Q&A with CasualHoya

My hope is that Georgetown doesn’t crap the bed and you get 40 minutes of competitive hoops that produces a game that could go either way in the final minutes.  Actually, I don’t want that at all as I’ll likely light myself on fire.  The Hoyas are going to try to dictate the tempo on offense and I would expect the Jayhawks will see a lot of zone on defense.  For Georgetown, if Markel Starks and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera can stay on the court and make baskets, this game is going to be tight.  For Kansas, I think this game ultimately comes down to whether you can make shots from the perimeter.  If Kansas is able to make shots from the outside it will force Georgetown to extend its zone and leave more room for Joel Embiid and Perry Ellis to roam in the paint and get good looks, which will likely in turn get Josh Smith into foul trouble and we’ll be doomed.  If the Jayhawks are off from the perimeter, however, it will allow Georgetown to collapse its zone.  Though (other than Josh Smith) Georgetown’s bigs aren’t great, they are big, each come with 5 fouls and they should be able to frustrate Embiid, Ellis and Tarik Black down low.

Dude, have you seen DePaul or Seton Hall play?  I don’t want to say it’s a bad conference, it just isn’t the same.  I agree that the new Big East is a much better place to be than the horrific AAC, but as a hoops guy it’s going to take awhile to get over not playing Syracuse, UConn, Pitt, Louisville and Cincinnati each year.  West Virginia I don’t really care about as frankly I was always more concerned that the players would actually leave that place alive with that oafish bearded mascot with a rifle running around their damn arena.

Other than the teams noted above, I miss St. John’s.  #boom

Much has been said by the readers on CasualHoya.com regarding Georgetown’s start this season and how despite our 7-2 record the whole thing has been somewhat disheartening, and I think that has a lot to do with an ‘eye test’ evaluation of the closer-than-they-should-have-been games against the Noble Toothpaste Warriors and the Elon Dragon Phoenix’s or whatever they are calling themselves these days.  The thing is, if you asked me this very same question at this point last season, you might have gotten a similar answer and look what happened once the team gelled and started winning.  Do I think this team has 2-seed potential? Hells no.  But is this team going to be a Top 25 team when it’s all said and done? Probably.   I think.  I hope.

Solid Big Three, actually.  Starks and Smith-Rivera (feel free to call him DSR like we do) are one of the better backcourts in the country and when they are both firing on all their available cylinders this Georgetown team can play with anyone.  Smith you are likely already familiar with from his UCLA days.  He has anchored the paint for the Hoyas and has been a big part of the offense from the get go.  He’s not as polished offensively right now as say a Michael Sweetney was, but if he gets the ball down low he’s going to get off a good look.  My guess is that he’ll get fed (pun intended) early and often to see if we can get Embiid in early foul trouble.

Sort of.  It’s hard to argue with his successes building a program and reloading year after year.  We have been ranked in the top 10 at some point during the season every year since 2007.  That is very, very impressive.  We’ve produced some legitimate NBA stars during Thompson’s era, won three Big East Titles, et,c etc.  HAVING SAID THAT, the first weekend exits are inexcusable.  There have been so many times I’ve said “well it was Steph Curry” or “well it was VCU”.  But the thing is we’ve also exited to some nonsense teams.

The one that I continue to harp on nearly four years later is the loss to Ohio.  That Ohio team was terrible and I legitimately believe that when that Georgetown team was on, it was the best team in the country.  You know how I know that?  We wiped the floor with Duke and Butler, who happened to be the last two teams standing.  With the Big East shaking out how it has, it’s hard for me to envision us ever winning a national championship in my lifetime.  Feels like that should have been our chance. Yet, we lost in the first round to a guy named Armon or something.  I feel crazy.

Sorry for that extended tangent.  The first weekend losses are totally inexcusable.  We haven’t made a Sweet 16 since 2007.  What were our seeds in the subsequent tournaments?

• 2008: 2 seed (lost to a 10)
• 2009: Didn’t make tournament
• 2010: 3 seed (lost to a 14)
• 2011: 6 seed (lost to an 11)
• 2012: 3 seed (lost to an 11)
• 2013: 2 seed (lost to a 15)

I mean, that is a staggering level of incompetency.  “But those teams were underseeded”.  Yeah, whatever.

Anyways.

Given that you are starting what appears to be one guard (White), one small forward (Pierce), one other power forward (Manning), one 84-year-old (Lovellette) and one center (Wilt), I will counteract with a “big” Georgetown lineup.  Your choice of lineup vs. a smaller, quicker KU team actually benefits us greatly.  At guard, I am taking Allen Iverson.  Then I’ll go Jeff Green to guard Pierce, Alonzo Mourning to guard Manning, Greg Monroe to guard Lovellette and Patrick Ewing to match up with Wilt.

I know I am leaving out Sleepy Floyd, Reggie Williams, Dikembe Mutombo, Roy Hibbert and Otto Porter, but this lineup gives me the best chance to win.  AI can control the flow, Green and Monroe are comfortable playing around the top of the key and have great passing skills, and Mourning and Ewing can patrol down low.  Your lineup also allows Monroe to play despite his defensive difficulties given he’ll be guarding a dinosaur.  I assume for these purposes, we have all the players at their college playing levels, but I stand by my comment that Lovellette was a dinosaur then too.

I am still very perplexed.