By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Porter was the Big East player of the year and a first-team AP All-America this season. He also finished second in the voting behind Michigan's Trey Burke for AP player of the year.
Otto Porter knew from a season's worth of experience that Florida Gulf Coast would make stopping him a priority. But this time, in the bright spotlight of the NCAA tournament, Porter wasn't able to overcome that increased pressure.
Georgetown players said they weren't taking No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast lightly. Armed with the memories of last year's upset loss to N.C. State early in the NCAA tournament and a 2010 loss to Ohio, the second-seeded Hoyas figured this time it would have to be different. It wasn't.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III usually measures his words carefully and avoids big-picture statements whenever possible.
The coach who almost always measures his words carefully and avoids big-picture statements whenever possible has, in his own way, let it be known that he's expecting more than the usual when his Hoyas, seeded No. 2 in the East, begin the NCAAs with a round of 64 game against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday in Philadelphia.
Georgetown lost out on big-time recruit Nerlens Noel. Its leading scorer, Jason Clark, graduated. Another gifted contributor, Hollis Thompson, departed a year early to pursue professional basketball. And somehow Georgetown improved.
Porter's breakout performance — 33 points, eight rebounds, five steals while playing all 40 minutes — in Georgetown's final Big East game at the Carrier Dome left no doubt that both the sophomore forward and his team belong near the top.
Porter's incredible play stopped the Orange's 38-game winning streak in the Carrier Dome, the longest in Division I, and it came in front of a disappointed record crowd of 35,012, the largest ever to see a college basketball on campus. It was the fewest points scored by Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.
With Otto Porter on the bench nursing a sore knee, the player known as DSR put on Georgetown's best freshman scoring performance in 17 years.
Porter is never going to rock the boat, while Starks — who wants to run for political office one day — makes grand statements that make coach John Thompson III's eyes roll.
Otto Porter scored 11 of his 21 points after a momentum-shifting technical foul on Marquette coach Buzz Williams, and No. 15 Georgetown won a stop-and-start game of turnovers and whistles Monday night, beating the 18th-ranked Golden Eagles 63-55 to move into a tie for second in the Big East.
Markel Starks led the Hoyas with 20 points but it was Porter who took over down the stretch in a 69-63 victory over Rutgers on Saturday.
Otto Porter scored 20 points, and Georgetown made a season-high 15 steals and got a rare first-half boost from a walk-on Wednesday night in a 74-52 win over Seton Hall.
After starting 0-2 in Big East play for the first time in 11 years and losing forward Greg Whittington for academic reasons, Georgetown has won four of five, including back-to-back wins over then-No. 24 Notre Dame and then-No. 5 Louisville as it heads into Wednesday's home game against Seton Hall.
Otto Porter had 17 points and grabbed the game's decisive rebound with 1.4 seconds to play Saturday, leading Georgetown to a 53-51 win over No. 5 Louisville, the Cardinals' third straight loss.
Georgetown's Otto Porter will announce Monday whether he is declaring his eligibility for the NBA draft.
