of 6-8 shooting in the first half, but the Hoyas closed him down in the second, and he didn’t manage any more points after that. Still, he fought hard in the second half, despite being visibly tired. Coach Shaver said that he probably should have benched him for a bit more in the 2nd, but it’s hard taking out a player who makes your team better when he’s on the floor.

Coaches

I thought both coaches did a pretty good job on Saturday. Thompson got to use some of his younger players as he left Freeman and Wright out there for extended periods of time. He also got to test out some new lineups as there were times when the Hoyas went small with Wallace, Wright, Rivers, Freeman, and Macklin, and there were times when they went super big with Wallace, Sapp, Ewing, Macklin, and Hibbert.

Shaver did a good job with his shifting defense, and you have to give him credit for having his team ready for this game.

Referees

I thought the refs were fine today. Some bad offensive fouls against the Hoyas, but not too much of an impact. There was one play where the ball hit a referee standing in bounds and they called it out while Ewing was on a breakaway, which was more funny than anything. The big fiasco was that strange play at midcourt where everybody was wrestling for the ball and there was no travel, backcourt, foul, or jump ball for near 30 seconds.

Fans

It was a pretty big crowd for a game against William and Mary, and sitting right in front of the student section, I could hear them get into it at times. It was very loud for the unveiling of the Final Four banner and for the opening lineups, and I thought the crowd pretty much enjoyed themselves on Saturday.

Number of the Game

2: Number of points scored for the Hoyas by players outside of the four returning starters. Freeman made a jumper, and everyone else shot blanks in the season opener. Not the end of the world, as Mike explained, but it’s an interesting stat.

Final Four Banner

Mike talked about the new Jumbotron in his postgame thoughts, so I decided I’d talk about the new Final Four Banner they unveiled at the Verizon Center. Unlike the ones they revealed at Midnight Madness at McDonough, here they went all the way back to 1943 and included that year’s Final Four run.

I am still a bit disappointed with the lack of recognition for the Hoyas’ other achievements last year. Personally, I believe winning the Big East regular season and the Big East Tournament are two pretty substantial accomplishments, and I have yet to see a Big East banner being unveiled.