Hoyas Get My Vote for Biggest Flop

I am a Hoyas fan. Don't ask me exactly how or why, but it has something to do with a combination of attending Georgetown basketball camp at age 10 and watching Ewing dominate in college, followed by my Knicks hitting the lotto in '85 to put Patrick in blue-and-orange.

So, this post is not vindictive or fueled by any deep-seated hatred for Hoya nation. It's actually quite the opposite. I'm simply shootin' straight. As college programs across the country gear up for the madness, G-Town will be lucky to get an NIT bid. They are, however, strongly in contention for the biggest flop of the 08-09 hoops season.


Let's take a quick walk down memory lane. The Hoyas entered the season fresh off a 27-5 campaign in 2007-08. Despite losing Roy Hibbert and Patrick Ewing, Jr., folks generally had them pinned somewhere in the preseason 10-20 range and the prevalent thinking was they'd be in the mix for the Big East crown (or at least a factor). The team got off to their typical hot start heading out of the gates 12-3 facing a schedule slightly more difficult than their time-honored cupcake lineup.


This first third of the year included wins over then #2 UCONN, Syracuse (#8 at time) and victories over Wichita St., Maryland and Memphis. Sure, they lost on the road at Tennessee, Pitt and Notre Dame, but this was an above-average Hoyas team -- or so I thought. Then came Duke...I remember watching this game and hearing the commentators talk about the match-up as a potential Final Four preview, and I recall the Hoyas hanging in a bit despite being down by 11 at half and playing like crap. Eventually, they dropped the game at Cameron by 9. Then the whole bottom dropped out.


What happened in the final two-thirds of the season is somewhat baffling. Granted, I don't get to watch the Hoyas too much each season, so maybe some of the die-hards can better explain it. JT's crew went on to drop 10 of their last 14 including two at the hands of the barely-decent Red Storm, most recently meekly bowing out of the Big East tournament against the Johnnies, the victor's first Big East Tourney win six years. That's just sad. The Hoyas potentially final tally for 08-09? 16-14 and 7-11 in the Big East.

So, can someone explain this all to me? Granted, the Big East is stacked this year. And I know having good players around you makes lesser players soar, but weren't Jesse Sapp and DeJuan Summers decent last year? Isn't Greg (thanks, Alex) Monroe supposed to be the real deal? What gives? I'm also a JT3 supporter, and he's done some good things to breathe some life back into a storied program, but how is it that the 08-09 Hoyas and their coach seem to get significantly less heat than an underachieving Notre Dame team? Or am I just imagining all of this...

posted at 10:49 PM