Beware The Hoyas
By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer
Hoya Paranoia apparently has returned to college basketball.
With a John Thompson coaching the team and a dominant big man in the middle, the Georgetown Hoyas looked much like their power teams of the 1980s in an easy 65-42 victory over Pittsburgh in Saturday night’s Big East Tournament final. It’s Georgetown’s record seventh Big East tourney title but first since 1989. What made it more impressive was that it was No. 11 Pitt’s worst loss of the season and the Panthers scored the fewest points ever in a Big East final.
Thompson III, the son of legendary Georgetown coach John Thompson Jr., has rebuilt this club back into a national power (when he took over GU was coming off a second-to-last-place finish in the Big East), with the Hoyas having won 16 of 17 games heading into Selection Sunday and up for discussion for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament (at worst they will get a No. 2). Georgetown (26-6) hasn’t earned a top seed in the NCAAs since 1989.
“Now I can sit back and look and see where we stand,” Thompson III said. “Where we’re seeded, I have confidence in the selection committee and where they put us. … We’re playing well right now, and hopefully we can enjoy this. This is special. The opportunity to win the Big East regular season and championship is extremely special.”
This will be a team no one wants to play in March Madness, mainly due to that man in the middle, senior Roy Hibbert, and junior forward Jeff Green, the Big East Player of the Year.
Hibbert struggled in the Hoyas’ semifinal victory over Notre Dame on Friday, but he showed up big on Saturday against Pitt 7-footer Aaron Gray. Hibbert, showing signs of former Hoyas star big man Patrick Ewing, scored 18 points, shooting 8-for-10, and had 11 rebounds. Gray? He didn’t even score until 11 minutes remained and finished with only 3 points on 1-for-13 shooting.
Meanwhile, Green was terrific in the final two games, scoring 30 points and pulling down 12 rebounds against Notre Dame and then adding 21 points and five rebounds against Pitt. Green was named tournament MVP.
“This is the time of the year when good players and good teams play well,” Thompson III said. “There’s no doubt Jeff Green is special in what he can do on the basketball court.”
The fact that Thompson Jr. and Ewing were in the stands watching the Hoyas’ domination seemed to bring this team’s link to the 1980s squads full circle.
“I’ve seen everyone this year, and they’re as good as anyone out there,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after his team’s loss on Friday night.
With Hibbert dominating the post, a rare back-to-the-basket big man in college basketball these days, and Green scoring the big points, the Hoyas will certainly be a tough out. Add in the fact that the team is NCAA Tournament tested (Georgetown lost to eventual NCAA champion Florida in last year’s second round), and this is a club that should contend for the school’s first national title since 1984 and, at worst, a fourth visit to the Final Four.
“We still have some more work to do,” Green said. “We‘re not on top yet. By the end of April, we can see if we‘re on top.”
Go to WagerWeb.com for NCAA Tournament odds and to play the bracket challenge. Information from other news sources was used in this report.