A Good Run, But Plenty Still To Learn

"It's easy to say, 'Yes,' now. That's an easy 'Yes,' " Thompson III said when asked if he'd have preferred Green to take more than five shots. "We put the ball in his hands and he decided not to shoot. As I said, I'll live and die with Jeff Green's ability to make decisions."

Perhaps he shouldn't have trusted them. Not in his team's first Final Four. As a coach, maybe he should have monitored, and tried to influence, his players' instincts -- whether it was 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert's overly excited fouls or Green's reticence.

Finally, Georgetown's only freshman starter, DaJuan Summers, shot 1 for 10. The last time GU lost, to Syracuse in February, Summers also shot 1 for 10. Since then, he's been superior. But in a Final Four, he may also not be quite ready yet.

And even Hibbert, who scored 19 points and got his favorite shots at will in the brief minutes he played against Oden, managed to get himself into completely needless foul trouble of his own, limiting himself to 24 minutes.

"I just had to make smarter decisions when I was out there," said Hibbert, who got his first overeager foul 18 seconds -- yes, 18 seconds -- into the game. That's being over-amped, over-the-moon. And that's a form of stage fright. "I need to be an all-around better player when it comes to knowing when to foul and when not to." Or, of course, maybe he wasn't quite ready yet.

This was not a case of Georgetown failure so much as an inability to muster the same form that had led the Hoyas to 19 wins in their previous 20 games. Almost every player, except perhaps junior guard Jonathan Wallace, who had 19 points and only two turnovers, came up just slightly, but infuriating shy.

In 2001, when Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter lost a game they probably should have won in the NCAA semifinals, both were juniors. They decided to return and try again. The result will make them celebrities and honored guests at Maryland for the rest of their lives. However, neither was a big man with an NBA skill set. Neither passed up big bucks to stay a Terp.

Green and Hibbert are different. Before this game, every scout was sure Green had an NBA future. And after watching Hibbert's 9-for-13 performance -- "he got pretty much whatever shots he wanted" against Oden, Thompson said -- there seems little doubt where Hibbert can ply his trade in the future either.

If they return, which would improve both their games, then next season this same sublime nuttiness may return and, once more, the Hoyas may be part of it. But they call this clambake "March Madness" for a reason -- one the Hoyas may now grasp. Sometimes you have to experience it once, and be its victim, before you can return, keep your sanity and claim the prize.