Georgetown’s NCAA Tournament Failures Fall Squarely on John Thompson III

Thompson III is the modern Gene Keady, overseeing this generation’s flagship tournament underachiever. Welcome to life off the hook, Purdue! If not for nepotism, a puppet state governing the basketball program and university board that frankly doesn’t place a premium on athletics, Thompson may already be off the hook himself. Let’s face it, visions of integrity trump team performance at Georgetown. President DeGioia wasn’t going to fire Esherick until student protesters forced his hand. Once a vacancy opened up, DeGioia turned to Princeton of all places — not exactly a heavyweight stepping stone — in search of a replacement.

Since a captivating sprint to the Final Four in 2007, Georgetown has become college basketball’s version of the Atlanta Braves. More than 30 players have passed through the program since the Hoyas last won an NCAA tournament game. Six years have passed since the school last survived the Big Dance without losing to a double-digit seed. Georgetown is the only program to lose to a team seeded at least five spots lower in five consecutive tournament trips. JTIII will have to wear that stigma the rest of his career, exposed for everyone to see.

We’re at the point now where Georgetown should earn underdog status in March regardless of its tournament seeding. Lose to JTIII and the Hoyas in the one-and-done format?  That’s embarrassing.

Florida Gulf Coast was the latest to dispatch a highly-seeded Georgetown squad thanks to Thompson’s engagement to the offense he brought with him from Princeton. Armed with an NBA lottery pick and a cast of young supporting talent, Thompson stuck with a system designed to disguise deficiencies in star talent. But why? This isn’t Princeton. Georgetown had the requisite talent to play loose and free. There was nothing to mask, no reason to champion a plodding, mechanical offense tailored for underdogs. Besides, an effective Princeton O requires a versatile big. This Georgetown team didn’t have a Greg Monroe, Roy Hibbert or even Henry Sims.

Thompson’s hallmark style of play is the very kind that invites inferior opponents to remain competitive. He prefers to slow the pace and force teams to beat Georgetown in the half court. It’s a sage strategy against athletically superior opponents, not against teams over whom Georgetown has a decided edge in individual talent. Think Louisville would seem so invincible if it tabled its full-court press in favor of a grind-it-out style that borders on stall ball?

Fewer possessions means smaller margin of error and a shorter scale over which underdogs have to outplay the favorite. It’s a mid-major’s dream. Not only do you get to dictate the game against Georgetown, but you only have to one-up the Hoyas over 70 possessions, as opposed to say the standard 85. It would’ve behooved Georgetown to speed up and lengthen the game on Friday, allowing the team’s talent advantage to settle the score. Larger sample sizes favor the favorite. Stubbornly shortening the game is just begging for disappointment.

Through faith and reason, John Thompson III is the willful common thread of six straight seasons teeming with promise and ending in bitter regret. His tenure in the nation’s capital has melded the credibility of his father with the tormenting underperformance of Esherick, which has left Hoya Paranoia pining for more.

Ultaque unum.