After Georgetown’s disappointingly routine early exit from the NCAA tournament yesterday, Caleb King was already pointing fingers:

It’s hard for me to say this but, its time to FIRE JTIII!

@Caleb King defended our oft-criticized head coach:

You are a dumbass.

Why would they fire him? Because he took a team with zero expectations and favored by many to finish at the bottom of the big east to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament?

In non-incredibly sad basketball news, Wiz Khalifa was announced last week as the headliner of the Spring Concert. Here is one Hoya‘s reaction:

Great to see a headliner for my senior year be someone who just casually drops “faggot” in his lyrics. Hoya Saxa everyone!

That’s odd, we feel like that’s not something to be excited about. It’s so difficult to distinguish tone on the Internet.

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John Thompson III had something to say after today’s NCAA Tournament loss:

I don’t know that I’ve ever been as proud to be associated with a group of men, with a team, as much as I am with this team this year. This team, in spite of whatever downs we’ve had, losses like today, has been a really special group that I think has represented themselves, represented our institution, represented their families, represented each other very well. It’s a group that’s given it their all. We haven’t always had success, but it’s a group that all year fought for each other and cared about each other, and I’m proud to be associated with these guys.

We’ve got the full recap up on the main site.

Editor’s note: an earlier version of this post’s title accidentally switched Georgetown and North Carolina State. Would that it were.

Jack, Our beloved mascot and the dog who eats boxes so we don’t have to, tore an ACL on Sunday. According to Fr. Christopher Steck, Jack likely injured himself jumping on a couch. Steck tweeted Monday that the hobbled bulldog will need two months to recover.

Initially attended to by the mother of former Hoyas basketball player Ryan Dougherty (COL ’11), who is a veterinarian, Jack will visit a canine orthopedic surgeon to plan his recovery. Steck initially suggested that surgery is probable.

The NCAA confirmed to USA Today that Jack will be allowed to attend the Final Four if he has recovered from his injuries and, of course, if the Casual Hoya Delusion Train makes a stop in New Orleans. Mascots do not travel to regional sites.

Jack had to be carried to the Selection Sunday party in Leo’s Sunday. He is not allowed to use stairs for the time being.

President DeGioia hugs Jason Clark

It was Senior Day for Georgetown on Monday, and the Hoyas’ veterans made sure to put on one last great performance for the home crowd. Jason Clark and Henry Sims ended their career at the Verizon Center on a high note, leading the Hoyas to a resounding 59-41 victory over Notre Dame. It was the first time the two seniors beat the Fighting Irish.

The game was a back-and-forth defensive struggle for the first 10 minutes, but the Hoyas found their offensive rhythm midway through the half. Sims was the catalyst as Georgetown pulled away, scoring or assisting on 10 straight points in the closing minutes of the first half. The Hoyas went into the locker room up 28-18.

“That’s what Henry has done all year, that’s what we need him to do,” head coach John Thompson III said. “For most of the year I think he has been very good at balancing when it’s my turn and when to look if someone else is open.”

Sims finished with a well-rounded 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists. He also put an exclamation point on his performance with 4:45 to go in the game, swatting a Jerian Grant layup attempt into the stands.

Clark’s game was a microcosm of his career—an efficient offensive performance paired with an even more impressive defensive effort. The guard scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting (while also pulling down six boards), but Thompson praised him mostly for setting the defensive tone for the Hoyas from the opening tip.

Neither Clark or Sims led the Hoyas in scoring. That honor went to freshman Greg Whittington, who knocked down three corner treys en route to a career-high 15 points. Still, the young forward gave the credit to one of his senior teammates.

“It was because of Sims. Sims had the defense closing in on him, so coach said inside-out,” Whittington said. “Coach just said ‘bang it,’ and I did.”

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Player(s) to watch

We’ll flip around the usual order of our preview to give top billing to tonight’s featured players: seniors Jason Clark and Henry Sims. It’s the final home game for two players who have been linchpins on this year’s squad.

Clark and Sims took very different paths to get to this point, however. For his first three years on the team, Clark took third-billing in the backcourt behind Chris Wright and Austin Freeman. Still, even with two formidable players in front of him, Clark managed to carve out plenty of playing time. In fact, he’s appeared in every Georgetown game over the past four seasons, and he’s started in every contest since his sophomore year.

