March 7, 2008
In the storied twenty-nine-year history of the BIG EAST, this will be only the second time that the final game of the BIG EAST regular season pits the Conference number one and number two-ranked teams to decide the regular season Championship at the final game of the regular season. The last time occurred in 1988 against nationally-ranked #7 Pittsburgh at #11 Syracuse, with the Panthers winning in 85-84 to capture the BIG EAST crown.
The Georgetown-Louisville series saw action in the 1982 NCAA Final Four, when Georgetown defeated Louisville 50-46, which earned Georgetown the right to take on North Carolina in the NCAA Championship. That Louisville team had four starters returning from the 1980 championship team, including Jerry Eaves, Derek Smith (father of current Duke Blue Devil Nolan Smith), Rodney McCray, Poncho Wright, and Wiley Brown.
One of the memorable notes of the game was the intensity of the low-scoring game. Louisville had such a veteran team, compared with Patrick Ewing, Anthony Jones, and Billy Martin as freshman, with the only seniors being Eric Smith, Sleepy Floyd, Ed Spriggs, who had never previously played in a Final Four.
While in the third and final game of the Outrigger Waikiki on The Beach Rainbow Classic against Clemson, the 9th game into the season on December 24, 2004, John Thompson III told me before the start of the game that Roy Hibbert would be starting. "I'm going to start Roy tonight," was how I knew that #55 would start for the first time in his young Georgetown career. Georgetown won, 75-60. He would go on to start 16 more times that season, and every game his sophomore, junior, and now senior campaigns, this being his 131st game in a Georgetown uniform.
I first saw Roy Hibbert live at Bullis High School in Potomac, Maryland when he played for Georgetown Prep in a game against Bullis. I saw that he was big, and although he was young and injury-prone in the past, he would definitely be an asset to the Hoyas.
I remember Hibbert continued to show significant improvement and development throughout the Kenner League summer tournaments, and proved to stay healthy throughout his time at the Hilltop, a credit to the Georgetown training and conditioning staffs.
When I first saw Jonathan Wallace in the Kenner League, he was slightly built, but had the stature confidence and court awareness of a seasoned leader. His game against Davidson his freshman year, then a career-high of 20 points including six threes was the first indication of greater things to come. John Thompson III obviously had tremendous confidence in starting Wallace as a walk-on freshman point guard, as most point guards are extensions of the coaches on the court, and Jonathan has indeed provided that leadership on the court.
My most memorable Jonathan Wallace performance was his huge basket against North Carolina to send the game into overtime tied 81-81, which the Hoyas then won 96-84, earning the Hoyas a trip to the Final Four. One can also cite the recent performance against Marquette as an exceptional addition to his outstanding collegiate career.
Tyler Crawford has always been a very gutsy, gritty forward who might have started the entire 2006-07 season had it not been for an illness that sidelined him for eight games. He came off of an All-State high school career at Robert E. Lee High School, in Staunton, Virginia and scored over 2,000 points while grabbing 1,000 caroms. He has provided exceptional senior leadership this year, especially against Providence and Marquette, guiding the Hoyas to victory.
Patrick Ewing Jr. played for National Christian Academy, and I remember one game where he played and demonstrated his versatility and athleticism. To describe him I used the term "Ball of Energy." I watched several games on TV when Junior played at Indiana, and was elated when word of his transfer was announced. Seeing him play in the Kenner League two seasons ago in his transfer year, I watched him throw down crowd-pleasing dunks, drain threes, and provide leadership to his fellow teammates on the McDonough Arena court. He sat on the bench next to our radio position during the games, and one could always hear him cheering, clapping, high-fiving, and otherwise encouraging his teammates from the opening tip to the closing buzzer. If the box score had a category for hustle and enthusiasm, Pat would be an NCAA leader.
Once again, I invite everyone to listen to the play-by-play live from Verizon Center starting at 11:55 am for the 12:00 noon tip on SportsTalk 980 and throughout the BIG EAST Tournament next week in New York City.
~Rich Chvotkin
"The Voice of the Hoyas"
As Senior Day approaches, I am reminded of all the memorable seniors that have played for Georgetown whom I have viewed up close in all of my years at the Capital Centre and Verizon Center. I remember the shiny silver bowls that each senior receives from Coach John Thompson III and the posed picture at half-court each player takes after receiving an ovation from the crowd during the opening introductions. Come April at the Hoya Hoop Club Banquet, the rocking chair and personalized embroidered scarves symbolically sitting on the dais behind the coaches that the seniors will receive, along with the memorable speeches that only seniors have the privilege of delivering will be a fitting tribute to the season.
I am certain Jonathan, Roy, Tyler and Pat will make this Saturday a memorable one, and I look forward to sharing it with everyone at the Verizon Center from court-side.
