By Jason Chatraw
ATLANTA - Sitting at the Final Four podium Friday at the Georgia Dome taking questions from reporters, Georgetown's Jeff Green showed his age.
REPORTER: Jeff, when you were watching games growing up, did you watch Princeton in the NCAA Tournament?
GREEN: Actually, I watched one recently. I didn't watch it when I was younger. Recently, when we were in Winston-Salem, I think the upset of UCLA was on. It was good to see how the teams previous before us ran the offense. When I saw it, I didn't think anything of it. It was a great offense. Especially with the group of guys we have, it's much better because we have guys who are athletic that can play multiple positions. I think that's what makes our offense so much better.
Under former Princeton grad John Thompson III, the Georgetown Hoyas have enjoyed success running the offense Princeton's Pete Carril made famous. And while Green may have showed his youthfulness, he shows his future-NBA skills in the Princeton offense every time he steps on the court.
He's explosive when he gets near the basket and can disrupt the best-laid defensive plans of scheming opponents. But it's his defense that makes him more than a perfect fit for Georgetown's offense. And the sum of his abilities has earned him praise from Thompson as being the smartest athlete he's ever coached.
"It's a great compliment from my coach to say that," Green said Friday. "That's one of the things I take pride on, somebody knowing how to make plays, not to force anything, to be smart on the court."
Though at 6-foot-9 it's difficult for Green to lurk in anyone's shadows, but he's done a fine job of hiding behind the Roy Hibbert-Greg Oden showdown hype. However, flying under the radar doesn't bother him at all.
"My father always instilled [the importance of being a good teammate] in me, always help your teammates out, don't be a selfish guy," Green said. "It takes five players on the floor to win a game. You got to have trust in your teammates. I've been like that since day one."
But that mentality doesn't scare Green away from making a statement when he has to. When the Hoyas were struggling against North Carolina in the regional finals, Green stepped up and expressed his displeasure.
"Jeff can get fired up," teammate Octavius Spann said. "Against North Carolina, he kind of surprised us all at how fired up he got. But he was just reminding us what we were here for and to not lose our focus even though we were struggling."
It will certainly be a challenge for the one-time Big East Co-Rookie of the Year against Ohio State on Saturday night in the semifinals. But he's determined to help history repeat itself and eliminate the Buckeyes for a second straight season‹even though he understands freshmen phenoms Oden and Mike Conley Jr. make Ohio State an entirely different team.
"A lot of their seniors that were there last year are gone," Green said. "I would think they're a much faster team with Greg Oden being down there, who is much quicker than last year's team. You can look back at last year's game and think the same outcome is going to happen. You have to go into this game with a different mindset. It's going to be a tough match-up."
On Saturday night, all eyes will be on Oden and Hibbert, but Green will give fans an eyeful ... both this year and for years to come in the NBA.
Jason Chatraw is the sports editor of The Sunday Paper (www.sundaypaper.com)
