Tonight, the Hoyas return to familiar territory. After running over Marquette 80-57, Georgetown advanced to the Big East championship game for the third time in four years and the 13th time in school history.

Georgetown will look to cap what has been a week of revenge by beating West Virginia, who defeated the Hoyas 81-68 in their penultimate regular season game. That contest was played without Austin Freeman, who had to be hospitalized after leaving Morganstown before the game and was later diagnosed with diabetes. Now, Freeman is back in full force, and the Hoyas are ready for payback.

When asked last night whether revenge has been a motivating factor throughout the tournament, Freeman and teammates Greg Monroe and Chris Wright responded with a resounding chorus of “Yes.”

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The forces of good prevailed over the forces of evil yesterday afternoon, so Georgetown’s quest for a Big East title continues tonight against fifth-seeded Marquette, who upset Villanova yesterday. The Hoyas are also apparently on a quest for revenge, because the Golden Eagles are the third straight tourney opponent that beat Georgetown in the regular season.

Georgetown played Marquette all the way back on January 6, losing a 62-59 heartbreaker in Milwaukee when Chris Wright missed a three to tie with one second to go. Back then the Golden Eagles were a young squad struggling to establish itself in the Big East. Now they’re one of the conference’s hottest teams, winning 11 of their last 13 games.

Win or lose tonight, the Hoyas can expect to be in a close game. The Golden Eagles played only six Big East games this season decided by more than five points. They closed out the regular season with four of their final five games going to overtime. Both of their tournament games so far have been decided in the final seconds. The Hoyas are well aware that they’re in for a fight.

“Marquette, I don’t how many games, but they lost a lot of games by probably five points or less,” Wright said. “So they’re a very good team, and they have very good players.”

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The Hoyas took care of business against South Florida, just as well as they needed to. Well, technically all they needed to do was win by one, but if Georgetown couldn’t beat that Bulls squad by a significant margin, it would not bode well for tomorrow’s game.

But the Hoyas won by 20, in spite of Austin Freeman’s worst shooting performance of the season, just 25 minutes from Greg Monroe, and other assorted foul trouble. Of course, the Hoyas also won thanks to 29.1 percent shooting by USF. Either way, Georgetown played well enough to make you think they could beat Syracuse.

That’s a good thing, because Georgetown needs to beat Syracuse tomorrow. The Hoyas need to win, not for any kind of big picture reason like NCAA seeding, but because the Orange are their most hated rival, and it would be unbearable to lose to them three times in a season. It’s only happened once before: 2002-03, the season Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to a national championship.

This year, the Orange once again look like they may be on their way to a national title. So that’s the precedent—lose tomorrow and subject America to an Orange national champion (and worse, let Syracuse come to D.C. to be honored at the White House).

After the jump, see what JTIII had to say about ‘Cuse today, and more Hoya news

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With their 58-49 victory over a hapless DePaul this afternoon, South Florida advances to take on Georgetown in the Hoyas’ Big East Tournament opener tomorrow at noon.

Hoya fans need not be reminded that this will be the two teams’ second meeting this season, after the Bulls’ 72-64 upset of then-No. 8 Georgetown at the Verizon Center. It goes without saying that the Hoyas will be looking for revenge on Wednesday.

Georgetown will be well-prepared for Big East scoring leader Dominique Jones and the Bulls this time around. Of course, it’s not like the Hoyas weren’t prepared for the 6-foot-4 guard before—and Jones still dropped 29 points on them. Georgetown will do it’s best to contain Jones, but he’s a prolific scorer and will get his looks.

The biggest adjustment the Hoyas will have to make from last game is in accounting for Augustus Gilchrist. The sophomore big man didn’t play against Georgetown because of an ankle injury, but he’s probably USF’s second-best player and averages close to 15 points a game.

If USF plays tomorrow like it did against DePaul, however, Georgetown might not have much to worry about. The Bulls weren’t very impressive while dispatching the Blue Demons, who won just one conference game. DePaul hung around late in the game, and USF had almost no outside game to speak of.

And by almost no outside game, I mean that the Bulls converted one field goal outside the lane; they scored 50 points in the paint, hit six free throws, and missed on all eight three-point attempts. Greg Monroe and Julian Vaughn will have something to say if the Bulls try to win that way tomorrow.

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Georgetown closed out the regular season with a 74-47 rout of Cincinnati yesterday and starts the postseason in the Big East Tournament on Wednesday. But before moving onto what head coach John Thompson III called ‘phase two’ of the season, the Big East gave the Hoyas reason to look back one more time, naming Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman to the All-Big East First and Second Teams, respectively.

Monroe’s selection comes as no surprise. The sophomore center was named to the preseason all-conference first team, and improved his scoring, rebounding, and assist numbers from a freshman campaign that earned him Big East Rookie of the Year honors. Monroe averaged a near double-double this season, posting 16.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

Being named to the first team makes Monroe one of six candidates to be named conference player of the year, although he’s probably a long-shot to win the award. Monroe is certainly deserving, but the Hoyas’s eighth place finish will likely hurt the sophomore in comparison to nominees like Syracuse’s Wes Johnson and Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds.

Unlike Monroe, Freeman received no preseason Big East accolades. The junior guard made a major leap after a solid, if not spectacular, sophomore season, emerging as one of the best shooters in the country. Freeman converted 54.2 percent of his field goals, and based on true shooting percentage (which adjusts for three-pointers and free throws) he ranks 12th in the country. That efficiency made Freeman the Hoyas’ leading scorer with 17.3 points per game.

