Nova Hosts Georgetown Saturday

Foe: Georgetown Hoyas (14-12) (5-10)

Recent History: Villanova and Georgetown have a storied history, highlighted by "The Perfect Upset" in the 1985 NCAA Championship game. Georgetown leads the all-time series 38-27. Jay Wright is 5-6 vs. Georgetown, but the Hoyas are currently riding a four game winning streak against Nova. Last season Georgetown played Nova once in the regular season and once in the Big East tournament, with Nova losing both times. The regular season game at Georgetown ended on the controversial foul call on Corey Stokes, 55-53. Scottie Reynolds had a game-high 24 points, while Georgetown was led by Roy Hibbert and Jonathan Wallace. The Big East Tournament game was a 82-63 blowout, fueled by seventeen 3-pointers made by the Hoyas. Georgetown lost Hibbert and Wallace to graduation, but added the highly talented 6'11 freshman, Greg Monroe. This year's team is balanced with four players averaging double figures in scoring: DaJuan Summers (13.6), Greg Monroe (12.9), Chris Wright (12.9), Austin Freeman (12.3). Senior guard Jessie Sapp is also a player to watch. He's only averaging 6.6 points per game, but he had 23 points against us last year in the BET on 6-9 shooting from downtown.

Best Win: 74-63 at UConn

Worst Loss: 65-60 at Seton Hall

Famous Alumni: Basketball: Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutumbo, Sleepy Floyd, Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert
Other: Bill Clinton, Jim Gaffigan, Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight), a lot of politicians


Fun Facts:

• 5 Final Fours, 1 National Championship (1984)

• 7 Big East Tournament titles, 4 Big East regular season titles

• Nickname is derived from the Greek and Latin chant, "Hoya Saxa", which translates to "What rocks".

Complimentary Youtube Video:


Final Verdict: This has been a surprising and disappointing season for Georgetown. They were ranked seven spots ahead of Villanova in the preseason coaches poll at #18. I criticized that ranking at the time, and because of the losses of Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Patrick Ewing Jr., Jeremiah Rivers, I wasn't as high on this team as most of the rest of the national media. Ironically, now after they have struggled through the Big East season, I am not as down on Georgetown as most of the national media is. They really don't have any horrible losses, and they do have some signature wins (#2 UConn, #8 Syracuse, #15 Memphis). Georgetown has the #1 toughest strength of schedule, which needs to be taken into consideration. Memphis is considered a lock for the tournament right now, and not only did Georgetown beat them, but I doubt Memphis would do much better than 5-10 playing Georgetown's Big East schedule. And there are plenty of other "Memphis's" out there being considered over Georgetown. Villanova's next opponent, Notre Dame is in the same situation. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but if Georgetown can win a couple more games, I think they deserve an at large bid. This all makes Saturday's meeting a very important game for Georgetown. I think Jay Wright and his players understand Georgetown's situation, and therefore will not overlook this game. I say Nova wins in a close game.

TV: 12:00 PM on ESPN

Links: Game Notes, AP, VUH, IBBW, VBTN, LGN, VV