An Upsetting Development

Georgetown Stumbles Against Davidson, Out of the NCAA Tournament

RALEIGH, N.C., March 23 -- Roy Hibbert's college basketball career was not supposed to end like this. After helping Georgetown get within two victories of a national championship last season, Hibbert delayed a professional career to return for his senior season, which he and Hoyas fans hoped would end with another appearance in the Final Four.

Instead, the 7-foot-2 center sat forlornly on the bench Sunday as the final seconds of the Hoyas' 74-70 loss to the underdog Davidson Wildcats ticked away, having fouled out after playing just 16 minutes and taking three shots.

The Hoyas, with their well-known basketball pedigree, were eliminated by a school whose entire NCAA tournament history entering Sunday included five victories, the most recent coming Friday. Sophomore Stephen Curry, a willowy shooter once deemed not good enough to play at a bigger program, scored 30 points, including 25 in the second half, to lead Davidson, a liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,700 that is a two-hour drive from RBC Center.

"Davidson beat Georgetown," said Davidson guard Max Paulhus Gosselin, a junior from Quebec. "That's all I have to say."

Davidson, the 10th seed in the Midwest Region, joins Western Kentucky and Villanova, the No. 12 seeds in the Midwest and West regions, as the most unlikely crashers of the NCAA tournament's round-of-16 party, while Georgetown joins Duke, which lost to West Virginia on Saturday at Verizon Center, as college basketball bluebloods that will be on the sideline during the tournament's second weekend.

Georgetown entered Sunday's game with one national title and 45 NCAA tournament victories on its r¿sum¿; Davidson's victory over Gonzaga on Thursday was its first in the tournament since 1969. Georgetown has four high school all-Americans on its team; Davidson has six players who did not grow up in the United States.

Georgetown appeared to be asserting its credentials early in the second half, taking a 17-point lead with 17 minutes 56 seconds remaining, but Davidson fought its way back by making timely shots and forcing the Hoyas into turning over the ball. A 16-2 run by Davidson midway through the second half ignited the sellout pro-Wildcats crowd.

Hibbert and the rest of the Georgetown seniors "honestly didn't deserve for their last game to finish like this," sophomore forward DaJuan Summers said. "It's definitely not good enough. It wasn't a secret that we wanted to win a national championship this year, and we definitely were talented enough to do it. It's just disappointing."

In a cruel irony, Hibbert's career and the Hoyas' season were vanquished by a player with a famous father -- Georgetown's bailiwick. Dell Curry, who played 16 seasons in the NBA, sat and watched his son at RBC Center, just like John Thompson Jr., Patrick Ewing Sr., and Glenn "Doc" Rivers (father of Georgetown sophomore Jeremiah Rivers).

It was a heartbreaking end for Georgetown's four seniors -- Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Tyler Crawford and Patrick Ewing Jr. -- whose careers coincided with a renaissance in Georgetown basketball.

Hibbert, Wallace and Crawford arrived on the Hilltop along with Coach John Thompson III, and stepped into a program that was coming off of a losing season that ended without a postseason berth. In the three years prior to their arrival, Davidson actually had appeared in more NCAA tournaments (one, in 2002) than Georgetown (none).

"Those seniors are the program," Thompson III said. "This loss is disappointing because of what that group has done. That group is the most special group of people I've ever been around. That's what's hard. I feel bad that those guys' season came to an end. More than any group I've ever been around, they understand the commitment, the sacrifice that's necessary for a team. It's hard right now."

But life goes on in the NCAA tournament. As the Georgetown players sat quietly in their locker room, holding back tears and consoling one another, cheers from the North Carolina-Arkansas game could be heard through the walls.

In the midst of that, Hibbert was reflective. He criticized his own performance and said that he should have played smarter after getting into foul trouble. He said that he let his teammates down.

Even as he watched Davidson mount its comeback and eventually pull ahead, Hibbert was confident that the Hoyas would find a way to win. After all, one of the hallmarks of this team -- and this senior class in particular -- was its resilience, and its ability to find ways to win close games. Hibbert figured that Wallace, the school's all-time leader in three-point baskets, had one more big shot left in him.

When the final buzzer sounded, triggering a giddy celebration by the Davidson players at midcourt, it was a shock. Hibbert said the past four years flashed before his eyes.

"I'm happy I came back. I just got a chance to play with the best players in the country, and they're all sitting in this locker room right now," Hibbert said. "I made relationships that will last forever. I have some memories that I'll never forget. It's just tough to see that I'm done. I'm done with Georgetown. No more games for me."