I was hoping for your thoughts on the Hoyas against App St. It seems like the Hoyas are content to let their opponents dictate the tempo. (i.e. Utah St slow half-court game, and Missouri fast up-tempo game) Do you agree with this assessment and has the coaching staff emphasized playing a particular style? I know App St plays at a very fast pace and I am wondering if you expect Georgetown to oblige and play fast with them? It seems at times the Hoyas could benefit from playing a more half-court game with their tough defense, but I guess they have not needed to. I appreciate any insight or opinion you may have on this and thanks for your time. –Scott Burrola

Thanks for your question. Firstly, I think it’s Coach Thompson’s mentality that his team can play any style of basketball, so he tries to go with whatever the flow of the game may be. We have seen this year that Georgetown is more content to run than it has been in the past, so I expect Georgetown to push the ball whenever possible. In fact, the games in which the Hoyas have struggled the most this season have been the ones against strong half-court defenses, such as Utah State and Temple.

Also, teams are now aware of the backdoor cuts that are prevalent in the Princeton offense, and have begun to block the passing lanes. And with the loss of Greg Monroe, Georgetown now lacks a dominant inside presence, which means defenses can extend to cover the Hoyas’ perimeter shooting. And while the Hoyas have the ability to shoot over zone defenses, I think the team can benefit greatly from a fast-tempoed game.

However on the other side of the ball, Georgetown certainly has a strong half-court defense, and the Hoyas can wear teams down with their aggressive style. The team has also added a wrinkle in its defenses schemes, as for the first time in his tenure, Coach Thompson has employed a full-court press sparingly but effectively, pressuring teams and creating turnovers and easy baskets.

In the end though, Georgetown will live and die by its shooting. When Chris Wright is distributing and Austin Freeman and Jason Clark are making shots, the Hoyas will be hard to beat.

Learn from the mistakes we made 2nite…come back on Sunday…and get after it

Austin Freeman’s comment shows that his mentality is similar to his game: concise, to the point, and focused. Figure out what went wrong, correct it, and perform better next time.

Ill take the blame #toughloss but ill take the heat and be a man about it #Hoyas

Like his teammate, Chris Wright’s tweet also mirrors his on-the-court demeanor. He is the team leader, the floor general, so he takes responsibility for the loss, and is intent on picking up his level of play for the next game.

This window into the lives of the players should serve as a reminder that our heroes on the floor are also just people off of it.

Last season there were a lot of high points – beating Butler in the Jimmy V Classic, coming back against Connecticut thanks to a stellar second half by Austin Freeman, blowing out eventual champions Duke in front of the President, and crushing Villanova in the middle of the Snowpocalypse – but at the end of the day, there was nothing to show for it, nothing that would last in Hoya History.

When Georgetown failed to beat West Virginia at Madison Square Garden, it meant the Big East Tournament run was for nothing. Yes, it’s always wonderful to beat Syracuse, but coming in second place is only good for NCAA tournament seeding (and we remember how well that turned out).

But last weekend, the Hoyas came home with something to fill the cases at McDonough. The Charleston Classic marks the first time Georgetown has won a legitimate trophy since winning the Big East regular season in 2008 (I’m not counting the John Wooden Classic trophy the Hoyas earned last year for winning a single game).

So I’m grateful for that. But on Thanksgiving, it’s important to realize that even though Georgetown fans should be thankful for what the team has already accomplished this year, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t expect more trophies to come.

[Images via Georgetown Hoops]

After almost eight months, the Hoyas will once again return to the hardwood, looking to start a new year on the right foot, and with it closing the door on another painful season. And, with the Hoyas’ opener on the horizon, let’s take a look at the team’s strengths, weaknesses, and question marks as we approach the start of the new season.

The biggest potential weakness for the Hoyas is their front court. Georgetown is a program that prides itself on having a strong inside presence, and even in down years the Hoyas have had outstanding players on the low block. With the loss of Greg Monroe, the Hoyas are now shallow in the front court, with Julian Vaughn the only returning big man to play significant minutes. Vaughn has certainly shown great improvement over his two seasons at Georgetown, but it remains to be seen if he will be able to handle the added burden of being the center of attention, as opposed to the oft-overlooked big man.

It’s the exact opposite case in Georgetown’s back court, however, as it is poised to be one of the best in the country. The Hoyas return their three back court starters, including last year’s leading scorer and this year’s Preseason Big East Player of the Year Austin Freeman. With Chris Wright’s ability to penetrate and kick out, and Jason Clark’s three-point accuracy, Georgetown will most likely be a perimeter-oriented offense this season.

