Georgetown Basketball: The Trials of building a culture for Hoyas

The word “culture” is thrown around so much in sports that it’s almost lost it’s meaning but there are a few instances where the culture is truly something that exists within an organization. Particularly when it comes to Georgetown Basketball.

Just like most things, culture comes in many different ways. In the NFL, the culture in New England has created a dynasty we haven’t seen in this era. The Miami Heat’s culture hasn’t produced a championship since the departure of LeBron James but their calling card is team first, hard work, and a corporate structure that breeds maximum results from their roster.

Over the last two games, we got a glimpse at what Georgetown’s culture will be under head coach Patrick Ewing.

Last weekend, the Hoyas traveled to New York to face St. John’s with Mac McClung unavailable to play. Georgetown fell behind by 17 points without their leading scorer. But the Hoyas fought back behind great ball movement and a career day by Jahvon Blair (23 points), to walk out of Madison Square Garden with a 73-72 win. The win snapped a three-game losing streak.

There wasn’t a lot of time to celebrate with conference leader, Seton Hall coming to town. Once again, McClung would be unavailable. The official word is McClung is “day-to-day”

The Hoyas would quickly fall behind 16-0. The Hoyas fought back eventually cutting the lead to eight before settling for a 10 point deficit at halftime.

The second half saw the Hoyas cut the lead to three in the first 2:10 of the half. Seton Hall responded and pushed the lead back up to 11 but the Hoyas would respond and get back to within four with 7:47 left. The Hoyas would never get any closer in the 78-71 loss.

Instead of lamenting the odds stacked against them, Ewing praised his team for the toughness they showed. “I’m proud of my team. Even though we lost, I’m very proud of them. We got down big but we fought, came back, cut it to four at one point but they were able to make some shots and build the lead back up..”

That’s the funny thing about building a culture. It rarely gives you instant gratification. In fact, it might take a couple more recruiting classes before it truly takes shape. That what makes this season so frustrating yet gratifying.

On paper, most thought Georgetown had a great chance to be a tournament team and they still might be one. If the Hoyas can go on a run and have a .500 record in the Big East, they’ll definitely get the attention of the Selection Committee. Now how realistic is that is another story.

The Hoyas have two winnable games against DePaul (home and away) but still have dates at Butler, Marquette, and Creighton. The home dates aren’t exactly easy. In addition to DePaul, Providence, Xavier, and Villanova will be coming to Cap One.

But this Hoya team has something in them. They haven’t quit despite four transfers and an injury to their leading scorer. They keep grinding through one of the toughest conferences in the country even though, they’ve lost four out of their last five.

Culture building is tough but there’s ever a team that shows they’re ready for the challenge, it’s this one.