mwh@mhuxv.UUCP (HENRY) (04/04/84)
First of all I would like to congratulate Georgetown on its impressive win over Houston. Houston started strong but G'town had its defense take over the game and thereby were able to have Houston take some poor or altered shots. G'town then crashed the defensive boards for the rebound took the ball down the court via Micheal Jackson and took very good shots on the other end. If the ball missed G'town got the offensive rebound and converted it to a score. I don't think enough credit can be given to John Thompson and the way he coached his team. It is often the case that coaches spend so much time developing a starting five that they often neglect the reserves or never give the reserves a chance ( a la Guy Lewis whose reserves showed they should have been in the game much more). G'town may have lost some games earlier this year due to the fact that they tried to get everybody some playing time but no one can doubt that Thompson must have had some idea of how this experience would pay off come tournament time. Perfect examples are Reggie Williams and Micheal Graham both freshmen who played like two year starters. It has got to be hard to face a pressing defense that constantly brings in fresh troops. I also have to say that as a black person I am glad that a black coach has won the NCAA tournament with an all black team. As a writer in USA Today (which I read every day) said ' If Thompson and his Hoya's win they can thumb their noses at all of the press and the media.' for their criticism of Thompson's coaching style and the Hoya's aggressive (read intimidating) style of play. I hope John and the Hoya's have more class than that. Being semi-connected to both teams in the final it was hard for me to rout for someone. You see my freshman year at Harvard I saw Ewing dominate a high school game (his high school was less than half a mile from Harvard Yard) and ever since then I have followed the Hoya's every move. On the other hand last spring I went to Houston for a spring training trip (track) and was bombarded by Phi Slamma Jamma Fever and couldn't help but get involved. I even met reserve Benny Anders at a disco, although I didn't know who he was until I saw him two days later on the T.V. I had to shed a tear for Akeem and Houston. To be frustrated two years in a row must be heart breaking. I would like to see Akeem saty in school but I think if he is staying to win a national championship he had better go out and do some heavy recruiting of foul shooters. From what I hear, his parents have no grasp of the situation have not even seen him play basketball and if it were up to them would have him stay in school. ...Well I could go on for about 7 pages talking about any thing from Virginia's play in the tournament to UNC and Depaul's heart breaking defeats. ....But I won't, I am getting paid to write computer programs not sports articles. Mark W. Henry mhuxv!mwh (that's right I won the contest) AT&T Bell Laboratories Murray Hill, New Jersey P.S. Any flames over 451 degrees Fahrenheit wil burn my printer so please be considerate. :-)