The Big East tournament is one of the finest displays of basketball anywhere in the world, and the Voice’s Anthony Francavilla will be there all weekend to keep you updated on the Hoyas’ progress. Georgetown got it started right, and got it started quickly, with an 82-63 smackdown of the Villanova Wildcats. With no controversial last-second foul calls to hide behind this time, all ‘Nova fans can do now is shake their heads and think about the tournament record-tying 17 threes the Hoyas dropped to offset a nightmare afternoon for senior center Roy Hibbert (0 points, fouled out) and pull away in the second half. The loss could spell tournament trouble for the Wildcats, who were already treading precariously on the NCAA bubble.

Also from our Great News department, freshman guard Chris Wright was back in action for the Hoyas after missing the entire conference schedule with an ankle injury. He scored 6 points and notched 4 assists in 15 minutes of action, and proved his value as a speedy press-breaker that Georgetown has desperately lacked this season.

Up next for JTIII and his boys are the West Virginia Mountaineers, who took down the 15th-ranked UConn Huskies in the second afternoon game, 78-72. WVU has its own beef with Georgetown, as the Mountaineers lost the teams’ only regular-season meeting in Morgantown thanks to an acrobatic last-second block by Patrick Ewing Jr. that many felt should have been called goaltending. It was, at any rate, about as close a call as you could ever see. The world will find out tomorrow night at 7 if the Mountaineers are better at exacting revenge than the Wildcats.

To update our previous story, a Midnight Madness visit to Georgetown was enough to prevent all outside intervention: top-ranked recruit Greg “The Doctrine” Monroe has decided to play hoops for the Hoyas next year, according to the Washington Post. If he follows through, he’ll round out a pretty stellar incoming class next year. Based on all the talk about his academic achievements, he’ll probably have a higher GPA than you, too.

“I think his greatest strength is his ability to do everything well,” Monroe’s high school coach Tyron Mouzon said. In a related story, Craig Escherick’s greatest weakness was that he wasn’t a very good coach.

-Mike Stewart, Managing Editor

You thought Midnight Madness was all for show, but the Hoyas will already be playing for keeps next Friday. Top-rated prospect Greg “The Doctrine” Monroe will be in attendance for the annual celebration that marks the first minute college hoops teams can start official practice (I wonder if he’ll have to wait outside for a ticket?). Monroe has already put the Hilltop on his short list of possible destinations, and recruiting-industry bigwig rivals.com says Georgetown may have a leg up on landing the brainiac big man. Better make some noise, Hoya fans, ’cause the McDonough facilities aren’t going to impress as much as the digs at his next stop.

-Mike Stewart, Managing Editor

Coach Thompson announced yesterday that freshman Chris Wright, a 6-1 guard, broke his foot while playing pick-up basketball and will miss the early part of the season. No additional details of the snafu have been released by the team, but the incident is likely to be overshadowed by Thompson signing a six-year contract extension for an estimated $900,000 a year, quelling fears that the big guy might leave the Hilltop for greener pastures… filled with money.

Hope Chris looks good in plaster.

-Clare Malone, Sports Editor

It’s certainly too early to say whether or not Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert will enter the NBA Draft, but in their first press conference since declaring, they said some surprising things. Green, apparently, is leaning towards staying at GU more than Roy, though most pundits say Green is the player who is more NBA-ready in a year when the draft has a glut of good centers.

At least they’re good examples to the kiddies, though: “School is only going to be here four years,” Green said. “The NBA will be there forever. You can’t just give up that. That’s a big thought in this process. Either way, I’m going to come back and get my degree.”

The blog is in withdrawal. As you can see, we’ve gone a little quiet now that basketball season is over. Of course, we would love to move on and start looking at next year (or maybe even to discuss the plethora of other things happening on campus), but we’re going to be slow. Why? Because we’re waiting for an answer.

I went to the rally for the Hoyas in Healy Circle yesterday, and after JT III and a few of the guys spoke, President DeGioia came to the podium. I was expecting some sort of announcement, but all he did was give one of his infamous introductions (albeit, a little after the fact). If you believe the Washington Times (and many would say they had the best coverage of the team this year), JT III wants a raise, and DeGioia has been discussing this with the Athletic Director, Bernard Muir.

Thompson has one of the lowest salaries among coaches in the Big East. After the last three seasons, it has become clear that $465,000 he earns each year is a travesty (wish I could say that about myself). If you feel like I do, write President DeGioia and Athletics Director Muir. Tell them to get on top of this, and to lock up the man behind Georgetown’s renaissance for the foreseeable future.

Posted by Austin Richardson, Blog Editor

Leave it to a Voice writer to write a short, definitive history of the men’s basketball program under John Thompson, Jr. Mike DeBonis, an old Editor-in-Chief of this fine publication, now writes for the City Paper and as you will see, occasionally for Slate Magazine. Yesterday, he put up this article, entitled, “The World’s Most Dangerous Basketball Team.” Check it out.

Posted by Austin Richardson, Blog Editor

As Georgetown students prepare to enjoy the game John Thompson III brought them, someone “close to Thompson” is saying he’s looking at a move to the NBA. Terrible news if it were true. But fortunately, it probably isn’t going down for a while, if at all.

The Washington Times reported that the Charlotte Bobcats are making overtures to Thompson, but he said he’s not immediately interested. A blogger on AOL’s campus sports blog points out that it’s a bad idea, for two reasons: JTIII’s best players, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, still have another year of playing; and Charlotte’s an awful team.

Here’s another reason for JTIII to stay: the Charlotte logo is terrible. I feel like I’m looking at a Pokemon card, not a reputable team insignia.

Posted by Will Sommer, Staff Writer

While every other U.S. newspaper has been printing feel-good pieces about all the father-son connections at G’town, leave it to the Times to be critical. Friday’s sports section has an excellent and surprising piece about GU Assistant Coach Kevin Broadus’ (recently hired to coach Binghampton) recruiting of Marc Egerson. Egerson withdrew from G’town in December, in the middle of his sophomore season. According to the piece, he got 12 ‘F’s in high school and became a father in February. Egerson’s recruitment is a glaring contradiction to what Georgetown basketball says it stands for, and makes me and my friends on the Ed Board look bad for writing that the Hoyas are all business and focused on the classroom.

However, the article is unfair to Broadus—he bears the blame while his boss, JT III comes out largely unscathed. Broadus and Thompson should have never recruited Egerson, but the article may go a bit far by questioning Broadus’ qualifications for the Binghampton job. I’m sure plenty of assistant coaches have made poor recruiting decisions.

Posted by Keenan Steiner, Editorial Board Chair

While most of us were still caught up in the emotion of the Men’s Basketball team’s backdoor comeback over UNC, 2007 Recruit Chris Wright won the three-point contest at the McDonald’s All-American game in Louisville (Austin Freeman nearly won the dunk contest).

Perhaps the best moment came, however, when the All-American’s gathered to watch the Georgetown-UNC game. All I’m going to say is that there might have been a little trash talk directed toward Ohio State’s recruit Kosta Koufos. With a name like that, though, what’s not to make fun of?