March 25, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Filed under Audio, Basketball, Georgetown
box score
audio - coach john thompson, jeff green, jonathan wallace, jeff green, roy hibbert & dajuan summers
audio - jeff green : audio - coach john thompson (second interview)
Trailing by nine points with six minutes to play against North Carolina in the NCAA East Regional final, Georgetown never wavered from who they were.
"We wanted to stick with our stuff [on offense] because we knew it worked." said guard Jessie Saap. "We didn't want to go into anything different because it's been working all year."
The Hoyas rallied from a 75-66 deficit, sending the game to overtime and the Continental Airlines Arena into bedlam on a soft Jonathan Wallace three point short with thirty seconds to play in regulation.
"I call Jon 'Buckets' because to me, Jon doesn't miss." said Georgetown co-captain Tyler Crawford after the game. "That's Jon Wallace. He played with tremendous confidence."
The Hoyas switched to a 2-3 zone defense down double figures midway through the second half and North Carolina was unable to get the second chance opportunities and the points in the paint they had used to build their lead. The Tarheels finished the evening in a 2-23 shooting slide.
From the start of overtime the Hoyas knocked North Carolina out with an incredible 14-0 run. On Georgetown's first possession Jeff Green passed diagonally from the wing to a cutting Jonathan Wallace for a backdoor layup. Wallace faked coming up top behind a Roy Hibbert screen, then slashed fed to the basket as Ty Lawson spun in the wrong direction, laying the ball in as it reached him in stride.
An errant backdoor bounce pass by Green in traffic deflected to DaJuan Summers for a two-handed throwdown that doubled the Georgetown lead. Following a Tyler Hansbrough traveling violation Jeff Green drove to his left and used the glass to send the Hoyas out to their biggest advantage of the night. Six straight Georgetown free throws opened the lead up to 93-81 and the champions of the east were crowned on a breakaway throwdown from Summers.
Summers finished with 20 points, and East regional Most Outstanding Player Jeff Green appeared genuinely surprised after the game upon learning that he and not Summers had received this honor.
As the Georgetown band chanted "JT3! JT3!" Coach Thompson strolled across the court to reach his father, who was broadcasting the game for Westwood One. Thompson stopped along the way to embrace the small grey-haired man with the Georgetown hat sitting on the sidelines. It was his collegiate coach, Pete Carril.
"[Coach Carril] is a part of what we're doing." explained Thompson. "I just wanted to go over and give him a hug." Coach Carril and Thompson shared an embrace and a high five. They both went over to press row where they were guests on Thompson's father's broadcast. The two iconic figures of Princeton basketball and Georgetown basketball standing proudly alongside the man they had both been such strong influences on.
When Coach Thompson climbed the ladder to cut down the final strand of the net, he led the crowd in his favorite cheer.
We are...
Georgetown!
We are...
Georgetown!
We are...
Georgetown!
The Hoyas were heading to the Final Four, and Georgetown had proved that they knew who they were all along.
Pete Carril (in Hoyas hat) holds an impromptu press conference after the game.
March 23, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Filed under Audio, Basketball, Georgetown, Sean Gregory
box score
audio - coach john thompson, jeff green, jonathan wallace & dajuan summers
audio - roy hibbert : audio - jonathan wallace
audio - coach john thompson (second interview)
Trailing by one point against Vanderbilt with seventeen seconds to play, Coach John Thompson went into the playbook and came up with a scheme that had worked before in a similar situation.
The play is called "Center/Forward."
Princeton ran it to knock off UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
Last night Georgetown used it to defeat Vanderbilt 66-65 and advance to the NCAA East Regional Final on Sunday.
The Hoyas had executed the play out of a time out at the end of the first half and would have had an easy basket for Patrick Ewing Jr. if Ewing did not slip on the hardwood while driving to the iron.
It was Jeff Green, not Steve Goodrich, getting the ball on the right elbow with nine seconds left.
It was Patrick Ewing Jr,, not Gabe Lewullis, slashing to the basket before moving out on the arc, instructed by his coach to camp in the corner instead of cutting a second time on the baseline.
When Green could not find space to hit Ewing with a bounce pass, it was time to turn and go.
Green split a double team of oncoming Commodores and exploded above both men to kiss a shot high off the glass for the winning basket with two seconds remaining. Despite having two time outs in their pocket Vanderbilt rushed the ball inbounds and a desperation heave never made it to the rim.
The Hoyas poured onto the court, but it was Coach Thompson walking to the sidelines after doing an interview with CBS Sports to kiss his wife and wish his oldest daughter Morgan a happy ninth birthday.
I spent the game sitting next to former Princeton basketball player and current Time Magazine writer Sean “Bones” Gregory ‘98. When Georgetown called time down 65-64, Gregory turned to me and said with a knowing grin - “Center/Forward.”
After the game, as Gregory and I caught up with Coach Thompson for a brief interview in the hallway outside of the Georgetown locker room, his first words to us were: “Bones, didn’t you think Center/Forward was going to work?”
Did 1996 have something to do with this call? “If you want me to say that, I’ll say it for you” Thompson responded slyly.
See the highlights on YouTube: Select plays. Green's final basket.
March 11, 2007 at 12:08 am
Filed under Audio, Basketball, Georgetown
box score
audio - coach john thompson, jeff green & roy hibbert
audio - coach john thompson (second interview)
The only other time Georgetown coach John Thompson III had the good fortune to cut down the nets after a championship victory, he did not get to take the net home with him. It was 2001 and his Princeton team had defeated Penn by 17 points at Jadwin Gym to secure the first Ivy League title of Thompson's coaching career.
