GAME THREAD: BET Semis (8) Georgetown vs (5) Seton Hall

Game 24: (8) Georgetown Hoyas (11-12) vs (5) Seton Hall (14-12)

Where: Madison Square Garden

When: Friday 6 pm

Series: Hoyas lead 60-52

BET History: Seton Hall leads 6-4 and won the last meeting in the 2019 quarterfinals.

Last meeting: The teams split with each winning their home game.

TV: FS1 (Gus Johnson & Jim Jackson)

Radio: The Team 980, Radio.com (Rich Chvotkin, 47th season)

KenPom Ranking: Seton Hall 49, Georgetown 73

KenPom Projection: Seton Hall 72, Georgetown 69 (60 percent)

Line: Seton Hall -3, 141 o/u

PREVIEW

The Hoyas have made it to Friday Night at the Garden to take on Seton Hall with a spot in the Championship Game on the line. Well isn’t that just absolutely lovely.

You know when you go on a bit of a tournament run you start to check off some boxes.

On Wednesday the first box the Hoyas checked was earning the program’s first conference tournament win since 2016 and first ever under coach Patrick Ewing.

Next up on Thursday the Hoyas were able to book their ticket to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2015 while also knocking off King of the Hill Villanova, the 3-time defending BIG EAST champs. Oh yeah, it’s also the first time since 2010 that the Hoyas have won consecutive games in any tournament - BET, NCAAs or NIT.

Well now Georgetown is 40 minutes away from getting back to the Tournament Title game for the first time since that 2010 run by Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Jason Clark. Georgetown will also have their 4th chance since returning from a midseason covid pause to win 3-straight BIG EAST games for the first time under Ewing and first time since Jan. 2017. What better place to do so than Madison Square Garden?

Dante Harris earned a spot in Georgetown lore for his overall performance and two big free throws with less than five seconds against Villanova.

Qudus Wahab is already in the mix for the all tournament team while Jahvon Blair has played like the honorable mention player in his new role of the bench. To take the next step forward Ewing will need Chudier Bile to impact the game more like his post pause self and for Jamorko Pickett to add more offense to his solid rebounding and defensive performances so far if this run is to get into Saturday night.

UNFAMILIAR ROLE

Georgetown came into this year’s conference tourney having previously made 22 BIG EAST Tournament semifinals going 13-9. In those previous trips to the semis the Hoyas have never really played the role of party crasher or plucky underdog. This is Georgetown we’re talking about here. When the Hoyas show up in the semis, they are a team looking to cut down the nets while at the same time hoping to improve their seeding come Selection Sunday. In all they’ve made the NCAA Tournament in 21 of their 22 appearances in the semis.

There was, however, THAT one time.

Let me take you back in time to the 2000 BIG EAST Tournament. It’s the first full season under Craig Esherick and a Hoyas team that finished 6-10 in the regular season standings was able to squeak past West Virginia in the 8/9 game before dropping top seeded Syracuse in the quarters. The unlikely run ended against a UConn team in the semis that began the season No. 1 in the AP Poll.

Those Hoyas led by Kevin Braswell, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, and my personal favorite Lee Scruggs weren’t done yet on the season as they scored a thrilling, 3-OT win at Virginia in the First Round of the NIT.

We all know that the only way into this year’s NCAA Tournament for Georgetown is to win a league record 8th Championship. It’s something that is a lot more likely than it was just a few days ago.

The 2001 Hoyas used the experience from overachieving the previous year and with the help of some great recruits - I’m looking at your Mike Sweetney - and made the Sweet 16.

NOTES

Georgetown is 6-2 in its last 8 games. In six of those games the Hoyas have shot more FTs than 3-pointers, going 5-1. In Georgetown’s first 15 games the Hoyas were 5-10 only shot more FTs than 3-pointers twice. So in summation, shooting more FTs than 3-pointers, or at least having it be a close number, is a good thing. Also, going 23 for 23 is highly advisable....With 14 points off the bench against Villanova Blair became the 5th Hoya to have multiple double-figure scoring games off the bench in a BET...

THIS SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD

THIS WILL MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD PT 2

Bobby’s Prediction

Hoyas 74, Seton Hall 68

The run continues as Pickett and Bile lead the way.

Leave your witty (and non-witty) in-game comments here!

HOYA SAXA!