ESPN Men's Basketball

WASHINGTON D.C. -- It’s just one hour into the official start of the season and already John Thompson III wishes he could talk about someone other than Joshua Smith.

That doesn’t make him unusual. Coaches like nothing less than talking about guys who are hurt, suspended or ineligible. They aren’t ready to play, so why bother?

Fair logic in an illogical, information-hungry world.

The fact of the matter is the UCLA transfer is more than just a curiosity for Georgetown; he could be a critical piece to the Hoyas’ puzzle. With Greg Whittington sidelined indefinitely with a torn ACL, Georgetown will push junior Mikael Hopkins into the middle and count on senior Nate Lubick to help him out. Both are decent candidates; none has the potential of Smith.

Of course that’s always been the catch with Smith -- he has all this potential, most of it unrealized -- and that’s why the big man lumbering up and down the McDonough Hall court on Saturday morning is the big question mark for Georgetown.

As of right now, Smith won’t be available until the second semester, but Thompson said he’s awaiting a decision from the NCAA, intimating there’s a chance Smith could play immediately.

Thompson declined to get into specifics to the nature of the request.

“We don’t know when or how long we’ll have him,’’ Thompson said. “But we think we should know pretty soon.’’

Having Smith available is one thing; if Smith is ready another. The one-time top recruit followed up a conference all-freshman season with an average sophomore season, his playing time diminishing as the season progressed.

His lack of dedication exasperated Ben Howland, who privately and publicly fumed at his big man’s lack of progress.

Six games into his junior year and Howland’s final turbulent year, Smith elected to transfer.

Georgetown, which opens the season on Nov. 8 against Oregon in South Korea, offers not only a fresh start but also a coach who suffers no fools. Certainly Smith is to blame for his own failures, but he was also caught in a Westwood soap opera that wasn’t good for anyone.

“He has to make a decision if he wants to be good or not,’’ Thompson said. “He has all the tools. He always has. When and if he commits, he’ll see the positive results. It’s a process.’’

What will be especially interesting to watch is how Smith blends in to a team that cares about its defense above its offense. That wasn’t exactly UCLA’s MO last season, unless matador defense is a new trend.

Thompson peppered his first practice with challenges to his team about its defense, promising later that “we will guard.’’

Plenty was made about the Hoyas’ lack of offensive fireworks last season, a display that might fizzle even more sans Otto Porter, but Thompson argues that not enough was said about the other side of the ball. While it mmight have lacked in aesthetics, Georgetown did hold teams to just 56.4 points per game, practically suffocating foes into defeat.

The long and lanky Hopkins and the worker bee Lubick understand what’s expected on that end.

Smith, who didn’t exactly dash back on transition for UCLA, will have to learn.

“We’ll see how it all plays out,’’ Thompson said. “But regardless, I think this team has a chance to be very, very good.’’

NEW YORK -- Players leave. They get hurt.

Stuff, if you will, happens.

This isn’t exactly breaking news in sports, especially in college basketball where, in the age of one-and-done, a player’s tenure has the shelf life of milk left out on a July day in Vegas.

And so J’Covan Brown left Texas a year early for the NBA and Myck Kabongo, the subject of an NCAA investigation, isn’t playing for the Longhorns right now and Jaylen Bond is rehabbing a tricky foot injury and has no set return date.

Fair enough reasons behind the Longhorns' 5-3 record, their loss to Chaminade, and their 64-41 obliteration Tuesday at the hands of Georgetown in the Jimmy V Classic, a game that wasn’t close from the tip.

So explain Georgetown, then.

The Hoyas lost their three leading scorers -- Jason Clark, Hollis Thompson and Henry Sims. OK, they have Otto Porter, but the other guys who are starring -- Greg Whittington, Markel Starks, Nate Lubick -- were role players a season ago.

Yet the Hoyas are 6-1 and ranked 15th in the country. On the heels of a 24-9 season and a third-round exodus from the NCAA tournament, Georgetown, even without its top three players, looks better.

And the Longhorns look, well ... awful isn’t too strong, is it?

“It’s a fragile business, very fragile,’’ Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “A couple guys leave that you don’t expect -- like they have guys hurt, dealing with the NCAA -- it makes a big difference. The way you plan for things to do, from last year to the next, it changes and it’s hard.’’

Except it never seems to be that hard for the Hoyas. Georgetown guys graduate or move on and yet here the Hoyas are, back in the mix just like every year. The lazy answer is to chalk it up to the Princeton system, a term Thompson despises, as if it is some smoke-and-mirrors game of deception that confuses everyone else.

The more simple solution is that the Hoyas recruit not just for the immediate but also for the long term, building a program instead of just a team.

Guys leave, and have left the Hoyas early. But there are plenty who stay and develop.

This team is a perfect example. Porter didn’t go the AAU route, didn’t have anything resembling a profile until he started a year ago. Now he’s a legit candidate for Big East Player of the Year.

