The Barometer is Steady

By Tony

A barometer is a tool used by meteorologists to help predict the weather. I don’t know exactly what is does, but occasionally it is falling, and at other times rising.

In sports, the term barometer is used to mean anything that can be used as an indicator to help predict things. I think that the only reason it makes sense to say that something else can be a barometer is because nobody really knows what a barometer is. Nobody would say that a team’s trends could be used like a thermometer, since we all know that a thermometer measures temperature. At any rate, I will continue the misuse of the term barometer.

Whenever Georgetown fans are unsure about how their team will fare during a season, there is one match-up that acts as a barometer for the Hoyas’ success – how they did against St. John’s.

This rule only applies to seasons in which Hoya fans don’t really know how good the team is going to be. For example, in years that Georgetown is dominating, the Hoyas can lose to St. John’s without it negatively affecting the long-term success of the team (see 1982, 1984, 1996). Also, there have been other seasons in which the Hoyas are in the process of rebuilding, and during those years, the results against St. John’s don’t do much to impact the team as a whole.

But, during those seasons when the Hoyas success could easily range from NIT first round to Elite Eight, the games against St. John’s were huge. If you look back analytically at those seasons, the St. John’s games in many ways dictated the remainder of the season.

Take a look at these borderline Hoya teams of the past in which key games against the Johnnies tipped the scale:

1988

One year after “Reggie and the Miracles” the Hoyas were hoping to have another magical year. The team however lost both meetings to St. John’s, and ended the season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This was a disappointing season for the powerful Hoyas of the 1980s.

1993

Alonzo Mourning graduated the previous season leaving an undeniable void, but Freshman Othella Harrington had the potential to keep the Hoyas in the NCAA tournament. Instead, Georgetown dropped both games to St. John’s (including an 18-point loss at Madison Square Garden) and the team had to settle for the NIT.

1998

Victor Page left school early and the Hoyas had no proven scorer. Jahidi White and Boubacar Aw were key players on the Elite 8 team from two seasons earlier, but St. John’s led by Felipe Lopez won the only meeting of the season, and the Hoyas missed the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in 19 seasons.

2000

It was Craig Esherick’s first full season as head coach, and the Hoyas had a bunch of solid players led by sophomore Kevin Braswell. A loss to St. John’s meant the Hoyas started 0-3 in conference play; they never recovered.

2003

For the first time in four seasons, the Hoyas were without Kevin Braswell, who had started every game since the fall of 1998. Everybody knew that Mike Sweetney was one of the top players in the conference, but the question mark was how good was his supporting cast.

The Hoyas blew a big lead late in the game to St. John’s and the season spiraled downward from there. To add insult, the Hoya season ended with another loss against St. John’s in the NIT Championship game.

2005

In John Thompson III’s first season the Hoyas planned on making the most of the excitement from their new coach. Georgetown beat St. John’s in late January, and the momentum of JTIII’s arrival carried the Hoyas to an 8-3 start in Big East play, all but assuring them a return to the NCAA Tournament.

But Georgetown lost their last five regular season games, including a disastrous defeat to St. John’s, and it was Georgetown’s fourth straight year without an NCAA appearance.

2006

2006 vs. St. John's Georgetown returned all but one player from one year earlier, but they still needed to prove that the Princeton offense could succeed at Georgetown. The Hoyas beat St. John’s twice to mark the first season sweep in the series since 1997, and the Hoyas were on the rise in the Big East and nationally.

2009

For the first time in Coach Thompson’s tenure, the Hoyas were without Jon Wallace and Roy Hibbert, and even though there were still two players from the Hoyas’ run to the Final Four, there was a different vibe to this year’s team. The Hoyas got off to a great start, but just like in 2005, the wheels fell off late in the season.

The Hoyas lost the only regular season meeting to St. John’s in overtime after blowing a 15-point lead late in the second half. Amazingly, the Hoyas lost again to St. John’s in the opening round of the Big East tournament, marking the first time in school history that Georgetown was defeated by St. John’s in the Big East Tournament.