I would like to share with you a Senior Day memory from what seems like yesterday.
Despite having never been a student at Georgetown, I once stood where Bridget, Anna, Jessica, Elizabeth, and Dmitriy, who truly epitomize what it means to be a Hoya fan, do now.
Othella Harrington and Jerome Williams were honored on Senior Day, March 2, 1996. Allen Iverson was also playing in what many thought was his last game at home in the Capital Centre for the eighth-ranked Hoyas, and I, too, was a senior...of sorts. High school, that is. That year, I would arrive to the Cap Centre two to three hours in advance of the game with my dad, and I would manage to sneak in to the student section on the side of the Georgetown bench just before the buses carrying the Georgetown students unleashed the stampede to the general seating section behind the basket. A glance to my right would see the Georgetown Pep Band, and to my left, the Hoya bench.
To this day, I am not sure if the security took pity on the boy who would sit alone for two hours waiting for the arena to open up, or if I managed to slip under the radar once the stomping of sneakers on concrete and wooden steps distracted them from my position slouched down in one of the folding chairs surrounded by ropes and waist-high curtains. Either way, I managed to get the first seat on the aisle of the student section, front row, each and every time.
Giving credit where it's due, Georgetown students are some of the brightest around. Soon enough, people figured out I was always in the front row way before anyone else, and some enterprising students named Patti, Nicole, and Gina persuaded me to save them seats. Not that it would have mattered, since they were usually one of the first to arrive anyway. However, they now could stand to not trip over themselves knowing I'd be there to save their spots.
As it turns out, Gina was the prototypical Hoya fanatic, affectionately referred to as "Superfan" by all that knew her. Her shirt said it all: Hoya Basketball Is Life. Each and every game, she would cheer on the Hoyas, pom-poms in hand, face painted, her voice quite possibly single-handedly raising the fluctuating decibel meter in the corner of the Capital Center.
To give a bit of background: Gina was an American Studies major from Chino, California. Two weeks before the game on March 2, she had sent a letter to Coach John Thompson, Jr. letting him know how much his work and his vision had meant to her. His strong work ethic and belief in a chance at equity were all she needed to succeed in life. The nostalgia of seeing John Thompson on TV at age 9, convincing her that one day she would be in the student section cheering on the Hoyas, supporting Coach Thompson was overwhelming that Saturday morning. When asked about it, Gina remembers, "My friendship with Coach Thompson surpassed all my expectations, and it was just enjoying the life I had built for myself, my admiration of him and just appreciation for all that he did and believed in...I just knew that Georgetown would have an amazing year my senior year, and I was right." The visiting sixth-ranked Villanova Wildcats were without Kerry Kittles, who had been serving a suspension and would not play against a Hoya line-up that included Harrington, Williams, Iverson, and Victor Page.
The game: Shirts bearing Othella's and Jerome's names were draped over the student section seats. 19,035 fans filled up Capital Centre, and watched an absolute thrashing of the sixth-ranked Wildcats. I wouldn't be doing my statistician job justice if I didn't rattle off the numbers: Final Score: 106-68, Hoyas win! Harrington: 20 pts, 12 boards. Williams: 16 pts, 12 boards. Iverson: 37 pts, 8 boards, 3 steals. Page: 15 pts. The Hoyas out-rebounded the `Cats 47-28. 16-0 at home for the season. Highest scoring BIG EAST game that season. First time any BIG EAST team had dropped over 100 points on Villanova, their worst loss in over 20 years. A season record of 24-6, 13-5 in the BIG EAST, the best since 1988-89.
With the game well in hand, the final minutes played out like a Broadway curtain call. Cheering fans saluted the seniors, then chanted for Iverson, yelling "Two more years!"
The game ended with the Hoyas victorious in every manner possible, and as the team walked proudly off the court, Coach Thompson made his way over to the student section and tossed his trademark towel to Gina, his biggest fan, who caught it in mid-air and burst into tears of joy. Later on, it would be the stuff of press conferences and news articles, with one journalist describing the moment as "providing one thrilled student with instant Hoya memorabilia."
For Gina, it was the culmination of a long, successful journey, one that started with a cross-country trip to the Hilltop and ended on the sweetest note possible.
I hope to see you at Verizon Center this Saturday for what is sure to be another great chapter in the lives of these current seniors, both students and student-athletes alike.
~Evan Chvotkin
Captions:
Georgetown celebrates it's victory over Clemson in Roy Hibbert's first-ever starting appearance in the Rainbow Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center on December 24, 2004.
The author and Gina relax in the front row of the student section before the rush of students into the Capital Centre on Senior Day, March 2, 1996.
