Sports Talk: Seniors' Moment

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ROY HIBBERT CAME BACK to Georgetown this season for this: one game, featuring two top-25 teams tied for first place and with the Big East championship at stake.

On a day when the senior class will be honored at Verizon Center, the 11th-ranked Hoyas (24-4, 14-3) won't have much time for nostalgia. Everything will be on the line against No. 12 Louisville (24-6, 14-3).

This group — which came into Georgetown with coach John Thompson III four years ago and helped revived the struggling program — will be trying to repeat as league champions for the first time since the 1996-97 seasons, an accomplishment not even achieved in Patrick Ewing Sr.'s four years. It's also only the second time that the two teams tied at the top of the Big East will play for the league title in the regular season finale.

"This is what you live for in college basketball," Hibbert said Thursday. "This is the way I want to go out my senior year."

Also playing in their final home games will be Jonathan Wallace, Patrick Ewing Jr. and Tyler Crawford. Though only Hibbert and Wallace are regulars in the starting lineup, Thompson said each played a role in rebuilding the team to the status it enjoyed during its glory days under John Thompson Jr.

"This is a group that is special to me," the coach said. "It's a group of guys, more so than any group ... that understands the concept of team. They understand sacrifice is needed for the sake of the group, and they've embraced that."

Two prime examples of such sacrifice come from the team's top two seniors, Hibbert and Wallace. Four years ago, Wallace passed up other offers and joined the Hoyas as a walk-on — and has since started each game at Georgetown. And just last summer, Hibbert gave up a chance at millions of dollars in the NBA to return for a final shot at a championship — a decision that has kept the Hoyas atop the Big East even after Jeff Green went pro.

Both say they have no regrets about staying four years and point to Georgetown's legacy — to both championships and stars such as Ewing Sr., Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo — as prime reason to enjoy life in college.

"If you look at Georgetown and the past and how good they were, it's a no-brainer to want to be a part of this," said Wallace.

Just ask Hibbert, who always dreamed of playing for the Hoyas, so much so that he attended Georgetown Prep in high school.

"I've always wanted to go to Georgetown, even when I was a little kid," said Hibbert. "It's been a tough road, but I don't regret any decisions I made, and I'd do it all over again."

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images