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Georgetown Basketball History: (A note on the rankings. Each player is listed with the years that they played - 92 for example means the 1991-92 season - height, and the position (s) played, roughly in order of frequency.)
Patrick was the consensus High School player of the year coming out of Boston - a city that never forgave him for leaving. He was outplayed by both Stuart Gray (UCLA) and Greg Dreiling and Greg Dreiling (Wichita State) in the McDonald's AA game, and there was some doubt as to whether he deserved the #1 status in the class. By early January of his freshman year, all doubts had been put to rest as he led the Hoyas to a 41-9 lead (at one point) in the first half against St John's at Madison Square Garden. He cemented his reputation in a nationally televised destruction (from McDonough) of Missouri and highly regarded center Steve Stipanovich a month later and, from that moment on, was at the center of the college basketball universe, leading the Hoyas to a one point loss in the national championship game. For his freshman efforts Patrick was named a second team All American, which only highlighted the idiocy of naming him second team Big East. As a sophomore, his match-up with Virginia's Ralph Sampson was probably (at that time) the most anticipated regular season college basketball game ever played. Patrick's defense was a given, but for me his offense was a source of constant frustration. Just as Dean Smith earned the reputation as the only man who could hold Michael Jordan under twenty, so should John Thompson have earned that reputation with Patrick. For Hoya fans who were introduced to Patrick as a New York Knick who scored almost 25,000 points mostly on 8 to 15 foot jump shots, they would be surprised to learn that he only took that shot once or twice a game at Georgetown - we always wanted more. In fact, Patrick was probably the second best mid-range jump shooter to ever play for the Hoyas - only Derrick Jackson was better. For his career, Patrick averaged only 9.7 shots per game - by comparison Allen Iverson averaged 17.4. Patrick was intense and intimidating and an entire generation of college basketball fans grew up either loving or hating the Hoyas largely because of him. While he was a mere two baskets away from three national championships, some of his detractors thought it an indictment that he only got one. They simply didn't get it. After the heartbreaking one point loss to 'Nova in the 1985 National Championship game Patrick led the applause for the winners - leaving the college game with the class and style that had epitomized his career.
Reggie was the consensus #1 player in his high school class, one of four - Patrick, Reggie, Zo and Othella - to have signed with the Hoyas (A.I. probably would have also been #1 had he played his senior year in high school). Listed at 6-7, he played taller, with the wingspan of a 7 footer. As a player he arrived with his game fully formed, complete with the soft mid-range jump shots, the silky smooth drives, the sneaky-quick weak side rebounds and the dagger-like 3-pointers. As a freshman he was the MVP and best player on the floor in the 1984 championship game win. His scoring average rose year by year (9.1, 11.9, 17.6, 23.6) not because his game developed dramatically, but rather because he was asked to do progressively more. Few players have been asked to do more and fewer have responded in as spectacular a fashion as in Reggie's 1986-87 senior season, the year of "Reggie and the Miracles." In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, the Hoyas were Big East regular season and tournament champions and lost in the regional final to a Providence team that they had beaten twice earlier that season. By the end of the season, the line-up most often on the floor for the Hoyas was both very young and very short, featuring three guards (FR. Mark Tillmon, FR. Dwayne Bryant and SO. Charles Smith), a 6-4 center (JR. Perry McDonald), and Reggie. Reggie's 1986-7 season ranks with Allen Iverson's 1995-96 season as the greatest in Thompson era history, as can be discerned by a review of the relevant statistics. AI. slightly outscored Reggie (25.0 - 23.6) while Reggie was responsible for a slightly higher percentage of his team's points (.303 to.300). Overall, their shooting percentages were almost identical (Reggie .482, A.I. .480) with Reggie shooting better from beyond the arc (.386 to .366) and AI better from 2 point range (.546 to .532). The entire difference in scoring average was accounted for at the free throw line where A. I. made 59 more free throws, but needed 123 more attempts to do so. Reggie had a far better percentage (.804 to .678). A forward, Reggie outrebounded guard A. I. by more than 2 to 1 (294-141) while AI had almost twice as many assists as Reggie (173-92). Defensively, AI was the superior player, setting a single season record for steals (124 to Reggie's 71) and recording almost as many blocks (16 to Reggie's 19). If an edge were to go to Reggie in choosing a greatest season it would be based on a category that is admittedly hard to measure - leadership. In addition to A.I. the 1996 team featured three frontcourt players (Othella, Jerome, and Jahidi White) who have gone on to have longish NBA careers and Victor Page, who certainly had NBA skills. That team finished with a somewhat disappointing 29-8 record, a close loss in the Big East Final and a 9-5 record against ranked teams. Like the 1996 team, the 1987 squad lost in a regional final. But playing with far less talent (only reserves Jaren Jackson and Ben Gillery ever played in the NBA) the 1987 team finished 29-5, won the Big East tournament and was a stunning 9-1 verses ranked teams that were in every case much bigger and generally much more experienced. The lasting memory from 1987 is Reggie gathering in his younger teammates for on-court huddles that seemed to take place after every whistle - and for that team to come out of those huddles and execute at a higher level than any Hoya team since.