“I think about Jason as someone who’s come in and from day one has worked extremely hard,” head coach John Thompson III said. “He’s probably won just about every sprint that we’ve had in practice. You look at him as someone–for most of his career–being in the shadows, but at the same time being a strong, dominant force in those shadows.”

This season, Clark has been one the casting the shadows. The veteran scorer has  been the focus of most opposing teams’ scouting reports, yet he still leads the Hoyas with 14.5 points per game. Clark could easily average more, as Villanova head coach Jay Wright pointed out after Saturday’s game, but he’s as much a facilitator as a scorer, ensuring Georgetown’s offense flows smoothly while waiting for opportune shots (he’s hitting 48.2 percent of his attempts).

Then there’s Sims. While Clark was firmly installing himself in the starting lineup sophomore year, Sims was falling out of the rotation entirely. The 6-foot-10 center was actually more highly regarded as a recruit than Clark and projected to form a dangerous inside tandem with classmate Greg Monroe. Instead, Sims found his minutes dwindling into the single digits during Big East play in 2010. In the Hoyas’ final two games, he didn’t even get off the bench.

“Henry is someone who has epitomized growth, someone who has epitomized in many ways the overall collegiate experience,” Thompson said. “A young man ready to go out into the world as a senior is much different than who you are walking in the door. And every year, in various aspects of Henry’s life, on the court and off, we’ve seen significant growth.”

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When we last saw our Hoyas

Things got ugly in Newark. Georgetown experienced its worst loss of the season, losing by 18 points to a Seton Hall team that had lost seven of its last 10 games. The Hoyas were practically unrecognizable Tuesday night, allowing the Pirates to shoot 61 percent from the field.

“I think everybody in our locker room, everybody in this program knows that what happened in that game is not acceptable,” senior guard Jason Clark said Thursday. “That’s not Georgetown basketball. That’s not us.”

It’s hard to pinpoint where Georgetown went wrong, because it was basically everywhere. The only bright side to the loss might be that it didn’t seem to be the product of some intrinsic flaw. The Hoyas simply fell behind and then allowed their mistakes to compound to devastating effect.

“The biggest thing is when we weren’t scoring on offense we let it show up on defense, and when we weren’t playing defense we let it show up on offense,” Clark said. “Like coach said [after the game], we’ve just got to be better. We have to be better.”

Tomorrow’s villain

Normally, a late February game against Villanova would be a marquee matchup with major implications at the top of the Big East standings. This year, however, Jay Wright’s squad is suffering through a hellish season, and the Wildcats are amazingly tied for the worst overall record in the conference at 11-16.

Despite its struggles, Villanova could easily beat the Hoyas if they play like they did on Tuesday. Dysfunctional as they may be, the Wildcats still are talented. They nearly knocked off Notre Dame and UConn in their last two games, losing in overtime to both. Villanova was also without their best player, junior guard Maalik Wayns, for those games. On Thursday, Wright said that Wayns, who averages 17.8 points per game, was “hopeful” for Saturday’s game.

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When we last left our Hoyas

It’s been smooth sailing for Georgetown since their overtime loss to Syracuse, with two easy 10-point victories over St. John’s and Providence. The Hoyas haven’t exactly looked dominant, but they’ve taken care of business and remain in control of their own destiny in the race for second place in the Big East.

Tonight’s villain

The Seton Hall Pirates vied with the Hoyas for the title of most surprising team in the Big East earlier this season, posting an 11-1 non-conference record and earning their first national ranking since 2001. Conference play, however, has exposed the Pirates as beneficiaries of a weak conference schedule.

After a stretch where they went nearly a full month without a win, losing six straight from January to February, the Pirates now find themselves in a desperate situation. Without a single marquee win on its resume (sorry Pirates fans, beating UConn doesn’t count anymore), Seton Hall is clinging to the NCAA Tournament bubble. With only two games against Rutgers and DePaul remaining, tonight may be the Pirates’ last chance to impress the selection committee.

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The Georgetown men’s basketball team rebounded nicely from Wednesday’s devastating overtime loss to Syracuse with a 71-61 win at the Verizon Center over Big East rival St. Johns. The youthful and unranked Red Storm gave the No. 11 Hoyas quite a scare though, playing a tight first half before narrowing the lead to as little as two points in the second half. Nevertheless, the heavily favored Hoyas pulled away in the final five minutes thanks to a career day defensively from sophomore Nate Lubick and some balanced scoring from the Hoyas’ offense.

