According to multiple reports, Georgetown forward Otto Porter Jr. will announce his intention to leave school early and enter his name for the 2013 NBA Draft this afternoon at McDonough Gymnasium.

“I mean it was hard,” Porter said in his opening statement. “It was a tough decision. I love Georgetown.  I love my coaches.  I love my teammates.  I would like to come back and finish my degree [at some point].”

With head coach John Thompson III by his side, the sophomore is expected to announce what many draft experts have been speculating for some time now, as the versatile forward is projected to fall in the top-10 of the draft. If he decides to sign with an agent, he automatically forgoes his final two years of collegiate eligibility. CBS Sports’s Jeff Goodman was the first to report his decision.

“I think he is ready as much mentally, emotionally, as it relates to basketball,” Thompson said. “I thought he went about the process in an educated manner.  He didn’t make a rushed decision one way or the other.  He had two good choices.  It is a process.  He is prepared.”

Porter’s stock escalated rapidly this past season, since he started off as a probable lottery pick and is now firmly entrenched near the top five selections this June.  He raised his play over the course of the year and has been deemed an ideal NBA small forward for his versatility.

“A lot of people come into this, young players, with the attitude that they will leave as soon as possible,” Thompson said. “They walk in the door thinking about walking out the door.  That has never been the case with him.”

“What has been consistent with him and what he will take with him to the NBA, and once those days are over, is his caring, his work ethic, his commitment to what he is a part of,” Thompson said. “He is completely committed to this institution, to our program, to our team.”

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Davidson, Baylor (NIT), Ohio, Virginia Commonwealth, North Carolina State, and now, Florida Gulf Coast. The list is damning, an indisputable condemnation of John Thompson III’s postseason failures since that astounding run to the 2007 Final Four.

Just one week after taking home Big East Coach of the Year honors for leading his young Hoyas to a share of the Big East regular season title, Thompson’s team crumbled when it mattered most, as they were summarily undressed by No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast 78-68.

All of a sudden, Georgetown’s stalwart leader was a shell-shocked version of himself. “More than anyone on this earth I’ve tried to analyze it, think about it, look at it, think about what we should do differently, and I don’t know,” he said of the recent postseason failure.

Thompson won the award for instilling a sense of toughness unparalleled in the Big East this year. The old school Hoya defense of his father’s day was on full display this season. Until Friday.

A team composed mainly of sophomores and freshmen, with just two juniors and no seniors, played beyond their years. A great deal of the time, we forgot there was a supposed youth void on this team. Until Friday.

A national player of the year candidate in sophomore Otto Porter Jr. looked close to unstoppable and the pieces around him looked to be perfect complements to his all-around game. Until Friday.

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It is difficult to beat a team three times in one season.  Georgetown found that out on Friday night.  The No. 5 Hoyas (25-6, 14-4 Big East) fell to the No. 19 Orange of Syracuse (26-8, 11-7 Big East) 58-55 in overtime of the Big East Tournament.  It was the third time Georgetown faced Syracuse this year, with the Hoyas winning the two other match-ups.

“Obviously we will learn from this experience,” junior guard Markel Starks said. “Obviously it hurts right now.  At the same time, we just didn’t execute when we really needed to.”

It was only right that the final game of one of the fiercest rivalries in college basketball had to go to an extra period.

“Yes, It’s fitting it went into overtime,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said. “It is a shame they are heading down to Tobacco Road for a few dollars more.  This is rivalry that has meant a lot to our program and their program.”

The Blue and Gray fought back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to tie the game with seven seconds remaining in regulation. Sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. sent the contest to overtime with two clutch free throws that tied the game at 51-51.

In overtime, Brandon Triche’s lay-up on the first possession gave Syracuse a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

A few plays later Starks fouled out.  Without him in the game, the Hoya offense stalled and mustered only one field goal in overtime.

Nonetheless, with the Orange up by 3, the Hoyas had a chance to tie the game twice with under a minute remaining.  First, Syracuse swarmed Porter Jr. outside the three-point line and forced him to make a bad pass and turn the ball over.

With 3 seconds remaining, Syracuse’s C.J. Fair missed two free throws giving the Hoyas one last chance to tie.  Sophomore guard Jabril Trawick heaved a shot from half-court at the buzzer but it banged off the backboard.

“I thought it was going in,” Thompson said.

“Definitely,” Porter agreed.

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Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III was named Big East Coach of the Year yesterday afternoon. Otto Porter Jr., his sophomore star, was named the Big East Player of the Year in a unanimous vote by league coaches.

The vote comes in Thompson’s most impressive job on the Hilltop since his arrival from Princeton University nine years ago. Thompson overcame the losses of his three top scorers from a season ago in Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and Hollis Thompson. His team also recovered from the academic suspension of second-leading scorer Greg Whittington in early January.

After a torrid start to the season that saw the Hoyas defeat national powerhouses like UCLA and take then No. 1 Indiana to overtime, Thompson’s group struggled through the beginning of the Big East slate, dropping their first two with the wheels falling completely off in a 28-point drubbing to Pittsburgh.