Our worrying was misplaced because no freshman, not even Patrick Ewing or Allen Iverson, had a more immediate impact for the Hoyas than Sleepy Floyd. In his second game he led the Hoyas to a three point victory over Maryland in what was John Thompson's first win over the Terps. Eight days later he was instrumental in a six point win over Indiana. In both games his key shot was a high arching jumper from the corner that would now be a three point shot. As the season went on it became apparent that his game was more than taking long jump shots, that he could hit them while moving from closer to the basket and that he could run the floor. Best of all was his ability to drive and finish, often in spectacular fashion. A great leaper with long arms, he played taller than his height. He led the Hoyas in scoring that season as he would for the subsequent three years. He was first team Big East as both a junior and a senior, and his omission from any Big East team in his sophomore season, the Big East's first, was worthy of a congressional investigation. A consensus All American and member of the NCAA all tournament team his senior year, in a career filled with highlights, his biggest highlight play was, perhaps, the one he never got a chance to make. Sleepy was alone in the right corner, poised to either shoot or drive, when Fred Brown made his fateful pass. Every Hoya fan believes that he would have scored. His career scoring record of 2309 points would have been well over 2700 in the three point era. As it is his 17.7 scoring average still ranks third in Hoya history. Sleepy was taken as the 13th pick in the 1982 draft. The first few years of his NBA career were a little rocky as he was converted from a shooting guard to a point guard, but in 1987 he had a breakout season for Golden State in which he averaged 18.8 points and 10.3 assists and made the All Star team. He played thirteen years in the league, seven as a starter, and ranks 41st in career assists. I always wondered about the conversion to point guard, because Sleepy's value always seemed to be as a scorer. He showed the world in a 1987 game against the Lakers with NBA playoff records of 29 points in a quarter and 39 points in a half.
As background, a great site for detailed pro and college statistics for Hoyas who have played in the NBA is http://www.basketball-reference.com/. Looking at Patrick's career, you see an amazing consistency. With the exception of his sophomore year in which his shooting percentage dropped precipitously (.631 to .570) at the same time as his scoring increased (12.7 to 17.7 ppg) while playing with a much less experienced group of players, Patrick made his shots at an exceptionally high rate (.630, .570, .658, .625). His blocks per game (3.2, 3.3, 3.6, 3.6) grew modestly and his rebounding improved from his freshman year (7.5, 10.2, 10.0, 9.2). His junior year was modestly better than his senior year, but he was always very efficient. Alonzo had much more statistical variability in his performance. His freshman year was extremely similar to Patrick's in scoring (Zo 13.1, Patrick 12.7) and rebounding (Zo 7.3, Patrick 7.5). Patrick shot a little better (.631 to .603) but Zo blocked shots at an awesome rate (5.0 to Patrick's 3.2). For the next two season's, Alonzo's overall game deteriorated (at least statistically) in a number of key areas even while his scoring output continued to grow. His shooting percentage plummeted (.603 to .525 and .522) and his blocks fell off the face of the map (5.0 to 2.2 and 2.4). At the same time his scoring average increased, primarily because he was taking a lot more free throws (from 5.7 attempts per game as a freshman to 9.1 as a sophomore) and making a higher percentage of the free throws he took (.783 verses .667). So, what happened? Looking back, I can offer two related theories as to what was going on that I will call "Dikembe Got in the Way" and "Basketball as Rugby." In Alonzo's freshman year he played 28 minutes per game. Dikembe Mutombo played 11 per game as Alonzo's backup and they were almost never on the floor together. In Zo's second season his minutes increased to 30 per game and Dikembe's soared to 26 per game, which meant that they must have been on the floor together for almost half of each game. The same 'twin towers" approach was the focus of the offense in Zo's third year. In the two years that Dikembe and Zo were on the floor a lot together, Alonzo's game was not the same. My memory of the time is that the offense looked bad with opposing defenses collapsed way down into the paint, and it pretty clearly had an impact on Zo's shooting percentage. What is more surprising was the impact on the defense, at least statistically. In both Alonzo's second and third years, years in which both he and Dikembe were on the floor together more often than not, their total blocked shots actually declined from the year in which they did not usually play together. My hypothesis would be that Alonzo was most effective defensively when he was playing the opposing center under the basket and that much of his effectiveness was lost as he was pulled farther out on the floor. Dikembe went away for Alonzo's