Back On Track?

The Georgetown Hoyas are seemingly back on track, currently sporting a five-game winning streak, with all of those wins having come against Big East teams. In the past 72 hours, the Hoyas, have defeated two Big East monsters in then 7th ranked Villanova and 13th ranked Louisville, on the road and at home respectively. Both wins were nail-biters that went down to the wire. It seems that this Hoya team has finally regained its footing after a dismal few weeks that began with a 69-55 rout suffered at the hands of Notre Dame on December 29 and thankfully for Georgetown faithful culminated with an embarrassing 72-57 loss to Pitt on January 12.

The Hoyas are far from being out of the thick of things yet; it is a widely-known fact that when you are a college basketball team in the Big East there are no lulls in the season and no gimme-wins, exemplified by the fact that there are currently eight Big East teams are ranked in the AP Top 25.

The next two games for Georgetown will be against Providence and Syracuse, teams that have struggled as of late. Providence has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team all year long; after starting out 12-2, the Friars withered away when conference play began, losing its first six conference games. The Friars then went on to beat none other than Louisville and Villanova (both at home), but then lost to Seton Hall this past Sunday. A young team, the Friars have only three seniors on their entire squad - only one of which plays with any regularity - while the rest of the team is made up of freshmen and sophomores. This team has had its bright spots, but overall should not be much of a problem for the Hoyas since the team is 1-7 on the road this year.

As usual, the Syracuse Orange will most likely prove to be a worthy opponent, especially since the game will be played at the Carrier Dome. Of course, it is tough not to mention (especially being a Georgetown fan) that as of late, the Orange are sporting a four game losing streak, after starting off the year with an 18 game winning streak. Although the first two losses were to Pittsburgh and Villanova, the two more recent games have been dreadful, the third loss being a 90-68 shellacking at the hands of Seton Hall and the most recent being a six point loss to Marquette. With their next two games on the road at UConn and USF, the Orange could come out flat against the Hoyas next Wednesday, but with a coach like Jim Boeheim, it is very unlikely that this losing streak will last too long. Georgetown just has to hope that they don't catch Syracuse when they are regaining their confidence, and looking to beat their rival at home after a road trip.

After a disappointing couple of weeks, the Hoyas finally seem back to where many expected to be before the season. The St. John's game last Wednesday saw Jason Clark go back to normal as he dropped 16 points, and helped the entire team re-assert its power in a 77-52 beat-down. The Villanova game saw Austin Freeman's return to power, as he dropped 30 points en route to a much needed victory. Finally, the last game against Louisville was Chris Wright's re-emergence back onto the scene; Wright had 24 points after a scoreless game against Villanova.

The "Big Three" of Freeman, Wright and Clark appears to be back to where it needs to be for this team to be consistently good. But, in addition to the Big Three producing each game, role players have to be able find a niche on the team in order for Georgetown to have continued success. Hollis Thompson has found a role that suits him very well as the sixth man, coming off the bench the last few games to contribute key three pointers. After an uninspired few games, Julian Vaughn has finally gotten back to his game, pulling down rebounds, playing tough defense down low and contributing points off of the hook shot he has refined for the past two seasons.

Of course, the freshmen cannot be overlooked. Nate Lubick has been praised constantly for his toughness by play-by-play announcers this season and has emerged as the starting power forward over Hollis Thompson. Although his numbers have not been outstanding, Lubick is learning how to maneuver better down low both on offense and defense, and will soon be a force to be reckoned with. Another freshman, Markel Starks is thriving in his role as backup point guard and seems prepared to become Chris Wright's successor next year. Like Lubick, his stats are not great, but it is clear that he is learning the trade and quickly seizing the role of floor general whenever he gets the chance to hit the court.

Still, the Hoyas have some problems that need to be fixed. The team's wins this season have always come on the backs of individuals instead of the whole team. It either seems to be Austin Freeman or Chris Wright or Jason Clark making up for another teammate's dismal performance. If this team wants to be a serious contender, the big three especially need to bring their A-game every game instead of just a handful of them.

In each of the last two wins, the Hoyas have not been close to exemplary. In the game against Villanova the whole team had to constantly rely on Freeman, and at times Clark to bail them out, escaping with only a three point victory. The game against Louisville was even worse; in an extremely sloppy victory in which Georgetown turned the ball over 16 times (the same amount as Louisville), the Hoyas did not play their slow, patient style of basketball, playing right into the hands of Louisville by getting into a track meet. Many of their possessions ended with ill-advised passes and shots. Although they were able to get points off the fast break, especially when Chris Wright had the ball, many of those points came off of Louisville's own turnovers, which were caused only in part by Georgetown's defense and mostly by Louisville's poor play; many of those fast-break points also often led to Louisville responding with open three-point attempts. In another three-point victory, the Hoyas were far from being Top 10 material.

With no single dominant team in the Big East, Georgetown looks primed to work their way up the ranks if they can clean up their play and get everyone on the same page. The talent is there, the Hoyas just need to be able to put it together more consistently.