Georgetown last advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 2007
The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is one of the best sports weekends of the year and another one is in the books as the original field of 68 has been whittled down to the Sweet 16. Of course that opening weekend feels even greater when your team survives and advances.
Now, if you are a Georgetown fan you haven’t had to sweat much this late into March Madness in what feels like forever.
Ok fine it hasn’t been forever, it’s just that in college basketball time not advancing since 2007 seems like forever ago. I mean it has been SEVENTEEN YEARS. By his time next year someone born during that run will be nearing high school graduation.
And for those keeping track, that’s seventeen long years the hard way as we went from the all of the first weekend upsets to what has been recently, all of the losing regardless of month.
If you can remember back to that second weekend of March Madness in 2007, it was, in fact, an amazing time. It all started with overcoming a huge early deficit against Vanderbilt on Friday night. Hoyas great Jeff Green’s late game heroics ultimately put he Commodores to bed. The fun times continued on Sunday afternoon as the Hoyas stayed the course throughout against UNC. Fan favorite Jonathan Wallace had ice in his veins late as his game-tying 3-pointer near the end of regulation eventually led to an eventual Hoyas overtime romp over the top-seeded Tar Heels. This put Georgetown into make the the third weekend, aka the Final Four. Looking back I almost didn’t go to Atlanta because I had already spent so much money that month. Thank God I did. Will we ever have another chance to do so? Fingers crossed.
Since 17 years is a really long time, I wanted to get a feel for which schools have made the most Sweet 16s since Georgetown last appeared.
In all, 78 teams have been to at least one Sweet 16 since 2008.
As one might expect – Duke, UNC and Gonzaga lead the way with 10 Sweet 16 appearances in that time.
Here is a list of which teams have made the most Sweet 16s, beginning in 2008 (bolded teams are playing this weekend):
10 – Duke, Gonzaga, UNC
9 – Kansas, Michigan State
8 – Arizona, Kentucky
7 – Michigan, Purdue, Syracuse, UCLA, Wisconsin, Xavier
6 – Louisville, Tennessee, Villanova
5 – Baylor, Florida, Houston, Oregon, UCONN, West Virginia
4 – Florida State, Iowa State, Marquette, Miami (FL), Ohio State, San Diego State
3 – Alabama, Arkansas, Butler, Creighton, Indiana, Kansas State, NC State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Virginia
2 – Clemson, Loyola-Chicago, Memphis, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas, Texas A&M, Wichita State
1 – Auburn, BYU, Cincinnati, Cornell, Davidson, Dayton, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Illinois, LaSalle, LSU, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Oral Roberts, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Providence, Richmond, Saint Peter’s, South Carolina, St. Mary’s, USC, Utah, VCU, Virginia Tech, Washington, Washington State, Western Kentucky
Here is some of what sticks out to me:
*If we are keeping it just to schools that are currently in the Big East, Xavier surprisingly leads the way with seven S16s since 2008. However, four of those trips came when the Musketeers were a member of the A10. It should be noted that all three of the 2013 realignment additions – Butler, Creighton and XU – have made at least Sweet 16 since joining the BE.
*Of the 32 schools that have just a single Sweet 16 since 2008, four of them had to beat Georgetown to advance that far – Davidson (2008, R32), VCU (2011, R64), FGCU (2013, R64) and Utah (2015, R32)
*Maryland hasn’t exactly taken advantage of their local rivals slumber as the Terps have only made one Sweet 16 since 2008. Maryland lost in the 2016 regional semifinals.
*UCONN doesn’t get to the Sweet 16 all that often but when they do, man they really make it count. We have to wait to see what happens this year, but UCONN has turned their last four trips to the Sweet 16 into four Final Fours, winning three national championships. Their last loss in the second weekend of the tournament came in the 2006 Elite Eight against George Mason of all teams
*Before Jay Wright’s sudden retirement two years ago, Villanova had been the dominant team in the Big East – particularly since realignment. Four of the Wildcats last five trips to the S16 have turned into spots in the Final Four with Villanova winning two nattys.
*I was pretty surprised that Illinois, who plays Iowa State on Thursday, is making it’s first appearances in the S16 since eventually losing the 2005 National Championship Game.
*Syracuse’s three appearances in the Sweet 16 since leaving the Big East have all come as double digit seeds. Jim Boeheim somehow got a 10-seed into the 2016 Final Four.
*NC State, which is still on a heater from the ACC Tournament in DC, has been to three Sweet 16s since 2008 and they have come as an 11, 8 and again as an 11 this season. Sadly, I saw them as the 11 in 2012 beat Georgetown in Columbus. That was a fun Hoyas team and the first that I covered from start to finish.
OK so let’s finish this up with some more on the Hoyas.
Georgetown’s current Sweet 16 drought is by far the longest stretch of postseason futility since John Thompson Jr took over the program ahead of the 1972-73 season. The tournament was different back then – fewer teams qualified – but Thompson Jr got to his first regional semis in 1980, his eighth season and the first season of the Big East. Georgetown would beat Maryland before falling to Iowa, 81-80 in the Elite Eight.
After that the Hoyas made additional Sweet 16 appearances in 82, 84, 85, 87, 89, 95 and 96 under Thompson Jr. Craig Esherick guided the Hoyas to the 2001 Sweet 16 while John Thompson III reached the second weekend in 2006 and 2007. So before this current drought, the longest stretch between S16s- once the Hoyas had really arrived on the scene in 1980 – was six years from 1989 (Alonzo’s frosh year) to 1995 (Iverson’s frosh year). As a kid that gap felt like an eternity. Just like it did from 1996 to 2001 and from 2001 to 2006.
Oddly enough, right before this drought started on that Easter Sunday in Raleigh thanks in large part to Steph Curry, Roy Hibbert’s foul trouble and poor team free throw shooting, the Hoyas had made five S16s in their previous six invites to the Dance (95, 96, 01, 06 and 07). Georgetown’s lone miss in that period was Thompson’s final trip in 97, which was a rare first round exit for the HOFer. Since the 2007 Final Four run the Hoyas have failed to reach the second weekend despite mainly good seeds in 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 21.
It should be noted that Providence’s lone trip to the Sweet 16 since 2008 did come under current Hoyas coach Ed Cooley in 2022. As you can see, Cooley has a big job, on this, the 40th anniversary of Georgetown’s lone national championship in men’s basketball.
Let’s start with a trip to the tournament. The sooner, the better.