Watching a bald and gangly Kobe Bryant play live in a high school championship game his senior year impressed us immensely. Bryant threw down 40 and single-handedly beat an awed group of 18-year-olds. Monday night he did the same thing, but the differences were that he did it in the NBA and that he defeated an awed group of the best basketball players in the world. Kobe blew apart the Memphis Grizzlies with 56 points in only three quarters. (He sat out the fourth because the game was so out of hand.) He did it without the presence of center Shaquille O’Neal meaning the Memphis defense keyed on him the whole game. He probably could have done it without any other teammates, since the score after three quarters was Grizz 59, Kobe 56. We had some doubts whether Kobe was the best player in the league, but this dominating performance erased them completely.
Of course, that was until Tuesday night when famed Georgetown alum and 76ers guard Allen Iverson blew up for 58 points in an overtime win against the Rockets. Although Kobe’s 56 points in three quarters was probably more impressive, it’s hard to knock a guy who nails all 14 of his foul shots in scoring the most points in a game in almost two years. At the very least, Iverson’s performance puts him in the same category as Bryant.
But enough gushing about Kobe and Allen. Instead, we’ve spent much of this past week wondering how the Redskins can logically fire their best coach since Joe Gibbs and replace him with a conceited college coach who’s had no pro success. Although they started 0-5 this season, Marty Schottenheimer and the Redskins won eight of their next 11 to finish 8-8. The turnaround was remarkable, especially considering the amount of work Schottenheimer had to do on the ‘Skins bloated roster, and that he had to hold off a near-mutiny early in the season. Plus, it’s not like hiring “The Visored One” Steve Spurrier means automatic success. Sure, the coach has a great offensive mind, but his quarterback-rotating, quick-benching style may rub many pampered NFL stars the wrong way. Also, it’s hard to feel optimistic about a coach whose stated goal before the season starts is to continue to play golf more than once a week.
Still, the most important news of the week was the revival of your Georgetown Hoyas basketball team. Beating two Big East teams by a combined score of 154-101 will prove that the team belongs back in the Top 25. Embarrassing Boston College on its own court and shooting 84 percent against Seton Hall will strike fear in the hearts of teams from Syracuse, N.Y. to Durham, N.C. Also, I think it’s time to start deifying Mike Sweetney. Anyone who has hit 11 of his last 12 shots deserves to enter the pantheon.
However, even with the Hoyas’ banner week, the most compelling college basketball game of next week will be Maryland-Duke on Thursday night. With the Terps having a chance to take a two-game lead in the ACC on the No. 1 Dookies, the game will be intense. Unfortunately, the game will probably come down at the end to foul shots, where the Terp’s pathetically bad foul shooting forwards, Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox, will face-off against the captain of awful clutch foul shooting, Duke’s Jason Williams.
Of course this game should only be seen as a tune-up for both teams, since they still have to prepare for a resurrected Georgetown team in the NCAA finals. We’re back.
