She got through security before me, but I finally tracked her down just as she was ready to board her flight back to National Airport. I introduced myself, told her she was great, and told her about our site. She politely said that she’d check it out. Even at 6:15 in the morning she was sweet and friendly. I’m sure she was cranky too since the security line took about 40 minutes too long. She and I picked the wrong lane, that’s for sure!

So, just in case Ms. Burke does come to the site in the near future, we’ll make sure she doesn’t have to do any searching to find the piece we wrote about her this past season. In case you missed it, here it is.

All of the Hoyas in the NBA have long since been out of the playoffs. The Big Four have all graduated, and even though the NBA Draft Lottery already took place, the actual draft is still a month away. Today, the NBA Pre-Draft Camp is starting in Orlando (Write-ups from Inside Hoops and Draft Express), and with Patrick Ewing, Jr. heading to the unofficial tryouts in Walt Disney World, it will be the first time that the NBA scouts can take a look at his game since he got injured in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

So, while there’s not too much going on in terms of Georgetown basketball right now, we’ll try to keep this site exciting in the meantime, and we’ll be anxiously awaiting the start of the Kenner League and the 2008 NBA Draft.

The evening started with cocktail hour where attendees could sign six posters, one for each of the senior players, one for senior manager Greg
Feeney, and one for graduate manager Martin Bahar. There wasn’t any room to sign on those posters by the end of the half hour.

Afterwards, people made their way to their seats and there were some introductions, prayers, and thank yous, and then as dinner was being served, they began the 2008 year-in-review video which chronicled the season from Midnight Madness to the NCAA Tournament.

Then Director of Basketball Operations Matt Henry introduced the team, saying something personal about each of the managers and players before calling them up to receive their gift. About Jonathan Wallace, he said, “He has a tremendous knack for getting fouled late in the game,” which earned a standing ovation from Coach Thompson.

There were more speeches and clapping and dessert and things until at 9:10 Coach Thompson began to speak. He was told he only had seven minutes, and to help him get through it, he said he would let all of the graduating members say a few words. Coach didn’t get to say his thank you and goodbyes until 10:20, but I think the longer-than-seven-minutes collaborative speech was well worth it. Here are some highlights:

Martin Bahar:

I didn’t know I was going to speak today, so I’m going to be concise and let you get to your Pope post party.

 
Tyler Crawford:

Sapp told me not to cry. I’m supposed to be the tough one.

 
Coach John Thompson III:

I want to thank in the strongest way possible the parent of this group of seniors. You raised men. And they came here as men. … I hope that as a parent, I can be some small part as successful as the parents of this group of men. … I thank you for sending them here, for raising them as you did.

 
Patrick Ewing, Jr., on blocking Jonathan Wallace’s shot one of the first times they met:

I don’t know why everyone keeps talking about him.

 
Patrick Ewing Jr.:

Sapp told me not to cry.

 
Roy Hibbert, on the excellent coaching staff:

I was really bad when I first got here.

 
Roy Hibbert:

I just wanna hear this one last time. Not “Roy, Roy, Roy,” I just wanna hear “WE ARE… GEORGETOWN.”

 
Coach John Thompson III on the end of the year:

We gotta move on.

AJ Slaughter - Guard, Western Kentucky
If he weren’t playing basketball, he would have to be a hit man with that name.

Jason Richards - Guard, Davidson
It’s the confusion over his name more than his name that we found enjoyable.

Wellington Smith - Forward, West Virginia
We still can’t decide if his name sounds more like a handgun or a law firm. Or an oven. Or a duke.

Nemanja Calasan - Forward, Purdue
He has the interesting distinction of his name sounding equally strange backwards: Nasalac Ajnamen.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute - Forward, UCLA
It’s not often you see a five name player, especially in the Final Four. Unless you count the last two years he was there.

Over the years, CBS has tried many different strategies to try to appease the March Madness masses. A while back, they had a gimmick where they would show you the tip-off of every game, using a split-screen with the game you were watching to bring you the tip live. This was a poor idea for a number of reasons.

Firstly, in the mid-90’s, most television screens were much smaller than they are today and there was no such thing as high definition so the split screen effect made it harder to see the action. But, a larger problem occurred when CBS would bring in the new game as it was about to get underway. In order to to keep the proportions right, each image was reduced to about 1/4 of the original size, so in essence you couldn’t see either game, much less distinguish which team actually got the first possession of the game. And, besides, no one really cares who wins the jump ball anyway.

More recently, they have begun to show the games online, so if your team is not being televised, you can still watch the game. They had a few kinks at first, in that they would not let you watch your own region’s game, which got problematic when CBS opted to change away from your region’s game. But this year CBS allowed you to watch any game regardless of region live online. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, the technology is not quite there yet. Internet speeds are still not fast enough to make watching a game online as continuous as a televised game is. Besides the jerky quality, there is a significant delay in their “live” coverage. In other words, if you are trying to watch whatever game was being shown on CBS and a game on the computer simultaneously, you will know the score of the online game almost a full minute before you see the basket on your laptop, thanks to the continuous score ticker on TV.

