The sad truth, as evidenced by our schedule among other things, is that over the last 3 years we have sunk from being considered a quality and competitive college basketball program to being no better than a team that "used to be competitive that is no longer any good"
Of course it is likely that this is in part due to events that were happening in part earlier than 36 months ago, but I believe that if you had asked folks back in 2012-2014 whether or not Georgetown is a quality program that is capable of competing with the best programs in the nation, the obvious answer by anyone who knows anything about college hoops at that time would be hell yes they are competitive. (Heck we were co-Big East champs in 2013). Not necessary truly elite, but a very good and competitive program at a minimum.
I think most of us on this board would agree that we can no longer answer yes to this question today and anyone that things we are still a competitive program, is not seeing straight. This is the sad truth. So for me the questions becomes, how can we get back to that level of being a top 20-30 program in the country. (I personally believe it is unlikely that we will ever be a consistent elite top 5/10 program like we were for much of the 80s)..
There are many ways we can get there, but in my opinion the easiest and most likely is as follows:
Within a couple of years, one or two top "one and done" type post players with the talent and upside of a Bol Bol/Bamba/Bagley comes to Georgetown because he (or his family/coaches) believe that Patrick Ewing gives them the best chance of developing and thriving in the NBA. We run an up tempo and NBA type offense and they do very well at Georgetown and get drafted very high (like top 3) in the draft after only 1-2 years of college ball and they remain close to the program. This helps cement Ewing's position and Georgetown as one of the top coaches and schools to go to for post players which leads to a much easier time for Georgetown consistently recruiting some of the top post players in the country to play at the Hilltop because they want to be coached by Pat and follow the footsteps of others who came before them and had success. This also eventually leads to more top guards coming to Gtown because the top guards are smart enough to know that if you have really good post players who can run an NBA style offense, it makes it easier for them to be successful too.
To be really good today at anything (not just recruiting or sports) you have to have a niche and you have to market it properly. Back in the day we had Hoya Paranoia, one of the best defensive teams in the country and, playing for one of the few black head coaches in the country and perhaps the only one who played in the NBA. That is all gone. We have no real niche now. We need to establish a new niche and to me the easiest and most likely one to develop is being able to be coached by Patrick Ewing as one of the greatest NBA post players in history, who also has a proven record coaching NBA posts and who has many NBA players. This has to be marketed and pushed and we have to get lucky by landing a top recruit who takes a leap of faith and then succeeds to give it credibility.
Until we can recruit this top 5 Post player in the country to take a chance like this, I think it will be difficult for Gtown to return to anything other than mediocrity. However, if this happens (especially if it happens twice in a short period of time), this could be the key to help catapult us back to being a competitive team that wins 20 games most seasons and goes to the NCAA most seasons, ironically the same way Ewing's arrival catapulted the HOyas from being a good team to being an elite team for a period of about 10-15 years.
Of course it is likely that this is in part due to events that were happening in part earlier than 36 months ago, but I believe that if you had asked folks back in 2012-2014 whether or not Georgetown is a quality program that is capable of competing with the best programs in the nation, the obvious answer by anyone who knows anything about college hoops at that time would be hell yes they are competitive. (Heck we were co-Big East champs in 2013). Not necessary truly elite, but a very good and competitive program at a minimum.
I think most of us on this board would agree that we can no longer answer yes to this question today and anyone that things we are still a competitive program, is not seeing straight. This is the sad truth. So for me the questions becomes, how can we get back to that level of being a top 20-30 program in the country. (I personally believe it is unlikely that we will ever be a consistent elite top 5/10 program like we were for much of the 80s)..
There are many ways we can get there, but in my opinion the easiest and most likely is as follows:
Within a couple of years, one or two top "one and done" type post players with the talent and upside of a Bol Bol/Bamba/Bagley comes to Georgetown because he (or his family/coaches) believe that Patrick Ewing gives them the best chance of developing and thriving in the NBA. We run an up tempo and NBA type offense and they do very well at Georgetown and get drafted very high (like top 3) in the draft after only 1-2 years of college ball and they remain close to the program. This helps cement Ewing's position and Georgetown as one of the top coaches and schools to go to for post players which leads to a much easier time for Georgetown consistently recruiting some of the top post players in the country to play at the Hilltop because they want to be coached by Pat and follow the footsteps of others who came before them and had success. This also eventually leads to more top guards coming to Gtown because the top guards are smart enough to know that if you have really good post players who can run an NBA style offense, it makes it easier for them to be successful too.
To be really good today at anything (not just recruiting or sports) you have to have a niche and you have to market it properly. Back in the day we had Hoya Paranoia, one of the best defensive teams in the country and, playing for one of the few black head coaches in the country and perhaps the only one who played in the NBA. That is all gone. We have no real niche now. We need to establish a new niche and to me the easiest and most likely one to develop is being able to be coached by Patrick Ewing as one of the greatest NBA post players in history, who also has a proven record coaching NBA posts and who has many NBA players. This has to be marketed and pushed and we have to get lucky by landing a top recruit who takes a leap of faith and then succeeds to give it credibility.
Until we can recruit this top 5 Post player in the country to take a chance like this, I think it will be difficult for Gtown to return to anything other than mediocrity. However, if this happens (especially if it happens twice in a short period of time), this could be the key to help catapult us back to being a competitive team that wins 20 games most seasons and goes to the NCAA most seasons, ironically the same way Ewing's arrival catapulted the HOyas from being a good team to being an elite team for a period of about 10-15 years.
