Either I read the schedule wrong or the schedule was wrong (I'm actually guessing that it was both), but I thought there was only going to be one game with Hoyas in it. Anyway, I showed up with one minute left in the first game and to my surprise Chris Wright (who has added some serious muscle) and Greg Monroe's team (does anyone REALLY know or care what the team names are?) was in tight one with a team chock full of people I didn't know. Even more shocking was that Kevin Durant was playing with Chris and Greg. KEVIN FREAKING DURANT. And the game was close! Anyway, Chris hit a monster three pointer to tie the game with less than a minute to go, but then forgot to play defense and the guy he was guarding blew by him to take the lead again. Greg got the ball with about a 10 foot jumpshot but short-armed it and bricked it. The team with (from the little that I saw) the best three players (one of them a STAR NBA PLAYER) lost. I know it's summer league, but Kevin Durant was playing for them. Durant played in the next one with Jason Clark and Henry Sims against another team of people I didn't know and then Austin's team played Hollis' in the last game.

A few general thoughts before I give my reaction to the five Georgetown players I got to see at length.

1. Kevin Durant is awesome. I mean, really awesome. He can do whatever he wants on a basketball court even with the skinny frame. He kept making this guy who I would swear was Mikki Moore look like even more of a fool than looking like Mikki Moore makes you look.
2. Georgetown will have the longest arms in the Big East this year. Between Jason Clark, Henry Sims, Hollis Thompson and Greg Monroe alone we got some go-go gadget arms on this team.
3. The Hoyas will also be one of the fastest teams in the Big East. They may not play up-tempo, but they'll be able to.
4. Once again, guards will do most of the rebounding for this team. Unless Julian Vaughn can bang down low, we're not going to be physical down low again.

Now for my takes on the 5 Georgetown Hoyas I got to see play.

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Well I can't say I'm surprised that we lost last night, not even surprised at how we lost last night. I'm disappointed (forgive me, I always am when we lose), but less disappointed than after any other game this season. Obviously, part of the reason (ok, the biggest reason) is that it was the NIT and even if we had some how strung together some wins and won the thing, it's still the NIT. It just doesn't matter. 

But, another reason I'm not overly disappointed in the loss is that it embodied everything about this team. There was the quick start, exploding out of the gate. There were some bumps in the first half, but by the end of the half (think UConn and 'Cuse games here) they looked comfortable, confident and poised to make some noise.

Then the second half started (Duke game) and things fell apart quickly. Baylor didn't take much time to turn the 10 point Hoya lead into a 1 point Baylor lead. There were signs of life in the 2nd half: Jason Clark's 3 to give the Hoyas back the lead, building the lead back to 5 (think taking Syracuse to overtime, but still losing). But, ultimately the damage had been done. There was one last flurry of hope (Villanova) as DaJuan cut it to two with 3 seconds left, but the desperation half court shot came up short (St. John's, twice).

This team can be good. They showed that at several points this season, but they are woefully inconsistent and need to work on a lot of things. Consistency generally comes from experience so we can only hope that the experience this team gained this year will lead to more consistency next year. All we can do now is hope.