Georgetown at Marquette (-18 1/2), 2 p.m., FS1: It has not been a good week for Georgetown men’s basketball. This is putting it gently. On Jan. 1, in front of a crowd of dozens at Capital One Arena, the Hoyas lost to a solid-but-rebuilding Butler, 80-51. This tied DePaul’s all-time Big East losing streak of 24 games, just in time for Villanova — 8-7 and ranked No. 54 in KenPom at the moment — to come to downtown D.C. and beat Georgetown 73-57. The fans were mostly rooting for Villanova. Just like that, Georgetown set a historically embarrassing benchmark for Big East behavior. It is as low as the program has ever been — before John Thompson Jr. arrived, or since. The only good news here is that the memes have been extremely funny.
Still, Patrick Ewing persists. Athletic director Lee Reed acknowledged fans’ frustration this week, calling it a “challenging and frustrating” time but reiterating that “no one is more committed” than Ewing to turning Georgetown’s fortunes around. Fans responded with petitions and open letters to the university administration. It’s a dire situation. This makes this the perfect time to bet on Georgetown! What the hell, right? It’s only 10 tokens, and this line is massive. Yes, Marquette’s offense is elite and gorgeous, and Georgetown can’t stop the ball from gently rolling down the floor, but the Hoyas have actually put together some OK performances on the road in Big East of late — they played UConn to an 11-point loss and only lost to DePaul by seven. (Yes, writing that last bit felt crazy. DePaul is not good! But this is where we are.) There’s at least a tiny chance this roster (with maybe a few personnel tweaks, Patrick, yes? Patrick? Hello?) has hit rock bottom and rallies around its coach from here. Swerve! The pick: 10 on Georgetown.
Still, Patrick Ewing persists. Athletic director Lee Reed acknowledged fans’ frustration this week, calling it a “challenging and frustrating” time but reiterating that “no one is more committed” than Ewing to turning Georgetown’s fortunes around. Fans responded with petitions and open letters to the university administration. It’s a dire situation. This makes this the perfect time to bet on Georgetown! What the hell, right? It’s only 10 tokens, and this line is massive. Yes, Marquette’s offense is elite and gorgeous, and Georgetown can’t stop the ball from gently rolling down the floor, but the Hoyas have actually put together some OK performances on the road in Big East of late — they played UConn to an 11-point loss and only lost to DePaul by seven. (Yes, writing that last bit felt crazy. DePaul is not good! But this is where we are.) There’s at least a tiny chance this roster (with maybe a few personnel tweaks, Patrick, yes? Patrick? Hello?) has hit rock bottom and rallies around its coach from here. Swerve! The pick: 10 on Georgetown.