Georgetown Basketball History: Top 50 Players Of The Thompson Era

1-10  11-20  21-30  31-40  41-50
 
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(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.)

11. Charles Smith (86-89) (6-0) (2, 1) - His Hoya career read like a script from a bad Disney movie. Recruited as a defensive specialist and told by John Thompson that he was never going to start, he averaged 3.0 in his first season and was scoring at a similar pace more than halfway through his second year when he apparently woke up one morning and decided that it was time to be a star. I believe that I had flown in to DC for what became his breakout game (it might have been De Paul or Syracuse) and remember being among the stunned that first, he had the guts to be putting up such strange looking shots in such a big game and second, that they were actually going in. I'm guessing that he averaged in double digits for the last 12 or so games of the 1986-7 season, scored 15.7 as a junior and 18.7 in a senior season that saw him named Big East Player of the Year and second team All American. He also played well as a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.

Charles Smith was second only to Allen Iverson in his creativity as a scorer. Where Iverson did it with athleticism - he simply had more options available to him than any player of his size had ever had - Smith did it with guile. His shot never seemed to have the same trajectory. He hit leaners in the lane, fallaways from the side and an assortment of junk high off of the glass. He had nice form from beyond the arc, but you were always surprised that the ball would get to the rim. The one constant was that his release was quick and extremely confident. As an added bonus, he learned how to pass as a senior and averaged almost 5 assists a game.

Charles loved to take the big shot. In the 1988 NCAA game against Ohio State he dropped a 30 foot bomb at the buzzer - it is unclear if he actually called glass. Perhaps the most dramatic last second basket was at Syracuse in the dome in 1988. With the Hoyas down one and time running out, Billy Packer informed the nation that Charles Smith was going to take it all the way. He did, single handedly shredding the Orange defense, scoring, and continuing straight down the tunnel with his index finger held aloft before a stunned, and silent Syracuse crowd.

12. Dikembe Mutombo (89-91) (7-2) (5) - It is ironic that Patrick Ewing, the epitome of college shotblocking excellence, might only have been the third best Hoya shotblocker of all time, and, with further apologies to Alonzo Mourning, it is crystal clear that Dikembe Mutombo was the best. This fact is not readily apparent from the list of Hoya career blocks - Patrick leads with 493, Zo is next with 453 and Dikembe trails with 354. But blocks per 40 minutes played tells a very different story. For his career, Patrick averaged 4.8 blocks per 40 minutes played which is good enough to lead the nation in most years. Zo was even better with 5.0 blocks per 40 minutes. Dikembe's rate was a truly awe inspiring 6.3 blocks per 40 minutes.

Each of the three centers had a different shotblocking style. Patrick tended to get to the ball with lateral movement and had more blocks from the weak side. He would get to the ball high on its arc and tended to get more goaltending calls, often he would knock the ball viciously out of bounds. Alonzo, the quickest leaper of the three, blocked the ball lower, often just after it had left the shooter's hands. His blocks tended to come right back at the shooter. Dikembe, the tallest of the three at a long-limbed 7-2, used his wingspan to almost catch opponent's shots and those blocks often fell gently to the floor.

Recruited from Zaire and relatively new to the game, the rest of Deke's skill set developed at a slower pace than his shotblocking. In his first Big East game, he set a Big East record with 12 blocked shots against St. Johns - and filled out his stat line with 2 points and 2 rebounds. Eventually, his offense sort of caught up and he was able to average 15.2 points, mostly on dunks, while earning first team Big East honors in his final year.

Dikembe currently stands third on the list of NBA career block leaders and has an outside chance to get to second as his career winds down. Patrick is 6th and Zo is 14th.

13. Othella Harrington (93-96) (6-9) (5) - Othella was, without question, the most misused and misunderstood Hoya of the John Thompson era. The top high school player in the country as a center out of Jackson, Mississippi (and the MVP of the McDonald's game with a 19 point 21 rebound performance), he was destined to disappoint a legion of Hoya fans who expected a power center in the Patrick and Zo mode.

