The show gets more polished with each performance, but the curtain keeps falling on the Hoyas' heads. For the third time in Georgetown's last six games, the Hoyas pushed an upper-echelon Big East team to the brink, impressing with improvement but losing just the same.
Yesterday's double-edged rendition came against No. 18 Syracuse before a season-high crown of 15,983 at MCI Center. The luckless Hoyas matched bows with the ballyhooed New Yorkers for more than 38 minutes before yielding 81-79 in the game's final act.
The Hoyas (8-8) have lost six of seven Big East contests, three by a total of five points.
Georgetown's locker room was predictably somber after yesterday's loss. Coach Craig Esherick, now 1-2 since taking over for John Thompson on Jan. 8, searched for hope amid the hapless trend.
'The three games seems like three years right now,' said Esherick, whose Hoyas also recorded a near-miss against No. 11 St. John's (71-69) last Monday. 'It's very hard for me today to feel good about it. Syracuse was a ranked opponent and St. John's was a ranked opponent - they're both very good teams. We did not play poorly in either game. We had a chance to win both games, and we have to build on that. . . . We have to build on playing better, but we also have to win some games.'
Just as they did against St. John's, the Hoyas battled from 10 points down yesterday to claim a 68-67 lead with 5:08 remaining. Guard Anthony Perry, who had a game-high 26 points and five steals, hit two free throws to give Georgetown the lead.
Surprisingly, the Hoyas contained the vaunted Syracuse frontcourt tandem of Etan Thomas (nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks) and Ryan Blackwell (10 points, eight rebounds) and seemed to survive an unexpected first-half explosion from sophomore forward Damone Brown (19 points, 11 rebounds). But the same player who tortured the Hoyas throughout the game, junior point guard Jason Hart (20 points, eight assists), proved too much in the game's final minutes.
Hart responded to Perry's free throws with a pull-up 3-pointer from well beyond the arc on the left wing to put Syracuse (12-4, 4-3) back on top. He then harassed Georgetown point guard Kevin Braswell (four of 21 from the field) into three consecutive misses over the Hoyas' next four possessions, and when Perry struck from behind the arc with 1:48 left to pull Georgetown within a point, Hart again rose to the challenge.
On the Orangemen's next possession, the Los Angeles native drew a double-team near the top of the key, leapt into the air as if to shoot and then flashed a pass across the top of the circle to an unguarded Blackwell. Despite his subpar day, Blackwell buried the open 3-pointer and the Hoyas. His shot
gave Syracuse a 75-71 lead with 1:33 remaining, and the Orangemen converted free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
'Jason's really the key to our basketball team - when he plays well, we win,' said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim of his playmaker. 'That was some good basketball from both teams. Today you had a case where we played our best and they still could have won. Georgetown's playing as well as I've seen them play all year, and I think that's a tribute to the players and Craig and the staff.
'[With Thompson resigning], it would be very easy to go the other way, but they've stepped up and there's no comparison between this Georgetown team and the one I watched at the beginning of the year. That's a very good basketball team, and they're going to win a lot of games and make some people pay as the year goes on.'
But even a bevy of compliments from a man stingy with superlatives can't sugarcoat reality.
Sure, Georgetown starts essentially three first-year players (Braswell, Perry and center Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, who played a total of 80 minutes last season) and a sophomore swingman Nat Burton).
Sure, they nearly beat a sluggish St. John's team on the road and followed with another 'almost' despite Syracuse's best effort.
But when the Hoyas take the court Tuesday against West Virginia, they will arrive sporting the school's worst Big East start and will be the first set of Hoyas sitting at .500 after Christmas since 1974.
****BOX
HOYAS REPORT
Seen and heard yesterday at MCI Center:
BOEHEIM ON BIG JOHN - The rivalry that built the Big East wasn't quite the same without John Thompson cussing down the sideline at longtime nemesis Jim Boeheim. In his 23rd season at Syracuse, Boeheim met briefly with Thompson before the game, then discussed the coach's departure afterward.
'I don't know if any two coaches have had the wars that we had for the 20-plus years that we've been going at it,' said Boeheim. 'It was bitter, it was harsh, it was a war for a long time, but the last five or 10 years we've gotten a little older and grown to respect each other. We've been through so many battles, and it's different not seeing him out there.
'But like I said earlier, Craig [Esherick] is such a great coach - he knows the league. So many times you bring coaches in from outside the league, and they can't coach in this league. Craig knows the league, he's smart, he's a good basketball coach. And like I said, they're playing better than they've played all year.
'John Thompson is a legend in this game. I don't have to butter John up anymore, or say anything nice about him, but he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame a long time ago for everything he's done in coaching. . . . But as I said to somebody earlier today, you know we lost Lou Carnesecca [1992], and St. John's is [No. 11] in the country right now. So, this is about programs, and it's about teams and players.
'You know, John and I haven't made a basket in a long time. And he's going to be missed, but people come along who are going to get the job done.'
BLANCHARD SIGHTING - Coveted blue-chip recruit Lavell Blanchard from Pioneer High School attended the game as a part of his weekend visit to the Hilltop. The 6-foot-7 swingman from Ann Arbor, Mich., ranked by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons as the top senior prospect in the nation, is rumored to have narrowed his candidates to Michigan, Georgetown and Virginia. Blanchard looked rather subdued behind the Hoyas' bench, and many felt Thompson's resignation (Blanchard's mother liked Thompson) would hurt Georgetown's chances. But the fact that Blanchard still chose to use one of his precious campus visits on the Hoyas has to be a good sign for Georgetown.
Blanchard was quickly ushered to the Hoyas' family room (adjoining the locker room) after the game and could not be contacted for a comment on his visit.