After a couple of more blips in the schedule, though, the Hoyas reeled off 11-straight wins and rose from an unranked afterthought to No. 5 in the nation. On Saturday, Georgetown clinched the No. 1 seed in this week’s Big East Tournament, as well as a share of the regular season title with a thorough 61-39 victory over Syracuse.

Porter has been the catalyst for much of Thompson’s success, taking on a bigger offensive role after Whittington’s untimely exodus. He led the Hoyas in points (16.4), rebounds (7.5), and steals (2.0) per game while gaining traction for national player of the year honors later in the season.

The sophomore do-everything forward’s season culminated with three Big East Player of the Week honors. He was also the only unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team. Porter has posted 25 games this season with double figures in scoring, with 8 of those games at 20 points or higher.

Porter pulled away from other possible contenders for the Big East Player of the Year honor when he willed the Hoyas to a victory against Syracuse in front of a record-breaking crowd of over 35,000 by scoring a career-high 33 points. This performance also greatly contributed to his selection as one of 25 finalists for the Wooden Award. He would be the first Georgetown player to win the award and only the third Big East player to do so.

Porter along with the rest of Thompson’s squad will be back on the court at Madison Square Garden tomorrow at noon to take on the winner of Cincinnati and Providence, who play at noon today, in the Hoyas’ first game of the Big East Championship.

Photo: Miles Gavin Meng/Georgetown Voice

A 6-foot-10 imposing figure, John Thompson Jr. does not blend into crowds all that easily. But during his son’s reign over Georgetown’s basketball program, the legendary Thompson has done just that, disappearing in the back-right corner of the press room.

Except on this day, there was a little too much emotion seeping out of Thompson. For the man who essentially started the Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry by declaring the Orange’s former home, Manley Field House, closed in 1980, this final iteration of the team’s Big East rivalry meant a little too much.

And so after his son’s Hoyas dominated the Orange for 40 minutes—with a 61-39 final—he had to interject at the postgame press conference.

“Kiss Syracuse goodbye,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, excuse me,” he added after the laughter died down.

In the storied history of the rivalry, no team had held Jim Boeheim’s Orange to fewer than 40 points. That is, until John Thompson III took a page out of his father’s book and rode his vaunted Georgetown defense to a historic performance—holding Syracuse to just 39 points two weeks after holding them to 46 in a victory at the Carrier Dome.

On that day, Hoya sophomore Otto Porter Jr. burst on the national scene and dominated the Orange with a 33-point performance in front of 35,012 orange-clad fans.

The Verizon Center crowd did their best to counter that effort on Saturday, filing in to the tune of 20,972 people—good for the largest turnout for an indoor sporting event in DC metro area history.

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The Georgetown Men’s basketball team (16-4, 6-3 Big East) defeated St. John’s (14-8, 6-4 Big East) at the Verizon Center earlier today with a score of 68-56 in front of 15,000 Gray Out fans. The Hoyas were led by junior forward Nate Lubick as he scored a career-high 16 points and secured 10 rebounds to earn his first double-double. Georgetown has now won six of their last seven games, with that stretch beginning the first time they faced St. Johns at Madison Square Garden on January 12. Today also marked Head Coach John Thompson III’s 200th win with the Hoyas.

The Hoyas came out strong both offensively and defensively in the first half against the Johnnies. Shooting 58 percent from the field, they were able to score 39 points by the end of the half, which included 5 three-pointers. Rebounding was also a high point in the early going as the Hoyas out-rebounded the Red Storm 21 to 9, five of these coming as part of the day’s standout performance by Lubick. Sophomore forward Otto Porter Jr. got off to a solid start in the first half by making all three of his shots for 7 points, but with just over 7:30 left he was subbed out and would not return until the second half.

“He’s been playing at a very high level for a long time now, to tell you the truth. I said a couple of games ago, he wasn’t up here, but I said Nate gave us quality stats, not quantity stats. When we need something done, he gets a rebound, makes an assist, gets a basket. He’s been doing that consistently and tonight was no exception,” said Thompson III of Lubick’s play.

St. John’s was held to just 34 percent shooting, but was able to keep the score within 11 by making 8 of 12 free throw attempts. The half was topped off with another acrobatic play coming from sophomore forward Aaron Bowen. Freshman guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera bounced a three-point attempt off the rim when Bowen came running in from outside the three-point line to emphatically dunk the rebound.

The offense slowed down considerably in the second half for Georgetown as St. John’s was able to tighten up their defense in the paint and force shots from the perimeter. The Hoyas tossed up one more shot than in the first half but were only able to get 10 of them to go, dropping down to 46% shooting for the game. St. John’s also stepped up their rebounding on both sides of the court with 25 compared to Georgetown’s 20, allowing them to keep the score marginally close without much help from free throws.

