Monday, March 26, 2007

Hoyas Make History


Back in 1984 Georgetown coach John Thompson, Jr and Patrick Ewing ruined my year when they beat my alma mater 84-75 in Seattle for the NCAA championship. The only thing that made it bearable was with that win over my Coogs John Thompson became the first African-American coach to take a team to an NCAA title.

Twenty-five years later another Thompson-Ewing combination is going back to the Final Four. This time it's their sons John Thompson III and Patrick Ewing, Jr.

They stunned No. 1 seeded North Carolina 96-84 to avenge the 1982 Final Four defeat and ruin my bracket. They erased an 11 point deficit to force overtime and then reeled off 14 consecutive points in extra time to earn a trip to Atlanta as the East Region champs.

In that classic game played at the Superdome some freshman by the name of Michael Jordan hit a 17 jumper with 17 seconds remaining in the game to beat Georgetown 63-62 for the 1982 NCAA title.

With the win Georgetown made history. The Thompsons are the first father-son coaching duo in NCAA history to take the same school to the Final Four. They're hoping that John Thompson III can make even more history and lead this current group of Hoyas to another NCAA championship.

2 comments:

Dharma Kelleher said...

What is a hoya anyway? They look like bulldogs, but they taste like chicken! [bad dharma!!!]

Peace,
Dharmashanti

Monica Roberts said...

Whatever a Hoya is, the folks in North Carolina and the Big East will tell you they know how to play basketball ;)