Dec. 1, 2005
Game Notes (PDF)
Washington, D.C. - Before leaving for Oregon on Thursday afternoon, Georgetown University men's basketball Head Coach John Thompson III took part in the weekly BIG EAST coaches' conference call with the media. Thompson and the Hoyas, 2-1 overall, play at Oregon (4-1) on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (ET). The game at McArthur Court can be seen live on Fox Sports (Steve Physioc and Marques Johnson) and seen locally on Comcast Sports Net. The Hoyas can also be heard live on AM 570, with Rich Chvotkin serving as the "Voice of the Hoyas."
Head Coach John Thompson III
On the season so far... "We've played two games on the road and one at home and now we head out for a third road game. I just wanted to give, as we prepare for the new BIG EAST, we have a very demanding preseason, pre-league schedule, our team a chance to grow and improve as we get going toward conference play."
On Oregon... "Oregon poses a very big test, and that's an understatement. They're a veteran team and they play well at home. We're just hoping to get better as we go along."
On the expansion of the BIG EAST Conference... "I think the expansion is a very good thing. It's extremely challenging. The league schedule comes out and you start to look down and you think,'Wow, that's rough.' No matter how you shuffle the games, it's a terrific league, with terrific players and terrific coaches. I think it's very positive."
On playing more road games early in the season... "It wasn't necessarily (a focus) in that line of thinking. I don't have a specific template in that I say, `This is what the preseason should look like.' Some people will want to get as many difficult games as possible, some people will want to get as many easy games as possible and everyone with some combination in between. A lot depends on the personality of your team and what your team needs. Our team right now needs to go through some experiences to help us learn and grow as we get ready for league play. It's not as if I came through the door and said that Georgetown is going have an extremely difficult preseason schedule, I just thought it made sense for this year's group."
On the improved play of Jeff Green and Brandon Bowman... "Everyone has been talking about that. They have showed up for every game. The nature of our team is that we are going to have different guys turn it on every night. Depending on the other team's strengths and weaknesses, we are going to ask certain players to score. Different guys are going to step up."
On how the loss to Vanderbilt could help the team's development... "Time will tell. We have a veteran team over there, more so than any team we will face this year. We have to do a better job on defense. It's something we have to fix and focus on. We have to realize how to play when we are down. Good teams are going to make runs, when we are down we need to learn to come back."