Freeman’s season was also notable for his song-inspiring second half heroics against Connecticut and Louisville. Of course, this honor comes at the end of an already eventful week for Freeman, which included his hospitalization, diagnosis with diabetes, and 24-point-scoring return in yesterday’s game.

Georgetown tips off the Big East Tournament at noon on Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s South Florida-DePaul match-up. Vox will be in New York bringing you coverage of all the Hoyas’ games.

This year, Vox is taking a page from Deadspin and New York’s books and giving you a guide for rooting against each of the Hoyas’ Big East opponents. In preparation for tomorrow’s game against Cincinnati, here are three reasons to hate the Bearcats:

This is it

Georgetown’s situation is simple. Win tomorrow, and the Hoyas are guaranteed no worse than the eighth seed and a first-round bye in the Big East tournament next week. Lose, and they risk playing on Tuesday with the likes of Rutgers and DePaul. The Bearcats are the Hoyas’ opponents, so from about noon until two tomorrow afternoon Cincinnati is Georgetown’s archenemy.

That’s how this works. Georgetown did put itself in this position by losing four of its last five games, but that’s in the past. It’s all on the Bearcats now. This might be the most important game of the Hoyas’ season so far; a win would stop the bleeding and give Georgetown much needed momentum heading into the postseason, while a loss would bring talks of a free fall to a head and possibly call the Hoyas’ position in the NCAA tournament into question. Adjust your hate for Cincinnati accordingly.

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After news broke last night that Austin Freeman had been diagnosed with diabetes, the Hoyas’ leading scorer spoke with the media this afternoon to address his health and its impact on his basketball career.

The junior guard, sitting alongside head coach John Thompson III, professed he was feeling fine after spending the early part of the week in the hospital. While both player and coach acknowledged that there was still a lot to learn about the situation, it sounded like the return to normalcy had already begun.

“When I first found out I was just like, ‘I’m going to have to deal with it,’” Freeman said. “But it’s just going to be a few adjustments I’m going to have to do in my life now. To hear that, it was tough at first, but I know that with me, I can deal with something like this.”

Freeman first showed signs of the disease last Saturday before an afternoon game against Notre Dame, symptoms that at that time were attributed to a stomach virus. He traveled with the team to West Virginia for a Monday night game, but took a turn for the worse Saturday night and was sent back to campus and Georgetown University Hospital.

On Monday, Freeman was diagnosed with diabetes, a disease he said he shares with his paternal grandmother. It is not yet known whether Freeman has the Type I or the less serious Type II form of the disease.

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When the news broke that Austin Freeman returned early from the Hoyas’ road trip to West Virginia and checked in to Georgetown University Hospital, it seemed his condition was worse than the simple stomach virus he had been diagnosed with last Saturday. Now we know for sure—the Washington Post is reporting that Freeman has developed diabetes.

The Post’s Liz Clarke reports that Georgetown’s leading scorer received his diagnosis shortly after being taken to the emergency room on Monday. Freeman then returned to practice with his teammates on Wednesday.

His condition is not expected to affect his basketball career, but Stephen Clement, head of the Diabetes Center at Georgetown University Hospital, will be on hand as a precaution whenever he practices or plays for the remainder of the season.

Georgetown head coach John Thompson III said Freeman’s status has yet to be determined for Saturday’s game against Cincinnati and beyond. Vox will have more on Freeman this afternoon.

This year, Vox is taking a page from Deadspin and New York’s books and giving you a guide for rooting against each of the Hoyas’ Big East opponents. In preparation for tonight’s game against West Virginia, here are three reasons to hate the Mountaineers:

Their fans

Last year when the Mountaineers came to D.C. and embarrassed the Hoyas 75-58, the loss was made all the worse by the numerous West Virginia fans who found their way into the arena. Opposing fans invading the Verizon Center is (unfortunately) not a rare occurrence, but Mountaineer fans are probably the most annoying fans in the Big East outside of upstate New York.

Tonight, Georgetown will have to endure an arena full of them. The Hoyas can look forward to hearing from the always tactful West Virginia student section. You know, the WVU students who pelted a Pittsburgh assistant coach with change. And while Georgetown fans certainly use some colorful language, we have yet to receive an e-mail from Todd Olson asking us to stop embarrassing the University with our profanity. You know your fans are a problem when Bob Huggins is the one who has to demand a little decency. Stay classy Morgantown.

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This year, Vox is taking a page from Deadspin and New York’s books and giving you a guide for rooting against each of the Hoyas’ Big East opponents. In preparation for tomorrow’s game against Notre Dame, here are three reasons to hate the Fighting Irish:

Luke Harangody

Barring a postseason meeting, Saturday will be the last time the Hoyas see the 6-foot-7 former Big East Player of the Year, and for all they know, he’ll be in a suit. Harangody’s missed the Irish’s past three games, and one report says he’s “not likely” to play tomorrow.

That might sound like a boon for Georgetown, considering Harangody is the nation’s second-leading scorer and eviscerated the Hoyas in their only match-up last year, with 31 points and 11 rebounds. But really, Harangody is just one more factor complicating an already difficult task. Game-planning for the Irish now requires the Hoyas to consider Notre Dame with and without Harangody, extra work that won’t make it any easier to prepare for a challenging opponent. Even without their best player, the Fighting Irish were still capable of blowing out No. 12 Pittsburgh 68-53. So don’t be fooled by the guy in the suit on Saturday. That’s not Gary Busey sitting courtside, it’s the player who continues to harass the Hoyas even when he can’t play.

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