senior season and Alonzo's game got a lot better with both his shooting percentage (up to .595) and blocks (5.0) rising back to freshman levels. He averaged 21.4 per game, a full 40% of which he earned at the free throw line where he made 272 of an amazing 359 attempts. While often effective, the free throws were also a symptom of the "Basketball as Rugby" approach which had a nasty side effect - Alonzo was often in foul trouble. "Basketball as Rugby" reflected the John Thompson offensive approach to the game that prevailed after the 1989-90 team until the arrival of Allen Iverson in 1994-95. Under this approach the Hoya center would plant himself in the low post and the ball would be tossed lackadaisically around the perimeter, eventually leading to a telegraphed pass into the low post. Since everybody on the opposition knew where the ball was going, many of them would arrive to greet the entry pass and the ensuing offensive move would often resemble a rugby scrum with lots of contact and lots of fouls. Usually, the fouls would be called on the defender, thus all the free throw attempts, but enough of them were called on Alonzo that he seemed to be in foul trouble a lot in big games and it sometimes kept us from winning. In Zo's senior season he averaged 3.6 fouls per game (by comparison, Patrick averaged 2.9 in his last year.) That extra foul in two out of every three games meant quite a lot. Would Zo have won a national championship if he had played a full career with teammates of the caliber of Patrick's? I believe the answer is yes, but that just reflects wistful speculation on my part. In the meantime, his consolation prizes include two first team Big East mentions, to go with one second and one third, as well as Big East player of the year and consensus All American as a senior.
My basic answer to the above question is no, the team underachieved. Given the level of since-proven talent on the roster, a 29-8 record in A.I.'s second season was insufficient. My basic memory of the 1995-96 season is of Allen Iverson dominating the ball and reluctantly getting rid of it if an opportunity wasn't available. Consequently the team failed to develop offensively and had difficulty winning in those games (such as the U. Mass. loss) when Allen had an off game.
Mike Sweetney is clearly the best low post offensive performer to have ever played for the Hoyas - in a college context. By "college context" I mean that given the caliber and size of the players who generally defended against them, that Mike had the greatest collection of moves and shots that would be effective once he received the ball. And, with the softest hands of any Thompson era Hoya, he was able to corral almost anything. In a professional context, his relative lack of height means that he takes a back seat to both Patrick and Zo. I resolve the dilemma of where Mike falls on the list with the following logic. Despite Mike's surprising defensive stats, nobody ever accused him of changing the opposition's game plan with his defense as generally happened with both Patrick and Zo. Iverson was clearly better offensively and defensively than Mike, his projected scoring total through three seasons would have been higher than Mike's projected total through four. That leaves both Sleepy and Reggie. In Sleepy's case, the three point shot would have put him back in the scoring lead even beyond a fourth Sweetney season. In Reggie's case, my sense is that Reggie would have put up far higher numbers had he played with the far less talented teammates that forced Sweetney to be the whole team. Of particular importance, I think, is that both Reggie and Sleepy could get their own shots, whereas teams had success shutting Mike down late in games by doubling the post and forcing other Hoyas to shoot. That's my logic. But I am not completely convinced that it is correct.
Tall and extremely well-muscled for a point guard, Duren was the less recruited of the two players. Although he was a gifted scorer with range out to about 20 feet on his jump shot - and ranks 11th in career points - he was a pass first point guard. With his big hands and wide body, it was hard for defenders to get at the ball. In his last two seasons he became a very effective penetrator - his 7.4 assist per game average in 1979-80 remains the high water mark for Thompson era guards. He ranks third all time in Hoya assists. Duren seemed to treasure economy of effort in his game. He would almost never dunk often barely leaving the ground on breakaway lay-ups. His pull up jumper on the break felt like an act of disdain, as in "OK I guess I nobody is open so I will have to shoot" and then the ball would be away with one quick flip of the wrist. Appearances were deceiving however as John was a fierce competitor - his dominance of alleged Holy Cross All-American guard Ron Perry at McDonough in 1978 was one of the most delightfully cruel things I have ever watched in basketball. Ba Ba was selected 19th in the first round of the 1980 NBA draft. He hurt his knee in training camp, missed half of his first season and only played two years more. The hilltop has been waiting for a worthy successor ever since his departure.