“I think what makes this team exciting is we could get a lot better,’’ Lubick said. “There are a lot of things we can sharpen up on both ends of the floor. We’re a young team. We’re not looking at the rankings. We’re excited to get better.’’

Yeah, so are the Longhorns -- and considering this performance, they can’t get much worse.

Texas scored 41 points -- crossing the 40-point threshold only in the final minute of the game.

It was the Longhorns' fewest points in a game since 1987. Texas also coughed up 22 turnovers, which would be alarming except for the fact that it’s the third time in eight games the Longhorns have given the ball away more than 20 times.

Certainly if and when Kabongo is cleared, it will help. He’s a playmaker, both for himself and his teammates. Presumably he’ll help eliminate the turnovers -- though committing more might be difficult -- and offer some much-needed direction to a team that appears to be lost in the forest.

Texas coach Rick Barnes said that, during the first television timeout, he asked his team how many turnovers it had. Someone offered two.

“They had seven,’’ Barnes said. “How can you not know that? It’s like you’re not in the game mentally.’’

So, yes, Kabongo can help, but to pin everything on the absence or return of one guy is an excuse that even Barnes is tiring of.

“That doesn’t matter right now,’’ he said. “These guys that we have right now are better, better than they are playing.’’

Stuff happens.

Good teams that become great programs handle it.

Ask Georgetown.

The jockeying continues in the Big East, where nothing but the top spot ever seems to remain the same.

But finally there seems to be at least a little separation from the top of the pack, with Syracuse, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Marquette and Louisville pulling away.

After that, it’s open season on the bubble and the bottom.

1. Syracuse: The Orange face what could be their stiffest test of the season on Monday at Louisville. The Cardinals have had Syracuse’s number, winning seven in a row against the Orange, a string dating back to the 2006-07 season.

2. Georgetown: The Hoyas retooled after a hard-fought loss against Syracuse with a solid win over St. John’s. More importantly, Georgetown got big contributions from new faces: Nate Lubick and Greg Whittington. That’s the versatility the Hoyas will need as March nears.

3. Notre Dame: It took a while for the Irish to get going against DePaul, but ultimately they rolled to their sixth straight win. Luke Harangody look-alike Jack Cooley has 43 points and 26 rebounds in Notre Dame’s past two wins. In those games, he's a ridiculous 17-of-21 (81 percent) from the field.

4. Marquette: The Golden Eagles turned a 16-4 hole into a rout of Cincinnati, its fast-break offense exploding to a 17-point win. Darius Johnson-Odom is making a serious run at conference player of the year honors.

5. Louisville: Freshman Wayne Blackshear is back in the lineup at just the right time for the surging Cardinals. The freshman came off the bench against West Virginia but will be needed even more when the Cards host league-leading Syracuse on Monday.

6. Cincinnati: The Bearcats’ defense went AWOL against Marquette and so did a big lead. Cincinnati needs to start locking down if it’s going to assure itself an NCAA bid and keep its league record above .500.

7. South Florida: The Bulls are playing themselves onto the soft bubble, beating the teams they’re expected to beat. This team isn't great by any means, but 8-4 in the Big East is still 8-4 in the Big East. South Florida still could use a signature win, but this is a groundbreaking season for Stan Heath’s group.

8. Seton Hall: The Pirates ended a six-game skid with two wins this week, Sunday against Pitt and earlier in the week at Rutgers. But that victory against the Scarlet Knights only further sullied this rivalry with an endgame skirmish that included a Herb Pope head-butt.

9. West Virginia: The Mountaineers are going in the wrong direction in the standings with March right around the corner, losing five of their past six. This week’s Backyard Brawl with Pittsburgh is critical.

10. Connecticut: The Huskies played harder than the final score against Syracuse indicated, but UConn was supposed to be more than just competitive with the Orange. This once-promising season is threatening to spin out of control, with six losses in seven games dropping the league record to 5-7.

11. Villanova: The Wildcats slide ahead of some of the other teams with four league wins simply because they did fewer things wrong than the rest. That is to say, Villanova won a game, narrowly beating Providence after a 19-point rally.

12. Pittsburgh: Apparently news of the Panthers’ resurgence was a tad premature. Pitt’s promising four-game win streak was halted by South Florida and Seton Hall. The Panthers struggled to score in both. Looks like there will be no late surge to the bubble after all.

13. Rutgers: The schedule is not kind to the skidding Scarlet Knights. With three losses in a row, Rutgers now has to go to Notre Dame before hosting Syracuse. Ouch.

14. St. John’s: The Red Storm gave Georgetown all it could handle on the road before losing Sunday afternoon. That is the solace for a young team that needs to find a way to finish out a difficult season.

15. DePaul: Oliver Purnell earned himself a technical foul after slamming his clipboard in frustration in the loss to Notre Dame over the weekend. It’s an apt metaphor for the season, one in which the Blue Demons are better but simply cannot get over the hump.

16. Providence: The Friars have just two wins since the New Year and the schedule offers little in the way of optimism. This week, Providence has to face a hungry Cincinnati team before hosting Georgetown.