Georgetown, Louisville square off to decide Big East regular season champion

Saturday, March 8, 2008
12 PM - Verizon Center
Washington, DC

It doesn’t get any bigger than this, folks. The two best teams in the Big East lock horns in the regular season finale, with the Big East regular season crown up for grabs. You can feel it in the air at this very moment that an epic showdown is brewing in Washington, DC. Emotion. Redemption. Revenge. Bragging rights. It’s all going to hang out. And oh by the way, it’ll be senior day for Georgetown.

No.10 Georgetown will be looking for payback against visiting No.13 Louisville. The Hoyas will try to avenge a loss in Louisville, 59-51, back on Feb.9 th. Georgetown will say goodbye to seniors Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Patrick Ewing Jr., and Tyler Crawford on senior day. For this group, along with departed Jeff Green to the NBA last year, these Hoyas have been part of a restoration and revitalization at Georgetown. Georgetown finds themselves in a familiar spot as they did last season; atop the Big East, looking to win the Big East regular season title, and vault themselves back to the Final Four. Georgetown has been a steadying force among the Top 25 this season, while avoiding the injury bug and keeping the same core unit of players on the floor, Louisville, however, has taken multiple paths to get to this point.

The Cardinals began this season with lofty hopes and even higher expectations. Louisville was once ranked No.6 in the country beginning this season, but injuries to crucial elements David Padgett and Juan Palacios, and the early season immaturity of players like Edgar Sosa and Derrick Caracter, dropped Louisville far from the rankings. The Cardinals seemed to have crumbled under the expectations of how good they were supposed to be, but they got healthy, they grew up, and they’ve shown that their early season struggles, while not forgotten, have helped get the Cardinals to where they’re at; playing for the Big East regular season championship.

What’s not to love about this matchup? Both teams enter white hot. Louisville (24-6, 14-3) has won nine in a row and 15 of their last 17. Georgetown (24-4, 14-3) comes in on a four-game win streak and winners of 11 of their last 13. You like big men, then look no further. Both teams sport two of the most important big guys in the nation: Louisville’s David Padgett vs. Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert. You want athletic difference makers, it’s got that too. How’s the Hoyas’ Jonathan Wallace and Jesse Sapp sound, sprinkled in with a little bit of Patrick Ewing Jr.? Or Louisville stout wingmen Earl Clark and triple-double-waiting-to-happen Terrence Williams? These two teams are one-two respectively in the Big East in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. Quite frankly, if you can’t get excited for this one, then you don’t like college basketball.

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The last time Louisville bested Georgetown in Freedom Hall. The Cardinals wiped out an eight-point halftime deficit and held Georgetown to just 20 points in the second half. Both of these teams will make the other earn every bucket, every rebound, and every free throw. Nothing’s coming easy in this one.

In the Big East, the only other time that two teams who were tied for the Big East lead and squared off against one another on the last day of the regular season was 20 years ago. In 1988, Pittsburgh and Syracuse faced off in the Carrier Dome, and the Panthers edged the Orange by one point, 85-84.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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