The 18-point final margin of victory was a little bit misleading in Georgetown’s recent win at Old Dominion. The Hoyas had everything under control for most of the second half, but there was a pivotal stretch where the Monarchs were threatening to give Georgetown a very tough test. The critical plays aren’t always made in crunch time.

The Hoyas starters were not very sharp at the beginning of the game. Probably as a result of their being a little sloppy, Coach Thompson used four bench players for an extended period in the first half. Freshmen Austin Freeman and Chris Wright along with sophomores Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers did an excellent job while on the court. During the stretch when they were all on the floor together the Hoyas extended their lead by three points. Over the course of the game, the Hoya bench outscored the Monarchs’ 26-13.

The ability of the bench to make extended contribution is essential to long-term success. It also does wonders for everyone’s confidence and comfort level. There’s little pressure on the bench players, since the real onus is on the starters to perform, and there’s a nice safety net for the starters when the bench performs the way they did on Wednesday. Nine players scored for Georgetown, and eight played 17 minutes or more.

As last season wound down, Coach Thompson began giving his starters more minutes. Over the final 11 games of the year (beginning with the game vs. Pittsburgh at the Verizon Center), only six players averaged more than 12 minutes per game. Georgetown had a good bench last year; this year they have a great bench. The minor contributors from a season ago have all improved, and there are two key freshmen that are going to be excellent college players. As Rich Chvotkin told us before the season began, “That’s why you recruit these [high profile freshmen], knowing that they can step right in and play.” There shouldn’t be any need to shorten the bench this spring.

Like any good team across the country, Georgetown will go as far as the starters will take them. The starting five for the Hoyas is as good as any team in America. So when you see a rising star like DaJuan Summers shoot 0-5 and a veteran leader like Jonathan Wallace have a quiet 8-point game, and the team still wins comfortably on the road against a potential NCAA Tournament team, you can be sure that the team has a lot of weapons. The best way to go deep into the tournaments in March is to be able to go deep on your own bench.