Casually Discussing Syracuse vs. Georgetown With Casual Hoya

Because I am required to by Bylaw 6.66 of the SB Nation Charter, I hereby present to you my Q&A with Georgetown blog Casual Hoya in preparation for tonight's Syracuse-Georgetown game. I may or may not have enjoyed our interaction (Here are my answers to his questions as well).

How's the season treating you so far? Are you happy with 18-5 and No. 11?

What's it to you? The season is treating me fine. In all honesty, it's been a pretty stressful year on the ol' ticker. Every game seems to be close, especially in the last few weeks. We lost heartbreakers to Temple, St. John's and West Virginia, and have won thrillers over Missouri, Villanova, Louisville, Old Dominion, Seton Hall and Providence. All in all, I am happy with 18-5 and #11 in the country. I wasn't sure what to expect this year when Greg Monroe left, but have been pleasantly surprised with Julian Vaughn's continued maturation, along with the emergence of Henry Sims and Nate Lubick. Our guards have played about as well as I would have expected them too, but it's on the shoulders of the big men if we are going to go deep into March.

What's been Georgetown's most impressive win and what's been their most depressing loss?

The most impressive win still has to be Mizzou - basically a road game, clutch plays to end the game, huge performances from Wright and Freeman, and a double digit overtime win against a Top 20 opponent. The most disappointing loss was clearly Pitt. That's when days were the darkest and Georgetown basically wasn't even competitive throughout. Jesus - look at our Awards post for that game. Thankfully, things started looking up from there.

Complete this sentence: If Georgetown gets to [insert round] in the NCAA Tournament, this season will be a success.

What day of the week is this? Because, I tell you, our answer to this is ALL OVER THE MAP. At the start of the season, and following last year's DEBACLE, I think we would have settled just to win ONE GAME IN ANY POST-SEASON TOURNAMENT. If we're even losing to a 7-seed on Sunday in the NCAA, that would be a moral victory. But then we ripped off all these tremendous wins out-of-conference and the realistic expectation quickly drifted deep into the second weekend of the NCAA. We were a Sweet 16 team when we gutted it out against Missouri. That was of course followed by the Big East collapse and we were right back to hoping on at least a home game in the first round of the NIT. And now our fortunes have shifted again. Let's just put it this way: If we lose to Syracuse then this blog fully expects we will not make the NIT. If we beat Syracuse, we will lose to Pitt in the National Championship game.

Where does Austin Freeman sit amongst the ranks of all-time "great" Hoyas?

The mere fact he was named Big East Preseason Player of the Year puts him in select company; Ewing, Mourning and Hibbert were the only other Georgetown players to receive that honor. He is definitely a great player, but I don't think he ranks among the all-time Hoya greats, yet. A lot will be determined in the post-season.

What do you make of the Big East this year? A whole bunch of pretty good teams beating each other up or simply a case of "any given night..."?

Let's do the obvious and throw out DePaul and South Florida (though I will likely regret that last one) and you've got some legit teams. Clearly the teams at the top (Pitt, Notre Dame, Nova, Louisville, Cuse, Georgetown, and UConn) are capable of beating - and have beaten - top teams in other conferences. The rest of the teams fall into that 'any given night' lottery whether because of coaching (Lav's teams are completely unpredictable), players (as Georgetown tried to prove, Marshon Brooks can singlehandedly win a game), or a bizarre combination (Seton Hall looks like a solid team when the streaky Hazell is on and the coaches somehow convince Pope not to punch people in the nuts).

Wishy-washy answer but I think it's somewhere between your two extremes and lean toward it being a bunch of good teams beating up on one another.

Is there a higher amount of males Georgetown fans that name their first-born sons after themselves to emulate The Thompsons?

I don't think so. I think there is a prevailing fear that if you name your son after yourself, a la the Thompsons, he will come out squishier, balder, and with more reliance on a white person offense. None of these three traits are enviable.

Do Georgetown fans care about Big East football? Would there ever be interesting in fielding a FBS team?

