First, props to West Virginia on their first NIT victory since 1942 (added bonus: it was another win over an ACC team). Let’s hope Beilein stays at WVU and doesn’t go to Michigan. At Big East Hoops, we’re all fans of the peculiar system he runs over there. It’s fun to watch, and we’d like to continue to watch it for a few years, and have him gain even more success. So John, please stay at West Virginia University. As for my man Joe Alexander? Zero points last night. Sigh.

Second, props to the boys over at thevanburenboys.blogspot.com. They’ve stepped it up and have had some great coverage of Georgetown this week. Along with following the basketball issues, they’ve found some interesting pieces on the larger social issues — how Georgetown changed college basketball back in the day and how the “Princeton” offense with black players breaks down the stereotype of the unintelligent black athlete. There are also some great articles (1, 2, 3)on the relationship between the Georgetown offense and the Princeton offense. And this great quote from Pete Carril: “The measure of any teacher, provided he’s not an egomaniac, is to see anybody that he taught do better than he did.” That man is so Yoda.

Third, I’d like to muse a bit about the OSU game and what to watch for. While I’ve seen Georgetown a bunch of times this year, I haven’t had the opportunity to see OSU play that much. But from what I’ve seen — it’s all about their guards (especially on offense), even though Oden gets all the press. Oden is no better of a shot blocker than Emeka Okafor was. And to be honest, I don’t seem him being any more significant in the pros than Marcus Camby (when he’s healthy). This isn’t as much a slight as you might think — Camby has had some great years in the pros. Here’s how I see the game breaking down (feel free to call me a raving idiot, if you disagree):

• Will OSU press? This has been extremely effective against Georgetown. Case in point: Villanova played Georgetown three times this year (see here for our recap of one of the games), and they played them tough three times (even in their loss to G’town in the Big East Tournament, where the Hoyas dominated Villanova in the first half). It was their press that caused Georgetown fits. Even though their guards are effective in the half-court set, it seems that they are more used to throwing (and catching) short, precise passes than the longer passes that are necessary to beat a press. If Motta decides to press, this may cause the Hoyas fits.
• Hibbert vs. Oden: Actually, I’m not too concerned about the matchup on the block. I’m curious what happens when Hibbert steps out to the high post (or even to the three point line). Has Oden had to deal with this? Will he have to (if they play zone, he may just be able to sit back and anchor the defense)? If Oden does step out of the interior, it’ll be interesting to see what he does. My guess is Oden hasn’t had to do this much this year. If he backs off, will Hibbert be able to hit that jump shot? If he doesn’t, will Hibbert rack up a ton of assists to cutting players? I’m not too concerned about Oden’s impact on the offensive end — he hasn’t scored more than X points in many years.
• Who’s going to guard Jeff Green: It looks like it’ll be Ivan Harris. But he’s going to have his hands full. Green has been playing amazingly well in this tournament; furthermore, he’s really upped his leadership of the team. One of my favorite moments of last week’s UNC-Georgetown game was when Jonathan Wallace had just gotten the ball back on defense and was thinking of pushing the ball up the court — Green looked at him and motioned with his hand — “slow down.” It was around then that Georgetown-UNC looked less like a track race and more like the half court set that Georgetown flourishes in.

Should be a great game on Saturday. Good luck to those Hoyas!

Categories: Georgetown, donald, Postseason