Georgetown at Memphis

Wow! That was a nice game! And how can you watch another game today after that game? It's like having a dollar store wine after you had a $500 bottle wine! Wowie!

With Dorsey and Hibbert in foul trouble in the first half, the game was faster than most people thought it would be with both teams scoring 40+. Nice! A sea-saw battle with Georgetown taking the reigns early and the Tigers breaking free late in the first half.

Rosie O'Derrick once again started the game showcasing his perimeter offense. Perhaps the USC triangle-and-two straightjacket was what got his perimeter game rebooted. And the Tigers are now grateful for that. Georgetown played like Georgetown for the most part, but at times in the half the crowd and the relentless Memphis pressure managed to get to them. But earlier in the game they were able to punish the Tigers with run-outs and beating them at their own game.

The second half showed more side-effects of the pressure and the crowd on the Hoyas, and perhaps the most telling of all was a wild three pointer from almost half court by promising freshman Chris Wright. As you may recall Chris Wright got injured in the preseason and he was supposed to miss this season altogether - at least that's what we were told during the preseason. But obviously he didn't!

Hibbert probably lost money in this game, and while Big John (John Thompson the old Hoyas coach) was calling him "Big Stiff" in an affectionate-motivational kind of way, I am more inclined to call him Mecha-Hibbert. He is more mechanical than stiff. But he can certainly be effective in the NBA with his size and passing skills. Just don't expect him to be a Shaq or a Tim Duncan, but do expect a NBA team with Hibbert in its rotation to do well in wins and losses and have NBA playoff runs. All in my opinion of course.

Calipari was wild during the game, and I'm not talking about the technical foul. He used a 12-man rotation in the first half, and a 6-man rotation in the second half. Wow! But that may have been a blessing in disguise as the first half foul trouble on Dozier and Dorsey kept them fresh and ready for the second half. The second half was where CDR woke up and started scoring, and his performance prompted Calipari to take him out of the game at the end, so the crowd would give him some deserved props.

And it was the six starters that won the game for Memphis, and after their very solid performance in the second half, perhaps we may see more tightening of the rotation during close or big games by Calipari.

We even saw space-eaters Hashim Bailey and Pierre Niles for a few minutes in the first half. Well okay, that was Pierre Niles. Hashim Bailey made a mini-brief guest appearance when someone busted Pierre Niles's nose.

This was a good game for Georgetown as it showed them that they are not invincible and showed some areas where they need to work and improve. Obviously if this was an NCAA game it would have probably been played at a neutral court, and without the crowd's influence we may have had a different outcome.

Nevertheless it showed that their freshmen are freshmen (Chris Wright in particular), but Georgetown has a very solid and versatile rotation that can punish and grind teams but also beat them at their own game. Can they do that for 40 minutes? That may be what decides how far Georgetown goes this season. Despite their second half performance, this game has improved the value of Georgetown's basketball stock in my eyes.

This four-game series has the additional benefit that Georgetown and Memphis will likely avoid each other until either the Final Four or the Championship game. The NCAA selection committee and its computers prefer not to have re-runs during the tourney, but don't be surprised if this game ends up being played again in April under much brighter lights!

This was obviously a solid game of the year nominee and if you have it on DVR, be sure to save it on VHS or DVD if you are a basketball junkie! It was awesoem with capital A! It would have been even nicer if the score was closer and more like the first half, but we can't expect perfection :)


Opinions on the game around the internet
Now let's see what other websites and blogs are saying out this game, starting with College Hoops Journal who thinks that Memphis may be cutting down the nets in April. FanIQ has a live thread, while Hoopskills thinks this was the game of the year.

Hoya Hoops has the boxscore of the game, while the Examiner recaps the game. Fox Sports has a recap as well. More on this at Yet another basketball blog (that's the name of the blog, not an editorial comment by the way).

The Big Lead sings the praises of Jay Bilas in taking over for Dookie Vitale, and I would like to strongly agree with that. Infact this game was much more fun to watch without Vitale screaming and yelling at the wrong point in the game, or engaged in tireless self-promotion, and the like. But as you may have noticed, Bilas was trying to "spice it up" a bit by closing the TV timeout breaks with something "loud", including the obligatory "Rafterism".

CSTV's Hang Time says CDR gives CPR, while WMCTV covers the game as well. Sports from Two Burns thins Georgetown falls short.

And if you missed our preview of the game, be sure to take a look.

And before we go, a reminder: Check the college basketball TV schedule of December 2007 be sure to visit and bookmark this blog!