By Mark F. Gray

Just over three years ago it seemed that Camelot had comeback to the Georgetown basketball program. With a trip to the NCAA Final Four and an NBA Lottery pick on the roster in Jeff Green the days of Hoya paranoia seemed ready to make their way back to Chinatown. However, when Greg Monroe made it known that he wasn’t coming back to school for his final two years of eligibility it shook the program like a Big East conference pick.

In the modern era of college basketball pit stops on campus are part of the process that coaches have to deal with. Players are far more sophisticated and make their decisions on where to play for reasons that have more to do with NBA preparation than with getting to a Final Four. Basketball factories such as Kentucky, or anywhere that John Calipari coaches, seem to recruit difference makers who come to school with a “one and done” mindset so they are constantly in transition.

Monroe was the top rated national recruit when Georgetown landed him in 2008. He was supposed to be a cornerstone to another Final Four trip before his departure. However, he didn’t win a single NCAA Tournament game. In fact, after his freshman season the Hoyas weren’t invited to the big dance. Losing in the first round this year certainly made his decision to leave a lot easier.

His departure is a devastating blow to a program whose conference has been victimized by players unexpectedly leaving early. Syracuse was hit by Wesley Johnson’s decision to go pro after they won the Big East regular season title. West Virginia lost Devin Ebanks to the NBA following their run to this year’s Final Four. Neither Johnson nor Ebanks leaves a bare cupboard in central New York or Morgantown, West Virginia. Suddenly, however, the Hoyas are in the mix as hopefuls istead of contenders for the Big East championship next year.

Monroe’s departure is a tremor to Hoya nation and the after shocks figure to reverberate indefinitely. Although Georgetown has sent the most players Big East players to the NBA since John Thompson III took the reigns of the program, transfers and defections threaten the foundation that seemed so stable in 2007.

Once known as “Big Man U” the losses of front court players have left the Hoyas thin in the paint for the last two years. The absences Vernon Macklin and Dejuan Summers were felt last year as Georgetown struggled against teams who had size and depth inside. Monroe is in better position to turn pro than Summers was last year and make impact in the NBA but there is no legitimate presence on the baseline as they try and return to the NCAA Tournament in 2011.

These days, however, players are more savvy and the elite players around the country talk regularly. Three years ago Georgetown was in the conversation about places they could attend and have a chance at going to the Final Four. Now they will text message or socially network with skepticism about whether becoming a Hoya means you can’t win in the NCAA Tournament.

With a packed house of hundreds of students joining them at Leo J. O’Donovan Hall on campus, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team found out that they were the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region of the 2010 NCAA Tournament and will play Ohio University in the first round.

The Hoyas, 23-10 overall after advancing to the Big East Tournament Championship game will play on Thursday vs Ohio University at 7:25 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island at the Dunkin’ s Center.

This is the fourth time in program history that Georgetown has been seeded No. 3 in the NCAA Tournament and the 13th time the Hoyas have been a top-five seed. The last time Georgetown was a No. 3 seed was during the 1989-90 season.

Should the Hoyas win their first round game, they will play the winner of a game between sixth-seeded Tennessee and No. 11 seed San Diego State

Ohio enters the NCAA Tournament with a 21-14 overall record. The Bobcats advanced to the NCAAs after entering the Mid-American Conference Tournament as the No. 9 seed and winning four-straight games, including the tournament championship game against top-seeded Akron,

“You can’t get to this part of the year and overlook anyone,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “The teams are too well-coached, too poised. They won their league or they’re playing well to get an at-large bid – that’s what makes [the NCAA tournament] so special.”

Head Coach John Thompson III leads Georgetown to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in his sixth year at the helm of the program. The Hoyas reached the Sweet Sixteen during the 2005-06 season as the No. 7 seed, advanced to the Final Four in 2007 as the No. 2 seed and reached the second round in 2008 as the No. 2 seed.

This will be the 26th appearance in the NCAA Tournament for Georgetown. The Hoyas have a 45-23 all-time record in 25 appearances, including a 7-3 record under Thompson.

Junior guard Austin Freeman (Mitchellville, Md./DeMatha), who leads the team in scoring with 16.7 points per game and was an All-Big East Second Team selection, leads the team. Junior guard Chris Wright (Bowie, Md./St. John’s College H.S. [D.C.]) and sophomore center Greg Monroe (New Orleans, La./Helen Cox) were selected to the Big East Conference’s All-Tournament Team after their performances at Madison Square Garden this past weekend. Wright averaged 19.3 points and 4.5 assists as the Hoyas reached the championship game, while Monroe averaged 16.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

By Mark F. Gray

In one of my recent on air conversations with former Georgetown guard and current broadcaster Mark Tillmon – during The SportsGroove Radio Show (M-F 7-10 ET www.woldcnews.com) – we talked about how good this year’s addition of the young pups could be.

“If they can ever put two halves together and do it consistently there’s no telling how good this team can be,” he said.

Saturday, with President Obama in the house, the Hoyas put two halves together and put an old fashioned beat down on Duke. That Georgetown beat Duke didn’t tell the story. It was the nearly flawless performance and the precise execution that was the story of this contest. They put the pedal to the floor and drove the Blue Devils like a recalled Toyota never letting up.

Oh what a feeling!

An 89-77 final score was a cosmetic outcome given Georgetown shot 71.1 from the field and got whatever the wanted whenever they wanted against Coach K’s army. If the Blue Devils learned anything from this game is that strength doesn’t necessarily come in numbers. Duke had the deeper bench but the Hoyas had the best two players on the floor and they dominated the contest.

Greg Monroe showed the national TV audience why he was the nation’s top recruit two years ago. His athletic 21 points and five rebounds wore down Duke’s big men and should have NBA scouts rethinking Kentucky’s John Wall as the top pick in this year’s draft. The Blue Devils had no way to stop him in the paint and as he made seven of his 11 shots. However, in transition he was Usain Bolt turning the floor of the Verizon Center in Chinatown into his personal 100 meter final in Beijing crossing the finish line with authority at the rim.

But college basketball is about the guards and it was Georgetown backcourt who made the biggest statement. Chris Wright and Austin Freeman combined for 41 points and seven assists. Meanwhile, Duke’s guards – Jon Schyer and Nolan Smith shot just 11 of 29 from the field with only one assist. Had this been an MMA event the Blue Devil backcourt would have had to submit.

Georgetown made a statement by responding after a tough loss to Syracuse with a virtuoso performance against Duke. The Hoyas have set themselves up for a top four seed in any NCAA region barring a epic collapse. They will be a nightmare for teams who haven’t seen them to matchup against on short preparation come March.