Is anyone surprised by the lack of attention tonight’s game is getting? It seems like there isn’t much hype at all about it. Well, don’t believe the lack of hype. THIS GAME IS HUGE! This is exactly what Georgetown-Syracuse is supposed to be, a January match-up between two bitter rivals that will almost assuredly decide the fates of the two teams’ seasons. The Hoyas must win if they want any chance of getting a free pass to the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. The Hoyas must win if they want to keep their hopes of a third straight regular season championship alive. In all seriousness, there could be more riding on this game than any other regular season meeting between Georgetown and Syracuse since they met on the last day of the 1984 season to determine the regular season title.

First the bad news: if the Hoyas lose, they fall to 2-3 in the conference, all but eliminating them from regular season championship contention. Some reports last week indicated that Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey thought that the Big East regular season champion would finish with five losses. I don’t think so. I think 15-3 will probably win outright, 14-4 might be good enough to win on tie-breakers, 13-5 is good for third place at best. So if the Hoyas don’t beat the Orange, they will have to finish very strong to separate themselves from the middle of the pack.

The good news is if the Hoyas win, this game will positively be a springboard. A win against the ‘Cuse sends the Hoyas on a huge roll (conference only, the Duke game is gravy). Also, the defeat for Syracuse will send them into a temporary downward spiral. Syracuse is good, but their best strength is their confidence. When they feel hot, they are hot. A cool dose of reality would send them into a funk that is sure to drop them from the Top Ten in the country down into the teens or low 20′s.

If you’re a Hoya fan, get your game face on now. Start focusing on what to expect so you won’t get too upset when it happens. For example, the Hoyas will have at least two terrible turnovers against the Orange below-average zone defense – plays where you’ll ask yourself, “How can we make such awful decisions!?!?” I’m afraid that Austin Freeman will be involved in one of them. Also, that kid Rautins is going to make an annoying three-pointer. It might be with the shot clock winding down, it might be at the end of the first half, it might be from 30 feet, but it will happen, so don’t let it bother you. Another thing you can do to get ready, especially if you’re a student, is to think of something rude but clever to yell at the players and coaches. Don’t yell anything obscene, but something that they would remember if they heard. Here’s a topic, Eric Devendorf served a suspension and was re-instated after allegedly hitting a female student in the face. Let me tell you something: no man, has ever allegedly hit a female in the face. “Allegedly hit a female in the face” means a guy hit a woman in the face, but nobody besides the young lady has come forward to admit having seen the incident. The whole thing was neatly swept under the Orange rug. Violence against women is not funny. It is not a joke, there is nothing amusing about the topic at all. Syracuse’s disciplinary approach and the way in which the athletic department handled the situation is a joke.

Now you have some real emotional firepower for game time. The Hoyas need a win to get their season moving again, the loss would deal a real blow to Syracuse, and a Hoya victory would be a testament to the social outrage that all Georgetown students feel regarding violence against women. Hoya Saxa!