For all the various methods CBS has tried to make the tournament more enjoyable, they have yet to employ the most obvious one: use multiple channels. ABC recently brought us all 64 games the 2006 FIFA World Cup in high-definition on three channels, ensuring that anyone with ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 could watch any game they wanted live. For as bad as NBC’s Olympic coverage can be, they have at least figured out to allow the viewer to choose whether he wants to watch curling or the ski jump. Even Fox has used their sister network FX to deal with Major League Baseball playoff games.

The strangest part of it all is that CBS stands to benefit the most from this strategy. More games on more channels means more potential viewers, and, more importantly, more commercial slots. Perhaps CBS is unable to use other channels, seeing as they do not have as extensive a cable connection as ABC or NBC. Perhaps CBS is unaware of the need to change, totally unaware of how flawed their system is. Or perhaps they are unwilling, simply too afraid that moving games from CBS to a different station might forever lose them the title of “America’s Most Watched Network.”

After a crowded Easter mass and a nice brunch at an Italian restaurant, we drove to the RBC Center. I watched the game from behind the Davidson bench, and then once it was over, I headed back to the media room where I met up with several other reporters who usually cover the Hoyas. We were all upset, and one of them said, “You know, if it weren’t for the seniors, I’d kind of be glad. Means I don’t have to travel to Detroit.” Despite all the headaches that traveling to Detroit would entail for me, I couldn’t agree. I just wanted Roy to play in another game.

Then we headed to the interview room where Davidson head coach Bob McKillop was about to begin his press conference along with Jason Richards and Stephen Curry. I sat and listened while they were asked about the key plays, the fans, and “Sweet Caroline.” Then it was announced that the Georgetown locker room was now open, so I decided to go. I had originally thought that the Hoya locker room was the last place on earth I would like to be, but after sitting in that press conference, I knew I had been mistaken.

It was a horrible scene in the GU locker room, as I saw eleven players about as sad as you could imagine with cameras and microphones in the faces of a few especially unfortunate. I tried to listen to Patrick talk, but he was being very quiet, and I didn’t need to push my way in. Instead I shook hands with Tyler Crawford for an incredible four years, and headed back to the press room.

There, Coach Thompson was about to speak, alongside Roy and Jonathan. All year, Coach’s first word when entering the press conference has been, “Questions.” But today, he felt obligated to have an opening statement:

It’s disappointing. I guess I just want to say - I’ve got a very special senior class. I’ve got a class that is Georgetown basketball, and they have done so much for this program. They are this program. They have done so much for me.

You know, I just feel like I’ve let them down. It’s a group of guys that have done any and everything that I’ve asked them for four years. They’ve put this program on their back, put us in a position where we can possibly have success in the future. I just feel bad for these guys. I feel bad for these guys. We lost to a terrific team today, but I can’t - I just feel bad for my seniors.

After that heart-wrenching opening statement, I thought that it was only fair that the players have their say. A few reporters had some questions about the game, but I needed to hear the seniors respond to what Coach Thompson had just said. This is what Jon had to say:

No, we don’t think Coach let us down. Coach did everything he could to put us in a good position so that we could better ourselves. It’s not just me and Roy that did all the work - Tyler Crawford, Patrick Ewing, Jr., even Jeff Green who’s not here, all of the work they put in. It was a struggle every day and we were all in it together.

And Roy:

Coach Thompson, he’s coaching, but ultimately we are out there playing. I just want to thank him for everything he’s done for us. He brought the program back, but ultimately, we lost today. But he did a great job coaching today.

After that and some more questions directed at the two seniors and at Coach Thompson, I left and got in the car for the long drive home. I gave Emily a copy of the box score, and after looking at all the numbers, we still couldn’t figure out how Davidson won.

We were pretty sad all the way home, including a stop at Burger King where we ran into some members of the GU Pep Band buying food to take back to the bus. Even the sign for Bullocksville wasn’t as funny as it was on the way down.

We were just beginning to put the loss behind us when we arrived at the Key Bridge. Right in front of us was a big charter bus, getting into the left turn lanes to get onto M Street / Canal Road. We had a feeling we knew who was on that bus, so as we both made the turn, we followed it past the Exxon at the bottom of the Exorcist Steps as it turned right at the blue and gray sign that read “HOYA SAXA.” We drove past and made a U-turn by the Southwest Quad as the bus pulled into McDonough. Then we headed back to Canal Road, and I honked the horn a few times as Emily rolled down the window and yelled, “We love you, Hoyas!” to the team before she started to cry again.

