Q&A with Casual Hoya: It's all fun and games

A top 5 ranking, and already a win against 'Cuse under your belt this season. How could things be better?

Well, let's see. For the team I would suggest a win tonight over your Wildcats tonight followed by a win on Saturday afternoon against Syracuse followed by a Big East Tournament Championship and a National Championship. Anything less than those outcomes will leave me bitterly disappointed. How could things be better for me personally? Not really sure. Casual, Jr. is doing just fine, Casual Hoya has its own blog beer, and we're gearing up for the big Casual Extravaganza IV in DC after the Cuse game. All welcome!

The exclusion of UConn, Cincinnati and Temple from the future C7 has been a hot topic at VU Hoops. Some say good riddance, while others think we're screwing the pooch by leaving them out. Your take?

Unless UConn, Cincy and Temple want to give up their football programs, then they have no business being in our BASKETBALL-ONLY Big East Conference. I'll miss the UConn rivalry, Cincy not so much, and Temple I think would have been a good fit hoops wise but no biggie. I don't think the Big East is screwing any pooches by leaving them out, as the New Big East is clearly a desirable entity without them. Just ask our lord and savior Rupert Murdoch.

Otto Porter Jr.'s stats suggest that his insane 3P% (47%) are responsible for the jump in scoring this season, considering that his overall FG% is actually down from a year ago. Is that correct? Did you see this kind of season coming for him this early in his career?

Um, no. Obviously we Hoyas fans saw Porter's talent evolve throughout his freshman campaign, but his game went strangely ignored throughout the rest of the Big East, as evidenced by his laughable omission from the Big East All-Rookie Team. Porter spent a lot of the offseason working on his perimeter game and the word out of this summer's LeBron James Skills Camp was that he had improved his 3 point shooting dramatically. Well, that has clearly carried over to the regular season and he has become one of the Conference's best shooters from long range.

The upside for us is clear - Porter is the Big East Player of the Year and a legit candidate for National Player of the Year. The downside for us is also clear - he won't be a Georgetown Hoya next season.

Y'all started off 0-2 in conference play but have since gone 13-1 (and seriously #usfWTF). Who (or whom) gets most of the credit?

Amazing, huh? The easiest thing to do is point a finger at Greg Whittington's suspension (academics) as the reason but common sense tells you that a team simply can't go on a run like this after losing its 2nd leading scorer and 2nd leading rebounder. The two keys have really been 1) the emergence of freshman D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera to take on a lot of the scoring gap left by Whittington, and 2) a team-wide dedication to stifling defense. The Hoyas may not be the flashiest team offensively and aren't going to put up a ton of points, but guess what? Neither are you.

Dikembe Mutombo has had quite the year. First those insane banner ads with the sandwich gun and now the awesome Geico ads where he ruins grocery stores for kids everywhere. What's up next for him?\

Well, Obama's term is up in 2016. WHO WANTS TO ELECT DIKEMBE!

As you head for a #1 seed in the dance, what would make this season a success for you? How would you have defined success in the preseason?

STOP IT. All this talk of a #1 seed terrifies me. This season has ALREADY been a success dammit! All I wanted in the preseason was to make the Dance, and look at us now! The thing is, as a 1 seed, the pressure is enormous. You're basically expected to make the Final Four and anything short of that is disappointing. Going from "I just want to make the dance" to suddenly having the burden of Final Four expectations is decidedly NOT casual, and something I wouldn't recommend you take home each night while you try to sleep.

I'm heading to D.C. in 3 weeks. 5 things I need to do, go!

What you need to do? You should (1) Buy a long rope from the Home Depot off of Rhode Island Ave (2) Walk to the Postal Museum Building (3) Tie said rope around your neck (4) Tie the other end around something solid and immovable, and (5) Jump.

Also be sure to check out the Hooter's in Chinatown, which may be a worse outcome for you than the above.

If this year's game were taking place in the Thunderdome, and you could take 3 players from Georgetown, who would they be and why? For what it's worth I'm taking JayVaughn Pinkston, Maurice Sutton and Mislav Brzoja.

Ooh, the Thunderdome! I will take 1) Philly's own Jabril Trawick, 2) Philly's own Jabril Trawick, and 3) Philly's own Jabril Trawick. And if for some reason I can't clone him or the bizarre Thunderdome rules do not permit it, I'll take him along with Nate Lubick and Moses Ayegba.

What in God's name is a Mislav Brzoja?

Marquette came into the Big East, and while a solid program upon joining, has really elevated themselves to the point that you just realize that no matter what, they're always going to be a pain in the ass every year. Who fits that mold in the new league?

This has to be Butler, right? You know that Brad Stevens is going to coach the shit out of every game so it's going to be competitive and annoying. The only real difference there is that Buzz Williams is a petulant clown, whereas Stevens is like an academic out there. One of the more interesting things to keep an eye on is to see how the sudden promotion to a major Conference (no offense, A-10) changes the coaching mannerisms of a Stevens or Xavier's Chris Mack.

Predictions for Wednesday night (intentionally vague, feel free to run wild).

I can tell you quite honestly that I am already looking forward to the festivities surrounding the final game against Syracuse so I can only hope that this is not the case with the team. The Hoyas have a lot at stake over these final two games, with a win in just one clinching a share of the Big East regular season title and the #1 seed in the BET. Nova needs this one as much as any team in the country, as you can probably bank this as a "win and in" game, so I'm sure that foppish dandy Jay Wright will pull out all the stops this evening. I see a back and forth tussle with the Hoyas emerging with a narrow win as Nova has no answer for Otto, call it 63 - 58, friendo.