Post by Grandpa on Jan 21, 2005 0:09:56 GMT -5
Some complimentary things about Coach and the team's performance so far this season in the following article (I've excerpted the parts about the Hoyas, as there sometimes is registration required on this site):
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/10695045.htm
PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - Any coach who takes over a struggling program prays for a quick start. Not just to give his players confidence, but to send a message out to recruits and the whole basketball world.
Georgetown is sending that message right now. Nobody really expected John Thompson III to come in and get the Hoyas kick-started the way he has this season. The program once directed by John Thompson Jr. had hit bottom, going 4-12 last season in the Big East. The Hoyas had just one conference road win, at Miami in overtime.
Already, Thompson's team has won at Villanova and Pittsburgh and taken Syracuse to overtime in the Carrier Dome. The Hoyas, aided by a strong group of freshmen, are 11-5 and right now are solidly in the NCAA tournament picture. They could hit a wall anytime, but it hasn't happened yet.
Maybe the only people not surprised are those who saw Thompson up-close during his time at Princeton, when he won two outright Ivy League titles and shared a third in four years. Thompson used the system he learned under Pete Carril, but wasn't chained to it.
"The thing that was different under John, they didn't use the shot clock that much," said Penn assistant Gil Jackson. "Under Pete, it was all layups or threes. John recruited some athletes who brought a midrange dimension to Princeton. That was a little spin. They weren't quite as restricted to the system. They would look to make plays a little more."
Because of his Hall of Fame father, Thompson is college basketball royalty. But he doesn't carry himself that way. He doesn't give off any kind of "I'm better than you" vibe. At Princeton, he would often pop up at women's lacrosse games or men's soccer games, just standing on the sideline, part of the athletics program.
People at Princeton who saw Thompson all the time talk about how strong he was at managing a game, how he never fell into set substitution patterns, that he had a great feel for what was happening, while it was happening.
He continues a pattern of former Carril players and assistants succeeding as head coaches. Right now, the network includes Thompson's Princeton predecessor, Bill Carmody, now at Northwestern; Chris Mooney at Air Force; and Joe Scott, who succeeded Thompson at Princeton.
www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/10695045.htm
PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - Any coach who takes over a struggling program prays for a quick start. Not just to give his players confidence, but to send a message out to recruits and the whole basketball world.
Georgetown is sending that message right now. Nobody really expected John Thompson III to come in and get the Hoyas kick-started the way he has this season. The program once directed by John Thompson Jr. had hit bottom, going 4-12 last season in the Big East. The Hoyas had just one conference road win, at Miami in overtime.
Already, Thompson's team has won at Villanova and Pittsburgh and taken Syracuse to overtime in the Carrier Dome. The Hoyas, aided by a strong group of freshmen, are 11-5 and right now are solidly in the NCAA tournament picture. They could hit a wall anytime, but it hasn't happened yet.
Maybe the only people not surprised are those who saw Thompson up-close during his time at Princeton, when he won two outright Ivy League titles and shared a third in four years. Thompson used the system he learned under Pete Carril, but wasn't chained to it.
"The thing that was different under John, they didn't use the shot clock that much," said Penn assistant Gil Jackson. "Under Pete, it was all layups or threes. John recruited some athletes who brought a midrange dimension to Princeton. That was a little spin. They weren't quite as restricted to the system. They would look to make plays a little more."
Because of his Hall of Fame father, Thompson is college basketball royalty. But he doesn't carry himself that way. He doesn't give off any kind of "I'm better than you" vibe. At Princeton, he would often pop up at women's lacrosse games or men's soccer games, just standing on the sideline, part of the athletics program.
People at Princeton who saw Thompson all the time talk about how strong he was at managing a game, how he never fell into set substitution patterns, that he had a great feel for what was happening, while it was happening.
He continues a pattern of former Carril players and assistants succeeding as head coaches. Right now, the network includes Thompson's Princeton predecessor, Bill Carmody, now at Northwestern; Chris Mooney at Air Force; and Joe Scott, who succeeded Thompson at Princeton.
