The Georgetown Hoyas completed a season sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates on Senior Day, Saturday, March 7th, at Verizon Center. It was ultimately a comfortable win, although the Pirates fought until the end, when the Hoyas prevailed, 63-57.
However, the basketball game itself and even the significance of it–the Hoyas achieving 20 wins, locking into the second seed in the BIG EAST Tournament–was upstaged by something even bigger than a game: LIFE.
The highlight of the game was the story of a young man, Tyler Adams, who came to the Hilltop four years ago to become Georgetown’s next great center. A heart ailment derailed that hoops dream. Because of a program that values young men and student-athletes and their futures, Tyler was handed another opportunity on the team, an assistant coach. He has become both an inspiration and motivational coach to his teammates, and on Senior Day he was granted the opportunity to start the game, and responded with a thunderous left-handed dunk before heading back to the bench to a roaring standing ovation. The Seton Hall Coach, Kevin Willard, and his team, obliged, not intending to disrupt this special moment for Tyler, his team, Coach and fans. The first minutes of the game will be forever etched in the memories and hearts of Hoya fans forever. As a result, Tyler Adams earns both the ProminentPlay Award of the Game and is Co-ProminentPlayer of the Game!
The other Co-ProminentPlayer who shares the Award with Tyler is Jabril Trawick, who performed exceptionally in a game when DSR was sidelined with a vague “lower body injury”. We have since been informed that DSR will be ready for the BET but fans were none too happy to see him dressed in a nice looking suit with his strip of orange hair screaming, “Play, Play!” Trawick scored 19 points with very efficient shooting, grabbed 3 boards, 4 assists and showed the senior leadership that he has assumed the entire season. We will miss him after this season but the season is far from over!
ProminentPlayRookie of the Game (first time awarded by LPP) was clearly Tre Campbell, who is not looking like a freshman anymore. Tre had 13 points on solid shooting and showed the point guard skills and quick decision making that the Hoyas will require in the post-season and in his future seasons. Tre looks Ready for Prime Time. While his freshman mates Isaac Copeland and LJ Peak were selected to the Big East Rookie Team, after games like this we know Tre is right on their heels. The Hoyas missed their Big East First Team Member DSR but the second most important fact about this game is that the team won without him. That should provide buckets of confidence going into the post-season. Any team that can beat a good team without its best and most consistent player should believe in itself.
Next Up: Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, the #2 seed Hoyas will face the winner of the #10 seed Creighton-# 7 seed DePaul game on Wednesday night. With DSR presumably recovered from his lower body injury (knee?) and a contest with a team that the Hoyas swept this season (each team), the conditions seem right for a trip to the semifinal game on Friday evening. (This smaller conference is making so much sense! Let the ACC deal with 15 teams, the Haves and Have Nots.)
This is only Part One of the post-season but what an important part! What’s at stake?
The Big East Tournament title
Seeding in the NCAA tournament, and
PRIDE!
I will go out on a limb here and say that if the Hoyas go to the title game and even win the BET, a 4 or even 3 seed would not be out of the question, depending on the opponent. Now a mid-6 seed, performance in the tournament could indeed have a major impact on NCAA tournament seeding. It’s been 8 years, nearly a decade, since the Hoyas won this championship. Is it their time again to be on top?
For now, it’s on to New York to win the first matchup!
LPP
Georgetown–Seton Hall Brief Recap; Looking Ahead to BIG EAST Tournament
The Georgetown Hoyas completed a season sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates on Senior Day, Saturday, March 7th, at Verizon Center. It was ultimately a comfortable win, although the Pirates fought until the end, when the Hoyas prevailed, 63-57.
However, the basketball game itself and even the significance of it–the Hoyas achieving 20 wins, locking into the second seed in the BIG EAST Tournament–was upstaged by something even bigger than a game: LIFE.
The highlight of the game was the story of a young man, Tyler Adams, who came to the Hilltop four years ago to become Georgetown’s next great center. A heart ailment derailed that hoops dream. Because of a program that values young men and student-athletes and their futures, Tyler was handed another opportunity on the team, an assistant coach. He has become both an inspiration and motivational coach to his teammates, and on Senior Day he was granted the opportunity to start the game, and responded with a thunderous left-handed dunk before heading back to the bench to a roaring standing ovation. The Seton Hall Coach, Kevin Willard, and his team, obliged, not intending to disrupt this special moment for Tyler, his team, Coach and fans. The first minutes of the game will be forever etched in the memories and hearts of Hoya fans forever. As a result, Tyler Adams earns both the ProminentPlay Award of the Game and is Co-ProminentPlayer of the Game!
The other Co-ProminentPlayer who shares the Award with Tyler is Jabril Trawick, who performed exceptionally in a game when DSR was sidelined with a vague “lower body injury”. We have since been informed that DSR will be ready for the BET but fans were none too happy to see him dressed in a nice looking suit with his strip of orange hair screaming, “Play, Play!” Trawick scored 19 points with very efficient shooting, grabbed 3 boards, 4 assists and showed the senior leadership that he has assumed the entire season. We will miss him after this season but the season is far from over!
ProminentPlayRookie of the Game (first time awarded by LPP) was clearly Tre Campbell, who is not looking like a freshman anymore. Tre had 13 points on solid shooting and showed the point guard skills and quick decision making that the Hoyas will require in the post-season and in his future seasons. Tre looks Ready for Prime Time. While his freshman mates Isaac Copeland and LJ Peak were selected to the Big East Rookie Team, after games like this we know Tre is right on their heels. The Hoyas missed their Big East First Team Member DSR but the second most important fact about this game is that the team won without him. That should provide buckets of confidence going into the post-season. Any team that can beat a good team without its best and most consistent player should believe in itself.
Next Up: Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, the #2 seed Hoyas will face the winner of the #10 seed Creighton-# 7 seed DePaul game on Wednesday night. With DSR presumably recovered from his lower body injury (knee?) and a contest with a team that the Hoyas swept this season (each team), the conditions seem right for a trip to the semifinal game on Friday evening. (This smaller conference is making so much sense! Let the ACC deal with 15 teams, the Haves and Have Nots.)
This is only Part One of the post-season but what an important part! What’s at stake?
The Big East Tournament title
Seeding in the NCAA tournament, and
PRIDE!
I will go out on a limb here and say that if the Hoyas go to the title game and even win the BET, a 4 or even 3 seed would not be out of the question, depending on the opponent. Now a mid-6 seed, performance in the tournament could indeed have a major impact on NCAA tournament seeding. It’s been 8 years, nearly a decade, since the Hoyas won this championship. Is it their time again to be on top?
For now, it’s on to New York to win the first matchup!
LPP