The Georgetown Hoyas are a young team. That’s not an excuse for losing, but it does help to explain some of the problems the Hoyas have had this season, especially in their recent back-to-back losses. The players have not looked flustered when things started to slip away, but their execution during those critical stretches was not at its best. That failure to be at their sharpest in the most important moments highlights the biggest difference between this year’s team and last season’s.

There were four seniors on last year’s team, and they all had been through a lot together. This year’s team hasn’t ever been in situations like the last two games. Players have, but not this group; so the team still needs to learn how to handle those situations and how to do the things that last years team could do out of habit. That’s why you hear John Thompson say that the team needs to improve and that they will improve. Jessie Sapp can lead the way, DaJuan Summers can grab a few more rebounds, Austin Freeman can put up more points, but the keystone to the Hoyas’ success will surely be Greg Monroe.

In the loss at Notre Dame, Greg Monroe collected his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. That was the first 10-rebound performance for any Hoya this season, which means it was Monroe’s career high in both categories. A lot of people feel like Monroe needs to be more assertive and take more shots. With all due respect…duh! If you look at the numbers, Monroe has been more aggressive in the three Big East games compared to the non-conference schedule. For the ten non-conference games to start the season Monroe averaged a little more than eight field goal attempts per game; in the three conference games he has taken more than 13 shots per game. He set a career-high with his 17 attempts against Notre Dame.

Monroe is a very unusual player. Freshmen who make all of the headlines when entering college are almost always the ones with great athleticism; the guys who put up dozens of 40-point games in high school, win dunk contests, and can dunk from the foul line. Monroe is not that kind of a player, but there is no doubt that he is as valuable to his team as any freshman in the country. The more Monroe plays, the easier it is to see how good he is, and how underappreciated he was, at least by the masses.

Monroe had great talent when he started playing for the Hoyas in November, yet he has still learned a lot about playing college basketball. After only three games, he’s still learning about playing in the Big East. It’s hard for a team that has had the success the Hoyas have had in recent years to be patient. But that will be necessary, especially with so much depending on a freshman. Monroe is improving with every game, and that’s great news for Hoya fans considering the high level at which he started.

Georgetown had the hardest opening three-games in the Big East, and it was a very tough introduction to the conference for Monroe. But based on how well he has been adjusting all season, be sure that Monroe learned a lot from the recent three-game stretch against Top 10 teams. Losses in January are expected, and they can even prove to be beneficial if teams can learn from them. Expect Monroe to take the lessons from this week and apply them in March.