Georgetown at Alabama

The first game of the inaugural SEC Big East Invitational (challenge, hardwood series, made for TV, whatever you wanna call it) tipped off last night and the Georgetown Hoyas played a NINO game (NINO = neutral in name only) in the state of Alabama against Mark Gottfried's Crimson Tide.

The game was much closer than the final score indicates perhaps. This was the first game I saw Georgetown this year and I expected a bit more from them. But they did win the game Georgetown style, separating themselves from Bama the last couple of minutes.

In the first half Alabama managed to do something not many teams can do: They forced Georgetown to play faster and go and up and down the court. This worked for Alabama as they were either ahead, tied or just a bucket behind for most of the first half. Georgetown uncharacteristically (wow that's a long word, what does it mean?) turned the ball all over the place. In the second half, especially the fourth quarter, the Hoyas tightened things up and kept turnovers under control and forced Alabama to play at their pace and got a road win.

I was pleasantly surprised by Alabama. I was expected to see a train wreck, but I saw a feisty up and down team. Richard Hendrix would have probably been in the NBA by now if he had committed to North Carolina instead of Alabama - assuming he wanted to jump to the NBA early. With Ron Steele (one of the five most injured players along with Juan Diego Tello Palacios, David Padgett, etc) taking a medical redshirt, the point guard position was nowhere near as stable. But the versatility and athleticism helped carry the team before the game became a half court affair. But even then, Alabama exceeded expectations. So this team perhaps may sneak up on people and bite off some surprising wins along the way!

Georgetown may have not played as good as their perceived ranking, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they have a solid team that could win the National Championship in April 2008. Where do I start? They have a style of play that is an advantage because teams don't see it as often. They have the personnel to run it as well. They also have the talent and athleticism to run up and down (except perhaps Roy Hibbert) but JT3 prefers to play the game the "Pete Carrill right way". And this time around they have Chris Wright on the bench as a very promising backup point guard, so Jonathan Wallace is not alone.

Plus JT3 has been great at picking space-eater versatile wings like Jessie Sapp and incoming freshman Austin Freeman, which is another big plus for their style of play. Then they've got a number of versatile forwards as well, De Juan Summers, V-Mac (Vernon Macklin) and Patrick Ewing. And best of all, they have a true center in the middle, in Roy Hibbert, who can pass and play outside the key as well. Who can stop Hibbert without opening up the perimeter to a barrage of three pointers? That may be the key to defeating Georgetown in the NCAA tourney and for Georgetown to win the NCAA tourney (perhaps).

More coverage of this game by the Hoya Prospectus, Bama Online, Roll Bama Roll, GUHoyas.com, BigEast.org, the Tide Druid blog, among others.