:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/9787221/163680503.0.jpg)
NCAA College Basketball Recap - Cincinnati Bearcats at Georgetown Hoyas - Mar 14, 2013 - CBSSports.com
"All the attention Otto is getting is well-deserved, but at the same time, knowing that going into games that he's going to have that attention, we have to step up," Starks said. "We don't just say, hey, it's just Otto. No, we play as a team. We play as a unit. We're going to continue to do that, and we will continue to get better."
Top-Seeded Georgetown Uses Second Half Run to Beat Cincinnati, 62-43
For any of the players, do you see Syracuse and Pitt in the bracket possibly in the semifinals. What's your opinion on that intensity that the game could bring tomorrow night? OTTO PORTER: Syracuse, I mean, it will be a great game. I'm pretty sure they will want a rematch against us. I mean, it will be a terrific game to play against them.
Georgetown shows it's more than Otto Porter - ESPN
It was the unheralded trio, the ones who will kill you while you’re paying too much attention to Porter. It was Trawick (9 points), Starks (14) and Smith-Rivera (13) who beat the Bearcats. “It’s key," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “Otto has gotten a lot of attention lately and deservedly so. He’s one of the best -- the best player in the nation in my opinion -- but we have a very good team. I’ve said that over and over again." Thompson went on to remark about his team’s unselfishness, a bonus of an attribute that happens to work especially well because the player of the year candidate embodies it.
Big East tournament 2013: Georgetown gets balanced attack in win over Cincinnati - The Washington Post
Porter was a factor, as his 18 points and six rebounds suggest, an effort that included eight straight game-sealing free throws in the final minutes. But when Cincinnati stormed back from a 16-point first-half deficit to take a lead early in the second half, the Hoyas got baskets from four players on their next five possessions to re-establish the lead and secure the win.
Rapid Reaction: Georgetown 62, Cincy 43 - Men's College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
Star watch: It was a true team effort by Georgetown. The Hoyas had three players in double figures -- Porter (18 points, 11-for-11 from foul line), Markel Starks (14) and Smith-Rivera (13). Jabril Trawick chipped in nine points.
Hoya Prospectus: Game stats: Georgetown 62, Cincinnati 43
Efficiency: GEORGETOWN 1.148, Cincinnati 0.811 eFG%: GEORGETOWN 0.510, Cincinnati 0.447 Substitutions: GEORGETOWN 13, Cincinnati 45
Five Thoughts From the Big East Tournament: Thursday Afternoon EditionRush The Court | Rush The Court
Georgetown is suffocating. The Hoyas limited Cincinnati to just 38 shots in a 40-minute game, in some ways due to Cincinnati’s turnovers but mostly due to Georgetown’s style of play. They grind and wear opponents out, especially one that struggles to score like the Bearcats. The Hoyas aren’t the flashiest of teams but they make big plays in big moments (Nate Lubick’s three field goals came at opportune times) and always seem to have an answer on both ends of the floor. This isn’t an overly talented team but it’s one of the nation’s best-coached.
Georgetown, behind Otto Porter Jr., coasts past Cincinnati, 62-43, in Big East Tournament quarterfinals - NY Daily News
Georgetown, looking to land a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, squandered an early 16-point cushion and fell behind briefly in the second half before clamping down with its trademark defense to pull away.
College Basketball Betting Recap: Georgetown, Illinois, and Iowa State advance
Georgetown is 13-4 ATS its last 17 games, with two misses being by half a point, and another coming when the refs allotted Villanova a huge free throw edge against them in Philly. Georgetown is 9-4 ATS this season away from home dating back to the very beginning. ESPN’s BPI didn’t have them top 16 heading into the day even though they won the Big East and went 2-1 straight up during the season against the other co-champs.
Big East M5: 03.15.13 EditionRush The Court | Rush The Court
Georgetown showed off its composure and balance in a 62-43 quarterfinal win over Cincinnati that was at times much closer than the score would indicate. “For the most part, this group doesn’t get rattled,” said John Thompson III, whose team weathered a three-point shooting barrage from the Bearcats that eroded a 15-point lead into a deficit early in the second half. Markel Starks said after the win that his team takes pride in its defensive adjustments, and that players’ enthusiasm for shutting down their assignments is not a new phenomenon: “It’s no formula. Everyone’s talking about our defense now, but we’ve been playing defense all year.”
Vox Populi » Postgame Roundup: Hoyas knock off Cincy, will face Syracuse in Semifinal
“Otto is getting a lot of attention and he should,” Thompson said. “But we have a very good team. During the same stretch, Otto played well, Markel, and Nate played very well.” After struggling with his shot for much of the year, Smith-Rivera seems to have found his stroke. He knocked down 5 of his 11 shots in the game. “I never lost any confidence in my game,” Smith-Rivera said. “It was just a matter of understanding my role is on the team.”
Last act for Syracuse-Georgetown rivalry - College Basketball News | FOX Sports on MSN
Maybe today’s final matchup really will be a cathartic release at the end of this 34-year relationship. Maybe it’ll be good for everybody. Maybe this really is the stars aligning to give us one more taste of something great. Or maybe it would better for everybody if we could look at all these memories and leave them as just that: something that’s in the past, and should stay there.
Syracuse-Georgetown is fitting for the final Big East tournament - college basketball - ESPN
This is not a manufactured battle that exists only in the stands and in the minds of fans; this is real, coursing through the coaches, the players and the history books, a distaste that is passed along like a generational heirloom. And for once and for all, it will be over on Friday night.
Syracuse appears to have cured their offensive woes | CollegeBasketballTalk
It’s almost too perfect, but that’s another post for another day. What’s more important, for now, is that Syracuse finally looks like the team that climbed their way into the top five earlier this season. The team that went into Louisville and knocked off the Cardinals back in January. The team that, before the meltdown over the last month and a half, were thought to be a real national title contender.
ACC needs to play its tournament in Madison Square Garden - College Basketball - Pete Thamel - SI.com
The viewing hours at Madison Square Garden will last through midnight Saturday, but this should not be the death of elite postseason college basketball on 33rd Street. This nostalgic week could actually represent the beginning of another college basketball juggernaut at MSG. If he's smart ACC Commissioner John Swofford will call executives at Madison Square Garden soon and broker a 10-year continuous deal. Yes, the ACC is committed to Greensboro through 2015, but if you can stay in the Ritz Carlton why settle for a Super 8?
Pitino: ACC Would ‘Benefit’ From Garden Tourney | ZagsBlog.com
The ACC Tournament is committed to Greensboro through 2015, but after that Pitino half-jokingly said the Big East Tournament should move to Washington, D.C. “I think because Georgetown’s one of the mainstays,” Pitino said with a smile, “they should go to the Verizon Center and we should come here.”
A New Big East Is a Better Big East - NYTimes.com
Georgetown’s John Thompson III definitely has the spirit. After accepting this season’s Big East Coach of the Year award Tuesday, he addressed a media contingent that has spent most of the week crafting eulogies. “I wish you guys would stop writing obits and start looking to the future,” Thompson said. “We are looking forward and we will have Big East basketball next season and the postseason tournament will be played at Madison Square Garden with some of the best teams in the country, some of the best coaches in the country.”