Othella had a lot of skills that were not particularly appropriate to the way the Hoya offense had evolved by the early 1990's. He was a finesse player with the softest inside shot to ever play for the Hoyas. His lay-ups seemed to just drift over the rim, barely disturbing the net as they went through. He was a great face up shooter from 10-15 feet in those few instances when he was allowed to play away from the basket. And he was a finesse rebounder who always worked hard for position.

Those skills were not enough for what the Hoya offense had become. When Patrick was center he was surrounded by athletes and by movement. By Zo's last two years all of the movement was gone, and the concept had become "lets throw it into the center and watch him bull his way through the defenders." This worked a good part of the time with Zo since he was one of the strongest basketball players on the planet. It did not work with Othella. Not a power player, Othella did not go up strong. Instead, he pump faked, sometimes three or four times, sometimes scoring, often getting the ball thrown back in his face by one of the myriad defenders who knew exactly what the Hoya offense was trying to do. Othella must be the most blocked player in the history of college basketball - it would not surprise me if 20% of his shots were blocked. Despite the blocks, he shot 56% for his career. Do you know how good a shooter you have to be to shoot 56% with one shot in five being sent back at you? In Othella's junior year Allen Iverson arrived to dominate the ball, and he was an almost forgotten man for his last two years. Perhaps more than any other Hoya, Othella's game cried out for an overlay of offensive structure and flexibility and it simply wasn't provided.

Despite these enumerated problems, Othella's resume is a strong one. 5th in all-time scoring, 5th in blocks, 4th in rebounding and first, yes first, in career offensive rebounds. He was the Big East rookie of the year and made both second team and third team once. He has had a solid ten year career in the NBA. Ironically, he may very well have been the best high school player in what was a very weak class of 1992, only Jason Kidd and Corliss Williamson have been better as pros.

14. Michael Jackson (83-86) (6-2) (1, 2) - Michael Jackson was probably the most consistent of all of the Hoya guards. A four year starter and three time third team Big East selection, he was an excellent outside shooter who generally subordinated his offense to the passing role expected of a John Thompson point guard. He holds the single season assist record (242 in 1984-5) although John Duren had a higher per game average (7.4 to 6.4) in 1979-80.

Jackson would often go games without ever seeming to look for his shot - there were so many options available it just wasn't necessary. When challenged, he was quite deadly. In one game at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse apparently decided they would collapse completely on the post people and he scored about 30. He shot 50% from the field as a senior and 45% for his career, most of his shots coming from the outside and often from what would now be behind the arc.

Jackson had a quiet cockiness to his game that seemed to show up at crucial times. Trailing Kentucky 29-20 in the 1984 NCAA semi-final with time running out in the first half and Ewing in foul trouble, he beat his defender, drew both of Kentucky's big men and dished to Michael Graham who almost ripped down the rim with his jam. Jackson then ran off the court with a smile more appropriate to a team up by 13, which, come to think about it, we were by the end of the game. As an added bonus he led the Hoyas that day with a career high 10 rebounds.

15. Merlin Wilson (73-76) (6-9) (5) - As the 1974-75 basketball season approached during my freshman year, I knew but a few things about the Hoya basketball team. I knew that my high school classmate, Derrick Jackson, was on the team, and I wondered what position he was going to play. I knew that junior guard Jonathan Smith had averaged almost 18 ppg as a sophomore and was thought to have a promising future. For me, however, the most exciting prospect was looking forward to seeing Merlin Wilson, a junior center who had finished among the national leaders in rebounding with averages of 14.1 and 14.3 in his first two years. The man was a beast. Take a look at the list of the best individual game rebounding efforts by a Hoya. Wilson has five of the top nine of all time with efforts of 25, 24 and 23 (three times).

And I never really got to see the beast play. After watching my first five or six Hoya games I reached the conclusion that Wilson (now averaging a mere 9 rebounds a game) would be a much better rebounder if he would just put his arms above his head. Satisfied that I "knew" why his stats had gone down - it took several years for me to understand that he played his final two years with debilitating back trouble which made it hard for him to raise his arms.

Still, his career stats are overwhelming. He is one of only three Hoyas to exceed 1000 points and 1000 rebounds (Patrick and Zo are the others). His career rebounding average of 11.4 per game is more than two rebounds better than Patrick's, despite the pain and despite the clueless fans like me who didn't understand the effort he was putting forward.

