Freeman, Hoyas Off to Healthy Start
Big East Play to Be Test for Freshman

By Camille Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 5, 2008

Nothing, it seems, has fazed Georgetown guard Austin Freeman thus far in his college basketball career.

At Midnight Madness, the freshman from DeMatha was the second player introduced to the screaming capacity crowd, and he confidently pointed to the fans before breaking into a dance. Against No. 2 Memphis at raucous FedEx Forum last month, Freeman came off the bench to lead the Hoyas with 14 points, making 6 of 9 shots. And against Fordham earlier this week, he made his first career start and scored 12 points while making 4 of 6 shots.

Now, with the seventh-ranked Hoyas set to begin Big East play today at Rutgers, it is time to see if Freeman really is as unflappable as he seems.

"We'll see," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said. "I think so. I hope so. We're at the important part of the season now."

The Hoyas are coming off their first outright regular season Big East championship since 1989, and they were picked as this season's co-favorites, along with Louisville.

But there is a lot of uncertainty as conference play begins. Georgetown (10-1) and No. 10 Marquette (11-1) appear to be the two best teams right now; both are deep, balanced and experienced, and both currently have healthy rosters -- something of a rarity among the top teams.

Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon is considering adding walk-ons from the football team to bolster a No. 13 Panthers squad that has lost three players, including starters Mike Cook (season-ending knee injury) and Levance Fields (fractured foot, out eight to 12 weeks), to significant injuries. Louisville (9-4), which has plummeted out of the national rankings, finally is at full strength after welcoming back senior David Padgett, a preseason all-Big East forward-center who recovered quickly from a broken kneecap, and senior forward Juan Palacios.

No. 17 Villanova, which doesn't have a senior on its roster, currently is playing without its leading rebounder, 6-foot-10 sophomore Casiem Drummond (stress fracture in his right ankle). Syracuse lost junior guard Eric Devendorf, a preseason all-conference pick, to a season-ending knee injury, and against St. John's on Wednesday, the Orange started three freshmen for the first time in Jim Boeheim's 32-year tenure as coach. Providence (9-4) was blown out at Marquette on Thursday, but the Friars were missing two of their top guards.

"It's still the Big East," Thompson said. "The teams are still deep, and you still have a league that has arguably -- maybe not arguably -- the best coaches, who are used to making adjustments and adaptations. . . . As I look around the league, the landscape is still scary."

That sentiment was reinforced during the first three days of Big East competition. Only two teams entered conference play with losing records -- Cincinnati at 5-7 and DePaul at 4-7 -- and both of them recorded upsets in their respective Big East openers. Cincinnati, which finished last in the league with just two conference wins last season, edged host Louisville, 58-57, and DePaul beat Villanova, 84-76.

"I think you've seen in the first couple of games in conference play -- and I say it every year, but it's true -- everybody can beat everyone, regardless of what preseason rankings are, regardless of what projections are at this point," Thompson said. "You have to come prepared. Everything is heightened."

At least Freeman and the Hoyas are coming in having played well recently. Georgetown was very sharp in the first eight minutes of its 82-55 win over Fordham, and junior guard Jessie Sapp is coming off perhaps the best game of his career.

With Freeman, who is shooting 59.1 percent from the field and 44.8 percent from beyond the three-point arc, in the starting lineup, the Hoyas have the best-shooting starting five in the Big East. All five starters -- as well as reserves Jeremiah Rivers and Chris Wright -- are shooting better than 45 percent from the field and have made at least 40 percent of their three-point attempts. Even 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert falls into that category; he has made the one three-pointer he has attempted this season.

"That's by design," said Thompson, whose team leads the nation in field goal percentage (52.6 percent). "With the emphasis and a lot of attention going to Roy, if we put good shooters around him, we should have success. . . . You've seen up until this point, defenses have made a conscious effort just to pack it in and sit two, three, four guys around Roy. So we have to have a balance."

They also have to be an unselfish group. Thompson constantly stresses to his players that "there's no need for guys to take slightly contested shots, because if you pass it to the next guy he's going to make it." The Hoyas' top nine players each have at least 12 assists, and 64 percent of their field goals have come off assists.

Freeman, who is averaging 9.3 points, has meshed well with that philosophy. He was the best player on the area's best high school team last season, as well as a McDonald's all-American, but he is willing to do whatever the Hoyas need.

"I just want to contribute to the team," Freeman said. "If I have to give up shots to give it to my teammates, that's what I'm going to do to help my team win."

He's very calm on the court, showing little emotion, and he rarely makes mistakes, whether it's taking a bad shot or making an ill-advised pass or pushing the ball at the wrong time. Thompson says Freeman is the type of player who never makes the same mistake twice.

"He's not out there trying to force and make plays all by himself," senior guard Jonathan Wallace said. "He really has an understanding of the concepts of how to play the game, and that helps us out a lot. . . . He fits really well into the system, being unselfish and not forcing anything. He's a heady player, and he's very smart."