Jan. 31, 2011
A Little Bit of This & That: Whackiness, Wins & Whining!
Following their exciting away game win over No. 7 ranked Villanova on Saturday, the Hoyas return to Verizon on Monday night to face Little Ricky and the Louisville Cardinals, currently the number 2 ranked team in the Big East with a 6-2 mark and 17-4 overall record. One of the distinguishing things about Monday night’s opponents is that each managed to escape defeat in one of the whackiest weeks in Big East memory. First, on Monday night, Notre Dame dealt No. 2 ranked Pitt its first conference loss of the season by a score of 56-51 in Pittsburgh, where the Panthers are usually invincible. Then, on Tuesday night, the whackiness proceeded in earnest at the Carrier Dome as Seton Hall waxed the Orange by a 90-68 count. This was followed on Wednesday with Providence’s home-spanking of Villanova, 83-68, to garner its second conference victory this season. (Villanova’s loss in this game concerned me as I thought that they would be “loaded for Bulldog” on Saturday as a result.) The Cardinals this past week eked out a 55-54 home victory against West Virginia on Wednesday and then, this past Saturday, in what might be termed the Big East’s “Heidi game,” downed the UConn Huskies in Connecticut by a 79-78 count in double overtime. Meanwhile, the Hoyas earned a degree of payback last Wednesday with its 77-52 pasting of the St. John’s Red Storm. Then, on Saturday, the Hoyas ran their current win streak to four games with its victory over the Wildcats 69-66 behind Austin Freeman’s 30-point performance, including 10 of Georgetown’s final 12 points to thwart the Wildcats’ dramatic comeback in the last three minutes.
I watched the Villanova game at a “game watch” at Epicurious on campus hosted by the University’s Alumni Boards of Governors and Regents during their Winter Leadership Weekend. The Epicurious bar area was packed with Hoyas from across the generations from the Sixties to the Oughts and perhaps the Teens. Apart from Georgetown’s solid play, two things stood out for me. First, the inestimable Dr. Bill Licamele, C’68, M’72, etc., a/k/a “Lic Hoya” said during the first half and then repeated several times thereafter, “We’ll win if Austin scores 30 and we score 70!” Then, lo and behold, the game ends 69-66 Georgetown and Austin racked up 30 points! As I explained in an earlier blog, I don’t know how he does his figurin’, but it is remarkable to me how often he is on or very close to the mark! Then, of course, there was the above-referenced “Heidi-game” moment as ESPN switched away from the Hoyas and Wildcats with three minutes to play and the Hoyas holding a 61-53 lead to show the final 16 seconds of regulation of the Louisville-UConn game, including a meaningless out-of-bounds play with 0.3 seconds remaining. I thought that the crowd would explode and that the Epicurious TVs might by in serious jeopardy! Then, when the four-letter network returned to the Hoyas game, the score was 61-58 Hoyas as the Wildcats had staged a comeback, which was to see them ultimately draw to 61-60 with 2:08 seconds remaining. Whatever possessed the Boys from Bristol to make and then stay with the unfortunate switch in the Georgetown viewing market as the Wildcats made their move is beyond me and utterly inexcusable. Fortunately, Austin took the game over from there scoring a lay-up to make the count 63-60, then draining a left corner jumper with three seconds left on the shot clock to run the count to 66-62, finding freshman Nate Lubick alone under the basket for a dunk to make it 66-63, and then making two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to stretch the Hoyas’ lead to 69-65.
Thus, the Hoyas enter Monday night’s game with a four-game winning streak that has brought them to 5-4 in the Big East and in a four-way tie for seventh place with Cincinnatti, Syracuse and Marquette. The team is receiving contributions from many players both inside and outside. Junior Henry Sims played extremely well during the first half against Villanova and Senior Julian Vaughn gave the Hoyas tremendous inside play during the second half, taking advantage of foul trouble by Villanova’s big man. Freshman Nate Lubick, inserted into the starting line-up for last Wednesday’s St. John’s game, continues to progress and demonstrate his toughness inside and his willingness to mix it up on every play. Coming off the bench, Hollis Thompson led the team in scoring against the Red Storm, including one absolutely breathtaking spread-legged dunk! Jason Clark also seems to have regained his shooting stroke. The team is also playing with a greater degree of defensive tenacity since its week-long lay-off before the St. John’s game.
The Hoyas and the Cardinals face off Monday and Saturday’s double overtime victory over UConn may take its toll on the Cardinals. If the Hoyas continue to play the way that they have been recently, look for a five-game winning streak come Monday night at about 9:00 p.m. Beat the Cardinals!
One final note, in an article in the Post this weekend, the Coach of UMCP indicated that the ACC’s problem this season is that it needs better PR to promote the league! Then, Sunday afternoon at the Garden, the St. John’s Red Storm, coming off their trouncing by the Hoyas, crushed the vaunted Duke Blue Devils, the acknowledged best team in the ACC, 93-78. This brings the overall Big East – ACC record this year to 7-4, including the Hoyas victory over N.C. State. Not to oversimplify things, but it seems that some better teams would better serve to enhance that league’s reputation, rather than better press!!
WE ARE GEORGETOWN!!
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Karam, F’72, L’76, L’82
Proud Member of Generation Laughna
