Georgetown 68, William & Mary 53
By Camille Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The lights inside Verizon Center dimmed as they always do prior to a Georgetown basketball game, but yesterday afternoon, the spotlight didn't immediately turn to the Hoyas players. Instead, it fixed on a dark blue banner hanging from the rafters, one that read "NCAA Final Four" and listed five years: 1943, 1982, 1984, 1985 and 2007.
The 11,364 fans inside the arena cheered as last season's accomplishment was recognized. But Coach John Thompson III was already moving ahead.
"Honestly," said Thompson, "I was wondering how long this was going to last until we got to the starting lineups."
The fifth-ranked Hoyas were also eager to move past last season and start working on this one. After an uneven start, they methodically pulled away from William & Mary, 68-53, yesterday afternoon.
Georgetown (1-0) is surrounded by high expectations this season, in part because it has four starters back from last season's Big East champion and Final Four team. Those four players -- senior center Roy Hibbert, senior guard Jonathan Wallace, junior guard Jessie Sapp and sophomore forward DaJuan Summers -- combined to score 66 points.
But the Hoyas are also learning how to play without Big East player of the year Jeff Green, who's now with the Seattle SuperSonics. Senior Patrick Ewing Jr. took Green's place in the starting lineup and had three rebounds and three steals.
"I felt proud of what we did last year, but Coach always emphasizes that last year is last year," said Hibbert, who had 23 points, three shy of his career high. "We have to move on and make improvements. We're a totally different team than we were last year, obviously, so we're working everything out now."
The Tribe (0-1) was picked to finish ninth in the Colonial Athletic Association, but it provided an interesting test for Georgetown. It brought a team with four returning starters, it runs a complex offensive scheme that is similar to what Coach John Beilein now employs at Michigan (the Hoyas' opponent Thursday), and it uses a mix of zone defenses.
"They make you think, which is good," Thompson said.
Georgetown used a variety of players and combinations. Sometimes the Hoyas surrounded Hibbert with four guards; in the second half, they used a zone defense with Hibbert, the 6-foot-8 Ewing and the 6-9 Vernon Macklin stretched across the back.
"I think we can be a little versatile this year because of our experience and our personnel," Thompson said. "We can give a lot of different looks, to tell you the truth. We can go big, we can go small; we can be fast, we can be long."
Georgetown led, 35-30, at halftime. After relying too heavily on three-pointers in the first half (17 of their 26 shots were from beyond the arc), the Hoyas made a point of getting the ball inside to the 7-2 Hibbert, who attempted only three shots in the first 20 minutes.
Hibbert looked smooth and decisive when he had the ball, working against smaller defenders. When William & Mary drew within 47-45, midway through the second half, the Hoyas went right to Hibbert, who scored their next six points. He powered his way through two defenders, converted a hook shot in the lane, and then was set up for an easy layup by Wallace (15 points). Hibbert was 9 of 11 from the field and added eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
"Once [Hibbert] gets it inside, you can't stop him, basically," William & Mary Coach Tony Shaver said. "He's not a guy, in the past, that's the primary option, that wanted to throw you on your shoulders and lead you home. I think he's probably going to have to do that more with this team."
Hoyas Notes: Freshman Chris Wright, who broke his foot last month and really only started practicing this past week, played nine minutes. . . . Referees are supposed to strictly enforce bench decorum rules this season, and Thompson was assessed a technical foul midway through the first half for wandering outside of the coach's box. Shaver also received a technical, less than two minutes after Thompson did. . . . Georgetown has sold approximately 3,200 student season ticket packages, an all-time high. The university's undergraduate enrollment is 6,853.
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