As much as it pains me, it's good to get inside the mind of your enemy. Georgetown blog Casual Hoya is that enemy. I peppered Casual with some questions about their beloved Georgetown, recapping what happened last time and looking forward to Thursday's showdown in D.C. They've got a Q&A with my answers going up as well this afternoon so look for those more eloquent, classier answers soon.
Rutgers? Really? Seriously?
Yes, that happened. I was there, and to see that much Jersey trash chanting "R! U!" at each other for two straight hours ranks among the top 10 worst moments of my life. I'm ok with the one off random loss once in a while - it's a long season - but the loss continued to expose a deeper issue for the Hoyas. Chris Wright seems to be the bellweather for a win or a loss and it is becoming abundantly clear that he is as much of a headache as DaJuan Summers and Jessie Sapp were last year. In fact, he may be worse. The year before he came, we got to the Final Four. In his freshman year, it was rumored that his complaints about playing time caused infighting and led to the second half collapse against Davidson in the 2nd round of the NCAAs. Last year, he and Sapp got in a fist fight at halftime against Duke and the season submarined from there. If we lose on Thursday night, I could see a similar downslide occurring. Apparently, Wright, who has the emotional maturity of a 6-year-old, is feeling marginalized by the successes of Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman.
Has Georgetown done enough to be in the hunt for a 2-seed right now or are they more of a 3/4 seed at the moment?
They have beaten five Top 25 RPI teams (Kansas is the only other team to accomplish this feat), but lost to two teams with RPIs over 50 (no other Top 10 team has been embarrassed in such fashion). I think the Rutgers game effectively took them out of contention for a two seed, but a good end of the season along with some quality wins in the BET can put them back in 2 seed discussions. I would rather have them as an 8 seed thought, that way they don't face a 15 seed and lose in the first round - seeing how they can destroy the likes of Duke and Villanova but lose to Old Dominion and Rutgers types.
Up 14-0 in the Dome a few weeks back, you thought you guys had that one in the bag, didn't you?
Au Contraire. No lead is safe. 100-50 with 30 seconds to go? SOMETHING CAN STILL GO WRONG. If there is a technical foul that will let the opposing team shoot 51 free throws AND retain possession, Chris Wright will find that infraction and commit it. Furthermore, here is proof of my ill-feeling, via actual comments made during the game as archived on CasualHoya.com:
7:10 pm, up 14-0: It will all start to go wrong soon.
7:14 pm, up 14-2: OOF That’s it.
7:16 pm, up 14-5: Greatest Comeback in Cuse History They are so going to storm the court.
So, you see, at no point did I think we were going to win. Ever. I only knew one thing for sure: the Canadian relationship between Andy Rautins and his dad makes me somewhat uncomfortable and unable to watch the Olympics.
After this past weekend where all four of the "top" Big East teams lost, are we looking at a much deeper conference than we thought or was it just an anomaly and we can expect to see these four carry the load in the postseason?
The Big East has been the toughest conference all season but this weekend was definitely surprising and confirms that anything can happen on any given night. The top 4 teams (Cuse, Nova, Gtown, and WVU) have clearly established that they’re at the top of the conference and in contention for the national championship but that’s all contingent on things going well. Gtown is a great example of a team that’s been bit by the hot lower level teams – USF and Rutgers – in consecutive weeks. But that’s pretty par for the course in conference play, particularly down the back stretch. All conferences strive to bring together relatively evenly matched programs and these upsets often happen because teams are so used to playing against one another. This plays out differently in the NCAA Tournament in that non-Big East teams won’t have played a zone quite like the one Cuse will throw out or face an offense that (occasionally) runs as smoothly as Gtown’s.
Those 4 losses show depth in the conference but looking forward, I’d be surprised if any team other than the top 4 makes the Sweet 16.
After SU, you guys have Louisville, Notre Dame, West Virginia and Cincy. Think you can run the table? What seed do you think you're looking at in the BET?
Run the table? Are you insane? I’d be crazy to think that the Hoyas will go 4-0 down the stretch, even though a top 10 fighting for a 2 seed with the only real difficult game being at WVU probably should. My guess is that the Hoyas lose to Pitino, beat Brey, lose to Huggins, and beat Cronin. With that finish the Hoyas will probably miss out on the coveted ‘double bye’ in the BET and face the inevitable soul-crushing loss at the hands of someone like UConn in the 1st round. March is the best.
If Georgetown is going to beat SU, {INSERT HOYA} will have to take the lead.
You’re really going to make us say it, huh? We’ve been documenting this for a few weeks and we outright loathe the fact that Chris Wright is the key to the team but facts are facts. He’s a selfish shoot-first point guard who pouts when things aren’t going his way but when they are, Gtown is simply dominant as he’s sharing the rock with his teammates.
Though we also advocate having Henry Sims start playing aggressively and if he comes in and picks up 5 fouls by karate chopping Onauko and Rautins, I don’t think anyone would complain.
Prediction? (Besides "Pain")
Georgetown has come off of losses very well this year. After painful losses to Villanova, Syracuse and South Florida, we've won at Pitt, and smoked Duke and Villanova. Hopefully the same thing happens with this loss against Rutgers, but after seeing Wright sulk like he did against Rutgers, I just don't see it happening. I think Cuse wins by 7 or so and we will see the Hoyas slide for the rest of the season. Just don't have a good feeling anymore. This season is going to end in a 6 seed and a first round upset.
Thanks to Casual Hoya. I'd say good luck, but, then they go and write articles like this and, well, I don't want to.