George Washington University Athletics
T.J.'s Take
3/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 18, 2005
Senior co-captain T.J. Thompson, who has played in 116 games in his career at George Washington, recently helped lead the Colonials to their first Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Thompson will be providing his unique insight and inside perspective into his experiences with his teammates as 12th-seeded GW prepares for its first round match-up with fifth-seeded Georgia Tech Friday night at the Gaylord Center in Nashville, TN. In the latest edition of T.J.'s Take, Mr. Thompson talks about a full Thursday in Nashville which included two practices, some slight down time and his first NCAA press conference.
I still felt the same Thursday morning as the day before, just happy to be here. I woke up and came down to breakfast and realized we were just one day away from our first round game with Georgia Tech. I feel like we are ready to play basketball. We had a film session after breakfast and started to study (Georgia Tech) a little more in depth, trying to figure out the things they like to do. After our session we had our second practice in two days at Tennessee State and everything went great. There was a lot of media there and we were just ready to play. Practice went well and everybody worked hard. We were focused and now we are just ready to go out there and play.
In practice, we just made sure we worked on breaking their pressure because Georgia Tech is an up-and-down team and they like to press. We want to make sure we are focused on handling their pressure. Coach Hobbs also talked about containing their penetration because they have some great guards and for us to win the game we are going to have to contain (their guards).
We came back to the hotel after practice and had a meal. After we ate I took a little nap, just to get a little rest. When I woke up I actually forgot that we had another practice, so my roommate had to wake me up to remind me. When I came down to the lobby there was a state trooper waiting for us and usually your instinct is, `Did somebody do something?' But they were only leading our bus to the arena, so that was something new. When we hit traffic the state trooper just flipped the lights on and we went around the traffic. You kind of feel like a celebrity a little bit because they give you the best treatment.
We arrived at the Gaylord Center for the first time and Pops (Mensah-Bonsu) and I represented GW at our designated press conference, which was great. I had never been to a press conference like that before where it's basically all the media from around the world. They were asking some good questions. I was a little nervous up there though because the whole spotlight is on you and you don't want to say the wrong thing, but I also enjoyed it too.
Next up was our open practice in the arena. We weren't really going there for a legitimate practice, basically just going in to get used the rims, shoot around a bit and become familiar with the arena. We kind of used that as a final preparation for tomorrow because we won't be there again until our game. Our main focus was to go in there and get a lot of shots up and get used to the court and the rims. Coach Hobbs didn't want us to go real hard. He just wanted us to take it light, but also use the time to take `game' shots.
I thought the Gaylord Center was big. A little bigger than I thought it was. It reminded me somewhat of the MCI Center back in DC. But, to see your name on NCAA name cards and your name on the scoreboards inside the arena was definitely something new. It was great and I just can't wait to tip it off tomorrow.
As far as envisioning the game tonight, you can never envision what it's actually going to be like until you get there. I've envisioned playing in the NCAA Tournament, but actually being here is better than I thought it was. I'm just going to have to make sure I don't get too hyper because you don't want to go out there and try to do too much. You want to stay within the team concept. We just have to make sure we rest tonight, have some fun and know that business is here tomorrow.
- T.J.
Log on Friday for T.J.'s continuing diary from Nashville at the NCAA Tournament...
