For Georgetown, Things Are Not All Wright Without Senior Star

Filed under: Georgetown, Syracuse

WASHINGTON -- The difference between a Georgetown team with Chris Wright and without him, might be the difference between Georgetown getting a high seed in the NCAA tournament, as well as the Big East tournament, and getting a lower one.

That's not perception. That's the reality of the two games the Hoyas have lost with Wright injured. The senior guard and floor leader broke a bone in his left hand in the first half of Wednesday's game against Cincinnati, and the Hoyas lost. He was on the Verizon Center floor Saturday afternoon only for the pre-game ceremony honoring the seniors, gingerly embracing the coaches with the hand, the non-shooting one, wrapped after surgery two days ago.

Georgetown lost that game, too, to No. 17 Syracuse, 58-51, before 20,276, the largest crowd for a Georgetown game in the arena -- albeit one liberally populated with Syracuse fans.

The best-case scenario for Georgetown, ranked 11th as the week began, had Wright not been injured -- two wins at home against one sure NCAA tournament team and a contender -- was a double-bye in the conference tournament, as they came into the Cincinnati game with five league losses; just two teams have fewer right now. Syracuse (24-6, 11-6) is now on that path, with another impressive road win following the one on Monday over Villanova. It's in the double-bye mix now; Georgetown, 21-8 and 10-7 with only the season finale at Cincinnati next Saturday remaining, has to have things break right to get any bye at all.

The Hoyas, to the surprise of absolutely no one, are a different team without Wright, who still hopes to play again before Georgetown's season ends, whenever that is.

"Obviously, Chris Wright not playing is huge; I hope he's all right,'' Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after the game. "I hope he can come back, because Georgetown is obviously one of the best teams in our league with him playing, and that's a huge loss.''

 

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