Write On Sports LLC - "Jonathan Wallace; Leading the Georgetown Charge" by Tyler Clifton

Jonathan Wallace; Leading the Georgetown Charge

2007-03-26 13:14:53 | By: Tyler Clifton

There are always feel-good stories accompanying the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

The argument of who should go first in the NBA Draft between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant is one, while Florida Gator Joakim Noah and his teammates deciding to stay in school and being two wins away from claiming a second national title in as many years is another.

The UCLA Bruins are back looking to take the next step after falling one game short in 2006. Another story not to be overlooked should be the one of Jonathan Wallace.

The Georgetown junior guard isn't going to be a lottery pick but can hold his head high after completing the Hoyas' comeback against North Carolina Sunday and scoring the first two points of what turned into a dominating overtime to clinch a berth in the national semifinals.

Georgetown does have the size in the middle with 7-foot-2 inch Roy Hibbert along with Jeff Green and freshman DaJuan Summers, but it was Wallace who was often overlooked.

His numbers were nothing short of spectacular, as any coach would take his 19 points on seven-of-11 shooting along with seven assists in 38 minutes. Wallace made three of his four 3-point attempts and made both free throws while grabbing three rebounds (two offensive) and committing only one turnover and one foul in the game - not bad to say the least.

Wallace wasn't good enough in the eyes of his two in-state teams Alabama and Auburn. Rumors are rampant stating Crimson Tide head coach Mark Gottfried didn't feel he had the talent to play in Tuscaloosa and thought he wasn't SEC material.

He who laughs last laughs best, because it's Wallace making the trip to Atlanta next weekend, while Gottfried's team took a first-round exit out of the NIT at UMass.

Wallace will be less than four hours away from his hometown of Huntsville, Ala., where he played for Sparkman High School and led the Senators to a No. 5 ranking in Class 6A.

Nothing phased Wallace Sunday, not an 11-point second-half deficit or even a Tar Heel running full speed at him arms in the air trying to alter his game-tying 3-point attempt.

Georgetown's season was over had the shot missed, and the Hoyas now have an opportunity to return to the glory days where they won it all 23 years ago.

North Carolina dominated the boards, securing several second-chance opportunities on the offensive end, but the Hoyas finally clamped down defensively for several one-and-outs while using their Princeton-style offense Thompson knows so well from his days under Pete Carril.

North Carolina also suffered the biggest collapse since the Stock Market Crash of 1929 by making only one of 23 shot attempts in a 15-minute span, including the first 12 of overtime.

The game had such a family-like atmosphere, with Patrick Ewing cheering on his son in the stands and John Thompson Jr. smiling broadly along press row watching his son make history. The Thompsons are the first father-son combination to coach in a Final Four, and they did it in the same program and are hoping to both become national champions as well.

Quite a feat, and it's something all fathers must dream about when playing with their sons in the driveway. It's a dream at best for most, but for these two families, it became a reality.

Wallace belongs in the same sentence with John Thompson III and Patrick Ewing Jr., because it was his turn to make a statement, and it was heard loud and clear throughout this basketball-crazed country of ours and the month we all know best as March Madness.

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