Teams

Georgetown:
This one is going to sting for a while. Everything was on the line, and the Hoyas played pretty well.

They started sharp and took an early lead. Georgetown had a little trouble during the middle portion of the game when West Virginia cranked up their defense, but the Hoyas were the sharper team down the stretch, and played tough defense to close out the game. Unfortunately, West Virginia’s combination of big shots by Da’Sean Butler and perfect free throw shooting in the final sealed the Hoyas’ defeat.

It was an effort to be proud of for the Hoyas, which is very little consolation.

West Virginia:
The Mountaineers showed everybody that they are a force to be reckoned with this March. With Syracuse and Villanova (and Georgetown) getting most of the national attention this season, it has been easy for national observers to overlook or even ignore West Virginia.

Not anymore.

The Big East teams have known about the great defense and tough players for a while; now everybody knows.

About midway through the first half, West Virginia increased their defensive pressure and really disrupted Georgetown’s offense. The Hoyas had been in an excellent rhythm for the entire Big East tournament until that point, and their free flowing offense seemed to grind to a halt. The Mountaineers were slightly more aggressive than Georgetown, getting to more loose balls and grabbing offensive rebounds. They didn’t show much on the offensive end outside of their star, Butler, but they did everything necessary to rightfully earn their first Big East Championship.

Players

Georgetown:
During the Big East Tournament, Chris Wright emerged as one of the premier guards in the Big East. His decision making, toughness, passing, and scoring were all on display in all four games, and he was an obvious choice for the All-Tournament Team.

The Big East Tournament is often a test to see which players can be at their best on the biggest stage, and Chris passed with flying colors. Apart from his scoring and assists, there were a few plays that stuck out as signs of Wright’s development; plays that only special players make.

West Virginia made a three-pointer to lead by 9 with about 11 minutes to play. Georgetown responded with a Hollis Thompson three-pointer – assisted by Wright.

Thirty seconds later, the Hoyas got a stop. Greg Monroe rebounded and threw a pass to start the fast break. The pass was intended for Wright, but Monroe overthrew it and it was headed out of bounds. Wright sprinted and caught up to the ball, then somehow, in one motion, he saved the ball from going out, shielded the defender, and zipped a pass to an open Austin Freeman for a layup.

Thirty seconds after that he ran the floor on another break, collected a pass from Monroe, and cut the lead to two. Wright was amazing the entire tournament.

West Virginia:
Chris Wright had a great individual tournament, but he also had an excellent supporting cast around him. For Da’Sean Butler, it was pretty much a one-man-show for the Mountaineers.

Butler was unstoppable, and the only choice for tournament MVP. He hit the game winning shot at the buzzer to send West Virginia into the semifinals, and won the tournament with his short jumper in the lane with 4 seconds to play in the final.

During this tournament he also passed the incredible milestone of 2,000 points in his career. He was already considered one of the greatest players in school history, and with his performance in New York he has cemented his name in the history books.

As important as his final shot was, the most important shot of the tournament came with about 10 minutes to play. Immediately after the Hoyas put together the run to cut the lead to 2 (see above) Butler nailed a three from the corner to push the lead back to six. At that time, momentum was with the Hoyas, and a miss there would have been another important boost for Georgetown. Butler knew that his team needed a three, and he made the shot.

Referees

The first half of the Big East Final was played with intensity, and few foul calls – neither team committed enough fouls to reach the bonus.

In the second half, the refs blew their whistled much more often. There were a series of poor decisions by the refs, including a strange series of fouls called against Julian Vaughn. Vaughn was whistled for an offensive foul with 9:39 to play. It looked like a block, but that call is difficult to make and often missed. That was Vaughn’s second personal foul. With 9:22 to play, Vaughn was called for a foul a non-shooting foul at the defensive end – his third. On the ensuing in bounds play, the refs called another foul on Vaughn, sending him to the bench with his 4th foul. It was his third foul in 17 seconds.

Vaughn returned to the court with a minute and a half to play and the Hoyas trailing by one. On that possession, with the shot clock winding down, the seldom used Mountaineer Casey Mitchell drove into the paint against Vaughn and obviously leaned directly into Julian’s body. Vaughn backed up and had his arms straight up. Julian actually got hit in the face or jaw from the West Virginia player, but instead of an offensive foul, or even no call at all, Vaughn had fouled out and West Virginia got two free throws.

The fifth foul on Vaughn was the most significant one of the tournament and also the most obviously wrong.

Number of the Game

0: The number of seconds in the second half in which West Virginia was trailing throughout the entire Big East Tournament. The number is even more remarkable considering that they won the quarterfinal by 3 points, and the semifinal and final by 2 points.