That game was very ugly. There are good and bad you can pull from it.
Scoring was bad. Shots were not falling for either team. Had we hit some of those gimmes we missed, the game would not be close. Same can be said for Georgetown - they were missing a lot of good shots.
Chalk the poor offensive performances up to stellar defense on both teams. This is point-and-case reasoning for Martin stressing defense so much. If we had played average NCAA defense, the game would have been over in the first half.
The biggest problems I could see with our zone attack are that we did not move enough, and that our passing was too laid back. We looked like one of Pearl's teams for a while - just standing around the perimeter passing to and fro. Nothing is going to happen if you do that against a zone. Every once in a while, Golden or Richardson would pick up the dribble and make a move - some shots went in, some didn't. However, if we could have utilized that motion or penetration throughout the whole game, we would have created many more good opportunities. Georgetown's length paired with the zone was the blockade that halted Stokes. We simply could not get the ball down low, and it's not like we weren't trying. Seems I remember a stretch of 3 turn overs in a row trying to get the ball down to the low block. I'm no bball coach, but if my instincts are right, motion/penetration and passing are the two main offensive areas I would work on.
FTs were terrible. Seriously. You can make an argument that we lost the game at the stripe.
Was very nice to see us hit the glass the way we did against a bigger and longer team. That makes me worry a little less.
The bottom line is that it was an ugly game, but it wasn't the worst loss. Heck, it's not even the worst loss this season. It's still really early, and we're still trying to find our way without Maymon. Considering the results the last time we played a quality NCAA team, I'm not too butthurt about the team's performance. Frustrating, yes, freak out, no. People, that was our 5th game we played this season. We have problems, but a lot of them are simple to fix/adjust. If we still execute offense in that manner by February, then we should probably be concerned.
Martin has not done terribly with what he has so far this season. It absolutely could be better, but it could be a heck of a lot worse. It's still very early in the season, and it seems like we weren't really prepared to be without Maymon for so long. No matter how ugly the game was last night, I'm very proud of our team for giving their all for 40 minutes. They played with purpose, and went balls-out all night. I still think Martin is going to piece together a good season. It will take a much worse performance than that to put me in freak out mode, or to declare that the season is over or that Martin is a bad coach.
Finally, to the spill over from the football and Gruden forums, we would all really appreciate it if you could only post IF AND ONLY IF you know what you're talking about. Some do, most don't.
