Georgetown center Greg Monroe playing his way into the company of Ewing, Mourning and Mutumbo

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

NEW YORK — There is an archetype of the Georgetown center. Greg Monroe does not fit it.

He is not the standard for the Hoyas' Princeton offense. He is not a natural shot swatter like Dikembe Mutumbo. He doesn't growl and snarl like Alonzo Mourning. And he is not the transcendent dominating force Patrick Ewing was. Yet.

"The comparisons are going to be out there because he is a center but Greg is totally different from those guys," said teammate Chris Wright. "It's not fair to put him in that category or to compare him to those guys because of what they accomplished. Greg is a great player. Just leave it at that."

After the clinic Monroe put on in Georgetown's 80-57 closer-than-it looked victory over Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament, his night under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden should earn him some points towards his college basketball Q rating.

Monroe showed off the entire vast array of tools in his arsenal on the way to finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists.

The lefty hook over the right shoulder, three-point shot, the efficient length, the ability to run the floor like a 6-foot-11 gazelle, and the passing skills. Not least of all the passing skills.

His propensity to pass, and just how good he is at it, has become his trademark. It's also why he does not fit in among his esteemed predecessors.

He grew up a ballhandler, a court-visionary. Monroe would bring the ball up the floor and lead the break in his younger days. Like he did last night after teammate Julian Vaughn blocked a Maurice Acker layup, he dribbled left-handed from free-throw line to free-throw line until giving it up to Austin Freeman for a layup and one.

"My father would preach to me ‘A passing big man is harder to guard,'" said Monroe. "Growing up that's what I was taught. I just grew into it and now it's like second nature to me"

The first time Chris Wright met his new center he was thrown off by how unselfish he was. Guys with his acclaim usually aren't looking out for everyone else first. Monroe's freshman year Wright had to get on him to look to score more often. This year Monroe has grasped the proper timing and ratio of playing selflessly and selfishly. Although every once in a while Wright still has to pull him aside in-game huddles for a few choice words.

Despite the obvious aesthetic disparities Monroe still gets questioned about his place in Georgetown cannon. The heritage of the position played a role in him coming to the school and he converses with them directly or through messages via his coaches. Although he says they never talk about taking up his place in the mantle, "I don't think they want to put that pressure on me."

Monroe is quick to say that he should not even be put in the same group as those who have come before him, but it's unavoidable.

"I don't think it's unfair," said his coach John Thompson III. "He knew when he was recruited here, when he came here, that would happen. So fair or unfair comparisons are going to be made. Fair or not, he can handle it. Fair or not, he's going to live up to and continue to work. He said he's honored to have those comparisons and I think those guys are proud of how he is carrying himself."

Not to say Monroe doesn't have to bring a little of what his precursors did. He ran the length of the floor to block Acker's layup on a breakaway. He let out a yell after his assist on Freeman's transition bucket. But Monroe will be the first to tell you he is not another coming.

"That's my game," he said. "Everybody doesn't have the same game."

Still, just because it's different, it doesn't mean it's not as good.

For more Big East Tournament coverage, along with Rutgers and Seton Hall basketball news, follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter at @Mike_Vorkunov

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