Teams

Georgetown:
This was both a typical and an unusual game for the Hoyas. The guys started off incredibly hot from the field and were actually 16 for 18 at one point! I don’t understand how they were only ahead by ten or so. The excellent shooting was unusual, but the typical part was the end. The team tightened up, got stagnant on offense, gave up easy shots on defense and missed critical shots, even when they got good looks at the basket. As my friend and colleague Rich Chvotkin would say, “This is a recording.”

Baylor:
Baylor is a decent team from a tough conference, and they made the most of the home-court advantage. This was a team with a bunch of streaky shooters, and they got hot at the right time. The three-point shot was a great weapon for them – they made all their open looks and a couple of tough contested ones as well.

Players

Georgetown:
There were four Hoyas in double figures in this game, but DaJuan Summers was the most important. Unlike Greg Monroe, Summers doesn’t really rely on anyone to help get him shots. Summers made three threes in the first half, and when his stroke went cold in the second half, he did a nice job getting to the basket on his way to a team-high 19 points. DaJuan hit a three-pointer with five seconds left to give the Hoyas a chance at a miracle, but his half-court shot was no good. It’s probably better that the shot didn’t go in; it looked like it was after the buzzer anyway.

Baylor:
It was a three pronged attack for the Bears, 20, 20, and 19 for Kevin Rogers, LaceDarius Dunn, and Curtis Jerrells. They were the focal points for the Hoyas defense, but they scored their points anyway. Those three, compared to the big three for the Hoyas, had a much bigger impact in crunch time.

Referees

As is often the case with teams in the NIT, the refs looked like they would rather have been in the other tournament also. At any rate, it didn’t really impact the game too much, since they just let ‘em play. They missed some calls, like when Summers had a three-pointer miss wide right by about 10 feet, but all in all the less the refs do, the better.

Number of the Game

6: The number of field goal attempts for Greg Monroe. He made five of them but probably needs to attempt twice or three times as many in every game next season to truly maximize the impact he can have on the team. 5 for 6 is good, but 9 for 12 or 11 for 18 is better. It’s also what is needed.