While most Hoyas spent their summers fetching coffee or lounging at the beach, Roy Hibbert (COL ‘08) spent his break in the standard fashion of preternaturally tall, phenomenally talented human beings: playing basketball in South America with Team USA.
Beneath the shadow of Rio de Janiero’s version of “Touchdown Jesus,” Hibbert and eleven other collegiate players hooped it up against the international stylings of Uruguay, Panama and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to name a few, at the Pan-American Games.
Team USA faced opponents whose rosters were stacked with professional caliber players and had to play under the auspices of international rules, making games a veritable cardiovascular carnival for the 7-foot-2 Hibbert.
“The style of play over there is a lot different than it is here,” Hibbert said. “It’s a lot fasterthan we’re used to over here. The physicalness is different. Some things you can get away with in the post.”
Hibbert spent the whole summer getting physical in preparation for the Games, working out on his own and with Team USA while the rest of the Hoya hoops squad suited up for the summer playing in the Kenner League.
Team USA head coach Jay Wright used the Verizon Center as one of his practice facilities, so that Hibbert, arguably the biggest name on the squad, could be close to Georgetown and his Maryland home.
The team hopped a jet to Rio in mid July, but their ten day stay in the city made famous by its skimpy bikini waxes and all-night parties was all business. The only ladies the team got close to were the fabulous females of the U.S. women’s team, who took home gold.
After weeks of practice, Team USA headed into a grueling schedule of five games in as many days. On July 25, Hibbert and company got to don the red, white and blue jerseys worn by Jordan, Malone and Ewing before them. The results were not quite the same as the days of old.
“We weren’t the Dream Team” Hibbert conceded. “But growing up watching the Dream Team, this has always been a dream for me.”
The first game against Uruguay was a 81-72 loss for the Americans, with Hibbert putting up nine points. The next day the big man turned in his best performance of the tournament with nineteen points and nine boards against Panama in another losing effort. Team USA defeated Argentina 74-71 to finish group play, but failed to advance to the semi-final round. The win boosted the team, though, and they went on to beat the U.S. Virgin Islands (always a protectorate, never a star) before getting even with Panama in their fifth game.
Always the optimist, Hibbert took a positive view of Team USA’s experience.
“We just packed it in and just went out there and played for ourselves,” he said of the team’s performance. “We represented the United States of America. Many people might see fifth, but we realize we came together at the end.”
Team USA may have left Brazil empty-handed and completely sober, but Hibbert gathered some critical intel on his fellow players, like Joey Dorsey of Memphis and Scottie Reynolds of Villanova, who the Hoyas will face during their upcoming season.
“Now I kind of have scouting reports on some of them,” Hibbert said of his teammates with a laugh. “I know some of their tendencies.”
Hibbert also took advantage of the basketball brilliance of Coach Wright, who has been lauded for his leadership as head coach for Villanova.
“I picked up as much as I could,” he said. “I tried to be like a sponge and soak up a lot of info, as much as I could, so I can help my game out and everything. I tried to take a lot from what he had to say.”
But fear not Coach Thompson: Hibbert is all about the Hoyas for now, despite the glittering promise of the NBA which he nobly put off earlier this year.
“Right now my focus is Georgetown,” he asserted. “This is my team. This is my last year, along with Jonathan, Tyler and Patrick. We’re just going to play hard and improve every game.”
Rio and the big time are fine and dandy, Roy, but there’s no place like home.
