Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Hoyas in Hindsight

Men’s basketball Head Coach John Thompson III sat down with The Hoya to talk about his first year on the Hilltop and what’s ahead for the program.

Are you satisfied with year one? I don’t know that I’m satisfied. It was what it was. So am I satisfied? Not really. But at the same time, I think this group improved. We got better and the kids worked hard.

It was your theme this year to improve little by little, day by day. That’s going to be my theme next year, too, for whosever sitting here talking to me. That’ll be my theme next year and after that. That’s my theme.

Can you describe how much you think they improved over the entire year? As you go through the year, it’s hard to digest and it’s hard to sit back and evaluate what’s going on because we always try to prepare for the next game. We always try to prepare for the next practice. But if you take the first game of the year [a 75-57 loss at home to Temple] and compare almost any other game in the season to that game, we got a lot better. We did not play well that night. We did get better, and now we have to continue and we hope we’re taking steps in that direction.

How much of a setback was it to fall short of the NCAA tournament? The question answers the question. We wanted to make the tournament, and we put ourselves in a position where we could see the light, so it was disappointing. But at the same time after going through a period there at the end of the regular season of not playing well and not winning games, it was good to bounce back. That’s part of the growth process, to be able to bounce back. That was something at the beginning of the year that I wasn’t sure this group could do – if we ever went through a stretch where things got bad, whether we could fight out of a hole. Hopefully we will not get in this deep of a hole in the future, and hopefully we’ll bounce back a little sooner, but it is good to see us come back and play well after not playing well.

With some perspective, what do you think went wrong during that five game skid? What went wrong? We’re in the Big East. Three of those five games were on the road. So you look at different teams throughout the year. West Virginia went through a stretch early. Notre Dame went through a stretch at the same time we went through a stretch. We’re a very good league where playing quality teams and going on the road is difficult. With our team, there was very little margin of error. What went wrong is Big East basketball.

What impressed you most about the team? The nature of this business is that the season ends and you jump into the next phase of the job, and I haven’t had time to sit back and digest the year as much as I will or I should have because we’re moving on. I think that this group’s willingness to improve was something that stuck with us throughout the year, and it’s going to have to stay with us. This group is willing to improve.

How important do you feel it is that they be in the NCAA tournament next year? I think it’s important that we continue to get better. To win the national championship, you have to be in the NCAA tournament, so hopefully we’ll take steps to get there.

Do you think these guys are ready to compete for one of the top spots in the new Big East next year? I have to wait until next year before I start to think about that as much. We have a new group of guys coming in and a good core group coming back. There are going to be new pieces to the puzzle. Next year’s team will look and probably play much different than this year’s team. Are we ready? Hopefully we will be. If we’re not right now, we’re going to take steps to be ready.

How do you think next year’s team will be different? I don’t know. Every year, my teams have been different. Hopefully, probably, possibly, we’ll have a little more depth next year. We’ll be able to do a few more things. You heard me say all year that we have 13 freshmen. Now we have a group of guys coming back that have somewhat of an understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish.

Are you confident the Big East as a conference can survive in its new format with 16 teams? We’re in a 16-team league, and for me to put much thought and energy into worrying “Is it going to break up or is [it] not going to break up, or if [it] does break up, what’s it going to look like?” – that will shake out. I think that right now, it’s a very good conference with a lot of good basketball teams, a lot of good basketball players and a lot of good basketball coaches. That’s why you do this – to compete against the best, and I think that our conference is going to be the best.

Do you know what the scholarship status of Jonathan Wallace and Darrel Owens will be for next year? I think we’ll sit down and go through them and everybody else once this year’s over.

What do you think the players coming in next year will add to the team? [Coaches can only speak publicly about players that have signed National Letters of Intent. Josh Thornton, Octavius Spann and Marc Egerson signed Letters of Intent last fall to play for Georgetown. A second signing period begins April 13.] With freshman, a lot can be made of them. I’ve found it’s best to wait until they get here before [I] start saying they’re going to get us over the hump in this area or that area. All three are good offensive players. Josh can really shoot the ball. Marc and Octavius are just basketball players. Hopefully we’ll see once they get here that they have versatility to do different things on the basketball court.

None those guys though are considered big men who could play the four or the five. Is depth at those positions something that concerns you? Depth at the one, two, three, four and five is a concern for me.

Do you get any sense that recruits have taken notice and are impressed with what’s going on here? You never know. Obviously, I think that the guys we recruit are cognizant of what we do. But who knows what impresses what 17- or 18-year-old. I’ve always said that I think we have a pretty good product here – the basketball program and the institution – so we’ll see.

Would you like to see the young guys, especially Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, work with alumni over the summer? I don’t think what will happen with those guys will be any different than what’s happened here the past 25 years. That’s happened every year. Older guys come back to work out here during the summer themselves. I have no reason to think that this summer will be any different.

Do you think the out-of-conference schedule you played this year was the right one to prepare you for Big East play? I thought we were prepared at the start of the season. You can go back and forth, and this community loves talking about the out-of-conference scheduling. My philosophy has never been that there’s a specific formula. Some teams are more fragile than others. Some teams need to be tested. Some teams need to build their confidence. The preseason schedule will be different from year to year. That’s not to say that we go out and play the easiest schedule that we can or the hardest schedule that we can. Look at who you have coming back and see what each group needs.

What do you have set for next year? At ichigan, a return game at Illinois, a return game at San Jose State and the rest we’ll figure out. We’re going to put together a schedule that will help us get ready for the league games and at the same time get us mentally ready.

Would you like to play more out-of-conference games at cDonough? The NIT experience was great. The NIT experience was much different than San Jose State. You could clearly see in the South Carolina game the benefits of having an on-campus arena. Would we like to play more here? We’ll see. There are a lot of factors that come into that other than “Let’s just play at McDonough.”

After a year on the job, how have you liked it? It’s a roller coaster ride. That’s college basketball. That’s every job. Did I like it? Yes. But our job is one that never slows down once you’re going full speed ahead. I haven’t had time to sit back and figure out whether I liked it or not yet.

Finally, regarding fan support, did you notice that there was a moment when people started to catch on? I clearly saw – and our team clearly saw – that all of a sudden there are more people at the games. I think that for the most part our student section was pretty good all year. Hopefully we’ll keep giving students and the town reasons to get excited about us.

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