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DEL.ICIO.USHoyas travel around obstacle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
East Rutherford, N.J. — Georgetown should have a real simple game plan in the NCAA tournament: Avoid low-seeded teams that start with “V.”
Villanova.
Vanderbilt.
A community college in Vicksburg.
Just say no. Or NIT.
“We’re just glad, and we feel fortunate, that we won,” coach John Thompson III said Friday night. “That’s about all I’ve got to say.” Yes, take the win and run to Sunday.
Georgetown was back in a familiar position Friday as a high tournament seed, trying to reach its first Final Four since 1985. That year, the Hoyas (a No. 1 seed) lost to Villanova (No. 8) in the championship game, regarded as one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Had the Hoyas lost to sixth-seeded Vanderbilt on Friday, it would not have ranked with that gut shot. But when you go into a game with a famous son as coach (Thompson) and a famous son as a player (Patrick Ewing Jr.) and just a seeming advantage in the aura department — Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt — you expect more than this.
You expect more than needing the benefit of two calls down the stretch to escape with a 66-65 win over Vanderbilt to reach Sunday’s East Regional final.
But, um, nobody’s complaining.
“Traveled? No,” forward Jeff Green said with a slight smile after throwing in a desperation bank shot with about two seconds left to give the Hoyas their final lead. “There were a lot of guys down there. I probably got pushed. The play was good, and that’s all I can say. We won.”
Those Georgetown teams in the 1980s, they made it look a lot easier (the Villanova game notwithstanding) than the Hoyas did against Vandy.
They certainly had looked the part coming into Friday. They had won 17 of their past 18, this following consecutive midseason losses to Pittsburgh and Villanova (of course). In this tournament, they had pounded Belmont and beat Boston College.
But the spirits that occupied their bodies Friday were not those of a team coached by the elder John Thompson (who was courtside doing radio commentary, probably with a headache).
Georgetown took a 4-0 lead. Then it went 6 1/2 minutes without a field goal. By then, Vanderbilt had led 18-6. The Commodores led by as many as 13 points (27-14) and settled for a halftime lead of eight (32-24).
The Hoyas woke up the Big East echos in the second half. When Green hit a jumper six minutes into the half, it gave his team its first lead, at 39-38, since 5-4. But the rest of the half evolved into a series of lead changes. With four minutes left, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert fouled out, and a pair of free throws by Derrick Byars gave Vandy a 60-57 lead.
Said the Commodores’ Dan Cage: “When there’s four minutes left and the game’s within five points either way, honestly, call it arrogance, but we think we’ve got the game won.”
They might have. But the Hoyas got a bit of help. Green’s three-point play tied it at 60-all. With two minutes left, Georgetown guard Jessie Sapp appeared to both palm the ball and travel on a drive to the hoop. But neither was called and Sapp layed it in.
The Commodores — who committed only five turnovers but were outrebounded 40-26 — jumped back ahead on free throws, 65-64. But after a timeout with 14 seconds left, the Hoyas got the ball into Green, whose first option was to feed Ewing on the backdoor. But when Ewing was covered, Green backed in, fumbled the dribble, picked it up and shuffled both feet (confirmed by TV replays) before falling back and banking it in against two defenders.
Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings took a pass on criticizing officials. “I haven’t seen the replay — I don’t care to,” he said. “He made a great shot. The officials didn’t see anything, so there must have not been anything.”
Take it and run Georgetown. And the good news is, all the “V” schools are gone from the tournament.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment | Categories: Final Four, Jeff Schultz
Comments
By Hairy Dawg
March 24, 2007 1:25 AM | Link to this
Jeff, what about the ticky-tack fouls Jeff Green got in the final minute and a half to put Vandy on the line? I think it evened out pretty well in the end.
By Jason O.
March 24, 2007 9:59 AM | Link to this
Lance Armstrong had a saying: “Ride like you stole something.”
In this case Georgetown had better play with the intensity of actually knowing they stole something….
By ben
March 24, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this
After showing the evidence to the oh, so arrogant Billy Packer, he says ” I don’t see a travel. It was a clean play”. I guess he didn’t have Duke to defend, so he defended another sweetheart of the NCAA and CBS.
By James Adams
March 24, 2007 12:47 PM | Link to this
I agree, ben, Billy Packer is a joke. Im considering doing what Bill Simmons does, and listening to something else during the Final Four/ Championship Game. He makes the games unbearable at times. Bill Rafferty should be the color guy for the big games. “Send it in big fella!!!!!!” With Gus Johnson doing play-by-play. Packer obviously hates the SEC and any team that DARES play against a mighty ACC school. Those officials should be given leave of abscence for a year without pay. Disgusting! Im sick of Georgetown getting the benefit of calls to restore this ‘glorious’ (Im hurting my eyes Im rolling them so much) program. For those of us old enough to remember the original John Thompson years; those teams were trash talking, arrogant, cheap shot artists who deserved what they got against Villanova and North Carolina.
By Timmy
March 24, 2007 5:36 PM | Link to this
this is a terrible article ur allowed to pick up ur pivot foot to take a shot as long as it doesn’t come down before u release the ball plus he got fouled about 5 times down there so jeff schultz should shut up and go back to writing about sports in atlanta. ur a terrible columnist