Hoyas’ Thompson Defends Himself

Georgetown Coach John Thompson’s season has been filled with questions: about his stint as U.S. Olympic coach, about increased aggressiveness in the conference, about his contretemps with Bill Raftery and Brent Musberger. Everything, it seems, except his team, currently 19-8 and one win away from an 11th straight 20-win season.

Thursday’s nearly hour-long session with the media at the Grand Hyatt continued along that path. Thompson was asked about Seton Hall, Georgetown’s first-round opponent Friday at 3 at Madison Square Garden. He was asked about his good friend P.J. Carlesimo, the Seton Hall coach who won coach of the year honors Thursday.

Very few people asked him about his team, which in the past has won 10 of 12 games at Madison Square Garden in this tournament, and 15 of 18 overall. Those who did wanted to know if Thompson found any special significance in this season, one in which Georgetown has not had consistent inside play.

Thompson said that teams with less talent tend to listen more intently to their coach than teams with great talent. And he did allow that he might take more from this season because of the relative lack of talent on this season’s squad.

“I probably wouldn’t admit it to them, but I probably would,” he said. “I think that they have done as much as they can do, so far. And I just hope that they can continue to get some things ... what you want from your team is to be able to get as much from it as you can get. And I think this team is capable of it.”

It’s a year when his team lost more conference games than ever before, but still managed to finish third in the conference because of a late-season slump by Villanova. It means Georgetown hasn’t come to New York with the same things on its mind -- namely, a high seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

So despite a 10-2 mark at Madison Square Garden in the tournament, and a 15-3 tournament mark overall, the Hoyas are in a much less comfortable position than before.

“We’re not that kind of team (this year),” he said. “We’re thankful for whatever we get. We’ve got to play as well as we can, and we’ll take whatever we receive. In the past, we’ve done just what you said, tried to win so we can be in a particular position. But sometimes, when you sit down at the table you feel grateful for the food you have, and this is one of those years for us. We’re not going in there looking for steak.”

Thursday, he declined to talk about the conference’s new rules on fighting or his team’s role in the three fights it’s been involved in this season. This, he said, while respecting everyone’s right to ask and hoping everyone would respect his right not to answer.

“I’m not interested in talking about that,” he said. “We’re here to talk about the Big East tournament, fellas, go find the fight doctor if you want to talk about fighting.”

But in the period he spent fielding questions, he did talk about his relationship with both the media and other conference coaches, notably Pittburgh’s Paul Evans and Evans’ public feud with Villanova Coach Rollie Massimino.

On the media, Thompson said the problems he may have are with individual members and not the media in general. He also said that after the season, he hopes that he and Raftery may get together to discuss things, because he still has “feelings” for Raftery, the former Seton Hall coach.

“I think it depends on who it is in the press,” he said. “If a person is reasonable, I’ll be reasonable with them. I’m not trying to run for an elective office, depending on a rating. I have to do a job I have to do.

“But when you say ‘the press,’ that’s like saying ‘the coaches.’ I’m always attributed as saying ‘the press.’ It’s not ‘the press.’ You seek a certain bit of comfort in saying ‘the press.’ If I’m angry at you, it’s easier for you to say (it). ... I’m not a big advocate of that. Some of my best friends are ‘the press.’ ”

As far as his contretemps with Evans, and Evans’ with Massimino, Thompson said he thought them to be temporary.

“One of the things I’ve tried to do as best I can is not let myself get caught up in something over a long period of time,” he said. “I enjoy what I do, and if you tend to enjoy it, I think you’ve got to let it go by.

“Do you work every day for years and not have arguments with people in your office, your boss? You don’t. Those things come to pass, and I think that these things will come to pass, also. Years ago, there was supposedly a big competitive thing between St. John’s and Georgetown. Louie (Carnesseca) and I get along very well.

“I don’t think anybody takes it so serious that they can’t live with it. If they do, that’s up to them. These things happen.”