The state of college basketball may be “ever evolving,” as Lee Reed put it in his statement backing Patrick Ewing for another year, but there’s one thing that’s stayed the same this season. That would be the fact that Georgetown basketball is god-awful. It was fitting that the Hoyas decided to pay tribute to their host state of New Jersey on Wednesday night by recreating the most distinctive feature of the Garden State: a raging tire fire located somewhere in Newark. Despite putting up a valiant fight towards the end, Georgetown lost yet again. This time, they fell on the road to the Seton Hall Pirates by a final score of 73-68.
That Wednesday started off inauspiciously, as the Athletics Department released a statement—but not to any of the Georgetown-specific sites—signed by Lee Reed, that gave Patrick Ewing a vote of confidence, presumably for another year as the head coach of Georgetown. Reed said that he would work with Ewing to “evaluate every aspect of the men’s basketball program and to make the necessary changes for him to put us back on the path for success next year.” That was enough to send Hoya Twitter into a meltdown.
Of course, there was basketball to be played that day too.
The Hoyas hung with the Pirates in the first half, led by Kaiden Rice and his 17 points, thanks to shooting out of his mind. He made 5 threes in the first half alone, breaking Allen Iverson’s single-season record of 88 three-pointers in the process. It was pretty neat, but the Hoyas still went into the locker room at halftime down 42-36.
The culprit? Do I even need to answer it for you? (It was the defense.)
The Hall managed to shoot 53% from the field, and the Hoyas just had no answer defensively.
Coming out of the half, the Hoyas continued to keep up their intensity. They traded baskets with Seton Hall, and with a surprisingly stout defense in the early going of the second half, Georgetown was able to slowly chip away at Seton Hall’s lead.
Remember I mentioned how Georgetown did its best to be a living tribute to New Jersey’s tire fires? So far, this all seems pretty good, so you might be wondering where the tire fire comes into play. Yeah, things didn’t go off the rails for Georgetown until the last few minutes of the game, and then they went really off the rails.
There were several missed layups and poor shots right when Georgetown needed it the most. The Hoyas were down by two with just under a minute remaining, and what followed can only be described as a comedy of errors.
The fitting conclusion to this was the fact that Georgetown still had a chance to tie with a three on their final possession. They went to Kaiden Rice for the three, which he proceeded to airball. Despite his strong first half, Rice went scoreless in the second half. Additionally, Tyler Beard was available to play but did not play.
It was another gut punch for Georgetown and the remaining fans who have persisted in watching this season despite their better instincts and the pleas of their loved ones.
That isn’t all, though, lest we forget how the “landscape” of intercollegiate athletics is “ever evolving.”
In the days following the game, reports have come out that the Hoyas are looking to add Kevin Broadus to the staff. Broadus is a close Thompson associate and former assistant to John Thompson III at Georgetown. In addition, there have been reports coming out that say Ronny Thompson will likely be remaining in his role of chief of staff for next year.
I mean, what are we even doing here?
Do we have any standards? When your friend is thinking about backsliding and going back to their iffy ex, you shake it the hell out of them. Or when your loser partner is also an absent partner and they’d prefer to watch George Mason than go to Georgetown’s Senior Day ceremony, you dump their sorry ass. As a program, do we think so little of ourselves that this is what we think the best we can do is? Jesus, guys, GET IT THE FUCK TOGETHER. I’ve never seen a team with a winning record in the Big East in my time on campus, and even I know this is a disservice to the history and legacy of Georgetown basketball.We can squabble all day about whether Ewing is the guy for the job, but there’s no denying that he’s been set up for failure from the get-go, and the program (if reports are true) seems content to give him another chance just to set him up for failure again. But hey, that’s Vegas the “ever evolving landscape of college athletics,” baby!
Amen. To everything you say. Now, if we can just penetrate the bubble that must exist around the Administration and AD. Is it possible that they know what the sentiment and reactions are and think that this is a plan? Like you say, “GITFT, guys!”