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Eulogizing the 2012 College Lacrosse Season: (34) Georgetown

By Hoya Suxa
Feb 25, 2012; Washington D.C., USA; The Georgetown Hoyas mascots prior to the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE
Feb 25, 2012; Washington D.C., USA; The Georgetown Hoyas mascots prior to the game against the Villanova Wildcats at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-US PRESSWIRE

You spent the better part of four months meticulously dissecting the 2012 college lacrosse season. You shouldn't stop now because cold turkey is a bad way to go through life, man. College Crosse is providing decompression snapshots of all 61 teams and their 2012 campaigns, mostly because everything needs a proper burial.

I. VITAL SIGNS

Team: Georgetown Hoyas

2012 Record: 7-6 (3-3, Big East)

2012 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): 1.06 (22)

2011 Strength of Schedule (Efficiency Margin): 1.69 (14)

Winning Percentage Change from 2011: -4.49%

2012 Efficiency Margin: -1.10 (34)

Efficiency Margin Change from 2011: -4.11

II. "ATTA BOY!" FACT

  • Despite a middling record that featured far too many suspect outcomes, Georgetown remained ferociously tenacious for much of the season. The Hoyas were militant on their ride, holding opponents to only a 80.00 percent clearing rate (good for fifth nationally). This ability to steal their opponents' lunch helped the team pull together the seventh-best turnovers-per-defensive-possession mark in the country. (Incidentally, the team's caused turnover rate wasn't solely attributable to the Hoyas' riding ability. This is a defense that yielded the fourth-fewest shots per defensive possession and a big reason for that is because guys like Chris Nourse did a good job at generating turnovers.) The end result? A bad offense was given some extra opportunities to try and actually can the bean (a rare feat on a per-possession basis for the Hoyas). Riding and generating turnovers, if within the defensive strategy, are driven in large part by hustle and effort; the Hoyas could have folded this year but still put in good work.

III. "YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOU QUALIFY FOR THE AARP!" FACT

  • Georgetown's offense should have been shot in the skull halfway through the 2012 campaign. This was, without a doubt, one of the worst offensive teams in the country: The Hoyas struggled to share the ball (ranked only 51st in offensive assist rate); they shot the ball like a drunk guy on a golf cart while eating a hot dog (ranked only 45th in raw offensive shooting percentage); and the team turned the ball over on about 48 percent of their offensive opportunities. The result was an adjusted offensive efficiency value ranked 50th in the nation, just a year removed from a season in which the offense placed 18th in the same metric. While the team's man-up conversion rate was pretty solid (40.43 percent), it ultimately didn't matter as the Hoyas rarely actually played with the personnel imbalance in their favor (the team ranked 43rd in extra-man opportunity per offensive opportunity). So, the team's man-up ability was muted because the offense -- in the overall -- was a tire fire lit with a nuclear bomb.

IV. MR. FIX-IT HAS A ONE-FIX ENGAGEMENT, AND IT'S . . .

  • These two tweets from the Washington Times' Patrick Stevens just about say it all about Georgetown for next year and beyond:

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