VILLANOVA, Pa.– How did it come to this?
Georgetown was a national power in the 1980’s under the late John Thompson Jr., advancing to three Final Fours and winning a national championship in 1983 during the Patrick Ewing era.
They advance to another Final Four in 2006 under John’s son JT III.
But the foundations have crumbled this year. The Hoyas from Washington, D.C., which are now coached by Ewing, are 6-20 overall and an incredulous 0-15 in the Big East with a chance to winless in conference play this season.
The team has managed to lose every impact player Ewing has signed, guards Mac McClung to Texas Tech, guard James Akinjo to Arizona and Baylor, and center Qudus Wahab to Maryland, leaving Ewing with seven new players to replace seven more to either leave or like forward Jamorko Pickett declared for the NBA draft.
The results of this unexpected youth movement have been devastating to this proud program and have left this once proud program listing.
After Georgetown’s 74-66 loss to a listless nationally ranked Villanova team at the Finn here Saturday, there are serious questions about the state of the program, which may be forced to move home games back to campus because no one is showing up at the Verizon Arena downtown, and the coach, who has struggled to bring back the glory years.
Ewing is an icon in this program, the best of the best during a period when Thompson was running an assembly line of big men like Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Othello Harrington to the NBA. He was a member of the Dream team when he played for the Knicks and has been inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
But nothing lasts forever, and the administration will be stuck with a thorny question over whether to extend Ewing past his four years when this seemingly endless season finally ends.
Ewing’s three best players– sophomore guard Dante Harris, fifth year senior guard Donald Carey, a transfer from Siena; and 6-5 freshman guard Aminu Mohammed, a McDonald’s All American from Greenwood Laboratory School in Missouri, have their roots in the Washington, D.C. area. But the Hoyas no longer control the best prospects in the D.C./North Virginia area, which has become a hot bed of national recruiting.
Villanova won a national championship in 2016 with two starters from D.C.– Josh Hart of Sidwell Friends and Kris Jenkins of Gonzaga. And two of the players who hurt the Hoyas the most Saturday were junior guard Justin Moore of DeMatha, Md. Catholic and forward Brandon Slater of Paul VI in northern Virginia, Both players were high valued targets their senior years. Moore, who is having a breakout season, scored 19 points, and Slater added 11.
Neither thought Georgetown merited special significance. “Just the next game,” Moore said.
the media grumbling about Ewing is accelerating with the hometown Washington Post suggesting Georgetown no longer resembles the program of Big John’s Hoyas and Myron Medcalf of ESPN said It’s fair to wonder how long Ewing will stay at Georgetown, adding John Thompson III was fired for less, proving that he appetite for struggles is conditional.”
The low water mark came with a loss to short- handed perennial bottom feeder DePaul, which had a 26-0 run during a second half turn around and the team has not improved since an opening game to Ivy League Dartmouth.
Ewing came to Georgetown with a reputation for being a good coach when he was an NBA assistant for 15 years and there is little question he has worked at recruiting. But his record speaks volumes. Ewing’s four- year record in the Big East is 26-59 and 68-79 overall. He did buy time when the Hoyas came out nowhere to win the 2021 Big East tournament at the Garden but the defense that was there last spring doesn’t exist this season with poor perimeter guarding and limited help in the paint. and we have yet to see any semblances of JT Jr.’s suffocating full court pressure. Offensively, Ewing’s teams have struggling to score 70 points and his willingness to substitute liberally with new players has created problems with chemistry and upset the better players.
The roster is constantly shifting because of multiple transfers and the lack of movement in the staff has not stopped.
In all fairness, there have been some success stories for players like Jamorko Pickett and Jahvon Blair who stayed four years and hoisted a trophy, with Harris collecting the tournament MVP award. Pickett and Omer Yurtseven became NBA players. But this year’s team has under achieved at best and the lack of discipline on the court and failure to create plays and opportunities for No. 1 and 2 options has been noticeable.
Times are different than when John Thompson Jr. prowled the sidelines.
And the only way they may change is if Ewing sees the handwriting on the wall and realizes he needs to step down for Georgetown basketball to move forward.