In retrospect, it seems that John Thompson was there to pick up the pieces. He would have been at many of the Dunbar games trying to land Duren but without much hope of landing Shelton. After the injury, most of the big schools decided to look elsewhere. Big Sky became a Hoya. He missed most of his freshman year with the injury, playing sparingly in 7 late season games. The first time we saw him play in McDonough, he limped out onto the floor, took an entry pass, dribbled once and jammed. It was the start of a career filled with highlight film moments. Two plays in particular stand out. After being ranked the previous five weeks, the Hoyas had fallen out of the top 20 with an overtime loss on the road at Loyola of Chicago in February of 1978. They faced a #17 ranked Detroit team that featured 3 future NBA players (Terry Tyler, John Long and Terry Duerod). The game remains by far the best game I ever saw in McDonough. Late in the game, with the Hoyas down by one, John Duren penetrated and shoveled the ball over to Shelton who went up over renowned leaper Terry Tyler. A picture on the front page of the Washington Post captured Shelton's head at hoop level as he jammed the ball and Tyler's hands back through the basket. The Hoyas won 83-82. Later that year in the NIT semi-final in Madison Square Garden the Hoyas trailed by 2 in the last few seconds to N.C. State. This time Duren took a jump shot from the free throw line that bounced high off the rim to the left of the basket where two Wolfpack players were waiting. All of a sudden, Shelton was there between them, snatching the rebound a foot above the rim, laying the ball down off of glass as he was hacked on the arm. He made the free throw to give the Hoyas the lead. The fact that we lost the game on a half court shot three seconds later has done nothing, almost 30 years after the fact, to diminish the magnificence of Big Sky's play. Shelton was drafted 31st in the 1978 draft by the Atlanta Hawks. Too small to be a power forward (listed at 6-7, he was probably no taller than 6-6) and without the ball handling skills to play the three, he had a two year NBA career, notable mostly for a 29 point outburst against Dr. J.
The fact that Derrick was even going to play basketball was a major surprise. A center fielder with speed and power, DJ had been a fifth round draft pick of the Texas Rangers and everyone in his high school class in Wheaton, Illinois (of which I was a proud member) expected him to go play baseball. Although Derrick had also been a high school basketball star, the operative words were high school since his game would not have appeared to translate well to the college level. A 6-0 center who was not a particularly good ballhandler, he averaged about 22 ppg for a team that averaged about 45 per game while finishing fourth in an eight team conference. What the recruiters failed to notice, was that he was putting up these statistics in a league which graduated 4 high D-1 big men that year. A Chicago alum alerted John Thompson to Derrick's potential and Big John took a chance with his last available scholarship. His first home game as a Hoya showed where he fell in the Hoya pecking order. He was the fifth guard into the game, behind starter and stud guard Jonathan Smith, behind starting freshman defensive specialist Mike Riley, behind steady sophomore Mike MacDermott and behind sweet shooting freshman Craig Esherick. DJ quietly scored a few points in limited minutes on some baseline jump shots. And he did it the next game and the next until it began dawning on Hoya fans that he might be something special. For the season he averaged 10.1 points a game, mostly off the bench, and hit the winning last second shot against West Virginia that sent the Hoyas to the NCAA for the first time since 1943. It seems that DJ's game was perfect for the Hoyas. The Hoya offense of the 1970's was patterned on the Celtic offense that John Thompson had learned from Red Auerbach - lots of motion revolving around a strong low post presence. Nobody moved more than Derrick. A great athlete, he just seemed to slither between defenders without the ball, catching and shooting a low trajectory shot, often off glass, with a quick, high release - from the base line, the foul line and all points in between. Because he had grown up as a center he was completely unphased by large defenders. At his best in big games, he led the Hoyas in scoring for the next three seasons and left the school as its career scoring leader with 1673 points, most of them 15 foot jump shots in traffic. Not surprisingly, he continues to hold the Hoya single season record for free throw percentage (88.1% in 1977-78) where his 15 footers were unguarded. Of the great Hoya scoring guards in the pre-three point era, he would have benefited the least from the rule change because the trajectory of his shot was so flat. Ironically, the winning shot over West Virginia - supposedly from 22 feet - might have been the longest shot he hit in his college career. It is impossible to underestimate just how important that shot was. While it is always dangerous to speculate about the course of history, it is not unreasonable to believe that had we not made the NCAA in 1975 that we would not have been able to beat out North Carolina and Notre Dame for Parade All-American Al Dutch and without Al Dutch that we would not have made the NCAA in 1976 thus inducing mega-studs Craig Shelton and John Duren to come to the hilltop the next year. And without the visibility of the close regional final loss in Shelton and Duren's senior year, would we have been able to recruit Patrick Ewing? After college, Derrick starred with Athletes in Action the Christian based ministry and played on the U.S. team in the 1978 World Championships. He is remembered by Coach Thompson as the "finest all around person I have ever coached at Georgetown."
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