For a change, Georgetown hasn’t waited until the end of the season to find out that it needs to make changes. There’s no reason to panic after the Hoyas (13-3, 3-2 Big East) lost their second straight game on Monday, losing a 68-64 upset to Cincinnati. No team, especially with a bench consisting of four freshmen, was ever expected to run clean through the brutal Big East without any blemishes.
“You have to go back and do some introspection from top to bottom,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. “But I think this team knows when they’ve been good, and they know when they haven’t been good and why, and so you have to look at that and fix that.”
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But while The Washington Examiner gave the Hoyas an “A” on their midseason report card, the curriculum just got more difficult, and it will test Thompson’s ability to remold a group that is no longer a surprise.
Adjustment No. ?1 ?» Don’t allow the youngsters to get caught up in the losses. With only three upperclassmen, Georgetown’s biggest battle is preventing freshmen and sophomores from having the same fragility as its NBA co-tenant at Verizon Center.
Adjustment No.2 » Find balance with Henry Sims. The senior center’s emergence has begun to evoke the memories of Greg Monroe with his ability to pass and orchestrate the offense from the elbow. Sims has also become a little too eager to dominate the ball, and the result has been unforced turnovers (16 in his last four games), poor shot selection and fewer rebounds (three against Cincinnati).
Adjustment No. 3 » While the ball can start in Sims’ hands, it needs to end in Hollis Thompson’s. After the sharpshooting junior went 5-for-5 from the field in the first half against the Bearcats, he attempted just one shot in the final 20 minutes. No defense is that dominant.
The Hoyas might be content to take their chances with freshman Otto Porter down the stretch for now, but it’s up to coach Thompson to make sure that one of the program’s all-time best shooters from 3-point range has a chance to make plays in March. Good introspection reveals that is when a program’s legacy is defined.
– Craig Stouffer