As a college football fan, I could not care less. The conference is horrible and the games are boring as hell. As a Georgetown fan, I'm not really sure; I really only want the conference (both football and basketball-only schools) to stay intact. Is the conference more likely to stay together if it was loaded with Top 25 teams? Or is more likely to stay together if every team is garbage and no other conference wants to pick off Big East schools? There has been so much written about conference expansion that I don't know what is fact or fiction anymore.

There would be a lot of interest in fielding a FBS team, if it is was even remotely feasible. But it is not, at least for the foreseeable future. Georgetown doesn't have the resources, facilities, and support to develop a FBS program. It barely competes in the Patriot League. I am definitely interested in seeing what Villanova decides to do and how it works out for them. It has more support and a better program than Georgetown but are in a similar boat. Can small, urban, academically-focused Catholic schools field competitive (and profitable) FBS football programs? Guess we will find out...

How do Georgetown fans spend their days? We assume there's a lot of J. Crew catalog-skimming involved.

The day begins at Starbucks where I go pick up a Venti coffee for my boss who is either CHIEF OF STAFF FOR A MEMBER OF CONGRESS or a DEPUTY ASSISTANT UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST AFRICAN AFFAIRS. Then I rest my Brooks Brothers blazer on the back of my chair and read The Economist. Or Foreign Policy. During lunch, I eat something FROM ASIA. But not a traditional Asian dish like they have at the Applebees in Syracuse. I eat derivative Vietnamese street food. IS IT DOG? No, I think it's some kind of fish. In the afternoons I email other Georgetown fans to talk about important issues like APPROPRIATIONS LEGISLATION or FREE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS. If it's a gameday, I will be sure to charge my Blackberry before going to watch the game and drink IMPORTED BEERS. Each night I CRY MYSELF TO SLEEP thinking about how I was beaten up in High School DESPITE BEING PRESIDENT OF THE MODEL UNITED NATIONS CLUB.

What's the coolest place you've seem your casual headband show up at? Where would you like to see it that you haven't?

Well, our readers have spoken on this topic and determined that The Womb was a decisive winner in our Casual Headbands Summer Series contest. The contest brought Casual Headbands to all corners of the earth, with entries flowing in from Africa to Spain to scenic Cape Cod (closer to Canada so you Cuse fans can relate to it). As far as my ideal vision, that involves a seedy hotel room, multiple women, whiskey, and drugs. Lots of drugs. Wait, are we still talking about headbands?

We've had a lot of fun over the whole ticket issue for the SU-G'town game in DC. Since no Syracuse fans are allowed inside the building, what kind of festivities will we be missing?

The blog went up to the Villanova/Georgetown game at Wells Fargo in Philadelphia and though we were generally impressed with the magic beer machines and seasoned fries, the actual non-game entertainment during breaks in the action was underwhelming. In fact, it was non-existent. By comparison, let me tell you what you will not be enjoying: THE GREATEST TV TIMEOUT ENTERTAINMENT IN ALL OF THE LAND. Georgetown Trivia! Free Burritos! Dance Cams! AND A F*CKING T-SHIRT CANNON GATLING GUN. DO YOU HEAR ME? IT IS A MACHINE THAT FIRES T-SHIRTS INTO THE UPPER DECKS! Utter bedlam.

Game predictions? How will this one shake out?

/consults lucky shake weight.

I have no damn idea. What I do know is that it won’t be a blowout by either team, because quite frankly neither team is capable of such. That being said, the outcome will entirely depend on two things for the Hoyas: 1) outside shooting, and 2) interior passing by the bigs. JT3’s magical insertion of freshman Nate Lubick into the starting lineup has been the key to our current streak, and he is a very good passer in the mold of Greg Monroe. Julian Vaughn has been playing his best ball of the season lately, and Henry Sims is much improved as his backup. Assuming Freeman, Wright, and Clark do what they do, the Hoyas have a good shot in this one, despite the fact there will so many fatties rooting against them in the Carrier Dome on an otherwise casual Wednesday night. Final score Hoyas 69 – Orange 66.