Georgetown was picked to finish 10th in last fall’s Big East Preseason Poll (there are 11 schools). Nobody thought they’d still be looking for their first conference win 11 games into their league schedule.
The Hoyas became the 10th team in conference history to start the season with 10 or more Big East losses. Surprisingly, the list doesn’t include Rutgers — how did that happen? — but it does include DePaul and Seton Hall twice, plus St. John’s three times (former league foes South Florida and Miami round out the infamous bunch).
Only three teams have gone winless over an entire league season: Miami in 1993-94 and DePaul in 2008-09 both finished 0-18, while Providence went 0-6 in the Big East’s first season of 1979-80.
Georgetown (6-15, 0-10) is one of six Division I schools still looking for their first conference win: Nebraska (Big Ten), Western Michigan (MAC), San Jose State (Mountain West), Lamar (WAC), IUPUI (Horizon), and Delaware State (MEAC) are the others.
The Hoyas have gotten blown out (seven conference losses have come by double digits) while also losing heartbreakers (Gtown went scoreless for the final 1:24 in a 56-53 loss at Butler). They’ve been outscored (allowing 90 or more points three times) while also getting shut down (scoring under 60 points three times). They’ve started slow (trailing 13-0 with 14:15 left at Providence) and faded fast (shooting five of 25 with 10 turnovers in the second half against the Friars in D.C.).
During his four years as a player, Patrick Ewing’s teams lost a combined 13 Big East regular season games. But for the fifth time in his fifth year as head coach, the Hoyas won’t finish with a winning conference record.
“We don’t have time to exhale or get down on ourselves, we have to keep on playing,” Ewing said after last Thursday’s 90-77 loss to St. John’s, a game where they never led.
“We’re only going to win when everybody in that room decides that whatever we’re doing right now is not working,” Ewing said after Sunday’s 71-52 loss to No. 15 Providence. “And they have to decide are they going to listen to what we want them to do and get it done.”
Last month, the Washington Post’s Candace Buckner and ESPN’s Myron Metcalf each wrote columns highlighting the state of the Georgetown program. This week, the New York Post’s Zach Braziller chimed in on the prospect of things not working out on the sidelines for the greatest player in program history.
The good news for the Hoyas is they face lowly DePaul twice in the final weeks of the season. The bad news is they’re an eight point underdog to the Blue Demons Wednesday evening in Chicago.
This week’s Starting Five:
Up Top: Auburn stays No. 1 on my Associated Press ballot and atop the AP Top 25 while Gonzaga is No. 1 in this week’s Coaches Poll. The Big East and Big Ten each have five ranked schools while the Big 12 has four teams in the Top 25 (and three in the Top 10). Meanwhile, the ACC has only Duke in the Top 25 (although Wake Forest is No. 25 in the Coaches Poll). My mid-major shout-outs this week go to Wyoming, Murray State (ranked for the first time in eight years), Loyola of Chicago (Sister Jean warming up for another memorable March), and Davidson. Toughest omissions: Texas, St. Mary’s, Xavier, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Ohio University, and Chattanooga.
Going Inside: What amazes me about college athletics is that football kickoff times after September are often not set until two weeks before the game takes place (sometimes it’s a six-day window). Meanwhile, men’s basketball tipoffs are carved in stone with a few exceptions, especially regarding which network the game will appear on. Therefore, CBS and the entire nation gets to witness the sinking season of Maryland (11-12, 3-9 Big Ten) on the first two Sundays without multiple NFL games since Labor Day weekend. The 82-67 loss at No. 16 Ohio State was their third straight defeat and a game where they led just once (at 2-0) and were down double digits for the entire second half (and a big part of the first half as well). Up next is Tournament hopeful Iowa (15-7, 5-6 in the Big Ten, and a No. 9 seed in the latest Bracketology entry by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi) who boasts the conference’s leading scorer in Keegan Murray (22 points per game, 55% from the field and 39% from three point range). This coming during a winter where the Terps have allowed 24 points to fourth leading scorer E.J. Liddell, 21 to fifth leading scorer Hunter Dickinson, and 31 points to 11th leading scorer Ron Harper Jr. After they host the Hawkeyes, the Terrapins visit No. 3 Purdue Super Bowl Sunday on CBS.
On the Perimeter: Virginia (15-9, 9-5 ACC) went into Cameron Indoor Staduim and beat conference-leading Duke 69-68 on a Reece Beekman 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining. They’ll remember the shot, but Beekman also had a key steal and layup to knot things up with 1:49 remaining in regulation. The sophomore is averaging seven assists during the team’s three game winning streak and although the Cavaliers are in sixth place of the ACC, they’re just one game behind first place Duke. The Blue Devils come to Charlottesville Feb. 23, and the only other game against a school with a winning ACC record is another rematch: at Miami Feb. 19 (UVA beat the Hurricanes by double digits last Saturday). Coach Tony Bennett’s team may be on the wrong side of the bubble right now and they’re trying to climb back into the field with a rare roster for his tenure (the top two scorers are transfers in their first year with the program) but the road is there for this team.
Who’s Open: Navy (16-8, 9-4 Patriot League) visits slumping Army (13-11, 7-5) three weeks after blowing a 22-point halftime lead in Annapolis, falling 74-73 in overtime. Chris Mann scored a career-high 20 points that day to lead the Black Knights who shot 9-18 from three point range while turning over the Midshipmen 20 times (yes, even the Patriot League’s best defense can’t cope with coughing up the ball so often). But since that afternoon the Mids have won four of five (including a pair of one-possession victories) while Army has dropped three of four.
Last Shot: Every year I look at the schedule and hope for a little serendipity on some regular season Saturday. But rarely do we have three local schools having home games at different times (November doesn’t count because one covers Maryland or Navy football as well) where one can get to each arena by the next tipoff. Saturday I’ll try to attempt that rare 3-pointer: Georgetown plays Creighton at noon while George Mason meets VCU at 4 p.m., and then Howard hosts Delaware State at 7:30 p.m.
Check out live updates during the afternoon and evening on WTOP during Ben Raby and Thomas Robertson’s sportscasts at 15 & 45, while also checking in with us on Instagram and Twitter as well as on wtop.com. We’ll have our fingers crossed for NO OVERTIME in the first two games to ensure a smooth transition. I’ll see you courtsides …