As for the question mark, for me it will be the freshmen. One of Georgetown’s biggest problems last year was depth. With the exception of Vaughn, each of the other starters averaged over 33 minutes of playing time last season. With five incoming freshmen, the Hoyas have more bodies that can help keep Freeman, Wright, and Clark fresh. However, it remains to be seen how many of these young players will be able to come in and make an immediate impact on the court.

With tip-off less than 36 hours away, the long winter is over. It is now just a matter of time before we see how the new team looks and plays. All the bitter memories of last season about to vanish, all the hopes, expectations, and anxieties of the new season about to appear. And while none of the big questions will be answered after the first game, we will start to get a very early sense of what this team is capable of.

The wait is over. Finally.

[Image via anjčli]

As a die-hard Georgetown Basketball fan, once the Hoyas are eliminated for their post-season tournament, I start preparing for my basketball hibernation. I prepare my room, putting away all the jerseys and t-shirts that cause painful memories. I fill up on the last games of college basketball. And, then, around the second week of April, I fall into deep repose, forgetting about all the missed chances and wasted opportunities for the long cold winter which is, in actuality, the long warm summer.

And, then, before I know it, I start seeing the signs of spring, telling me that my hibernation is almost over. I start to awake, a bit groggy, and I feel as if the last season was just a dream, the great victories and tragic defeats all imagined. I am also unsure about what comes next, not convinced that I want to get out of my comfy spot where I have spent the last six months to face new, unknown terrain.

The NCAA College Basketball season officially got under way last Friday night, marking the start of new basketball hopes and the end of my hibernation. And even though there won’t be any games for almost a month, or any games of real significance until well after that, it is the harbinger that my spring is finally here. And while I am unsure about what is to come, I do know that anything is possible. The Hoyas can make me mad at times, but they also can give me hope, and after a long winter’s nap, that’s enough to wake me up.

At midnight tonight, the 2010-11 Georgetown Hoyas will practice together for the first time. But unlike in the past, when I have been ambivalent, excited, or wary, this year, Midnight Madness describes my exact emotion. I am mad.

And most Hoya fans should be, too. If not mad, at least frustrated. The teams of the past few years have been very frustrating, with perhaps last year’s team being the culmination. In the four seasons since the Hoyas went to the Final Four, the only constant in Georgetown’s play has been its inconsistency.

The 2007-08 side returned four seniors from the Final Four team and would win the Big East Regular Season title, losing only three times during the brutal 18 game schedule. However, they would blow a 17 point lead and lose to Davidson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

2009 was even worse. That group dominated early, romping then #2-ranked UCONN in their own building to start off the Big East season. But, that was the beginning of the end, as the Hoyas didnt even make the Big Dance and lost in the first round of the NIT.

And last season’s team may have been the most frustrating of them all. The team was hot and cold all season, with crushing wins over Duke and Villanova, but also with head-scratching losses to Rutgers and Notre Dame. It looked as things were finally starting to click as they made a great run to Big East Tournament Finals. But then The Hoyas lost in first round to Ohio, giving up 97 points in a game that was, in all honesty, never close.

Will this season be any different? It is yet to be seen. There is one sign of hope to change the story. This year’s Hoyas have a senior presence that has not been around since 2008. Not only will the team have two leaders in Austin Freeman and Chris Wright, it will also have two players who have gone through the pain and suffering that all of us fans have been feeling these past years. That means they are mad, too.

We know that Coach John Thompson III’s teams pride themselves on controlling their emotions. But I think that the Hoyas play their best when they are fired up for a game, when the players feel like they have something to prove, like the Maryland game from 2008 or the second half of the Connecticut game last year. If this team can play with that passion, that intensity, that anger all this season, then Hoyas fans will have something to be happy about come March. So, let the madness begin…

Kemp was called for a palming violation in final seconds of the game, allowing Houston to come away with a 66-65 victory. That was not the controversy. The thing that I noticed was how adamant both Hubert Davis and Digger Phelps were in saying that no call should have been made.

The argument goes something like this: Let the players decide the game. On the last play of the game, let the teams on the court decide who wins, not the people in the striped shirts. An interesting argument, but horribly flawed, not to mention hypocritical.

