Georgetown vs. Memphis: Two Looks

Rick Pitino's son, a student at GU, and an alum of Georgetown talk hoops.

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"Google 'dribble drive motion' and see what happens. I dare you."

Ryan Pitino is the son of Louisville head basketball coach Rick Pitino, but attends Georgetown University. To read more of his hoop writings, go here. To read an article about him and his dad, go here.

Georgetown and Memphis both lost the anchor of their team from last season—Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts for the Tigers and Roy Hibbert for the Hoyas—so who's stepping up on Saturday afternoon?

Tyreke Evans, Memphis' star freshman, keeps the same John Calipari style of play going, as he is a tremendous one-on-one player. Away from statistics, his body to body moves to the lane and the way he creates for others are already among the best in college basketball.

Greg Monroe is Georgetown's star frosh and a potential Big East ROY candidate. The team's only downfall this year is lack of depth, but they have a very talented starting five (three of the five are averaging 13 PPG).

Last year, Memphis won by 14 in a game Georgetown never seemed to be truly a part of. Calipari said then: "We won it with defense. We executed offensively the best we executed all year." (This was a team that would eventually lose in OT of the NCAA Tournament Championship.)

The key for the Hoyas will be to slow down the game and every chance they get, do what they do best: attack backdoor for easy layups. The key for the Tigers will be to make Georgetown play at their speed. Depth could hurt the Hoyas at the end of this game, but Jessie Sapp's senior leadership could be the intangible factor.

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Ted Bauer is an associate producer for ESPN The Magazine. He graduated from Georgetown in 2003.

I watched last year's Georgetown/Memphis tilt, which was fairly depressing, with my dad. It wasn't depressing because I was with my dad per se, although he did make a comment roughly every four minutes of game time along the lines of, "They look awful," but rather because (a) I was supposed to actually be at the game and (b) well, we looked awful. My travel plans fell through for an assortment of reasons I'm not gonna list, and Memphis, heck—they're just fast and Derrick Rose is filthy good.

This year, I'm watching at a bar in New York City as part of my friend's birthday celebration. They have a shot at this place called "The Pickleback," which is basically bourbon followed by pickle juice. Sounds awful, right? It's actually quite delicious. While I'm not sure the Pickleback is a good idea for a 2:30pm tip, the environment—more Georgetown people, less grousing—should be enjoyable.

Actual game? It's two low-Top-20 teams, so it should stay closer than last year's did. We looked rough against Tennessee, and while I can't say I've seen even a frame of Memphis Tigers hoops this season, it appears they looked a little rough in dropping one to Xavier. They have Robert Dozier, Antonio Anderson, Shawn Taggart and Doneal Mack all still balling for Calipari, which gives them a nice base of experience. We can counter with DaJuan Summers, Jessie Sapp and Austin Freeman, which makes me feel a little better. Thompson vs. Calipari, even though one has been to a National Title game and one hasn't, seems almost a wash coaching-wise. Those dudes can run, but we can play defense. I'll agree with my man (read: I've never met him) Mr. Pitino above: if we do our thing (cut backdoor, clamp on D), we'll win; if they do their thing (run, press, dribble drive motion), they'll win. How's that for analysis?

Here's what I can tell ya: pickleback plus Verne Lundquist's voice as he transitions from Tebow to Hansbrough: heaven. Georgetown, 71-67.

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