Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans. Going to step out of the ACC a big here and talk about Jekyll and Hyde – Hoyas having that good side and bad side, eh?
You’ll notice that I absolutely ripped Georgetown for it’s loss to Arkansas State (the Red Wolves were picked tenth, yes, tenth, in the Sun Belt men’s college basketball media poll).
Georgetown then does the unthinkable and finds a way to defeat Oregon, the likely Pac-12 champs (the Ducks are rated a hell of a lot higher than they should be). More from @CasualHoya below:
Your Georgetown Hoyas hung on to win 65-61 over the Oregon Ducks tonight, pulling off an improbable upset over the likely Pac-12 Conference Champions. The team was 4,765 miles from home in Maui and for half of today’s game it looked as though all of the their psychological baggage had been left on the mainland. The Maui Invitiational is a high-level tournament that features top college teams every year. The team’s first opponent on the island was niether an arsenic-laced cupcake like Arkansas State, nor a pseudo-rival like their faceoff with Maryland. The Ducks are considered to be a legitimate national contender.
Oregon is ranked #13 in the country this week, with Coach Dana Altman returning all of the key pieces from a team that was awarded a #1-seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament and earned a trip to the Elite Eight. Contrast this with Georgetown, who graduated their leading scorer from a squad that only managed a sub-.500 season and has followed it up with a 1-2 start.
Unlike Thursday’s effort, the Hoyas came out onto the floor playing as though they were in a 15 point hole. This should be the mindset for all 40 minutes of every contest.
It’s not surprising that the Hoyas took an L to Wisconsin (h/t @CasualHoya) who probably is a 2nd weekend NCAA tournament team, but what was surprising to me was the pathetic play from Georgetown vs. Oklahoma State. @CasualHoya, it seems, didn’t feel the need to dissect a near 30 point drubbing (and I don’t blame them):
None of us has much energy or insight to describe the latest embarrassment of Georgetown basketball, least of all me. I could get into the Xs and Os, about how the Hoyas turned the ball over 28 times, the most in program history since 1999, or about how listless they looked on defense and on the glass en route to getting blown out by unranked Oklahoma State, 97-70. I could try to describe the fan base’s collective psyche–enraged, damaged, or disengaged long ago. I could spin some personal yarn about how, shortly before bedtime, my 4-year-old son said that Georgetown “stinks” before sulking off to bed, or about how my cell phone, which was buzzing with excited and frustrated energy just two nights ago, now only emitted silent indifference.
But all of that would be a diversion from the fact that tonight was no aberration. Even by the most delusional standards, for the past year-plus, being a fan of Georgetown basketball has been a chore, if not punishment.
What’s the point in dissecting three point guards who can’t handle the ball? What is to be gained by breaking down offensive sets that don’t adjust from one season to the next and can’t handle even a competent pressure defense? Why bother cataloguing defensive breakdowns when they’re the same breakdowns that have doomed this team for years?
You can blame the personnel. You can blame market forces that have contributed to the gradual decline of Georgetown’s profile as a national basketball program. Or you can heap all of the blame on a handsomely compensated coaches that has failed time and again. But it’s beyond dispute that this team has sunk to lows that previously have seen coaches fired: a 2-4 start to the season, 14 losses in 18 games.
We’ve endured enough for one week. Enjoy your friends and families. Happy Thanksgiving, and Hoya Saxa.
Again, it’s much easier to say that Georgetown men’s basketball = Lloyd Bridges:
So, yeah, the Georgetown men’s basketball team is Jekyll and Hyde – and it’s completely on John Thompson, III.
Happy Thanksgiving, Hoyas Fans!!
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