Word: georgetowner
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When John Thompson III, coach of the Georgetown University men's basketball team, took over the moribund program there three years ago, a persistent question hovered over him, the way Patrick Ewing once loomed over point guards when Thompson's father, Hall of Famer John Thompson Jr., coached the Hoyas during their 1980s glory years. Could he really import the Princeton Offense, the precise, pass-happy basketball style that Thompson absorbed as both player and coach at the Ivy League school, to a team like Georgetown, which competes in the high-powered Big East conference? Consider the Hoyas' most notable...
...That whole line of questioning is baffling," insists Thompson III, 41, whose Hoyas mounted a bracket-saving comeback against North Carolina in the East Regional tourney to send Georgetown to its first Final Four in 22 years. "The perception - and it's an unfortunate perception - is that you go to the Big East and these guys can't, or won't, share the ball...
...Hoyas fail to win the national title on April 2 in Atlanta, Thompson's team has done more to smash that perception than any other in recent memory. "If you think of the Princeton Offense, you wouldn't think a team of African-American guys can run it," notes Georgetown star Jeff Green, whose last-second bank shot against Vanderbilt in the regional semifinals kept the Hoyas on their magical run. Why? he asks himself, mocking the ignorance. "Because we're not ?disciplined' enough...
...titles during his 29-year tenure (including 1996, when I was on the team), and Thompson clinched three more as Princeton coach from 2000 to '04 - imagine if the most talented players in the country could augment backdoor passes with individual skills. A trip to the Final Four perhaps? Georgetown's offense has clicked, with Thompson expertly mixing finesse with freedom. For example, before Green's game winner against Vandy, Thompson gave the NBA-bound Big East MVP spare instructions: Quickly look for Patrick Ewing Jr. (yes, son of the former Georgetown center) cutting to the basket. If Ewing...
...rabid Hoya fans affectionately call Thompson, struggled with his decision to take the Georgetown job in 2004. He loved his alma mater, and most members of the '04 Tigers, fresh off a league title, were returning. It wasn't certain that Georgetown could compete against the bulked-up budgets of the Big East. Even today Georgetown's hoop team fights the volleyball squad for practice time at the school's campus...