Up until game time Saturday, LaurasProminentPlay will pay tribute to the each of the seniors that Georgetown is sending off into the future this spring at graduation. This is a great group of seniors, four total, two big men, one transfer, the toughest player from our team since the ’80s and Mr. Highlight Reel himself. You know who they are if you are a Hoya fan. If not, in order, Joshua Smith (Big Man and Transfer); Mikael Hopkins, big man and defensive specialist with a lot of game; Jabril Trawick and Aaron Bowen. Not to forget Tyler Adams, who is not listed on the current Hoya roster (website) but is also a senior. After playing briefly, Tyler was diagnosed with a heart problem (fortunately, timely so), and has been there with his classmates every step of the way, well-suited, their biggest supporter. There are times when I think of him as a Coach and not a Senior! Each one cannot be replaced yet will be remembered among all of the men’s basketball alumni who preceded them.
JOSHUA SMITH, Georgetown 2015:
Josh, the time went so quickly, sometimes I feel we hardly knew ya. But what we got to know, we Hoya fans loved. It couldn’t have been easy, transferring in from UCLA with great expectations heaped upon you by the press and Hoya faithful. You came out of the gates in the 2013-14 season on fire, that is, the Oregon game where you opened the season by scoring a season-high 25 points, connecting on 10-of-13 shots from the field and showed us what we might expect from the best Big Man since ? anyone’s guess, at Big Man U.
Then suddenly we learned what it was like to miss you. We don’t have to go into detail, you lived through it, but Georgetown held up its academic standards to the world and we waited again until November 15th 2014, against St. Francis of New York (yes, likely a tournament team this year Auto Bid), to see you again, score 10 points on 5 for 8 shooting in 19 minutes. Your teammates certainly missed you last spring and played their hearts out without you, and it probably hurt you inside more than it hurt anyone else but these are times when young people learn life lessons.
And here we are, after a full season with you in uniform and things are indeed looking up for the Hoyas. You have had a strong year (second behind prolific DSR in scoring at 11.2 ppg and tied with Mikael in rebounds at 6 rpg) and are on the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center Watch List, nothing to sneeze at, even though it’s named for a player who was a superstar at UCLA, and of course in the pro ranks. Leading the league in field goal percentage, we know when that ball gets into your hands under the basket, there is a greater than 60% chance of scoring–how sweet it is! Then, your improved free throw shooting, what’s up with that?! I want to know who worked with you to get that line drive shot down more times than not. You are now shooting better from the line than the entire Butler team did when we played them at Hinkle!
It goes without saying that the unfair foul calls against you, game after game, have worked Hoya Alumni, Students and Fans into a Virtual Frenzy. The Referees all need to go back to school because when an opposing player runs into you, you shouldn’t have a foul assessed against you! Even television commentators allude to it during games but I know then can’t say what they really feel because they likely will be reprimanded. There are of course the fouls that should be called against you and we realize that.
This is not a goodbye because we hope and expect that there is more exciting basketball ahead for the Hoyas this season and you will be at the Center of it. Last season it was taken away but now you have the opportunity to show, with your teammates, what you can accomplish in the post-season. And we eagerly await.
Whatever the future holds for you, you are an #H4L and no one can take that away from you! #HoyaSaxa #BeatSetonHall #TakeThePostSeasonByStorm!
LPP