1979 Georgetown Basketball: The Golden Age Begins
Georgetown was a program on the rise. John Thompson came to Washington D.C. in 1973, inheriting a team coming off a three-win season and no NCAA Tournament appearances in the postwar era. Thompson got them into what was then a 25-team NCAA field by 1975 and did it again in 1976. Over the next two years, Georgetown won a combined 42 games, even if they didn’t make the field. 1979 Georgetown basketball, with the bracket expanded to 40 teams, returned to the NCAAs, and ushered in the golden age of Hoya hoops.
THE CORE FOUR
Eric “Sleepy” Floyd was a two-guard with a bright future, both in college and the NBA, as he arrived on campus for his freshman season. The freshman led Georgetown with 17ppg. Floyd was joined in the backcourt by John Duren, a junior who averaged 15 points/5 assists a night.
Craig Shelton, a future head coach of this program, was at forward and averaged 16 points/8 rebounds a night. Steve Martin was on the wing and was a multifaceted contributor with 13 points/6 rebounds/4 assists.
In an era that was built around big men, Georgetown had a hole in the middle and they weren’t deep. But this quartet gave Thompson something to build around.
BUILDING A NATIONAL PROFILE
The Hoyas were unranked to start the season, but it didn’t take long to make an impact. They played local rival Maryland at the Capital Centre on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The Terps came in ranked #19. Georgetown won 68-65.
Before December was over, the Hoyas beat a 19-win St. Bonaventure team. Bob Knight’s Indiana didn’t have a vintage year, but they were good enough to win the NIT. The Hoyas beat the Hoosiers.
On December 9, Georgetown faced St. John’s. While the Big East Conference was still a year away from coming into existence, its future schools already had rivalries going, and the Redmen were bound for the Elite Eight this season. The Hoyas got a big 77-71 win.
Thompson took his team to Reno for a holiday tournament right before Christmas. Georgetown. In an era before the shot clock and three-point line existed, the Hoyas ground out a 49-42 win over Fresno. A faster-paced affair against a good Nevada squad resulted in the first loss, 87-77.
Georgetown was sluggish against another competitive opponent, this one from St. Joe’s. The Hoyas lost 37-36. They were able to bounce back with wins over bad teams from Samford and Fordham on the first weekend in January.
Georgetown had flaws, but they also had a 10-2 record and were #14 in the polls.
MIDSEASON TESTS
Penn was a consistently competitive program, and in 1979 they became the most recent Ivy League team to make the Final Four. In a sizzling game, the Hoyas nipped the Quakers 78-76.
But a one-point loss to a respectable Oral Roberts team followed. Then Detroit, bound for the NCAA Tournament, hammered Georgetown by twenty. The Hoyas were still 16-4 and ranked #18 in early February. But in an era of smaller NCAA Tournament fields, they couldn’t afford to let this slip away.
FINISHING WITH A FLOURISH
Against a competitive late season schedule, Georgetown responded. Bill Raftery brought in a decent Seton Hall team. The Hoyas hammered the Pirates 87-62. They nipped 21-win Boston College 84-81. The record ultimately rose to 22-4. Georgetown’s NCAA bid was all but secured and they could play for seeding position.
The independent programs of the East organized quasi-conference tournaments to end the season, with the NCAA agreeing to award automatic bids. Georgetown blew out Old Dominion 73-52.
Then they took on sixth-ranked Syracuse at Cole Field House in College Park, Maryland. In a prelude to what would eventually become some memorable conference tournament showdowns between Thompson and Orangeman coach Jim Boeheim in the Big East, Georgetown got a 66-58 win.
The Hoyas were 24-4, one of the best teams in the Northeast part of the country and that was reflected in the seeding. The NCAA deferred more heavily to geographic purity than they do today. While North Carolina and Duke were the top two seeds in the East, Georgetown came in on the 3-line. With ten teams per regional, that meant they were automatically in the Round of 32 in Providence.
A SEASON ENDS TOO SOON
Rutgers was playing excellent basketball in the late 1970s, a period that included an undefeated regular season and Final Four appearance in 1976. The ’79 edition of the Scarlet Knights had a potent forward duo, with James Bailey and Abdel Anderson combining for 30 points/14 rebounds per game.
Georgetown’s backcourt and perimeter orientation worked against them. They contained Anderson, but Bailey went off, going for 19 points/14 rebounds. With Floyd having a rough afternoon, shooting 4-for-17, the Hoyas didn’t have an answer. The game was competitive, but it ended in a 64-58 loss.
The disappointing end got a little more disappointing the following day when North Carolina and Duke were both upset in Raleigh. The East Regional turned into a gutted bracket, with the lowest two seeds, Penn and St. John’s, making the regional final. The opportunity for Georgetown to make a Final Four was missed.
THE BEGINNING, NOT THE END
What was accomplished in 1979 mattered more than what was missed. One year later, they would be in the Elite Eight. Before Floyd’s college career was over, Thompson recruited the great Patrick Ewing at center, and the Hoyas made the Final Four in 1982. They won a national championship in 1984.
Ultimately, 1979 started a stretch where Thompson made the NCAA Tournament 18 times in 19 years, including a period in the 1980s when they were a cultural phenomenon. A golden era was underway.