March 25, 2007
GHOSTS OF '82, EXORCISED!
(Hoyas celebrate 2007 East Region Championship)
My hat's off to North Carolina coach Roy Williams and his band of Tarheels. For 35 minutes North Carolina executed their gameplan seemingly to perfection. Using their neverending bench, they'd backed Georgetown into foul trouble and maintained a quick pace throughout the game. Both were situations lethal to Georgetown's regular style of play, which relies on intense defense, grinding out scores on possession after possession, and the low scores that reflect that style. Perspective: In a season where the Hoyas's accrued a 30-7 record thus far, when the team tied the game tonight at 81 on a three-pointer with :32 remaining, it was only the fifth time they'd scored more than 80 points. With six minutes remaining in the game, facing a 9-point deficit, and in a game that was not being played at its own pace, lesser teams may have folded under the pressure. Georgetown methodically kept pushing back at UNC, however, and their shots fell more often than not. What happened in the final 5:32 of Carolina's game will be puzzled over for some time.
With the final possession guaranteed and Georgetown in double-penalty foul land, the play to call seemed obvious: Carolina would hold for the final shot and then drive to the basket for the high-percentage shot. Georgetown wouldn't dare foul; Carolina needed only one point from the charity stripe to get to the Final Four. For some reason, Carolina came out of its own TO huddle and under little time pressure had Wayne Ellington launch a three-point attempt that clanged off the rim. After that it was as if a fog descended over the Tarheels, who could not buy a shot to save their season as the Hoyas scored seemingly at will and rebounded as if by right. Even highly reliable UNC Center Tyler Hansbrough bricked two freethrow attempts! With :08 seconds left in OT, Carolina's Ty Lawson drained a three, but at that point the Georgetown players were almost already celebrating. Georgetown beats Carolina: 96-84.
I'm not going to even roll call the great plays and contributions of different Georgetown players. That was a team that dug down deep and played like a group of guys that trusted each other implicitly. I will say that it was the first time all season that every starter scored in double digits. Sure, that's in part a reflection of the overall high score of the game; but I think it also says something about the way all of them function as a team. It was beautiful. Congratulations gentlemen, you have joined the Pantheon of McDonough and you're not even through yet. The Final Four follows . . .
NB: A transcript of both teams' postgame press conferences is available here. I watched the video of it and it's amazing to see how quickly Tyler Hansbrough could be reduced to the 19-year-old kid he essentially is. The poor guy looked like he was physically in shock and that someone should be calling the school nurse or something.
Posted by Lexiphane at March 25, 2007 8:43 PM
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