"His" net ended up locked behind glass in the lobby of Princeton's Jadwin Gym.
This time, Coach Thompson wasn't going to let the net get away from him.
He gave it to his wife for safekeeping.
Mixing efficient offense with smothering, constantly switching defense, Georgetown defeated Pittsburgh 65-42 to win the 2007 Big East Tournament championship game. Pittsburgh's 42 points were the lowest total in championship game history. Their 26.2% shooting percentage was also the lowest number in the history of this tournament's final.
According to another member of Coach Thompson's family - his father John - a good memory is shared with a hug.
There were a lot of good memories for Hoya fans late Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, but the best may have come with 1:28 left in regulation. The championship was far decided, the Hoyas out in front of Pittsburgh by 23. With tournament Most Outstanding Player Jeff Green at the free throw line, it started to set in on Coach Thompson that victory was secure. Thompson began to clear his bench, first removing center Roy Hibbert and point guard Jonathan Wallace. Each player had the wide arms of Thompson greeting them as the crowd gave them well-deserved waves of applause, a bear hug the final stop from the court to the sidelines.
As Green converted the second of his two free throws, fellow co-captain Tyler Crawford replaced him in the lineup. The loudest ovation of the night was followed by the biggest of these hugs, Thompson standing smiling with arms extended as far as they could go and a grin on his face nearly as wide, waiting in front of his bench for Green to share his embrace.
Jeff Green had a game-high 21 points for the Hoyas. Roy Hibbert dominated this rubber game inside against the Panthers, with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Hibbert's counterpart, Aaron Gray, was 1-13 from the field and missed his first nine field goal attempts including many at point-blank range.
An 13-0 Georgetown run starting with eight minutes to go in first half turned a 15-13 Hoya lead into a 15 point advantage. Roy Hibbert dunked around Levon Kendall to cap this spurt. When Grey was on the bench it was surprising that Pitt did not double Hibbert in the post as he was able to score at will over smaller, weaker defenders.
The Hoyas went into the break up 15 as Hibbert stuffed an offensive rebound after Jessie Saap's three point shot right before the shot clock buzzer bounded high off the iron.
Back-to-back three point shots from Jonathan Wallace made the score 51-32 Georgetown with 9:32 to go in regulation and the Panthers did not ever make the push everyone felt was still to come.
When time ran out, Coach Thompson and his father had become the first father-son pairing to each win a Big East title. Another good memory, with a hug sure to follow.
March 9, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Filed under Audio, Basketball, Georgetown
box score
audio - coach john thompson, jeff green, dajuan summers & patrick ewing jr
audio - jonathan wallace
Jonathan Wallace tracked down the loose ball as it was heading out-of-bounds and hurled it towards the rafters. By the time gravity brought it back down near center court the final buzzer had sounded and Georgetown was advancing to the Big East Tournament championship game. The Hoyas and Notre Dame gave a sold out Saturday night Madison Square Garden crowd a treat, Georgetown coming out on top 84-82.
Behind Jeff Green's critic-silencing 30 points and 12 rebounds, Georgetown rallied from a 14 point first half deficit. Green scored on a hook shot and was fouled with thirteen seconds to play, providing the Hoyas with a lead that would survive an open three point shot by Notre Dame's Russell Carter with six ticks on the clock.
The Hoyas did a good job of sticking with their stuff as Notre Dame tossed in eight three point shots in the first half. Georgetown never lost composure, making defensive adjustments and knowing that the law of averages would not allow the Fighting Irish to shoot this well all game. Notre Dame was 2-14 from behind the arc after starting 8-12.
Patrick Ewing Jr. had 15 points in 28 minutes off the bench, including six straight to open the second half as the Hoyas took their first lead of the night, a short-lived 50-49 advantage. Freshman DaJuan Summers tallied 18 and Jon Wallace recorded 10 points along with a game-high 5 assists.
Notre Dame grabbed a remarkable 24 offensive rebounds in defeat.
For the second consecutive postgame press conference Coach John Thompson's opening statement was not a word but the same sound - "whew."
princetonbasketball.com will be back courtside at MSG later tonight as Georgetown goes for their first Big East Tournament title in 18 years and we'll be in the locker rooms after the game for more exclusive postgame interview audio.
March 8, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Filed under Audio, Basketball, Georgetown
box score : audio - coach john thompson, roy hibbert & jeff green
Georgetown scored the first 14 points of their Big East Tournament quarterfinal game and raced out to a incredible 26-2 lead versus Villanova. The points were coming too easy for his team and Coach John Thompson III knew it. With thoughts of last season's semifinal comeback by Syracuse in the back of their minds, the Hoyas needed every bit of their lead down the stretch. Nova rallied in the game's final 25 minutes and closed within five on a three point shot at the final buzzer. Roy Hibbert, who was unable to get touches matched up against smaller and quicker defenders in the teams' first two meetings, led Georgetown with a team-high 14 points. With four starters in double figures, the Hoyas advanced to the Big East Tournament semis against Notre Dame tonight. princetonbasketball.com will be live courtside with bonus coverage.
"World's Most Famous Arena" does not mean the same thing as "World's Best Arena."
I sat next to the official Big East stenographer. Neat.
February 17, 2007 at 11:05 pm
Filed under 06-07, Audio, Basketball, Princeton
box score : audio - coach joe scott, marcus schroeder & kyle koncz
On Mascot Night, you throw all the records out the window.
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