If Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III had to pick a favorite player from the 2006-07 NBA season, he would probably think more along the lines of Monta Ellis than Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki, of course, was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. But it was Ellis, a player who had notched just 18 minutes and six points per game the previous season, that burst onto the scene and averaged 16.5 points and four assists en route to winning the association’s most improved player award. It is that sort of progress that excites Thompson. Tomorrow’s out-of-conference contest against No. 2 Memphis offers the No. 5 Hoyas a chance to see where they stand at present. But despite the hype surrounding the game, Thompson insists that it is just one of many steps in what he values most: the process. “We’re not at Christmas yet, so who cares who is No. 5 and who is No. 2 and who is No. 1,” Thompson said Wednesday. “Our point of emphasis always has been – will continue to be – let’s keep getting better. I said it last year and I’ll say it this year, we want to be, between the first day of practice and whenever the season is over, the most improved team in the country.” This is a mantra Thompson has stressed since the beginning of his tenure on the Hilltop, and it seems to be the underpinning of his basic coaching philosophy. When Thompson arrived at Georgetown in April 2004, he inherited just nine players, only four of which had averaged more than 10 minutes the previous season. Add to the mix five freshmen, and gradual development was essentially the only choice for that season’s theme. Yet, since establishing himself with a 19-13 record in that first season and a trip to the Sweet 16 the next, Thompson’s belief in incremental improvement has not wavered. “That [idea of improving little by little] is going to be my theme next year, too, for whosever sitting here talking to me,” Thompson told THE HOYA after the 2004-05 campaign. “That’ll be my theme next year and after that. That’s my theme.” Last year, despite starting the season ranked eighth in the country, Thompson’s team sputtered to a 4-3 start. The first defeat was a shocking upset at McDonough Gymnasium and the second was a loss to then-unranked Oregon 10 days later. Georgetown capped off its disappointing start with a second-half flop against Duke four days after Oregon. “It’s about us. It doesn’t matter where we are going. We have to improve,” Thompson said after losing to the Ducks. “We have a long, long way to go. . It’s about us and how we do things and how we need to do things.” Fast forward a year, and even with eight consecutive wins to open the season, a top five ranking, and expectations for a repeat run to the Final Four, Thompson still emphasizes game-to-game improvement. Unlike many coaches who use their team’s out-of-conference slate to either polish their win-loss record or pad their resume for March, Thompson views what he calls the “preseason” as a chance to experiment. So far, Georgetown has worked on its traditional Princeton-style offense but has also worked with a more up-tempo scheme. On defense, the Hoyas’ have employed a 2-3 zone, man-to-man and a full-court press. Nine Hoyas average between 17.6 and 23.6 minutes per contest. Often, Thompson has made wholesale substitutions, swapping one unit of five for another. In this season’s first couple of games, it was his team’s defense that Thompson lauded and its offense that he felt needed work. Lately, he’s praised the Hoyas’ ability to run on offense and “make good decisions at a fast pace,” while chiding the team for surrendering too many uncontested shots. ake no mistake, though, Thompson says he always sees room for improvement on both ends of the court. That’s where playing at a team like Memphis comes in. While many of the classic Big East powers shy away from road games early in the year – Connecticut has not played a true road game, traveling only short distances to neutral courts in New York City and Boston, and Syracuse has played outside of the Empire State just once, at Virginia – Thompson has not hesitated to hit the road, with the goal of preparing his team for their nine league road games and the neutral-site tournaments that he hopes will come after that. “You put the schedule together in the spring and summer and say, `Okay, you’re going to Alabama and you’re going to Old Dominion and you’re going to Memphis,’ and hopefully those games will help prepare you for when you have to go to those Big East cities,” Thompson said. “And this is the same thing. We’re going down [to Memphis] and playing a terrific team, a veteran team in their building, so hopefully it will prepare us.” In Thompson’s first three seasons, Georgetown traveled to Davidson, Navy, James Madison, Oregon, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Fairfield and Michigan. Even with a marquee matchup on the horizon, Wednesday most of Thompson’s players were in lock-step with their coach. “Of course it’s a big game, but we just have to be consistent with what we’re doing,” senior guard Jonathan Wallace said. “Coach has said we’re playing well, we’re in a good position to be 8-0, but at the same time we have room to improve, and this is a perfect example to improve and hopefully do well.” Added senior center Roy Hibbert: “We go into every game with blinders on our head and we’re not really worried about rankings or anything like that. Memphis is just another team for us. We have to get better.” Thompson’s emphasis on steady improvement does not take the place of a desire to win. Ever the competitor, Thompson expects his team to win every time it takes the floor. Rather, it is “style points” that Thompson says he is willing to pass up and the early season notoriety that comes with them about which he cares little. He has a unique ability to put each game in the proper perspective. Wednesday’s pregame media session at McDonough saw at least three TV stations and almost a dozen print journalists turn out to preview tomorrow’s affair. The Washington Post reported Friday that Memphis issued between 75 and 85 credentials for the game. ESPN will televise the contest live at noon. The nation is ready for what should be the best college basketball game of the season thus far. But don’t expect that to change anything for Thompson. “It’s great for the fans, gives you guys [in the media] a lot to write about, two versus five,” Thompson said. “But at the end of the day, where we are, where we are projected, where people think you are in December, is irrelevant. We’re trying to prepare for March.”