Six-foot-four Jessie Sapp is Georgetown’s top rebounding guard, and he can’t explain why.
“I don’t know how I get the ball sometimes,” said the junior guard, who’s also tied for third on the team at 4.2 boards per game.
Nevertheless, Sapp and the Hoyas appeared to have solved their nagging problems on the glass down the stretch during the regular season. But the issue that plagued them over the first half of the season resurfaced in an ugly way in the Big East final.
The result is a Georgetown team entering its 2008 NCAA Tournament-opener looking glaringly different than the momentum-laden team that went to last year’s Final Four.
“Playing in the Big East, you’re prepared for every style of play,” said Hoyas head coach John Thompson III following after his team earned a No. 2 seed. “Hopefully we’ve accumulated enough lessons that we don’t have to learn too much more, just go with the implementation.”
Before the Hoyas (27-5) get a degree, they’ll have to revisit the rebounding seminar. After pulling down more boards than their previous four opponents, the Hoyas (27-5) gave up 19 offensive rebounds against Pittsburgh, part of a 41-29 overall advantage for the Panthers. The margin was Georgetown’s third worst of the year,behind a win at Rutgers (-17) and loss at Memphis (-13).
Whether last week’s poor showing was due to a lack of intensity or a match-up problem with Pitt, which beat also them during the regular season (the two teams finished that game with 33 rebounds a piece), the Hoyas have never denied having trouble on the glass.
Maryland-Baltimore County has two players averaging more than six rebounds Darryl Proctor (8.4) and Cavell Johnson (6.8), but even that is more than Georgetown, which boasts only one, Roy Hibbert (6.5).
“We talk to each other about rebounding, and we were getting better at it,” said Sapp. “You’re going to have one of those games where it’s not going right for you, but you’ve just got to bounce back strong.”
