The Hoyas surpassed everyone’s expectations this season and won a share of the Big East regular season title and the No. 1 overall seed in the Big East Tournament where they lost in the semifinals to Syracuse. The Hoyas were in contention for a No. 1 seed before losing to Villanova down the stretch and not reaching the title game in the conference tournament. Instead the selection committee rewarded their excellence with a No. 2 seed in a winnable region and a first-round date with the Eagles and their rabid fan base.
It doesn’t take a basketball expert to understand Otto Porter’s importance to Georgetown (M. Sullivan/Reuters)
Region: South
Seed: No. 2
Record: 25-6 (14-4 Big East)
Matchup: v. Florida Gulf Coast University in Philadelphia
Key Player: Let’s face it, to call anyone other than Otto Porter the key player for the Hoyas would be forcing it as the athletic sophomore is the at the center of the team’s success this season. Porter is a first-team All-American, the team’s leading scorer (16.3 PPG) and rebounder (7.4 RPG) and three-point shooter (42.7 3PT%) who just so happens to be capable of defending multiple positions well to boot. He might be the most important player in the entire tournament if you consider what type of team Georgetown would be without him. As long as he plays as well as he did during conference play, the Hoyas should make a run, and if he rises to the occasion and turns it up another notch, well the rest of the South Region and the bracket better look out.
Key Stat: Thankfully for us college basketball bloggers, Ken Pomeroy tracks just about everything you can think, and while it’s hard to poke holes in what John Thompson III’s team does on both ends of the floor, they are not exactly very deep. The Hoyas’ bench-minute percentage according to KenPom.com is just 24.5 percent, which ranks 309th in the country. Somewhat surprisingly, there are some good teams (Duke, Kansas, Miami) that use their bench even less than the Hoyas, but those teams have better players coming off the bench. The Hoyas go just six-deep and while players like Mikael Hopkins and Jabril Trawick have been valuable role players for the team this season, they are very limited offensively, which could be a problem as the Hoyas advance and play better competition. Thompson III will have his work cut out for him keeping his team fresh if they advance to the Sweet 16.
Best-Case Scenario: Otto Porter shows everyone else in the country that he is the real deal, Markel Starks and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera shoot the ball well and serve as excellent complementary offensive pieces, and the team’s suffocating defense clamps down. The Hoyas eke out an ugly win over Florida in the Sweet 16 and then topple Kansas in the Elite Eight to finally shake concerns about early exits and make their second Final Four appearance in seven seasons.
Worst-Case Scenario: All of the attention paid to Porter works and players like Starks and Smith struggle shooting the ball. Their talent and athleticism advantage is enough to get them by Florida Gulf Coast University but San Diego State is a different animal entirely. The Hoyas play great defense but the Aztecs are not far behind and while the Hoyas are able to limit Jamaal Franklin and company, they never get untracked offensively and Steve Fisher’s club is able to sneak out of there with the upset thanks to some late-game heroics. The loss will only amplify grumblings about how the Hoyas early flameouts from the NCAA Tournament are becoming common place.