Georgetown hasn’t begun a season unranked under head coach John Thompson III since his first one at the helm of the Hoyas six years ago. But with the announcement last weekend that sophomore center Greg Monroe will enter the NBA draft, Georgetown will find itself reduced to the fringes of national contention for the first time in a half decade when college basketball tips off again next fall.
The abrupt change in trajectory is surprising for the Hoyas and Thompson. The coach appeared to have fully inherited the legacy of his father after just three years, restoring Georgetown to a place among the nation’s truly elite programs with Big East dominance, a Final Four run, and consecutive bumper recruiting crops that landed a trio of McDonald’s All-Americans in Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Monroe.
But that recruiting also scared off the guys who had come before them — namely, guard Jeremiah Rivers and forward Vernon Macklin, who were both crucial reserves during Georgetown’s run to the 2007 national semifinals but are now with Indiana and Florida, respectively. The impact of their departures, while more subtle than DaJuan Summers or Monroe jumping early to the NBA, have proven just as significant.
In addition, questions linger around how Thompson’s program remains defined by its Princeton-style offense rather than a ferocious and intimidating defense, which was the prevailing trademark under John Thompson Jr.
But the thinning frontcourt remains the most immediate concern. The Hoyas enter the 2010-11 season with a returning group consisting of reliable-but-limited Julian Vaughn, physical-but-unrefined Jerrelle Benimon and underwhelming-and-out-of-favor Henry Sims. That translates into a heavy load for incoming bigs Nate Lubick and Moses Abraham, who are both promising but carry nowhere near the cache or buzz to which Georgetown has quickly grown accustomed since Thompson took over.
Without Monroe, the Hoyas no longer have a signature big man or the stature they’ve enjoyed of late. While Thompson proved he could rebuild the program already, surely he didn’t think he’d face the same task again so soon.