Unlikely Leaders

The Hoyas needed a balanced attack to scrape past the Red Storm, as the usual suspects struggled to leave their mark on the game. With Henry Sims restricted to just 20 minutes on the court due to foul trouble and Jason Clark shooting a dismal 4-13 on the afternoon, the Hoyas were fueled by the surprisingly assertive and confident play of Greg Whittington, who’s smooth jumper spurred him to a team-high 12 points. Clark, Otto Porter, Hollis Thompson and Markel Starks all scored in double figures to give the Hoyas just enough firepower. Meanwhile, Nate Lubick gobbled up eight boards, dished out five assists and added a career-high 4 blocks on the defensive end, to energize the Hoyas as the Red Storm tried to battle back into the game.

Two-Man Team

While the promising play of Lubick and Whittington ignited the Hoyas on both ends of the floor, the Red Storm lingered within striking distance of the Hoyas thanks to their own dynamic duo of freshmen De’Angelo Harrison and Moe Harkless. Harkless was everywhere for the Johnnies, using his rare combination of length and quickness to slice his way through the lauded Hoyas’ defense for 20 points. Harrison added a game-high 24 points, including five three pointers which threatened to shift momentum away from the Hoyas. However, St. Johns’ six-man rotation exhausted the fabulous freshmen and subsequently, their shooting tailed off as the game went on. With just 17 points contributed by the rest of the team, the Red Storm had little chance of a comeback against the Hoyas’ balance and depth.

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When we last left our Hoyas

John Caprio threw an alley-oop to Aaron Bowen. Needless to say, Georgetown beat South Florida. Badly.

Tomorrow’s villain

The ultimate villain. Some things never change with Syracuse–Boeheim’s always on the sideline, the defenders are always in a 2-3 zone–but each iteration of the Orange has its own unique characteristics. At 23-1 and ranked second in the country, this season’s model may be the best that Georgetown has faced in recent years.

The key to this Syracuse squad isn’t any one player, and that’s what makes them so dangerous. Nine Orange players are averaging more than 10 minutes per game during Big East play, and that group doesn’t include freshman Michael Carter-Williams, who dropped 13 points on St. John’s on Saturday. Sophomore guard Dion Waiters is probably the team’s best player, and he’s the sixth man.

“They’re one of, if not the deepest team in the country. They have quality depth,” head coach John Thompson III said. “There’s no drop-off from the second team and, in some positions, the third team.”

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Georgetown will take on Syracuse this Wednesday, and depending on how the postseason goes (as well as the details of Syracuse’s departure to the ACC) this could be the final Big East contest between the two schools. Vox is going all out to mark the occasion, including a road trip up to the Carrier Dome. But first, a history lesson:

Georgetown first played Syracuse in basketball in the 1929-30 season. The Orangemen prevailed 40-18, and unless you count the recruiting coup that was Fred Mesmer, there wasn’t much narrative significance to the game. It was just two college teams playing basketball.

The two teams would play some 16 times over the next 50 years, with some lasting tensions finally starting to build in the 1970s. All those meetings were merely prologue, however, to the struggle for supremacy that began February 13, 1980–the night John Thompson Jr. closed Manley Field House.

The 1979-80 season marked the first year of the Big East, and the first conference meeting between Syracuse and Georgetown just happened to produce one of the most legendary games in the rivalry. Before the Carrier Dome opened, the Orange played in Manley Field House, a 9,000-seat arena renowned for its Cameron Indoor-like atmosphere–when the Hoyas came to town that night in February, Syracuse had won 57 straight games at home.

Syracuse would move into the Carrier Dome the next season, and the Georgetown game was the final contest scheduled in Manley. Long story short, the closing didn’t go the way the Orange would have liked it. The Hoyas won, 52-50, and John Thompson Jr. used the post-game press conference to issue a proclamation: “Manley Field House is officially closed.”

Thus began what is arguably the Big East’s greatest rivalry. More than 30 years later, surprisingly little has changed. Jim Boeheim is still the coach at Syracuse, as he has been for every year of the conference’s existence, and a Thompson still mans the sideline for Georgetown. And, most importantly, Georgetown and Syracuse are still fighting at the top of the conference standings.

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