Every year, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, time stands still all over Europe in honor of the Armistice signed on Nov. 11, 1919, ending World War I. Traffic grinds to a halt, business deals are set aside and lively phone calls are silenced as an entire continent reflects on what was arguably the greatest war the world had ever known.
When the clock strikes noon this year on Nov. 11, the Hilltop might resemble the Champs Elysee or Trafalgar Square. When junior center Roy Hibbert extends an elongated arm toward the Verizon Center ceiling for the opening tip of the 2006-07 Georgetown basketball season, it will be the culmination of nearly eight months of reflection, anticipation and excitement.
While the bright fluorescent roof lights of Verizon may temporarily blind Hibbert at the starting jump, the ceiling for the 7-foot-2 center and the rest of his Hoya teammates this season is virtually made of glass.
‘We made it to the Sweet 16. That’s fine, but that’s nothing,’Hibbert says. ‘We obviously want to win a national championship, and we need to have confidence to do that.’/p>
Building on the monumental success of 2006 is something Georgetown has focused on ever since watching Joakim Noah and the rest of his Florida teammates dance on the Metrodome floor following the Gators’ 57-53 win last March 25, which sent the Gators on their way to an eventual national championship ” and sent the Hoyas home to watch the rest of March Madness on TV.
From the wiliest veteran to the greenest incoming freshman, every member of the 2006 Hoya squad escalated his training efforts during the summer.
‘I conditioned myself a lot, and I lost about 15 pounds, so that I’ll be able to move a lot more and be able to help my team out,’Hibbert says. ‘I’d get to the gym and go lift, and then I’d go workout, and the days where we didn’t have open gym, I’d go run around campus, two- or three-mile run, I go lift again.’/p>
‘This offseason, we just took this summer and this preseason personal to get better individually so there wont be any let down,’sophomore forward Octavius ‘Tay’Spann adds.
No one has been working harder than the players on the perimeter. They are, after all, the Hoyas’ lone question mark heading into the season. After losing the steady play of guard Ashanti Cook (COL ’06) and fifth-year swingman Darrel Owens (COL ’05) to graduation, juniors Jonathan Wallace, who has started every game Georgetown has played over the past two seasons, and Tyler Crawford, as well as sophomores Jessie Sapp and Marc Egerson, will look to pilot the backcourt and complement the exceptional play of first team all-Big East frontcourt teammates Hibbert and junior forward Jeff Green.
‘We’re always trying to get in the gym, and if one person’s here, they always calling another,’Wallace says. ‘The guys just constantly push ourselves. It’s the only way we can get better.’/p>
Wallace says that a summer spent working on his three-point shot should help ease the transition process, and Crawford has made a point of sharpening his passing and defensive game to compete in what will be a dog-eat-dog Big East conference. Their work ethic has Green confident that there will be no let down from last season.
‘They don’t get the respect that they deserve, but they are hard workers,’Green says of the men charged with getting him the ball. ‘We probably got some of the top guards in the nation, I feel like, because of the work that they put in to make our team better.’/p>
Head Coach John Thompson III says the emergence of a great perimeter player is essential for his team to have success in his third year as Hoya headman.
‘We have a big hole that was left from last year, no doubt about that. You talk about the scoring, but just as important, we lost just about all of our perimeter passing, we lost our best perimeter defenders and so, we lost a lot,’Thompson says. ‘But I have confidence in the guys that someone will step up, come in and to work and to fill those voids.’/p>
The main task of the new-look backcourt will be to feed the two-headed monster down low. The combination of an improved Hibbert and an already impressive Green has bolstered preseason expectations to a level high enough to rival any previous season in the program’s 100 years.
Few, if any, should be able to stop the two junior big men when they are on their game this season. Hibbert has transformed himself from a gawky freshman struggling to find his way to a powerful force under the basket being mentioned in the same breath as Dikembe Mutombo (FLL ’91) and Alonzo Mourning (CAS ’92).