I don’t know if any of them heard her, but at 11:15 at night on the saddest of all Easters, we hoped we could bring a little light to the group of young men getting off of the bus with their heads down, hidden beneath gray hooded sweatshirts.

As Rich called the final play, each moment seemed more unlikely than the last. Roy beat everyone down the court? He caught a fired pass? He dunked it before time expired? And disbelief turned into euphoria, as there are few better feelings than beating our catholic rivals.

For many people, the play by Roy was thought to be a flash in the pan, that he would continue to slog along as a 15-20 minute player, serving more as a body than as a player. Little did they know that play would be just a taste of the great player Roy was to become.

I don’t want to say that play is my favorite memory of Roy - there are too many others. His dominance over Aaron Gray in last year’s Big East Tournament final, his play in last year’s Final Four, his game-winning three-pointer over UCONN. It seems like every time he touches the ball now, I expect greatness from him. But, for me, his poise, his pinpoint execution, his greatness, first revealed itself with that dunk. What a way to start!

What is your favorite memory of Roy? Tell us in the comments.

It is his free throw misses. Everyone knows Jon has the ability to make critical free throws. This year’s Villanova game and the team’s most recent win at Marquette immediately jump to mind. But what most people might not know is that Jon has an equally amazing ability to miss marginally important free throws to add excitement to the final seconds of a game. Let’s take the recent Marquette win as an example. When Jon had to nail the three free throws to force overtime, he did it with aplomb. However, when the team was up two with under 10 seconds to play in overtime and his next free throw would essentially guarantee a worst-case scenario of a second overtime, Wallace missed. Because of the pressure? Certainly not. For the drama. The miss meant Marquette had a slight opening, one chance to maybe make a miracle happen. And when it did not come to fruition, the fans were twice as happy.

There was a similar situation in the historic Duke game from 2006. Wallace was at the free throw line with his team up two. He again made only one of two, as if to dare JJ Redick to add to his 41-point night by forcing overtime. But again, the last hopes for the opponent were not to be, and Georgetown walked away with a dramatic victory.

You see, Wallace knows Georgetown. He knows that Hoya fans don’t expect anything to come easily. We except to fight tooth-and-nail down to the final buzzer. And he knows which free throws he must make and which he can afford to miss. The makes win the game, the misses add to the drama of the game. In my recollection, his misses have never cost us a win, just a few added seconds of anxiety before the cathartic feeling that only a hard-fought victory can bring. And, for that reason I love Jonathan Wallace. Not just for the free throws he makes, but for the ones he misses.

What is your favorite Wallace moment? Post a comment.

Georgetown matched up with Big East defector Boston College in the Second Round, with a Sweet 16 spot on the line. It’s a game most fans remember well. The Hoyas went up by 10 early, but then went cold, allowing the Eagles to catch up and eventually take the lead. A second half three-pointer by Tyrese Rice pushed Boston College to its largest lead of eight. The Hoyas fought back, and a three-pointer by Ewing gave the Hoyas a one point lead with under 10 minutes to play. But the best was yet to come.

The Hoyas stayed in front but battled with the Eagles the rest of the way. With under a minute to play, the Hoyas had the ball with a four point lead, knowing a basket would most likely seal the victory. Georgetown moved the ball around and eventually found Hibbert in the low post but with only five seconds on the shot clock. As he began his move, he was immediately double-teamed, and it looked as though he would not get his shot off.

And then, it happened.

From out of nowhere, Patrick Ewing was streaking down the baseline unmanned. Hibbert squeezed the ball to Ewing, but the pass was a little behind him. The shot clock now at two, there was no time for delay. In one motion, Patrick turned around, caught the ball, elevated and sent in a reverse slam just in time for the weak-side help Jared Dudley to commit the foul. (If you look at Ewing after that dunk, you’ll see Tony is right.)

It was an amazing game, culminating in an amazing play. The poise, the precision, the execution. These have become trademarks of Georgetown under Coach Thompson. But the flair and and the thunderous finish? That can be attributed to Pat Jr.

Patrick has had some great plays in his days as a Hoya. Let us know your favorite.

The word I would use is toughness. He exudes it. He inspires it in others. He demands it of his teammates. It’s more likely Tyler’s first impact on a game will be a foul rather than a basket, but for old school Georgetown fans, Tyler is our type of player. Who else but a true old-school Hoya would get a technical foul in a 50 point game? His defense against his opponents is matched only by his defense of his teammates. He is there to protect his brothers, fight for them, and keep them safe. He knows that Roy’s fouls are more valuable than his own and Crawford is not afraid to use them.

TC will never be considered an all-time Hoya great. His numbers are too modest, his minutes too scarce. However, if you are talking about pure hustle, intensity, and toughness, there is no doubt Tyler Crawford would be near the top of anyone’s list.

I shared with you one of my favorite Tyler Crawford moments. What are some memories that stand out the most for you?