Roy Hibbert has been doing a great job lately for the Hoyas, so we at Hoya Hoops decided to talk to one of the people who helped the big fella get to where he is today, his high school basketball coach. Dwayne Bryant was a great player during his days at Georgetown and graduated high in the record books in steals, assists, and three-point percentage. He’s one of our favorite guests, and we had a chance to speak with him recently about Mr. Hibbert, the Hoyas, and his current team at Georgetown Prep. Here’s what the old #12 had to say.

Hoya Hoops: How much credit do you deserve for the player that Roy has become, probably quite a lot?

Dwayne Bryant: I wouldn’t say a lot of credit. I think Roy’s work ethic has gotten him where he is. He’s always been a kid that works extremely hard to get better and I think now he’s reaping the rewards of all of that hard work. If there’s any credit I deserve it’s just giving him an opportunity to play.

HH: Roy made that game winning shot from long range against UCONN a few weekends ago. Was he allowed to shoot those kinds of shots in high school?

DB: Actually he was. He actually shot perimeter shots quite a bit, especially from the foul line area. He’s always had a great touch, but typically when you’re that big you don’t stray too far. I think anyone who saw him shoot that shot in the game saw that he shot it with a lot of confidence, he didn’t hesitate, he turned and let it go.

HH: We know that even as a freshman at Georgetown Roy was a little bit unpolished as an offensive post player, what can you say about the progress he’s made over the past four seasons?

DB: It’s obviously a tremendous amount of progress. His first two years at Georgetown Prep, he suffered foot injuries that kind of slowed his progress down. Again, it’s a testament to his work ethic. A lot of kids would have given into the fact that they were injured and wouldn’t work hard to get back or work hard to get better, but Roy didn’t. Even after his foot injuries, he continued to work and get better and better, and now that he’s at Georgetown he’s able to get some work with other big guys and you see the progress he’s made has been tremendous.

HH: Besides his scoring and shot blocking, Roy is a very good passer. At times it looks like he’s in a great position to score, but he’s still looking for open teammates. Are you surprised that he is so unselfish?

DB: He was that way in high school. He was a very unselfish player in high school. I mean people forget that he averaged 20 points and 17 rebounds a game as a senior in high school. He also averaged 5 assists and 6 blocks a game as a senior. He was never a selfish player. He was never a guy that would force up shots or anything like that. He was always willing to make the extra pass or, as I like to say, the right pass. So it doesn’t surprise me that he’s become a good passer and unselfish player on the college level because he’s playing with better players, he’s playing with Division I caliber athletes – some would even say professional level athletes – so it’s not surprising that he’s still very unselfish.

That’s all we have for today. Check back tomorrow for Part II of our discussion with Coach Bryant. He’ll be talking about similarities between this team and those of year’s past, about his Little Hoyas, and a little bit about Georgetown’s newest recruit.