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Hoyaholic - I get the sense that you are not as old as I am. When I compared RPI to a Commodore 64, I was implying that it was an unsophisticated archaic mess.

Next Cahill will hear Greg Monroe yelling at his TV and hit our bench with a T.

Washington Post _ Tarik

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/georgetown-basketball-surges-past-american-u-in-second-half/2011/12/17/gIQA37Nz0O_story.html

I loved Jon Wallace as a Hoya and he remains one of my all time favorites. There is no Hoya of the three point era who I would rather have take the open, spot up, 3 point shot with the game on the line.

That said, the deification of Jon Wallace, "point guard" by a fan base who loved him seems over the top. The two most significant coaching moves that JTIII made in the final four season both had to do with minimizing Jon's shortcomings. First, Jon was a below average ball handler for a point guard. How below average? Against Nova early in the Big East season,we couldn't get the ball up the floor against their press. From that point on, Jesse Sapp brought the ball up the floor against pressure. Secondly, Jon was not quick enough to defend anybody. As a consequence, early in his Hoya career he would play well off of the player he was guarding and allow a string of unimpeded jump shots. About the same time that he ceased to bring the ball up against pressure, Jon started guarding more closely on the perimeter because it didn't matter if he got beat off of the dribble. The best part of Jon Wallace's defense was Roy Hibbert.

I would suggest that there is absolutely no question that Markel Starks is already a far better ballhandler and a far better defender than Jon Wallace ever was a Hoya. He has a long way to go, however, to contribute as much as Jon did - flaws and all - to the Hoyas' overall success. But it could happen.

I'm sorry, but the choice of John Pinone as the most hated Hoya foe is somewhere between silly and laughable. John Pinone was a very good player, but he was not much of a problem for the Hoyas. During the four years that Pinone was at Nova he won one game against the Hoyas, a 68-67 win at Nova in his senior year. Otherwise, he was on the losing end of 6 games with an average score of 75-58 and with no game closer than 8 points.

The only list John Pinone should be on is least photogenic.

Seriously, I could name 50 guys who belong on this list before John Pinone.

My thoughts for the tournament.

1.) JT III is doing a lot more coaching than in the past, particularly with the freshman, but also with Henry and Hollis. He doesn't spend much time talking to Otto because he is never off the floor.

2.) The Lahaina Civic Center is a great place to watch a game. With only 2400 seats, there is not a bad seat in the house.

3.) Impossible to overestimate how important Jabril was to the win. Our biggest defensive weakness for the tournament was an inability to stop opposing guards from getting into the middle of the paint. Jabril mostly shut this down. His defensive stance - really wide - and body definition remind me of Gene Smith and John Duren.

4.) The offense is being run at a higher speed than at any time in the past, and with a higher degree of precision, especially given how young we are. In the games against Kansas and Memphis we totalled 21 turnovers. Especially absent were the throw the ball out of bounds turnovers and the shot clock violations. We also had way fewer late in the shot clock forces.

Fewer turnovers means more shot attempts and allows us to win/be competitive in games in which we don't shoot the lights out. As a team, I don't think we shot particularly well in either game.

5.) Henry seems particularly confident in the offense and much more decisive than he has been in prior seasons.

6.) It is apparently a lot easier to throw entry passes into the post when you are tall. Hollis' passing is much improved, Whittington throws a nice entry pass and Otto's entry passing is - admittedly based on limited observations - as good as any Hoya since Freddie Brown. Plus we are reposting which we never did enough of with Greg Monroe.

7.) And now onto the Otto Porter mancrush portion of the commentary. Playing starter's minutes without starting, Otto leads the team in rebounding, is tied for the team lead in steals (with Jason), is second in blocks and third in assists. He is also shooting 86% from the line and 51% from the field. The field goal percentage will go up. Right now he is only shooting 4-15 from three, but if you watch him in warmups, he is money. Before the Kansas game I watched him hit 9 straight and 11-12 from various spots behind the arc. His knowledge of the offense seems encyclopedic. He doesn't turn the ball over. And for good measure he runs the break better than any Hoya since Reggie Williams.

He is also the best defender on the team right now, although if he is forced to play the four against Thomas Robinson sized players that will be a problem. He has outrageous hands and great anticipation.

Thinking about their first five games as Hoyas, the only two players who I can remember having better starts were Sleepy and Zo. That is nice company.

8.) When did Jason learn how to dribble? His shot selection has been great, and his drives to the basket more decisive. It is also good to see how aggressive Markel has been offensively.

9.) Hollis is playing a particularly smart game. He is clearly the focus of a lot of defensive planning by our opponents and is not forcing anything. If you had told me before the season that we would win a game against a quality opponent like Memphis without Hollis even attempting a three, I would have been stunned.

10.) Obviously, Nate is in a shooting slump. He remains a critical player for us because nobody else on the roster can handle a widebody like Thomas Robinson. He did a way better job on Robinson than Henry did.

11.) I am really happy with this team. This does not mean I think we are going to win a national championship or a Big East tournament, but we are really competitive and it is fun to watch.

I believe that the plan is to distribute the tickets in Maui.

My friend who runs litigation for a monster private firm confirms that the fact that the University is part of the state government will make it extremely difficult to remove the case from West Virginia.

I agree with your personnel (i.e. Zo replaces Big Sky on the team) but not your positioning. Zo was never comfortable at the 4 and he was much less effective defensively when paired with Dikembe because his effectiveness defensively was highlighted when he played opposing bigs straight up. Consequently, my lineup would have Zo at the 5 and Patrick at the 4 where he could take 10-15 foot jump shots all day and poach weak side blocks on defense.