16. Victor Page (96-97) (6-4) (2) - A great player who, unfortunately, could not handle the Georgetown academic load, he left school after two seasons.

He is probably the best long range shooter while moving laterally that the school has ever seen, and he was almost as good going to the basket. His 1996-97 performance, in which he averaged 22.7 and led the team to the NCAAs is among the best single season performances in school history.

Had he averaged the same 22.7 during hypothetical junior and senior years he would have left school as the Hoyas all time leading scorer.

17. Mark Tillmon (87-90) (6-2) (2) - There is a strong tendency to evaluate HS All American rankings (of which Mark was one) through the prism of the players (sometimes) subsequent NBA careers. Mark Tillmon is the classic example of a player whose career needs to be evaluated for what he did as a Hoya, since, at 6-2 (maybe), he was too short to play a single NBA game as a shooting guard. His Hoya credentials are very strong - 4 year starter, All Big East rookie team, and a stunning 1989-90 senior season in which he earned first team Big East honors with a 19.4 per game scoring average.

Tillmon was a good 3 point shooter, but the key to his offensive game was his ability to hit the mid-range baseline jumper, a capability that has been MIA since his departure.

18. Kevin Braswell (99-02) (6-2) (1, 2) - Braswell, the Hoya's seventh leading career scorer and all-time leader in assists and steals, was probably the most maligned player in the top 20 of this Hoya ranking. As much as anything else, this is because he serves as a Rorschach Test for Hoya fans of his era - they look at his game and see Craig Esherick's offense. Braswell could hit 3's, mid-range floaters and drives in traffic. His career shooting percentage was less than 40% because he took way too many of these shots, many of them with no time left on the shot or game clock. In looking back on his career, it is important to understand that he didn't design these "plays" for himself, rather they were a function of an offense that seemed to say "you know what we are going to do, prove you can stop us." Unfortunately, many teams, most notably Notre Dame in a quadruple overtime loss, proved they could do so.

Because of some of the disappointments there is a tendency to forget the great games, most prominently, his 40 point explosion in the triple OT NIT win at Virginia which is right there with Mike Sweetney's great game in that same ND loss as the best Hoya individual game performance since AI left the hilltop.

19. Bill Martin (82-85) (6-7) (4, 3) - Billy Martin had a hard career to evaluate. He stands 16th on the career Hoya scoring list and ninth in rebounds. He won a national championship, made second team Big East as a senior, and was generally regarded by TV announcers and fans alike as a fine player. But one is left to wonder if there might have been more there than he showed.

He had a great set of skills, combining truly superior leaping ability with wonderful shooting touch. His best shot was a jumper from the deep corner that would be three points today. He shot 50% or better from the field in each of his four seasons. He never, ever, forced the action.

And that might be a big reason that his memory has faded with me today. If you are going to wait around for your turn on a team that features Ewing, Williams, Wingate, Michael Jackson, and Michael Graham, not to mention Broadnax, Dalton, Gene Smith and Fred Brown, well you just won't get a lot of turns.

20. Jerome Williams (95-96) (6-9) (4) - Possessed of a truly unique combination of abilities and deficiencies, Jerome Williams was a perfect fit for Allen Iverson with whom he shared his two years at Georgetown. A Juco transfer who had grown late in his basketball development, Williams had the running, dribbling and passing abilities of a much smaller player. His key skill, however, was his brilliant, active rebounding where his 9.3 per game career average ties Patrick Ewing for second in the Thompson era. As an added bonus, he was a tireless defender. He was third team all Big East in each of his two years as a Hoya.

He averaged 10.5 ppg as a Hoya almost all of it on the offensive boards or in transition, for both of which there were profuse opportunities during the Iverson era. He had no jump shot and no low post game. Most confusingly, he must have been the weakest finisher of any great rebounder at any level anywhere. The single play that most stands out in his Hoya career was his failure to convert a follow up rebound as time ran out in the 1996 Big East final verses UConn.

Jerome graduated to the NBA where his run of active defense, more active rebounding, and missed lay-ups just recently came to an end. His NBA career was also notable for a commitment to community service (like Dikembe's and Zo's) that made us all proud to be Hoyas. He remains the most likely Hoya basketball player of the Thompson era to be elected to Congress.

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