by herodotus » Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:54 pm
You can't give him enough credit for what he built at Georgetown. We've thought of the Hoyas as a power program for so long, we forget what they were before he got there. As a Nova fan since the Howard Porter era, I can tell you that Georgetown was not one of our peers in the era of independents. They were not on the level of PC, SJ, or Nova, nor did they have the history of SH. In fact, in that era, current afterthoughts like Holy Cross, Duquesne, St. Joes, and St. Bonnies would have wiped the floor with the Hoyas. Their rise was totally unexpected. I would say that what he did with such a then low level program, is even more amazing than the unexpected rise of Gonzaga as a power. Rutgers could become a powerhouse, and it wouldn't be a bigger jump than the one Georgetown made under Thompson. Well done coach! While Syracuse was the early bellwether of the BE, it was the rise of Georgetown that made the league a phenomenon.