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Sunday, March 25, 2007
Elder Thompson excited for son
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
East Rutherford, N.J. — When overtime started, the NCAA radio analyst said he “went numb.”
With five seconds left, he started clapping and looked across the court to Georgetown’s bench. As time elapsed, he smiled and pointed at his son.
You want objectivity on a broadcast? Don’t pick a coach’s father. Don’t pick John Thompson. Not when the program he built and the son he raised are trying to make it to the Final Four. Not when Georgetown is playing North Carolina. Not when the Hoyas are trying to exorcise some ghosts from 25 years earlier.
“Everybody kept asking me whether I should be announcing my son’s game,” Thompson said later. “Well, I shouldn’t be. I couldn’t say anything in the overtime. I went numb.”
If Thompson wondered whether something could make him happier than winning a Final Four as Georgetown’s coach, he got his answer Sunday.
He watched as the Hoyas, down by as many as 11 points to a deeper and more talented team from North Carolina, wore down and broke down the Tar Heels. A shot with 31 seconds left in regulation tied it. A blitz in overtime clinched it. Georgetown won 96-84 to reach its first Final Four since 1985.
The “impartial broadcast journalist” for the weekend hugged players, school officials, then his son. He wiped his brow with a commemorative Final Four T-shirt. (That was fast.)
The only lingering reminder of the 1982 finals loss to North Carolina was the silhouette of Michael Jordan on Georgetown’s shoes and warm-ups. It was Jordan who hit the shot that ultimately defeated the Hoyas in the ‘82 championship game, Thompson’s first of three Final Fours. (He would win it two years later.)
“The hell with objectivity,” Thompson said.
Thompson was asked what was more satisfying — coaching a team to a Final Four or watching his son do the same. Easy answer.
“This is,” he said. “I feel very lucky to be able to see this happen in my child’s life. I didn’t need to coach anymore. I don’t need about another spittoon or another trophy.
“People said, ‘You’re gonna miss coaching.’ I don’t miss coaching. This is the greatest thing that could happen to me.”
A rest, maybe. This wasn’t expected. Georgetown has now won eight straight and 19 of 20 as it prepares to come to Atlanta. But it struggled and needed some cross-eyed officiating down the stretch of the East Regional semis to get past Vanderbilt. The team looked terribly outmanned for most of Sunday’s game.
The Tar Heels, who sleep-walked for portions of Friday’s win over Southern Cal before closing with a fury (runs of 18-0 and 41-15), were driving the lane, drawing fouls, hitting free throws. The better team also was the smarter team.
But late in the second half, Carolina went cold. During one stretch, it went 2-for-19. The Heels stopped taking the ball to the basket and started firing up (and missing) long jumpers. The collapse continued in the overtime when they missed their first 12 shots. Only an otherwise meaningless 3-pointer by Ty Lawson in the final seconds prevented an overtime shutout.
Conversely, the Hoyas were disciplined and tough, traits of Thompson’s old teams and of Pete Carrill’s, the mentor of the younger Thompson at Princeton.
“I’m his dad, but that’s his teacher,” Big John said later, after he and Carrill embraced.
Thompson, the son and pupil, learned from both. It looked like the tournament would end here, and again with North Carolina as the winner. But when the Heels began to wilt, the Hoyas began to attack, winning one-on-one battles.
“We were able to slow down their transition a little bit and make them take tough, contested shots,” the younger Thompson said. “Then, with our offense in the half-court, there’s room for one-on-one. We’re not as restrictive on offense as people think.”
He laughed when told of his father’s alleged speechlessness during the broadcast. But when told that his father said he drew more satisfaction from Sunday’s win than any in his own coaching career, the son wasn’t surprised.
“That makes sense,” he said. “It’s much easier for him. I’m already worried about the Ohio State game. He’s sitting over there cheering.”
As it should be with a father watching his son. But the headphones and microphone made him look a little out of place.
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One delicious Final Four ahead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
St. Louis — There will be no George Masons in the Georgia Dome. There will, however, be four King Georges.
For the first time since 1998 and only the fifth time ever, the Final Four will be comprised of teams already holding national titles. Only once before, in 1995, have the owners of this many aggregate championships (14) convened under one roof.
The reigning champ (Florida) will be there. The program with the most championships (UCLA) will be there. The school that won in 1984 (Georgetown) will be there. And so will Ohio State, which took the title when the hot Buckeyes name was Jerry Lucas, not Greg Oden.
“All the teams moving forward are really good,” said Ernie Kent, whose Oregon Ducks lost to Florida here in the Midwest Regional final. “They’ve all got size and depth and tradition and history. All those things are in place. It should be a great Final Four.”
To be honest, this NCAA tournament hasn’t been all that memorable. The lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16 was No. 7 UNLV. The lowest seed to crash the Elite Eight was Oregon, a No. 3. The first two weekends of the Big Dance were notable mostly for blown leads and for favorites struggling but surviving.
The Final Four should be different for the simple reason that there will be no real favorite. Any of the four could claim the title without it being considered an upset. Asked Sunday if, having booked passage back to the national semifinals, his Florida Gators might be able to relax, Al Horford was incredulous.
“We’re playing UCLA, man,” he said. “Any team that’s left can beat you now if you relax. Now’s the time to step it up.”
Each of the four has had its step-up moment. Ohio State had two near-elimination experiences. Georgetown had two near-miracles in the Meadowlands. UCLA had to defuse Kansas. And Florida had to fight its way through a bracket of challengers primed to dethrone the champ.
Said Corey Brewer: “It’s a lot harder this year. Night in, night out, we get everybody’s best shot. But it’s been really rewarding.”
The Gators, as Horford noted, will play UCLA, the team they trashed 73-57 in last year’s championship game. Said Kent, whose team played both: “This year’s UCLA team is probably tougher mentally having gone through this a second time and having had a much more difficult time in the Pac-10. If they can defend the [Florida] big guys and still get out on the 3-point shooters, they’ll have a chance.”
The other semifinal matches teams powered by big men. Ohio State has Oden, who outscored Memphis’ Joey Dorsey 17-nil in the West Regional final after Dorsey called him “overrated.” Georgetown has Roy Hibbert, who fought through foul trouble to help fuel the Hoyas’ epic comeback against North Carolina.
The last numbers of this dance could well be epics themselves, but a word of warning: They might not be pretty to watch. UCLA strangles the life out of games with its defense. Ohio State, as evidenced by its propensity to fall into deep holes, can look really awful. Georgetown runs the Princeton offense, which is a clinician’s delight but not necessarily a spectator’s. And even Florida has slogged through four rounds without a truly surpassing performance.
“We’ve had to go through the journey a different way,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said. “We couldn’t do it the same way [as last season] because people were not going to let us.”
But nobody has stopped the Gators’ repeat-after-me mission yet, and it will take a giant of an opponent to do that. Three giants remain. Three worthy challengers, one defending champ, one delicious Final Four.
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