By Paul Sykes
Georgetown University has its back against the wall. Unless the Hoyas win out in the regular season, they will be forced to play five games in five days if they hope to win a Big East Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament bid.
When cornered, instincts run to one of two options: Fight, or cover and duck. Louisville needs to force the Hoyas into a duck and cover scenario early in this game. Making it happen on Georgetown’s court could be a difficult assignment in tonight’s encounter. The Cards have been a second half team lately. A DePaul-like first half domination would come in handy.
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Andre McGee’s second half shutdown of Cincinnati junior guard Deonta Vaughn was a thing of beauty. No points in the second half, after torching the Cards with three bombers from three-point distance. One can speculate on which guard combinations are the most effective for the Cardinals but the revolving backcourt door is fine, as long as as the right ones are out there at the right time.
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Nice to see the late Ed Jucker’s name on the floor in the Fifth/Third Arena. Jucker was the Cincinnati coach during the Bearcats’ great years in early 1960’s when they won two NCAA titles. I had an opportunity to chat with him during a Conference USA tournament at Freedom Hall. He was doing some NBA scouting and wasn’t in great health bit you could see the fire and passion when he talked about Oscar Robertson and those magical Bearcat years. Jucker also revealed that he was responsible for recruiting Dodger great Sandy Koufax to UC. Jucker died in 2002 from prostate cancer.