‘[Hibbert is] growing by leaps and bounds,’Wallace says. ‘He’s working hard and takes it upon himself to push every guy on the team to reach that high level. He wants to be a dominant force and we need him to be that.’/p>
The Hoyas will count on Hibbert, who has worked with past Georgetown big men on becoming a more complete player, to crash the boards with authority after averaging less than seven boards last season .
‘I’m gonna make sure I get my rebounds,’Hibbert says. ‘Anything that comes off the board, I have to get.’/p>
Should a ball carom off the back iron past Hibbert, Green should be lying in wait. Green proved last year that he was one of the nation’s best all-around players, averaging 11.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
‘I feel safe when [Green’s] out there, and so I think him being out there has helped Roy and me and everybody else,’Thompson says. ‘You have the luxury of putting him a lot of different places on the floor, and he can solve a lot of different problems.’/p>
Green complements his scoring ability with an uncanny knack for finding the open man, a rare attribute for a big forward.
‘I guess it’s just awareness of where the ball needs to be,’Green says. ‘I’m just throwing it out there, my teammates are reaching out there, grabbing it and they are finishing it, which makes me look good, you know, that’s a good thing.’/p>
Perhaps more vital to the team’s success is Green’s leadership ability. Several Hoyas described Green’s cool confidence as an invaluable component of Georgetown’s return to hoops prominence.
‘I feel like if I stay calm, that’ll calm our players down and keep them cool and try to focus on what we need to do,’Green says. ‘So I’m going to still be composed, but if something needs to be said I’m going to say it.’/p>
Green proudly proclaims that his team could be the best in the Big East, if not the nation.
‘If we keep working hard we can be the best team in the nation,’Green says of his team’s chances.
The third member of the frontcourt triumvirate may not be a familiar face, but he certainly is a familiar name. The roar from the Georgetown faithful the first time Patrick Ewing Jr. jogs onto the floor might rival the deafening din that welcomed his famous father back to McDonough Gymnasium during Midnight Madness.
After spending a season in a suit and tie following his transfer from Indiana, Ewing Jr. now dons the hallowed No. 33 jersey worn by both his father and Mourning. A potential scoring threat off the bench, Ewing will present matchup problems for opponents with his wide range of shooting skills and should help relieve the pressure placed on the shoulders of Hibbert and Green. Ewing also brings a contagious passion for basketball that has drawn raves from his head coach.
‘I’ve said to many people,’Thompson says, ‘that I think Patrick won games for us last year, not being able to get on the floor, just with his energy and enthusiasm, and his ability to will his teammates through situations.’/p>
After a disheartening two seasons in Bloomington, Ind., and his season as a spectator, Ewing hopes that he can provide a little more than chicken soup for the basketball soul this season.
‘I just want to get rebounds and play defense, dive for loose balls, do things that people on other teams won’t do,’Ewing says. ‘Scoring happens when it happens. I’m not really looking to average 35, 20 points a game. I’m just looking to win games.’/p>
In order to achieve the success that Ewing craves, the team will have to mesh and continue to restore the intimidating swagger that has defined successful Georgetown teams of the past.
Such brashness should serve the Hoyas well during a cut-throat schedule that features trips to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face Michigan and to Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., for a nationally televised rematch with Duke on Dec. 2. Georgetown cannot afford to look past any opponent in a conference that boasts a potent Pittsburgh team, perennial powers UConn, Villanova and Syracuse, as well as a Louisville team hungry to prove last season’s troubles were a fluke.
‘I think that is the beauty of it, or what’s scary about the Big East, is that year in and year out you’re going to have very good teams,’Thompson said. ‘Year in and year out you’re going to have very good players. Year in, year out you’re going to have very good coaches and very good programs.
‘So they’re all good. There are no easy nights.’/p>
Expectations are high. The schedule is daunting. The Hoyas boast a frontcourt to make Dick Vitale drool, a point guard hungry to prove himself, a Thompson on the bench and a Ewing wearing No. 33.
Even after 100 years of Georgetown basketball, the future has never seemed so bright.