#1 Georgetown

#1 Georgetown

by Peter Bard

National Championships: 1

Head Coach: John Thompson

Nickname: Hoyas

The fourth #1 seed was hard to pick, and I went through a few options before I settled on Georgetown. Kentucky and Duke have the pedigrees, but I just didn’t love their lineups. Connecticut seemed like a homer pick, and the lack of success prior to the 1990s hurts them. LSU has a star-studded lineup, but I couldn’t justify putting a program with no NCAA tournament titles on the top line. Syracuse is stupid and ugly. So Georgetown is a #1 seed, basically by default.

Now, that doesn’t mean that Georgetown doesn’t boast plenty of talent. Long considered the best big man factory in college basketball, the Hoyas feature Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning in the starting lineup, with Dikembe Mutombo waiting on the bench. Allen Iverson and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd bring excellent perimeter play. Porter hurt himself by doing nothing as an NBA rookie, but he showed enough in college that I think he’ll be a contributor at that level, certainly enough to provide depth for Reggie Williams. Wingate and Smith are solid players, but not superstars. Expect a slow, deliberate game from this group.