Hibbert, Hoyas get early honors

NEW YORK — Great expectations again are a Hoyas hallmark.

Six months after Georgetown’s first run to the Final Four in more than two decades, the Big East coaches expect an elite performance for this season’s Hoyas.

The coaches selected Georgetown center Roy Hibbert as the league’s preseason player of the year and named the Hoyas the co-conference favorites along with Louisville.

“If you’re looking for the total package, it’s Georgetown,” longtime Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said at yesterday’s Big East Media Day. “They’ve got the big kid [Hibbert] down low, experience in the backcourt with [Jonathan] Wallace and [Jessie] Sapp, and I really like [DaJuan] Summers on the wing.”

The Hoyas finished 13-3 in the Big East, sweeping both the conference regular season and tournament titles for the first time since 1987. Georgetown finished 30-7 overall and reached the NCAA tournament semifinals.

The Hoyas absorbed a heavy blow shortly in the aftermath of that success when Jeff Green, last year’s Big East MVP, decided to skip his senior season and was selected with the fifth pick in the NBA Draft. But fourth-year coach John Thompson III welcomes back eight of the other nine primary contributors from that team, including the 7-foot-2 Hibbert (12.9 points, 6.9 rebounds) and fourth-year starting point guard Wallace (11.4 points, 3.1 assists).

“They’ll miss Jeff Green. Who wouldn’t? But they’ll adjust,” Calhoun said. “It all starts with Hibbert. What are you going to do with him? He’s 7-2 with touch, experience and a good deal of offensive polish. I think they’re going to be terrific again.”

Hibbert led the Big East in field goal percentage last season, nearly establishing a league record at 67.1 percent. But it was an accolade for a teammate that had Hibbert glowing at Madison Square Garden yesterday. Wallace, a 6-1 senior from Harvest, Ala., joined Hibbert on the preseason All-Big East team.

“I was really happy for ‘Little Buddy’ — that’s what we call [Wallace],” Hibbert said. “I know Jon doesn’t really care, but he’s earned the publicity, so I was thrilled to see him recognized as a first-team player.”

Louisville, which split the first-place vote with the Hoyas among the league’s 16 coaches, also placed two players on the preseason team in Terrence Williams and David Padgett. Rick Pitino’s Cardinals finished 24-10 last season after rebounding from a slow start to earn a share of the Big East’s runner-up slot with a 12-4 record. Louisville defeated Stanford in the NCAA tournament before falling in the second round to No. 2 seed Texas A&M; 72-69.

Marquette was picked to finish third in the league and also merited a pair of all-conference picks in the backcourt duo of Dominic James and Jerel McNeal.