This Thursday the No. 4 seeded Georgetown Hoyas will take on the Big Sky Conference Champions and No. 13 seeded Eastern Washington Eagles in a South Regional game during the NCAA Tournament’s Opening Day. Many basketball fans and analysts are predicting an upset in this game as the Eagles are coming into the tournament hot, having won the Big Sky Conference Tournament and winning six of their last seven games. Georgetown has also been a major letdown in their previous NCAA Tournament appearances. They have lost their last five trips to the tournament against double-digit seeded teams. This is only the second time that Eastern Washington has made it to the NCAA Tournament as a program.
This game will take place on March 19th in Portland, Oregon. Tickets for this tip-off at the Rose Garden are averaging $179.53 with a get-in price of $30. With hotels in Portland from $103 and a variety of Portland flights, Hipmunk.com is any Hoyas’ fans resource to get to the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Georgetown was led this year by the tandem of D’Vauntes Smith-Riviera and Joshua Smith. Smith-Riviera, a 6’3” guard from Indianapolis, was selected as the Big East’s Preseason Player of the Year. Smith-Riviera, who averaged 16.0 points per game and shot the three pointer at over 40% is complemented by the size and strength of Smith. The 300-pound big man is crucial to the Hoyas success down low. Smith has size that the Eagles will not be able to match up against and his surprisingly good touch near the basket should make him a handful for the underdogs.
What makes people believe that Eastern Washington can upset the Hoyas is their high flying offense that averages nearly 81 points per game. The Eagles’ guard Tyler Harvey is averaging a massive 22.9 points per game. Their second leading scorer, forward Venky Jois, is averaging 16.6 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. However, Jois will be limited by the presence of Smith. The physical Georgetown squad will have to come out and bully their smaller opponents. If they can contain the high-octane offense of the No. 13 seed then they Hoyas should be able to move on.
