Monroe and the Hoyas set to invade Fogelman Arena

The Green Wave will host the Georgetown Hoyas 8 p.m. Nov. 13 in Fogelman Arena. The Hoyas, ranked No. 20 by the Associated Press in its preseason poll, feature sophomore Greg Monroe, a 6-foot-11 center widely considered an early frontrunner for Big East Player of the Year. While defeating a top-20 opponent is never a simple task, the matchup problem that Monroe creates will be especially pronounced due to the style of basketball for which Tulane is best suited. For a team built on speed, it certainly is an interesting way to start the season.

The high-flying Greg Monroe will cause a serious matchup problem for the undersized Wave.

Without a projected starter taller than 6-foot-7, the Wave will rely heavily on the explosive open court play of guards Kevin Sims and Kris Richard this season. Sims and Richard are both talented and athletic enough to inspire hope that this approach will be effective against bigger, slower opponents. While this may prove true in Conference USA, Georgetown can counter with their own backcourt duo of juniors Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. Both Freeman and Wright have enough experience in the ultra-competitive Big East to slow the Sims-Richard attack.

Another problem with this strategy is the assumption that, because Tulane’s frontcourt is smaller, the Wave will be able to beat the Georgetown big men down the floor. In reality, a significant part of what makes Monroe a future top-10 NBA draft pick is his freakish athleticism. While not in Monroe’s elite class, both 6-foot-10 power forward Henry Sims and 6-foot-8 swingman Hollis Thompson are also extremely athletic and adept at running the floor.

This creates something of a catch-22 for head coach Dave Dickerson. Traditional wisdom says that, when playing against a more talented opponent, it is better to slow the pace of the game down and limit the number of possessions the other team gets. This, however, plays exactly into Georgetown’s greatest strength. The Tulane frontcourt simply will not be able to guard Monroe in half-court sets.

Another issue for Tulane is that the team is not particularly well suited to take advantage of Georgetown’s biggest weakness. Because head coach John Thompson III runs a Princeton-style offense — a system that puts a premium on back-door cuts and passing from the high post — the Georgetown big men are often out of position for offensive rebounds. It is also vulnerable to aggressive, trapping zone defenses like Syracuse’s 2-3 or West Virginia’s 1-3-1. This was exposed last year during the heart of Big East conference play, when the Hoyas saw their NCAA tournament hopes die after dropping seven-of-nine contests.

Unfortunately, exposing these flaws requires long, athletic forwards, which happens to be one of Tulane’s biggest weaknesses. While major upsets are nothing new in college basketball, they usually only occur when certain matchups work in the underdog’s favor. In this contest, it appears as if the Wave has scheduled the wrong top-20 opponent. Tulane should be competitive in conference play, but Monroe and Georgetown look to be too tall an order for the diminutive Wave.