The Hoyas. You might be wondering just what a Hoya is… and well, that is what the Byrd Cage is here for… I think.
Direct from GuHoyas.com:
“Many years ago, when all Georgetown students were required to study Greek and Latin, the University’s teams were nicknamed “The Stonewalls.” It is suggested that a student, using Greek and Latin terms, started the cheer “Hoya Saxa!”, which translates into “What Rocks!” The name proved popular and the term “Hoyas” was eventually adopted for all Georgetown teams.”
Great. Well now we know what a Hoya is… I think. Maybe we can get some more information about the Hoyas at our interview with the guys from the Casual Hoya, but until then we will have to go with that explanation.
Georgetown: The Schedule
Georgetown has a nearly blemish free RPI of 15. They have a (7-5) record against teams in Top 50 RPI rankings. Here is a brief overview of their schedule.
Nice Wins: Memphis, Louisville, Marquette (the first time)
The Bad Losses: There aren’t really many bad losses for this team (when comparing to higher seeds). The team only lost 8 games. There are as follows; Kansas, West Virginia, Cincinatti, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Marquette, Cincinatti. Six out of their eight losses come to teams that have an average of a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. This is all together frightening. However, let’s take a look at Georgetown’s “bad” losses.
Pittsburgh- Playing barely over .500 basketball at the end of the year, the Panthers’ preseason expectations were thoroughly squandered when an out of nowhere Long Beach State team handled the Panthers in their own gym. While good enough to be a 12 seed, Long Beach State should have been a wake-up call. Pitt responded with a nine game winning streak, followed by an eight game losing streak, followed by a four game winning streak, and then losing 7 out of their last 9 games. It is off to the CBI tournament for the Panthers, but it is up to you to judge the streakiness of a Panther team gone wrong in 2012 and how tough of a loss this really was to the Hoyas.
Seton Hall- Part of the large “Big East Bubble”, the Pirates lost 12 games this season but managed to shoot 61% from both the floor and behind the arch against the Hoyas this year in what was a serious handling of G-town. It was a final score of 73-55, a drubbing that gives this Belmont Bruins’ fan a little hope. Stay tuned tomorrow for more info on this game, and we’ll explore if the Pirates exposed a certain weakness the Hoyas may have been hiding.
Players to Watch
Jason Clark, 6-2 senior, scores 14 points a game and has 50 steals on the season.
Hollis Thompson, 6-8 junior, shoots .458 from the 3.
Stay tuned for more in-depth previews tomorrow, and we get to ask some of our burning questions to the Casual Hoya about the match-up!
