We had the father. Now we have the son. If someone can round up a ghost, then the Georgetown men’s basketball team can finally hail itself as the Holy Trinity of college basketball.
John Thompson, III comes to Georgetown to try to succeed where his father excelled, but his father’s assistant couldn’t come through. He comes from an academic gold mine at Princeton, a school whose success in the classroom has been paralleled by it’s level of the court, where Thompson led his Tigers teams to three Ivy League title in four years.
But he comes in inheriting a program that is a far cry from the one run by his famous father, John Thompson Jr., who led Georgetown to three Final Fours and one title in the mid-1980s. Last year’s squad, while often exhibiting scrappy heart, was short on talent and strategy, and finished a woeful 13-15 after dropping their last nine games, a mark that saw them finish 12 of 14 teams in the Big East Conference. The losing record kept them from qualifying for the post-season for the first time in 30 years.
If someone can rebuild this program to its once great stature it may be Thompson. His record of success, both graduating players at an impressive academic institution and winning games on the court, is virtually unchallenged. His competitive fire is also first-rate, as he claims that he will put more pressure on himself than anyone who will compare him to his famous father.
Still his genealogy, while it may have helped coaching skills, will also make it almost impossible to live up to the huge shadow left by his namesake. John Thompson Jr. was to this school’s basketball program what John Carroll was to Georgetown as a whole. He single handedly turned a lagging program at a small school into the terror of national college basketball. His Georgetown teams could be counted on to annually challenge for a national title, or at least a deep run into the NCAA tournament.
Thompson III will do well if he can find a way to resurrect the program to a nearly-annual appearance in the tourney once again. Unfortunately, while the Big East was the country’s power conference back in the ‘80s, it will have no comparison to the Big East of 2005, when five new schools, including traditional powers Louisville, Marquette, DePaul, and Cincinnati will join the conference. All four of those schools have made Final Four appearances. And unfortunately, all of those schools have made it more recently than we have. Still, there is reason to be hopeful. Thompson III’s drive alone may be enough to bring us back to the top.
