With the Big East having a stellar year across the board (all ten teams owning NET rankings inside the top-80), the conference will have its share of teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Georgetown’s NCAA Tournament Bubble Chances
The Georgetown Hoyas are one of the handful of teams in the middle of the conference who are straddling the bubble line. It has been a roller-coaster of a season for head coach Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas.
The program experienced a mass exodus of players earlier in the season. Many of those players were supposed to have a big impact on the team. Georgetown has also had to deal with some untimely injuries (looking at you Mac McClung and now maybe Omer Yurtseven). Through all this, the Hoyas are still in the thick of locking down an NCAA Tournament bid.
Ewing says Yurtseven has a bad ankle sprain and doesn't know how long he's going to be out. "We think we'll have him back on Saturday."
Georgetown really needs this week-long break coming up.
— Ava Wallace (@avarwallace) February 8, 2020
With a NET ranking at 52, the Hoyas are clearly on the NCAA Tournament Bubble. Georgetown will have some work to do to make the Big Dance.
So with just about five weeks left until Selection Sunday, let’s break down the Georgetown Hoyas NCAA Tournament resume.
Team Rankings
KenPom.com ranking: 52
Key wins: Texas, @Oklahoma State, @SMU, Syracuse and Creighton
Key losses: None
Case for Inclusion
The only slight blemish for the Hoyas is a home loss to UNC Greensboro (who has a solid NET ranking of 63). However, if that is as bad a loss as they have, then the sum of Georgetown’s resume is looking strong. The Hoyas have a solid collection of decent-to-good victories with no bad losses.
Georgetown remains consistent facing good competition and usually comes out on the winning end more times than not. The Hoyas have an overall record of 14-10. The NCAA selection committee will value that overall consistency.
It’s also fair to ask how good Georgetown could have been if not for all the transfers and injuries. It is a minor miracle for the Hoyas to be in the thick of it given what it has had to endure. The committee might take that into effect and reward Georgetown for the fortitude it has shown all season.
Case for Exclusion
While the Hoyas have no bad losses and have some good wins on their ledger, they don’t own many great wins. They possess three Quadrant 1 wins (Creighton, SMU and Oklahoma State) and could use more quality victories to enhance their resume.
The wins over Oklahoma and SMU barely cover the threshold for a Quadrant 1 win (top-75 NET ranking victory on the road). Both teams have 70 and 72 NET rankings, respectively.
Also, while the Big East is a beast of a conference (No.1 conference in RealTimeRPI), the Hoyas league record (4-7) leaves a lot to be desired. And of those Big East wins, the one of any real substance is the aforementioned Creighton win.
What does Georgetown Need to do to Secure an NCAA Tournament Bid?
With games on the road left against Butler, Marquette, and Creighton and a home game against Villanova, it would behoove the Hoyas to secure at least a split of these games. These are the signature win possibilities that could push the Hoyas past the finish line.
Even a win over a struggling DePaul team on the road could help. The Blue Demons are still in the top-75 in the NET rankings.
Also, a good benchmark to aspire for and be in consideration for a bid is at minimum eight wins in conference play. Eight wins in the Big East are more impressive than nine or 10 wins the Pac-12 or the SEC. Anything less and the Hoyas will probably be left out of the field.
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