Last Saturday afternoon was a full-fledged coming-out party for the boys donning the blue and gray. Yet, this wasn’t just any kind of coming-out party. This was one with an undeniably authentic 80’s theme. Just like the Georgetown teams of the early 80s anchored by Patrick Ewing and coached by Big John Thompson, this year’s squad was nearly flawless in last weekend’s monumental victory.
Instead of being characterized by spandex and glitter, this was a party marked by breakaway dunks and back-door cuts. Watching the Hoyas trounce college basketball’s Goliath gave students some sense of what it must have been like to watch this team 20 years ago, while alumni surely left with a most satisfying sense of nostalgia.
The MCI Center hosted this raucous 80s theme party for 20,000 Hoya supporters doing their best to recreate some genuine Paranoia that had been eluding the fabled program for so long. It truly was a celebration of basketball, authenticated not by streamers or the sounds of Styx, but with bona fide 80s memories.
Head Coach John Thompson III coached the game of his life under the watchful and supportive eye of his Hall of Fame father. And Patrick Ewing Jr. couldn’t help but evoke recollections of his dominant dad, the original Hoya Destroya, as he celebrated with his teammates after their triumph. Saturday afternoon’s contest was Georgetown basketball’s version of a walk down Memory Lane.
It didn’t matter that J.J. Redick scored 41. It didn’t matter that Duke was undefeated. It didn’t even matter that the entire upper section of the arena seemed to be filled with transplanted Cameron Crazies during those bite-your-nails-until-you-start-gnawing-on-your-own-flesh Hoya free throws in the final seconds. None of that mattered. The Dukies had no idea what kind of party they were showing up to. But all that mattered was that they played the part.
Even Coach K was left stumbling over his words after the game, sounding like the young coach from the early 80s. He was filled with praise for the new John Thompson––the same John Thompson who was only 10 years old when Krzyzewski’s first team found out they couldn’t pronounce his name.
For years, the gray jerseys that looked black with sweat had put fear into every opponent. But, in a conference with powerhouses like UConn and Syracuse, and most recently Villanova and Louisville, Georgetown was nowhere to be found.
The days when the Hoyas seemed to automatically make the tournament were just as retro as the short shorts they wore during those glory days.
But just 40 minutes of almost-perfect basketball changed all that. Sleepy, Zo, AI, Mount Mutombo and all the rest were smiling somewhere on Saturday because Georgetown basketball was officially placed back on the map. Now with a top-25 ranking in the AP poll and the dethronement of the nation’s top team, the Hoyas can’t be ignored.
Here’s hoping this is one party that never gets broken up.
