36 Hours in Indianapolis: What I Saw and Heard
With the Hoyas exiting the dance on Saturday in rough fashion, Aidan shares what he saw and heard while in Indianapolis.
Well, the dust has settled, the game is over, and Georgetown’s magical postseason run has come to a sudden - and painful - end. Hoya fans were hopeful that Georgetown’s stay in Indianapolis would be longer than just one game, but Colorado had other plans on Saturday afternoon, as the Hoyas never got on track and suffered an embarrassing 96-73 loss.
For this Georgetown fan though, it was a very memorable trip - brutal loss aside. Not only was it the first Georgetown game I’ve witnessed in person this season, it was also the first Georgetown away game I’ve attended in my seven years of being a fan (crazy, I know).
Here are some thoughts and observations from what I saw in Indy on Saturday.
Hinkle Fieldhouse lived up to its reputation. While I was under the impression Hinkle was an old gym on the inside and out, I was impressed with what a clean and modern facility it looked like on the inside. It was easy to maneuver around, has great sight lines from nearly every seat in the building and is easy to get to from downtown Indianapolis. Our seats were incredible (thanks to our friends in Georgetown ticketing!), and looked right over Georgetown’s baseline. Would love to come back to see what it looks like with a normal-sized crowd in there.
Coach Crouch’s connection with the players is obvious. One of the first things I saw when I got inside Hinkle was Georgetown assistant coach Clinton Crouch working on ball-handling drills with freshman guard T.J. Berger. Crouch’s connection with the players has been evident since his first day on the job here, but it seems like the freshmen this year have especially taken a liking to Crouch. After pregame lineups were announced, Crouch and Harris shared a lengthy handshake with each other and Crouch had some words to get Harris fired up. It was cool to see from so up close.
Kobe Clark was in his own world at times during pregame warmups. It’s been a long year for freshman wing Kobe Clark, and it kind of seemed like Clark feels that way too, based on how he was acting during pregame warmups. There were several points in the 45 minutes we got to see the team warm up pregame that Clark would be the only Georgetown player sitting on the bench, alone with his thoughts, while his teammates warmed up. He didn’t seem sulky or grumpy, but it felt odd that he wasn’t out there consistently pregame working up a sweat, considering he likely wouldn’t see the floor during the game. He and Berger seem to be close with each other.
Props to the Hoyas for taking a knee during the national anthem. It’s nice to support a program that takes a stand no matter what, and this Hoya felt his heart swell with pride watching the entire Georgetown team take a knee during the national anthem, while every Colorado player and coach stood on the opposite side of the court.
Coaching during a pandemic is tough! There were a couple of times during the game where Patrick Ewing turned around and went to pick a substitute to enter the game, and couldn’t find the intended player among the spread-out bench seats behind him. I’m sure he and every other coach is looking forward to a return to normalcy (hopefully!) next season, where he doesn’t have to search for a player.
The energy during every team or media timeout for Georgetown was extremely flat. It was striking to me the lack of energy from Patrick Ewing, his assistants, or the players during timeouts, especially as the game was looking to get out of hand. There was no shouting or demonstrative actions from Ewing to get his players to wake up and lock in, and I didn’t see any players trying to get their guys to rally either. It really seemed like the team was just going through the motions once the game started.
Georgetown lacked an emotional leader on the floor. For Colorado, it was Evan Battey who was whooping and pumping his fists and helping raise the energy of his teammates. There wasn’t really anyone ever doing that for Georgetown, and that showed. Dante Harris is on his way to becoming a leader of this team, but he looked quiet and unsure of himself on Saturday, which isn’t that surprising for his first NCAA Tournament game. The hope is that he becomes more of an emotional leader as a sophomore.
Patrick Ewing had a quiet moment to himself on the sideline for several minutes during pregame. Would have loved to have known what was going through his mind at that point.
Georgetown’s bench was stomping and chanting “De-fense!” on most possessions. It made the game have a high school feel to it, which was pretty cool, and helped get the Georgetown fans somewhat into the game. Props to the Hoyas’ bench players for trying to help pick up their guys as best they could.
To the Colorado fan in a black polo with light gray pants who was standing up, yelling, and gesturing at the players (and Hoya fans on the opposite end) the entire game:
It was great to see several former Georgetown basketball players in the crowds interacting with fans. Georgetown is a family, first and foremost, and it was nice to see some barriers between the program and the alums/fans broken down, at least for one day. Shoutout to Greg Malinowski, Jagan Mosely, and Dikembe Mutombo, who weren’t shy about making their presence known in the crowd.
Jamorko, Jahvon, and Don had a little pow-wow at halftime on the sideline, before taking the court for the second half. Obviously, whatever was said didn’t get the team going, but it seemed notable seeing Georgetown’s senior leaders talking amongst themselves before the second half, trying to figure things out.
Malcolm Wilson has hilariously long limbs. That’s all.
Jeff Goodman was spotted by our postgame Hoyas drinking contingent at a spot right next to the arena, and a couple of *ahem* rowdy members of our group made sure to give him some crap for his slanted coverage of Georgetown. Jeff just kept walking.
Mango White Claw AND Black Cherry White Claw for sale in Hinkle? Amazing. Take note, Capital One Arena.
To the adorable groups of Butler students who were heading to a nearby formal of some kind and looked like they were heading off to high school prom, hope you had fun! Shoutout to the one guy with a tie, black dress shirt, khaki pants, and Nike sneakers. Woof.
We met Butler Blue after the game. 11/10 good boi, and he said he misses hanging out with his buddy, Jack the Bulldog.
A couple of thank you’s to: Georgetown ticketing for helping us get incredible seats to this game; to reader Brendan C., who came by after the game to say hi; and last but not least to the best roadtrip companion anyone could ask for, Sara C., for coming along on this brief, but awesome, journey with me.
