As Patrick Ewing stoically strolled the Georgetown sidelines in the final seconds of Saturday’s BIG EAST Tournament championship game, his starters, who had long since joined him on the bench, smiled, high-fived and hugged as their moment was about to arrive at Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas had clinched their first BIG EAST Tournament championship since 2007 and you had to wonder if John Thompson Jr., Ewing’s coach and mentor, was watching from somewhere upstairs and smiling. How could he not be after what Georgetown had completed with its four-day, four-game steamroll through the Garden this week?
 
Saturday marked the 49th anniversary of the day Thompson took the reins at Georgetown and turned a moribund program into one of the BIG EAST’s - and the nation’s - best in the 1980s and a champion in 1984. Now, all these years later, and just seven months removed from Thompson’s passing at age 78 last August, Ewing, the student, had made his mentor proud.
 
A Georgetown team that was picked last in the conference coaches’ preseason poll, one that was the last BIG EAST team back on campus due to Covid issues, one that won just nine games during the regular season and absolutely needed to win four games in four days to earn its spot in the NCAA’s Big Dance, had not only defied the odds, it crushed them. Saturday, in their final act at the Garden this week, the Hoyas powered their way to a 73-48 victory over Creighton in the BIG EAST title game to end their 14-year championship drought and clinch the Hoyas’ eighth conference tournament title.
 
“It’s ironic that 40-plus years ago Coach Thompson was hired at Georgetown and today we won the BIG EAST championship,” Ewing said, a few minutes after helping to cut down the championship nets. “I know he’s very happy. He’d say, ‘Boy you shut them up. You showed them that big people are smart as well. Big people can coach.”
 
The Hoyas used an 18-0 run to close out the first half to blow open what had been a tight game, and Creighton withered under Georgetown’s relentless pressure in the second half as the Hoyas not only made Big John proud, but made Ewing the first person in BIG EAST history to win tournament titles both as a player and a coach.
 
“It’s been a great journey,” Ewing said. “Coach Thompson talked me into coming back here to Georgetown. I was given the opportunity by (Georgetown) President (John) DeGioia and we’ve taken a huge step forward in what we’re trying to accomplish. My goal for this program to get it back to where it once was, to compete for a title and this is one step.”
 
The grins and hugs among the Hoyas players began early, with just over 14 minutes to play and Georgetown shockingly up, 54-23, against a Bluejays team that came into the contest as one of the most explosive offensive teams in the nation.
 
But Georgetown made it look like a turn-back-the-clock night at the Garden as the Hoyas looked like that vintage 1984 team that was led by Ewing and which overwhelmed opponents with their defense, speed and attitude, just as Georgetown did last night. With Georgetown up 36-18 at intermission, the game already appeared to be in the bag for the Hoyas as no team in the history of the BIG EAST Tournament had ever come back from such a deficit. And just in case the Bluejays and their vaunted offensive arsenal did have any notion of mounting a comeback, those were quickly squashed as Georgetown remained relentless as their already impressive halftime ballooned to over 30 points midway through the second half.
 
For those who were waiting to see if fatigue would set in on a Hoyas team that was playing its fourth game in four nights, well, they were left waiting. The Hoyas simply ran the Bluejays out of the building. There is no other way to describe their performance. One that will make the 13-12 Hoyas a dangerous opponent in the NCAA now that they’ve earned that automatic bid.
 
So how does it feel to be bringing the Hoyas back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015? 
 
“It means everything,” Ewing said. “It’s been about seven years since we’ve been back to the NCAA Tournament. We started from the bottom and now we’re No. 1 in the BIG EAST. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. That’s something I’ve been talking and preaching to my kids from the day we came on campus and the day the (coaches’ poll) came out. I can’t do anything but applaud my guys. We’ve been through a lot. We had a (Covid) pause, we came out of the pause with flying colors and now we’re on our way to the Big Dance.”
 
This was not only a first for Ewing. It was also the first BIG EAST Tournament title for seniors Jahvon Blair and Jamorko Pickett, who had never had a single tournament victory in their careers before this week. And they were glad to help both earn theirs and deliver one to their coach.
 
““It means the world,” said Blair, who finished with 18 points for the Hoyas. “It’s his first time, it’s my first time, it’s Jamorko’s first time. We started with him from Day One so just to see how happy he is makes me happy.”
 
It was a four-day whirlwind for the Hoyas, who surprised many with their sprint to the title. Many, but not their coach.
 
“No (I’m) not surprised,” Ewing said. “I believe in these kids and I think they believe in me. From the first day we met once we got on campus, I told them we had enough talent to win the BIG EAST, make it to the NCAA Tournament and once you get to the NCAA Tournament anything is possible.”
 
And so far Ewing has delivered on all his predictions.
 
With a college playing career that resulted in a 9-1 record in the BIG EAST Tournament, landing three tourney titles, two MVPs and three All-Tournament Team selections followed by a brilliant 15-year career with the Knicks, Patrick Ewing has now come full circle. Now he’s earning titles as a coach.
 
If it wasn’t before, Madison Square Garden truly is the House That Patrick Built. And from now on, anytime he makes his way back to the World’s Most Famous Arena, no one will be asking him for ID anymore, like they did this week. Not recognizing greatness when they saw it. Everyone will know exactly who he is. You know, the guy with his No. 33 in the rafters.