Jan. 31, 2012

One thing I’ve noted in writing for this here Hoop Club Blog for the past three years is that every one of the writers that our benevolent Blogfather John Hawkes recruits to pitch in brings their own style and lens to the blog. Whether it’s one of the West Coast crew’s travelogues, Tom Wong’s history lessons, or…whatever you would describe John’s sprawling, epic 4,000-word pieces as*, I hope that you find the different viewpoints, and different generations, a fun way to keep up with the Hoyas and learn more about each game.

*I go with “Klostermanian, with notes of Steve Perry and Sead Dizdarevic”

For myself, I prefer to look at numbers. Numbers are fun! Numbers are objective! Numbers are a way to cover up the fact that I don’t do a lot of advance scouting of the Hoyas’ opponents. Alright. Moving on.

With the Hoyas set to square off against UConn tonight at the Verizon Center, there are a plethora of numbers that stand out:

• While the Hoyas’ 10 freshmen and sophomores make them an unquestionably young team, UConn is even younger, with only Rutgers and St. John’s having a younger squad on average in the conference. The Huskies start one junior, three sophomores, and hyped freshman Andre Drummond.
• Though their current three-game losing skid may not show it, the Huskies shine at interior defense, holding opponents to a 38.3% clip on 2-point shots, best in the country. Their interior success comes primarily at the end of Drummond’s arm, as the center is averaging 2.5 blocks per game and 10% of shots taken while him on the floor are swatted.
• According to Ken Pomeroy’s fancy new player similarity scores, which assesses a player’s statistical output (not necessarily skill or playing style) to find the closes comparables, UConn point guard Shabazz Napier should look pretty familiar to Hoyas fans. Listed in Napier’s five most similar players are 2010 Kemba Walker, 2008 Scottie Reynolds, and 2007 Greivis Vasquez. Three players that Hoyas fans are certainly clamoring to see more of.

Yes, Ken Pomeroy is my homeboy and all that. But if I may break from form for one game, I’ll posit that when it comes to the Hoyas facing UConn at the Verizon Center, only three numbers matter.

72.

69.

9 Hoyas Win’s (on average).

Project all you want, computers. I know what I’m calling tomorrow.

Hoya Saxa,

Paul Campbell (MSB 09)

Generation Roy

(14) Georgetown (16-4, 6-3) vs. UConn (14-6, 4-4)

Wednesday, February 1 7:00 PM

TV: ESPN2

Radio: Sportstalk 570 AM