A few thoughts on a fantastic Big East final even if it wasn’t a fantastic result for the Hoyas.
Whose responsibility was it to call a timeout on the final possession? i’m sure that will be answered — I did not make it to New York — or is being answered as the media speaks with Georgetown after the game. It seems like Chris Wright was blaming himself, but what about John Thompson III or any of the other guys on the court? And by the way, Wright did make up for mistakenly fouling Joe Mazzulla, so he shouldn’t be hanging his head. Okay, a little bit because he did have the ball, and he probably should’ve called timeout.
Even though the Hoyas’ 3-point shooting was atrocious, including 0 for 5 from Wright and 0 for 3 from Jason Clark, the combination between Wright and Austin Freeman that led to the game-tying 3-pointer was really nice to see. Versus West Virginia’s 1-3-1, which had put the nail in the coffin at Morgantown on March 1, Wright wanted to go to Freeman stationed in the corner. Freeman balked at the initial shot, then drove baseline to draw the defenders a tad, and popped the ball back to Wright, who had a little more space to penetrate himself, before pushing the ball back to Freeman, who didn’t hesitate and nailed the shot the second time. (The contact he got on the shot didn’t get a call, but neither did the Wright’s on Da’Sean Butler a bit earlier.)
Rebounds: West Virginia 34, Georgetown 19. Ugh.
How to try to beat Georgetown may have been revealed in the Big East final, but the Hoyas can hold their heads up high when they walk into the dining hall tomorrow night to see where they’ve been seeded. Even though West Virginia gave Georgetown absolute fits offensively with an all-out physical attack on preventing Greg Monroe from getting stationed at the elbow, the Hoyas got themselves back into the game late against the Mountaineers by playing hard-nosed, grind-it-out defense. That needs to be what they remember when they head into the NCAAs. Their exquisite offense will get them through the first round, but perhaps no further, and tonight’s game should serve as an example.
ESPN’s bracketology had them getting a No. 2 seed before the West Virginia game got underway. Think that will that end up being what happens?
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