The Hoyas defeated Duke in dramatic fashion on Saturday, and while the game will go down in history because of who was in attendance, here are some other reasons why Saturday’s performance was special:

• It was Coach John Thompson III’s 200th career win.
• The Hoyas shot 71.7%. That’s the highest field goal percentage since the invention of the shot clock and the three-point line.
  
  CBS Sports claims it’s the best FG% since a 1982 NCAA Tournament Game, while SID Mex Carey pointed out a 1980 Big East game against St. John’s and said that it is tied for the 3rd best shooting game in school history.
• Chris Wright, Austin Freeman, and Greg Monroe each reached 20 points. This was the first time three Hoyas scored 20 points under John Thompson III, and the first time since Dec. 17, 2001 when Mike Sweetney, Wesley Wilson, and Kevin Braswell did it in a 99-80 win over Howard.
  
  Shortly after that game, those three players headed to McDonough to sing Jingle Bells.
• Duke entered the game boasting their best defensive team since 1950 with their opponents averaging 61.5 points per game. Georgetown scored the most points against Duke this season with 89.

Image via The Free Lance-Star

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.
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Chris Wright scored 34 Points in Georgetown’s recent win against Harvard. The performance earned him a spot on the Big East Weekly Honor Roll, and here are some interesting stats about the 30-point game:

• Wright’s point total was the highest scored by a player in a game under head coach John Thompson III.
• It was only the second time since JTIII became the head coach that a player for the Hoyas has scored 30 or more – Jeff Green scored 30 points in the 2007 Big East Semifinal win over Notre Dame.
• The 34-point performance is the highest by any Hoya since February 7, 2004 when Gerald Riley put up 37 at home against Miami.

Since 30-point games have been such a rare occurrence lately for the Hoyas, we thought it would be a nice time to look back at the most recent 30-point games. Instead of going back all the way back through the entire history of the Hoyas, we decided to begin with the 1994-95 season. That was the year that Allen Iverson was a freshman.

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It was a Monday night in April of 1984. Two of the premier big men in the world of college basketball were going head to head for the National Championship. It was the first time that Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon met on the court, starting a rivalry that would continue for over a decade into the NBA.
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We’ve been going over some facts about the 1984 National Championship team that every Hoya fan should know. In preparation for tomorrow afternoon’s celebration honoring that team, we’ve already told you about Coach JT2, the 3 Championships, the SMU game that was Too Close for Comfort, and the semifinal which proved Defense Wins Championships. We promised you five things, and here is the last one.

Player of the Game

In 1984 Patrick Ewing was the most imposing player in the country, the best defender in the country, and the best player on the Hoyas. However, Ewing did not lead Georgetown in scoring in the National Championship game. On that Monday night 25 years ago, it was freshman Reggie Williams who poured in 19 points on 9-18 from the field (no 3-pt line in 1984) and collected seven rebounds. Reggie cemented his place in NCAA history, and he foreshadowed his remarkable success at Georgetown. Reggie Williams remains the third all-time leading scorer in Georgetown Basketball history, behind only Eric “Sleepy” Floyd and Patrick Ewing.

By now, you should already know at least three things about the Hoyas’ 1984 National Championship run. Here’s #4:

Defense Wins Championshps

The 1984 Final Four was a collection of great big men from around the country – Georgetown had Patrick Ewing, Houston had Akeem Olajuwon, and Kentucky had the Twin Towers in Sam Bowie and Melvin Turpin. Georgetown was tasked with facing Kentucky in the national semifinal.

Kentucky’s size was giving the Hoyas problems, and Patrick Ewing picked up three fouls in the first half. Georgetown trailed 29-22, and Kentucky looked to be in control. What took place in the second half was an unbelievable display of defense that will never be duplicated in a Final Four:

Kentucky shot 3 for 33 from the field in the second half (9%).

Kentucky failed to score on their first 14 possessions while the Hoyas went on a 23-3 run.

Kentucky’s starting five shot 0-21 from the field in the second half.

The Hoyas moved into the championship game knowing that after what they had overcome in the semifinal, they were not going to be denied by Houston.

In preparation of the 20th anniversary celebration of Georgetown’s National Championship on Saturday, we’re going through Five Things Every Hoya Fan Should Know about the 1984 team. We’ve already told you things #1 and #2; now we’re giving you the third thing you should know.

Too Close for Comfort

Georgetown’s 1984 NCAA tournament was almost cut short after one game. In their opening game of the tournament, Georgetown faced Southern Methodist led by Jon Koncak. The Mustangs played a very tight zone defense and used a very deliberate pace. In those days, there was no three-point line and no shot clock. SMU led the Hoyas at halftime 24-16. The Hoyas stormed out in the second half to take a six point lead, but the Mustangs tied the game in the final minute. The Hoyas’ senior co-captain and defensive specialist Gene Smith went to line for a one-and-one with the score knotted at 34. A defensive rebound would have given SMU a chance to hold for the final shot to upset the Hoyas. Smith was a 59% free throw shooter. Smith missed the front end, but in a remarkable yet characteristic display of his unparalleled combination of grace, athleticism, and determination, Patrick Ewing tipped in the rebound to put the Hoyas up by two. The Hoyas added a free throw seconds later, and an inconsequential last second basket for SMU made the final score 37-36.

Continuing with the 5 Things Every Hoya Fan Should Know about the 1984 National Championship team, here’s fact #2:

3 Championships

The 1984 NCAA basketball season ended with the Hoyas cutting down the nets in Seattle. For the Hoyas that season, the nets at the Kingdome represented the third major championship of the year. The Hoyas won the Big East regular season title, the Big East tournament, and the National Championship. The 1984 Hoyas were the first team in Big East history to win both the regular season and tournament crowns in the same season, a feat that was duplicated by the 1989 and 2007 Hoyas.

This Saturday at Verizon Center, during the Georgetown game vs. Marquette, the University will honor the 1984 Men’s Basketball National Championship team on their 25th anniversary. The championship game was played at the Kingdome in Seattle, Washington on April 2, 1984 when Georgetown defeated the Houston Cougars 84-75. The Cougars were led by All-American center Akeem Olajuwon (in college he spelled his first name without the “H”). Almost all of the current Georgetown undergraduate students weren’t even born on April 2, 1984, so we have compiled a small list of things that every Hoya fan should know about that excellent team. We’ll unveil one each day this week, leading up to the big game on Saturday.
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