Michael Bauer lay in the paint, curled up in the fetal position.
The Minnesota junior forward had just tried to stop Georgetown junior forward Mike Sweetney from flushing a dunk with 1:19 left to crown the Hoyas 88-74 thrashing of the Golden Gophers in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament. Bauer bounced off the 6-8, 260-pound monster. Sweetney got the hoop and the harm, although Sweetney did much more harm to the rim than Bauer did to him.
It’s April, and the Hoyas are finally playing up to the level that was expected of them at the beginning of the season. Georgetown won the first three of its NIT games on the road. Last night, the Hoyas won at a neutral site, Madison Square Garden in New York-a far cry from the team that lost its first seven road games of the year. The change has come with a rededication to team defense, calm play under pressure and spectacular performances from Sweetney.
On the defensive side of the ball, Georgetown has been much more aggressive than during the regular season. Against the Golden Gophers, the Hoyas ripped away 12 steals, following double-digit steals in its three previous NIT games. Georgetown has also held its NIT opponents to 28 percent from behind the arc, including limiting Minnesota to a miserable 26.3 percent. At times, the Hoyas defense has been impenetrable, forcing every previous NIT opponent into a five-minute dry spell at some point during the second half. Although the Golden Gophers were able to break that streak, for a three-minute period in the second half the Hoyas forced two Minnesota turnovers en route to an 11-0 run that blew the game open.
That run epitomized the Hoyas’ strength in the clutch during the tournament. The Golden Gophers had cut the Hoyas’ 14-point halftime lead to one with 14:21 remaining before the Hoyas’ began theirblitzkreig. During the regular season, Georgetown blew second half leads of 16 and 12 and lost, but in the postseason Georgetown has weathered opposing teams’ runs. After Georgetown’s 11-0 run on Tuesday, Minnesota never threatened again.
While Georgetown has had reliable second scorers in all its NIT games, the offensive story has been the incredible play from Sweetney. The All-American candidate has averaged 24.3 points in the NIT, two above his season average, which was good enough for 12th nationally. The NIT figure is all the more impressive considering he sat out a significant portion of the second half against Providence with foul trouble. On Tuesday, Minnesota’s only strategy against Sweetney was to foul him. The Hack-A-Sweet plan came to no avail as Sweetney threw down 32 points, including 16 of 18 from the foul line. During a six and a half minute stretch in the first half, Sweetney went to the line six times, shooting 10 for 12. Those 10 free throws outscored the entire Minnesota team 10-8. He also forced four Minnesota front court players into a combined 15 fouls in the game. By the end, Bauer couldn’t have been the only one who wanted his mother.
The long-term value of Georgetown’s NIT run has yet to be determined. While it is clear that the Hoyas have played their best basketball of the year, they have only beaten the No. 52, 56, 60 and 71 ranked squads according to the final RPI poll; all quality teams, but there’s a reason none of them made the NCAAs. Still, with a win tonight against St. John’s, the Hoyas would secure their first NIT Championship and salvage the season after they were at one point in danger of missing the Big East Tournament.
The real test, however, will be next season, when we see if Georgetown has finally turned the corner on its end-of-game woes. Only time, and Sweetney’s impending decision to return to the Hoyas or jump to the NBA, will tell.
