Early losses in NCAAs remain dicey subject for Hoyas
The last time Georgetown faced Belmont in the opening game of an NCAA tournament, it finished in the Final Four. The last two times Georgetown has played in the NCAA tournament, it has been upset in its first game.
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As a No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, the Hoyas (23-8) will play the 14th-seeded Bruins (27-7), the same team they did five years ago. After finding that out, senior guard Jason Clark took a moment to decide which would affect the Hoyas more: deja vu or a career that still lacks an NCAA tournament victory.
“I’d probably say the last two years were disappointing. We all know that,” said Clark, who watched Georgetown’s 80-55 win over Belmont in 2007 in class as a junior at O’Connell High. “We try to get it out of our heads, but like I said before, it doesn’t leave your mind.”
With Leo O’Donovan Dining Hall on campus brimming with students for Sunday’s selection show, Hoyas senior Henry Sims leapt to his feet to applaud the first-round matchup when the second-to-last game was revealed. Georgetown spent much of the season projected as a No. 3 seed, but that status appeared threatened by three losses in the Hoyas’ final six games. Georgetown coach John Thompson III thought his team could have been anywhere from a No. 3 to a No. 6 seed.
“It felt good,” Sims said, “especially with the little birds chirping before the season, talking about we weren’t really going to do much.”
The Hoyas have done little in March since 2007. As a No. 2 seed in 2008, Georgetown lost to Stephen Curry and No. 10 Davidson in the second round. After losing at Baylor in the opening round of the 2009 NIT, third-seeded Georgetown was upset by No. 14 Ohio in 2010, and last year the sixth-seeded Hoyas lost to 11th-seeded and eventual national semifinalist VCU.
“This group that we’re going to take into the game on Friday didn’t play in any of those games,” Thompson said. “Some of the people did, but this group as a whole, the team that we are now is 0-0, and I think that’s important.”
