The start of the basketball season is always one of the most magical times of the year. As is the case every season, there are confusion, question marks and bold predictions surrounding the Georgetown men’s basketball team. Once again, we are ranked outside the Top 25, and many believe we are underrated. Already, this season is following a familiar path as the Hoyas lost a big game early in the season, but we hope that we’ll make a long run to open up Big East play; Georgetown lost a star player in Otto Porter, but sees Josh Smith’s 25-point performance in the opener as a sign of good things to come. Once again, we will have to brush off memories of an early-round upset in the NCAA Tournament and refuse to believe that JTIII’s job will ever be in jeopardy.
Sure, we love our team, and as a result, the Hilltop is charged with a chronic case of optimism.
But are we hopelessly optimistic? After witnessing the harsh reality of the past three seasons, my hopes are a little more tempered this year.
I remember 2010. Despite a brilliant 11-1 start, I was handed the worst Christmas present ever, as the Hoyas dropped four of five Big East games over the winter break. An 8-0 run during the middle of conference play – including wins against ranked Villanova, Louisville and Syracuse – got our hopes up, only to be once again disappointed by a 1-5 end to the regular season. To top it off, we were upset a week later by VCU, losing 74-56 in the first round of the Big Dance.
I remember 2011. A late three-pointer by Hollis Thompson sealed a euphoric win over #12 Alabama, and we got off to a tremendous 13-1 start. With just a few losses scattered through the winter, we ultimately lost to Cincinnati in a double-overtime Big East semifinal. Ten days later, we were upset 66-63 by NC State in the second round of the tournament. Heartbroken by the narrow defeat, the Hilltop that Sunday evening was the quietest I can ever remember – knowing that we had seen our beloved Henry Sims, Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson play for the very last time.
I remember last year. While abroad, I streamed every game on my computer, glued to the screen at obscene hours of the night while my roommate was sleeping. It was perhaps our most promising campaign, as we lost only six games while destroying Syracuse twice during the regular season. But the Orange had the last laugh, beating us 58-55 in overtime of the Big East tournament. While they went on to the Final Four, the Hoyas suffered a most spectacular defeat to Florida Gulf Coast – one of the most embarrassing losses in Georgetown history.
Will this year be any different? If this year is anything like the last three years, here is the narrative it will follow. We’ll start off with an early-season run, beating the likes of Colgate, DePaul and Providence in games that feel much closer than they should be. We’ll drop a few big ones, too: No. 5 Kansas, who beat Duke earlier this week, will likely be an insurmountable hurdle, and I think newcomers Xavier, Butler and Creighton are talented additions to the Big East conference. However, the Big East has lost perennial monsters like Syracuse and Louisville, and the Hoyas are a good bet to finish near the top of the conference. Finally, the year will end with a March Madness heartbreaker – maybe even a mind-numbing defeat to a No. 12 or No. 13 seed out of nowhere.
My prediction sounds more pessimistic than most, but I’m not bitter about it. Every team is going to lose some close regular season games, so that does not really bother me. And even though we definitely will get upset along the way, some of my best memories on the Hilltop have to do with those nail-biters. We went absolutely nuts in my Copley suite when Hollis sunk his three in the final seconds against Alabama. Crowding around the computer screen in dark, snowy Copenhagen was a special way to experience our 20-point beat-down of the Orange late last season. And even losing in overtime to top-ranked Indiana was a good bit of fun.
What can really make you bitter is the last game of the season, which – with the exception of 1984 – we will always, always lose. It is kind of like the last line in the movie “Moneyball”: Billy is still trying to win the last game of the season. It stinks to be a perennial underperformer when the entire country is watching and all the money is on the line.
But hey, you can’t win them all – especially the last one, which we remember the most. That’s the reality of Georgetown basketball.