ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
One artificial sweetener has Bobby Knight pushing its product. Another should call John Thompson.
His Georgetown basketball team is all about sweet and low.
Allen Iverson is a wonder and whirlwind to watch out front, but it's the Hampton native's well-chronicled bowling alley history that really reflects the basketball team on which he plays.
Georgetown is tough. The Hoyas are going to the Sweet Sixteen again - undoubtedly the first team with a player named Boubacar to do so - and it promises to be a bumpy road to the Final Four for anyone they play.
In the March Madness of the NCAA Tournament when officials allow more pushing and bumping, the Hoyas are only helped. Perhaps it's appropriate that the site of the East Regional next weekend is a football stadium - the Georgia Dome.
The question in the second-round East opener Sunday at the Richmond Coliseum wasn't whether New Mexico could upset Georgetown. It was how long would it take before the Hoyas (28-7) simply shoved the Lobos from the bracket.
New Mexico coach Dave Bliss said the Hoyas' press was the best his team would play. The bigger issue, however, became Georgetown's size, and what the Hoyas do with the bulk that goes with it.
In losing 73-62, New Mexico got Georgetown into a halfcourt game the Lobos wanted and needed, but 40 percent shooting wasn't enough when the Hoyas kept filling the lane and grabbing rebounds.
Almost half of the Hoyas' caroms were on the offensive glass. And speaking of filling the lane, how about Jahidi White?
The 6-foot-9 sophomore reserve produced big numbers - five fouls, 12 rebounds, four blocks and four turnovers in only 17 minutes. He was one point shy of a double-double.
There's no trouble finding White. He may not be as tall as the Washington Monument, but he might be that big around, and he plays like he's granite. His listed 270 pounds seems as conservative as Pat Buchanan.
When White is not rebounding, he's eating space, allowing the Hoyas' other power players to crash the glass. Once-heralded recruit Othella Harrington is the senior starter in the middle for Georgetown. With White around, Harrington won't be missed.
``Jahidi was the major difference in today's game,'' Thompson said. ``When we watch film, we don't let Jahidi. We feel he had gotten out of shape, so the trainer works him out while we see film.
``He had been playing good at the beginning of the year, but then he went home [to St.Louis], and when you're that big, your mama treats you good.
``By putting Jahidi in the lineup, Othella can move to forward and Jerome [Williams] to three man, and those are more natural positions. When we press, you feed toward Jahidi and he blocks shots. When he's there we have a big advantage. We can't be successful in this tournament without him.''
If you spend too much time watching Iverson create points from the point, you miss what the Hoyas are really about. They would rather break an opponents' spirit than a backboard.
New Mexico stuck with the Hoyas for 33 minutes, and Georgetown stuck too long with a zone defense abetted by trapping. For the second half, Thompson was designing more spacing and trapping, when forward sophomore Boubacar Aw spoke up.
``Coach, let us go man,'' said the North Carolina transplant by way of Senegal. ``We'll get them.''
``Good, '' Thompson answered.
Thompson is probably the only one who can take away the Hoyas' aggressiveness. Iverson hasn't had to answer backyard questions about his own brawling - he was pardoned by former Gov. Douglas Wilder after being convicted and serving time following a bowling alley fracas - because the Hoyas' coach keeps cutting off the subject.
It is Iverson who makes the Hoyas a special team, but there's much more talent on Thompson's 24th Georgetown team - the Hoyas lost to Roanoke College in his first season - than the superb sophomore playmaker.
You might say - if the higher seeds stay put - that Georgetown would have to go through Texas Tech, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Connecticut to win the national championship.
You could also say those teams have to go around White to beat the Hoyas. Georgetown can be more than an Aw-inspiring team.
Another good question: How in the name of Boubacar did this team lose seven times?
LENGTH: Medium: 84 linesby CNB