Patrick Colliton's Hoya Heart in McLean, VA

Pat Colliton in Fairfax with a Broken Heart

2010-03-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is Patrick Colliton back with you from 6528 Heather Brook Ct. McLean, in Fairfax VA and I am the Hoya fan who had his heart ripped from chest last weekend during the opening round of the NCAAs. The Georgetown Hoyas were placed in arguably the toughest region (Midwest) in this year’s pool, yet still lost as a number 3 seed to the 14th seeded Ohio University in a game that wasn’t even close.

As has been the case throughout the entire season, the Hoyas biggest shortcoming has been its consistency on the floor from one game to the next. After playing fabulous basketball for four straight days during the recent Big East Tournament, the team never even showed up for their opening round game in the Big Dance. Certainly that was true on the defensive end of the floor where they gave up 91 points to a team that finished under .500 in their own conference (7-9) and needed to win their end of the year conference tournament just to make the Big Dance.

Surprisingly, a lot of Georgetown faithful have been quick to bash JTIII for his team’s readiness or lack thereof, while I try to look at this year’s performance in a more positive light. The team was ranked in the Top 15 for virtually the entire season and had huge wins over Duke, Villanova, Syracuse, Butler, Washington and also played West Virginia down to the wire just a week ago.

Five of these teams are still alive in the field of sixteen. Another important fact to remember is that Georgetown accomplished this with no seniors on the squad. I am optimistic (always) that with another year under our belt we will continue to improve and gain that consistency that we need to be considered at the elite level in college basketball.

I will be back later this week with updates on the Big Dance. This is Pat Colliton, the Hoya with a big broken heart, signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.

Hoyas look good to Pat Colliton in Fairfax

2010-03-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is Patrick Colliton back with you from 6528 Heather Brook Ct. McLean, in Fairfax VA and I want to talk with you about something that should be on everyone’s mind and that is the BIG DANCE or, for the uninformed, the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

But I don’t want to get ahead of myself as I promised to report back on the 2010 Big East Tournament and the performance of my Georgetown Hoyas. While in the end they ultimately came up just a hair short of winning the championship, the Hoyas did not disappoint the faithful followers and gave us hope for the upcoming main event.

To summarize the Big East Tournament the Georgetown Hoyas were able to “pay back” their first three opponents with victories after early season defeats. They started by blowing out South Florida despite the solid play of D. Jones. On the second day they had perhaps their best showing in a month by figuring out the Syracuse zone, coming from 9 points down in the second half, and making an impact statement by beating the Orange 91-84. They continued their dominance on Friday by destroying Marquette by 23 points and moved into the final against the Mountaineers of West Virginia.

In a typical Big East slugfest Georgetown and West Virginia both played hard-nosed defense and gave no ground for the entire game. After trailing for most of the second half G’town tied the score twice in the last minute of the game, first on a deep 3 by Austin Freeman and finally on a twisting lay-up by Chris Wright with 9 seconds to go.

After a WVU timeout Georgetown made its only mistake of the weekend by letting West Virginia get the ball to their best player, Da’Sean Butler. As he has done 5 other times in this season alone, he came through with a game winning driving lay-up that ultimately proved to be the difference.

Georgetown’s strong performance gave them a well deserved three seed in the upcoming tournament and, even though we were placed in the brutally strong Midwest Region, our Hoyas have given their fans lots of reasons for hope and excitement.

I will be back later this week with updates on the Big Dance. This is Pat Colliton, the Hoya with a big heart, signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.

Pat Colliton's thoughts on the BET from Fairfax Virginia

2010-03-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

This is Patrick Colliton back with you from 6528 Heather Brook Ct. McLean, in Fairfax VA and I want to talk with you about something near and dear to my heart and that is the Big East Tournament. As you know by now I am a graduate of Georgetown University and basketball, and in particular Georgetown basketball, is one of my passions.

Georgetown is one of the founding members of the Big East Conference and I was fortunate enough to attend the first 10 Big East tournaments which started 31 years ago. Of course that before marriage, kids and responsibilities. Back then there were only eight schools in the conference but it was still three days of intense basketball competition. Georgetown had a fair amount of success in these early years, so spending three days in New York City in the springtime watching your favorite team was always a great way to end the doldrums of winter.

Over time the Big East has doubled in size and the tournament now includes all sixteen teams and the tournament has become more of a marathon. Unlike the upcoming NCAA Tournament in which teams play two games a weekend for three consecutive weekends, the Big East Tournament now runs for five straight days. This new format favors the top four seeds which all receive a double bye as well teams with a strong and deep bench.

Georgetown, which finished in the top half of the conference and received a single bye, still must play on four consecutive days if they expect to win the championship. With their thin bench and starters averaging 30+ minutes a game, their margin of error is extremely narrow.

I will be back later this week with updates on the Big East Tournament. This is Pat Colliton, the Hoya with a big heart, signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.

Thin Bench is killing us

2010-03-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

This is Patrick Colliton from 6528 Heather Brook Ct. in McLean, VA offering up more of his thoughts on the Georgetown Hoyas and their current state in the Big East, and with two games left in the regular season the Hoyas currently have a 9-7 record in league play. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, they have almost as many mind-boggling losses as they do quality wins.

Everyone by now knows that I bleed Blue and Gray and that I love and respect JTIII for all he has done for the program. He has said all season our thin bench does not and should not affect our play. His contention is that his starters are all 19-21 years old and their stamina and athleticism should allow them to play 32+ minutes a game, something which 4 starters currently do.

Unfortunately (again), I have to disagree with the coach on this topic. The overall strength of the Big east doesn’t allow for any easy or cupcake league games. Every team needs to bring their “A” game night in and night out and this can take its toll mentally as well as physically if you are playing a lot of minutes.

As Georgetown losses have mounted over the past 2-3 weeks our shots have stopped falling. Tired legs would be one obvious conclusion. Falling behind early has been another issue and I believe that can be attributed to mental fatigue.

Our very thin non-productive bench (345 out of 347 Division 1 Schools) hurts even more when one of the starters goes down. Losing Austin Freeman to the flu for both the Notre Dame loss on Saturday and the West Virginia contest tonight basically means that are playing 4 on 5.

I will never stop rooting for the Hoyas but my optimism for both Big East Tournament and the NCAAs is starting to fade.

This is Pat Colliton signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.

Patrick Colliton's Hoya Heart in McLean, VA

2010-02-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

This is Patrick Colliton from 6528 Heather Brook Ct. in McLean, VA and I have followed Georgetown Basketball since 1971. I joined the Hoya Hoop Club in 1972 (its founding year) and have been an active member for the past 38 years. I have also had floor seats for this entire time.

I have been here through the glory years in 1980’s when we went to the Final Four three times in a four year period.

I was also witness to the “Esherick Era” when the program threatened to fade off into the sunset with multiple years of no NCAA appearances and just marginal success in the NIT postseason.

The current resurgence we are now seeing with John Thompson III (JTIII) at the helm shows that the University did indeed do its homework and absolutely hired the perfect man for the job. Besides the obvious name recognition, JTIII has brought his own style to the program. With one Final Four appearance already and multiple trips to the “Big Dance”, it is clearly evident that Georgetown Basketball is back in the national spotlight.

This year’s team has consistently been ranked one of the top ten in the country for virtually the entire season. After tonight’s win on road at Louisville, all we need is a strong finish in our last three regular season games and a good showing in the Big East tournament. This should give the Hoyas a high seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

In my next Blog I will talk about the concerns of our thin bench as we approach Tournament time.

This is Pat Colliton signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.