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Seven days after the sky was falling in a loss to South Florida, the Georgetown Hoyas (14-4, 4-3 Big East) have their swagger back. Behind virtuoso performances from Otto Porter Jr. and Markel Starks, they put away No. 5 Louisville (16-4, 4-3 Big East) 53-51 in a thriller at the Verizon Center this afternoon.

Despite the standout efforts from their usual stars, it was the less-heralded junior Aaron Bowen who saved the game for Georgetown. With 3:38 remaining in the game, Bowen tipped in a missed D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera layup with an acrobatic, behind-the-back finish.

I was almost towards half court, I have never seen anything like it,” Starks said of the play. “I tell him he’s one of the most athletic people on this planet. When the shot went up, he just came out of nowhere, and it was unbelievable.”

“Literally, the dead ball before his basket, he says ‘I’m going to get one [putback] coach, I’m going to get one’ and then he goes out and does it. That’s pretty good,” added Head Coach John Thompson III.

For the Hoyas, it marked the go-ahead basket in a seesaw affair. For Bowen, it marked his only points, although the junior has seen increased playing time since sophomore Greg Whittington was declared academically ineligible.

Porter, who contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds, also came up clutch for Georgetown with three timely rebounds in the final seconds. With the final rebound, he was fouled with two seconds left. After missing the second free throw, Louisville’s Russ Smith threw up a desperation heave at the buzzer – the miss sent the Hoyas to their second straight win, sending the crowd of 17,474 into a frenzy.

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The No.15 Georgetown men’s basketball team (8-1, 0-0 Big East) will be back in action Saturday afternoon at Verizon Center, as they face the Western Carolina Catamounts (4-6, 2-0 Southern) at 12:00 p.m.

The Hoyas will look to improve upon their current five-game winning streak when they take on the Catamounts, after defeating Longwood this past Monday night 89-53.

After struggling on the offensive end in many of their prior games this season, the Hoyas broke out offensively against Longwood, scoring 89 points and shooting 53 percent from the field.

“It’s good that the ball went in the basket,” said Head Coach John Thompson III following the Longwood game. “Most of the looks we got were wide open shots.”

However, this season the Hoyas have prided themselves on their defensive effort. In their nine games played this season, Georgetown has held their opponents under 60 points seven times, including the past five games, when their opponents have failed to score above 53.

Despite their unexceptional record, this Western Carolina team should not be taken lightly. Although their only wins have come against mediocre opponents in Howard, Furman, and Eastern Kentucky, the Catamounts have played close games against notable programs such as Wichita State, Western Kentucky, and more recently No. 13 Illinois, who they lost to by only 8 points.

“They’re a good team. They have very good offensive pieces. You look across the board and sometimes you play great teams and you say, ‘How can we stop these two guys?’ but across the board they can put five good offensive players on the court,” said Thompson.

This does not bode well for the Hoyas, who have been notorious this season for playing down to their level of competition, as exemplified in closer-than-expected wins against Duquesne, Liberty, and Towson.

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The Georgetown Hoyas left the makeshift court on board the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, Fla. Friday night trailing the Florida Gators 27-23 at halftime. When they came back out for the second half, they found a hardwood better suited for a Slip n’ Slide contest. After conferring with Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan and game officials, Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III agreed to cancel the second half due to extreme condensation on the court.

“I’ve never had a contest that’s been ended [under these circumstances], at any level,” Thompson said. “This would’ve been really dangerous, we couldn’t play in these conditions.”

It’s true – Vox tested the conditions and we nearly fell flat on our faces. Every time game staff and others (including sophomore Otto Porter Jr., pictured) worked to clean an area of the court, moisture would reappear a couple of minutes later. Officially, the game was marked as “no contest”, as if it never happened.

For Porter Jr. and company, it is a disappointing result, especially because they were ready to come out and amend their first half blemishes.

“We were going to adjust to some things a little and come out with more energy,” the sophomore said. “Try to keep the same gameplan we had in the first half – seemed to work a little bit. They were missing shots.  We just wanted to contain them.”

The main problem with that first half was poor shooting from the Hoyas. They shot just 37 percent from the field, a result of far too much stagnation on the offensive end. The Blue and Gray struggled with the Gator zone for much of the half, relying on three-pointers and forcing rushed jumpers at the end of the shot clock on multiple occasions.

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Nike officially opened its first store in the DC area today, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration of the Nike Georgetown store at 3040 M Street. The store has been in the works for some time now, and replaces the Barnes and Noble which was a mainstay in the area until last year. The superstore is one of nine in the country for Nike, and covers 31,000 square feet.

The morning included remarks from legendary Hoyas basketball coach John Thompson Jr. and his son, current Georgetown coach John Thompson III. Former Hoya and NBA Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing and US Olympic soccer player Brandi Chastain were also present for some of the day’s festivities.

“We are proud to partner with the Georgetown community,” said Nike’s North America Vice President and General Manager Elliott Hill in a statement. “Washington D.C. has a rich sports culture and we look forward to inspiring and serving athletes of all levels.”

More on the unique Georgetown elements of the store and a slideshow with pictures from the day after the jump.

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