I’ll address the hypocrisy first, since this is what made me so upset upon hearing their analysis. On March 23, 2007, in the final seconds of the game, Jeff Green took the ball on the low post, spun around his defender and made a basket to give the Hoyas a thrilling 66-65 victory over Vanderbilt to advance to the Elite Eight. He made a huge play to lift his side.

The following season, the Hoyas traveled to Morgantown and were involved in another nail-biting finish. Jessie Sapp had just made a three-pointer to put Georgetown up 58-57 with six seconds to play. On the final possession, West Virginia stormed down the court, and Da’Sean Butler went to the basket for a lay-up, when Patrick Ewing Jr. rose above the rim and blocked the shot to secure the Hoya victory. A great defensive play to help his team win.

But, no one talked about Jeff Green’s clutch shot, or Patrick Ewing’s Junior amazing effort on the game-winning block. Instead, people talked about an “obvious travel” and a “clear goal-tending.” They focused on a tiny bauble of Green’s pivot foot, claiming that this slight movement was enough for the officials to make a call. They said the non-call on Ewing’s block was “controversial,” even though after thousands of slow-motion replays it is still hard to tell. In both of these instances, there were no analysts saying that the referees did the right thing by “letting the players decide.”

But, beyond the obvious hypocrisy, there is a deeper issue here. Hubert Davis and Digger Phelps’ philosophy is flawed. If Willie Kemp had been driving up the floor, and four Houston players had tackled him with one second left and there had been no foul called, Hubie and Digger would have been livid. And they would be justified. Sometimes, you have to call a foul, no matter when it happens. And it’s the same here. When a referee puts the whistle away on an obvious foul or violation, it has just as much impact on the final result as a call does.

Was it the right call in the Memphis-Houston game? I saw a few replays, and as an impartial observer in this case I think the referee was right. And so, as far as officiating goes, the referee has to make that call. Is it a tough way to lose? Absolutely. Should Memphis feel cheated? I don’t think so.

The referee’s job is to enforce the rules. Can the referees let the players play sometimes? Of course. And they should. As basketball fans we hate to see games decided by an official, so on close plays, we understand when referees allow play to continue. But, we must remember that if there is a foul, or a carry, or a travel, or a goaltend, a non-call decides the outcome just as much as a call does. Making the blanket statement that a referee should not blow his whistle because “the players should decide the game” is just wrong.

Then I thought, “Wait a second, that’s not true. There’s still the European leagues.” And sure enough, GUHoyas posted yesterday that no less than three Georgetown players would be competing in the German Basketball Bundesliga’s championship game last night.

Actually, it’s a five-game series, and last night was only Game 1. Brandon Bowman’s Telekom Baskets Bonn took the early lead in the series, while EWE Baskets‘ Jonathan Wallace and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje will have to make up some ground in Game 2 on Thursday.

No matter who wins, there will be at least one Hoya with a Championship to his name by the end of the month.

Why would I cheer for Syracuse? I hate Syracuse. Now that the games matter more than any other point in the season, I’m supposed to support Villanova? Or Pittsburgh? Or UCONN? No chance. If Villanova beats Duke, I admit it is fun for the fans at the game to start chanting “A-C-C.” But besides Duke, I can’t think of any team I would want my bitter rivals to have success against.

Georgetown had a disaster of a season, but at least it’s over. The Hoyas have already started preparing for next season, and if things go according to plan over the next two seasons or so, nobody will really dwell too much on this year. As for Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Villanova, they have a lot riding on these games. With the exception of Syracuse, all of those teams have key seniors on the roster, and a missed opportunity in the NCAA tournament could mean a lot of sleepless nights and what-ifs. Although it is clearly better to be playing for a spot in the Elite Eight compared to having suffered a first-round NIT defeat, a loss in a Sweet 16 game in the NCAA tournament is much more devastating. That’s what I hope for the other Big East teams – devastation.

As for Notre Dame, they defeated Kentucky yesterday to advance to the Final Four of the NIT. This year is a disappointment for them as well, but they have taken a home court advantage in the NIT to get them to Madison Square Garden, where success has often eluded them. Next year they lose a bunch of starters and key players, and as good as Luke Harangody is, the Irish learned this year that he’s not enough. So, I hope Notre Dame loses a difficult game in New York, and if they happen to win the NIT, next season I will be in full support of them becoming back-to-back NIT Champions.

*Only player in BET history to earn 2 Tournament MVP Awards

Individual Awards

All-Time Most Valuable Player
Patrick Ewing, Georgetown

All-Time Coach
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse