Feb. 22, 2008
A few minutes here, a few minutes there. A key rebound. A three-pointer in the midst of a first half run. It may not sound like much, but he knows it's key.
That's not all that senior Tyler Crawford has contributed to the Georgetown men's basketball team this season.
It's been fairly well documented that Head Coach John Thompson III and anyone associated with the Georgetown men's basketball program considers Crawford "the heart and soul of the team."
It's not a statement that Crawford takes lightly.
As a two-time captain, Crawford takes being a leader on this team seriously.
His contributions aren't big in terms of statistics, but they are big everywhere else.
Crawford has played in 19 games this season and he's played in 94 games during his career. He's averaging 1.3 points and 1.2 rebounds this season and 1.6 points and 1.1 rebounds for his career.
"It's natural just to focus on and think about the guys that are playing significant minutes or are scoring points," Thompson said.
"Take whatever the percentage of game time is out of the equation, and in many ways Tyler is the focal point of the other 98 percent of the things that we do."
And if you look at Crawford's game-by-game statistics since the team has started playing games in the BIG EAST, you begin to see a bigger picture come into light.
He played four minutes against West Virginia, during a 58-57 win on the road. He hit a huge three-pointer during the first half in three minutes against Syracuse, a game the Hoyas won 64-62 in overtime. Against Notre Dame, he played 10 minutes, hitting a three and grabbing a key rebound.
His biggest moment this year to date came during the team's most recent win, at Providence, a 68-58 decision. Crawford came off the bench and played nearly 15 minutes - all in the second half - and scored five points and grabbed three rebounds.
It's little moments like those that will help to distinguish Crawford.
He knows that he has to contribute not only on the floor during games, but more importantly, off the floor during practice. "The way Tyler plays, it's like a wrestling match sometimes," senior classmate Jonathan Wallace said. "But he tries to make you see things in practice that you're not going to see in the game, so when it comes to game time, it won't be as tough. He takes a lot of pride in making sure every individual on this team in every area is ready to play."
Last year, Crawford started the 2006-07 season as part of the starting rotation. There he was, on the floor at Verizon Center alongside his junior classmates, Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert and Wallace. He scored eight points and had a team-high nine rebounds in 20 minutes.
Then, he got sick, coming down with a case of strep throat. He missed about a dozen games and by the time he came back, Georgetown was in the midst of a season-long 11-game win streak and the team's rotation was set. Still, he found a way to contribute.
"He makes everybody play their hardest," Green said. "He's like that dad that's always telling what you should do, what you can do to make this or that better. He's always trying to help you out. That's what sets him apart. He's not always about himself."
And that's the key to Crawford's style. He may not play a ton, he may not score a lot, but he wants to win and he wants to see Georgetown succeed.
"You do the kid a disservice if you just focus on the Bam-Bam, the 100 percent, the rah-rah-rah -- all of which he does give our team," Thompson said. "What is important is his caring -- his absolute caring about his teammates, his absolute caring about our program, his 100 percent caring about what we're trying to accomplish. It's the effort he gives every day, his attention to detail, his selflessness."
