When I said Georgetown’s two freshmen big men, Greg Monroe and Henry Sims on The Tombs team, would improve throughout Summer League and pre-season play, I meant it. I just didn’t realize they’d improve so fast. The two spearheaded a 79-52 rout against Hoop Magic this afternoon, dominating play at both ends of the court.

Monroe was able to score in every way imaginable on Sunday—soft mid-range jumpers, bruising post moves and rim-shattering dunks in transition. The greatest improvement compared to the last game I watched, however, was his defense. Monroe tallied several blocks throughout the game, and even when he didn’t get his hand on the shots the Hoop Magic players were tentative and sloppy in the paint in his presence.

Sims could still certainly stand to pack some muscle on before the season begins, but he did a better job of holding his own in the paint and was a force on the defensive glass. He, like Monroe, was also very effective running in transition with Chris Wright.

Jeff Green doesn’t live down to his nickname, after the jump

Wright did a passable job running the show and seemed happy to facilitate the big men’s big day. The guard’s passing was right on the money, from full court lobs in transition to delicate entry passes to Sims and Monroe.

Sophomore Nikita Mescheriakov was lights-out from three-point range once again, sinking all three of his shots without even touching the rim. Mescheriakov was once again turnover prone, however, and the question remains whether or not his outside shooting ability is enough to compensate for his poor defense.

I also caught the tail end of the Clyde’s game and was pleasantly surprised to see former Georgetown star Jeff Green (currently of the Oklahoma City Barons. Or is it the Bison? The Wind?) filling in for the absent DaJuan Summers.

Georgetown’s Mr. Clutch, however, was anything but, turning the ball over twice in the closing minutes as Clyde’s late comeback fell short. In Green’s defense, Kenner League at McDonough is not the Big East Championship at the Garden, and just the fact that Green is here playing and supporting the new players is enough to make this biased reporter applaud his efforts.

Photos by Sam Sweeney

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 27th, 2008 at 7:42 pm and is filed under Sports, Vox Populi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.