– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — Georgetown coach Ed Cooley loves the Big East Conference. Really, really loves the Big East Conference.
Cooley loves the conference that’s produced almost half of the D1 men’s basketball national champions so much that he talks about the steep hill and freight elevator that encounters teams upon their arrival at the World’s Most Famous Arena as if he’s worked at the Big Apple institution for half of his life.
So when his Hoyas pulled off the first stunner of the Big East Tournament on Friday night, he helped to make a bit of conference history that wakens the echoes of the conference’s halcyon days a.k.a. the things on the basketball court that pulls at those heartstrings.
Georgetown, the last-place team and No. 11 seed in the Big East Tournament, pulled off its second upset as many days in New York, taking down the No. 3 seed Villanova Wildcats 78-64 to advance to to the semifinals on Friday night. The Hoyas joined top-seed St. John’s, No. 4 Seton Hall and second-seeded Connecticut into the Big East’s final four, the first time that the last four of the tournament has been made up entirely of four of the league’s seven charter members since 1994. (Syracuse, Providence and Boston College make up the septet that became the Big East in 1979.)
Their 12 first-half turnovers, which led to 16 Villanova points, was microcosmic of some of the things that went wrong for the Hoyas, especially after a promising non-conference season that included a win against NCAA Tournament-bound Clemson. But its defensive grit and knack for keeping games against higher-ranked teams close finally bore fruit before the official close to their season.
Big man Julius Halaifonua led the Hoyas with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeremiah Williams and Kayvaun Mulready each had 14 points. Mulready was perfect, making all five of his field goal attempts — including three from beyond the arc — and his only free throw while also grabbing eight rebounds.
Cooley not only was the former coach at Providence before his departure to the nation’s capital a couple of seasons ago, but he also was an assistant at Boston College from 1997-2006, the majority of those years at Chestnut Hill as a member of the Big East.
“The fact that I’ve been able to be in the Big East this long says I’ve had opportunities, and I’m grateful to the administrations that’s given me the opportunity to coach in this historic league and to be one of the veteran coaches to last this long,” Cooley said to A Lot of Sports Talk after the game. “Not many of us could last long in this league because it’s so heavy. The coaches has been great, the players have been great, and I’m just grateful that I’ve had an opportunity to walk on that floor, and I’m going to have another opportunity tomorrow. Just, it’s a special — I love the Big East Conference, absolutely love it.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday’s Big East Tournament quarterfinals, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Robert Cole and staff photographers Dale Horton and Vinnie Lucia. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 61 pictures in total.
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