For the second time today, we here at Bearcats Blog bring you a guest. This time, it’s with the great Georgetown blog, and global phenomenon, Casual Hoya. Their site is one I hit up every day, and I think that you should as well. Will you see that type of ringing endorsement later on in the Know Your Opponent post? Yes. As tends to be the thing with most of these questions, I answered some on their great site. Sleeping with the enemy is a much cooler name than questions and answers. I wish I wasn’t lame in titling things. If there were a slew of Cincinnati blogs, this one would be called something like UCincinBearcatBlog or something weird like that. Enough of this. Let’s get on to the interview shall we? We shall. The font is different for some reason. I just copied it from G Mail, don’t judge too harshly.
The Big East was stunned with the news of Austin Freeman’s diabetes. Has Georgetown announced any news about a possible return?
I think everyone was stunned. There hasn’t been any official announcement out of the school, but our guess based on our crack research of diabetes is that Freeman could probably give it a go Saturday, but may sit out so that docs can monitor his various bodily functions to get him on a proper treatment plan so he’ll be good to go for the Big East Tournament. Clearly the first priority is making sure he’s healthy, and then the basketball stuff will figure itself out. That being said, if he doesn’t play the Hoyas are screwed. That much is undeniable.
What’s gone wrong for the Hoyas as they’ve lost 4 of 5?
This is a flawed team but the one thing that has stood out in recent years when they’ve had similar skids is the lack of a player who can get a score when needed. In contrast to the Jeff Green teams (where Green could put the ball on the floor to get a shot), the best players in recent years have been big guys, such as Hibbert and Monroe, and each of them need to get the ball in the post to really be effective (Hibbert’s shot against UConn aside). Wright and Freeman have shown flashes where they can score in bunches but the team usually hits a lull and falls into a long stretch without a bucket. Couple that with a more deliberate offense and once they get down, it’s difficult to dig back out.
Of course, losing breeds losing, and to this point (and it’s pretty late in the season), there isn’t a true leader on the team. Both Monroe and Freeman have moments of dominance but each seems to be pretty quiet and unassuming on the court. Wright also dominates at times but like many of us in the stands, I think the team believes he’s often gunning for himself rather than for them.
Greg Monroe is great. Would you like to tell the readers how special he is?
I’m glad you think Monroe is great, I haven’t been convinced. Monroe’s clearly a special talent, but he can use another year in school to develop his body in the weight room and needs to improve his ability to score with his right hand. He can certainly dominate games against less physical opponents, but put a beast on him and he becomes a bit timid. Monroe came to Georgetown with a lot of hype as the #1 high school recruit in the country. Other #1 recruits out of high school included Lebron James, Michael Beasley, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose. Monroe is nowhere near at that level right now. Could he be? Perhaps.
There is a traitor list on your site. How big an issue are the people who buy season tickets and flip them?
A huge momma issue. Look, we are a small, Catholic school playing in an NBA arena in a major commuter city. As much as we would like the Hoyas to be the main attraction in DC, they are not and will never be. The Terps get more press coverage than Georgetown in the local media. The only thing we have going for us is the lower bowl of the Verizon Center, which is supposed to be a safe-haven for Hoya fans. Tickets to the lower bowl are mostly sold as season packages to Georgetown students, alums and fans. But there have been certain games this year where even the lower bowl wasn’t gray, against Cuse it was 50% orange. Fans are selling their tickets to other teams’ fans. I hope that most of them do not realize what they are doing, but there needs to be a better solution for getting Georgetown tickets in the hands of Georgetown fans. That is how the traitor list was born, it is really just a brutal reminder that you should be accountable for distributing your tickets responsibly. Georgetown also has a problem with scalpers buying season ticket packages and putting everything on StubHub – the traitor list helps identify repeat offenders or problem sections. We are working on more “positive” ideas with Georgetown organizations as well but for those fans that show up every game only to be out-cheered by opposing fans with better seats, a solution cannot come quickly enough
What do you see happening with Georgetown if Pittsburgh leaves and the league disbands?
I think that if we lose a football school, especially one as important to Big East football as Pitt, the Big East will disband. At the end of the day, as much as I hate it, football decides what happens in college athletics; it is where all the money is. The Big 10, Big 12 and ACC will swallow the other seven football schools, leaving Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette, DePaul and Notre Dame to fend for themselves. Notre Dame will be forced to join a conference after NBC drops them and the remaining schools bring on St. Joe’s, Xavier, and Dayton to form a basketball-only conference. They get no TV exposure, lose all recruits and are forced to take part in an experimental underwater basketball league run by Vince McMahon.
Only one thing I said above is unlikely, and sadly it has to do with ND.
The last 2 Georgetown home wins were attended by President Obama and Joe Biden for Duke, and Nancy Pelosi for Villanova. Are any more cabinet members attending the game Saturday?
Not sure about the cabinet, but the guy who installed my California closets will be there. If you’d like I can get you an autograph. (Ed Note: YES)
Bill Kock, er Koch, really asked for money to answer questions for your site? Feel free to rip him some here.
Ahh yeah, that happened. We thought he was joking initially, and we offered him a sweet casual headband, which he declined. Apparently he hasn’t realized that the old newspaper model is dead and that our blog will be around a lot longer than his job. Was that too much? Well here’s some compensation for you, Koch. (Insert a picture of a middle finger).
What do you see going down Saturday? Final score prediction?
Big game for both teams, no doubt. I’d expect a pretty strong home court for Gtown that will power them to victory – particularly with a turbulent week as Freeman received some awful news – Gtown by 8: 72-64.
Finally, what the hell is a Hoya?
A Hoya is what’s going to kick your ass on Saturday.
Yeah, I walked right into that one. Thanks a thousand times to our friends at Casual Hoya. They do a great job, and we wish them a ton of luck after Saturday, and if we meet them in the Big East Tournament.
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