Preview: Georgetown vs DePaul

Game 28: Georgetown Hoyas (14-13, 5-9) vs DePaul Blue Demons (8-19, 1-13)

Series: Hoyas lead 29-7

Where/When: Verizon Center/Wednesday 7pm

TV: CBS Sports Network

KenPom: Georgetown 79-64, 90 percent

Line: Georgetown -13.5

With everything one the line and a week to prepare for Creighton, Georgetown suffered its second most lopsided conference loss of the season. That defeat also took out most of the remaining air in the Hoyas season as the talk shifts from NCAA bubble talk to trying to avoid a second losing season talk.

In their last loss Georgetown dropped to 10-2 in games in which LJ Peak, Rodney Pryor, and Jessie Govan all score at least ten points. It turns out that you playing defense is important when you’re on the road. Let’s see what else might be interesting…Bradley Hayes and Tre Campbell didn’t play but it’s possible they could play against DePaul. It’s also possible that they won’t play.

As someone that actually enjoys LJ Peak’s short and sweet answers about basketball and strategy – I mean sports aren’t all that complicated when you think about it - I found one of his comments about as good of a perspective on the current state of Georgetown hoops as you will find. Peak was asked about the possibility of Georgetown looking past a lowly DePaul team and he had this to say:

“You can’t overlook no one because people overlook us and we come out and surprise them. You never know what can happen.”

It’s crazy to think that other teams look past Georgetown but that’s the world we live in given how the last few years have gone. One of the first slogans on the back of the We Are Georgetown shirts had the saying, Respect is Back, Fear is Next. There is a lot of work to do to get teams to fear the Hoyas once again.

In case anyone was wondering, DePaul still has Billy Garrett and they are still the worst team in the league. If there was any debate beyond their record, the Blue Demons are last in points per game and next to last in scoring defense among the team BIG EAST schools.

Two things to think about with DePaul. The Blue Demons somehow beat a Providence team that Georgetown can’t seem to figure out and their last loss by less than 11 points was when they fell by three to Georgetown in Chicago three weeks ago.

There’s a really good chance that this will be the least attended BIG EAST game in Georgetown history. That’s another thing to look out for in the official box score.

BET Seeding: Wednesday is a big night in the conference but as it stands Georgetown still sits all alone in ninth place. A win over DePaul would pull the Hoyas into eighth place with St. John’s who sits just a half-game ahead of the Hoyas. In continuing the ‘what if’ game, should Seton Hall lose to Xavier and Providence lose to Creighton there would be four teams tied for sixth place at 6-9.

NCAA: The Big Dance isn’t a relevant topic for Hoya fans unless they win their next three games – DePaul, at St. John’s, and at Seton Hall. A 17-13 Georgetown team would then have it all to play for against Villanova in the home finale. Anything less and it’s likely BET Championship or bust.

NIT or at least a .500 final record: Georgetown needs to go 2-2 and it’s hard to imagine that happening without a home win over DePaul.

Reason to be cynical: If the last place team were to somehow win another game this season in the conference, it would stand to reason that they would do so against the team currently in next to last place – your Georgetown Hoyas.

Reason to be delusional: Georgetown’s got one more run in them, right?

Prediction: Georgetown 77, DePaul 73. Losing this game would be rock bottom. I can see DePaul winning but Georgetown will do just enough to keep the season alive until at least Saturday.