One of the greatest careers ever turned in by a Georgetown Hoya almost ended before it began when four men sat in a small office in Maryland’s Northwestern High School and discussed the potential of forward Jeff Green.
Green didn’t play as a high school freshman because of academics and the head Hoyas weren’t taking any chances.
So Big John Thompson and John Thompson III crammed into an office with Northwestern High coach Tony Dickens and athletics director Addison Shepard.
“They asked us one question,” Shepard said. “Is this kid worth it? And we said, unequivocally, yes.”
Is this kid worth it?
This kid, who has won Big East Player of the Year honors, MVP of the Big East Conference tournament, and hefted the Hoyas on his shoulders and carried them to Atlanta and the Final Four as East Region MVP, has certainly been worth it.
The vetting firm of Thompson Jr. and JT III knew Green was a player. They wanted assurances that Green, now an engagingly intelligent 6-9 junior who’s on pace to graduate with a degree in sociology, understood his academic responsibilities.
No one knew this better than Green’s father, Jeff Green Sr., a former all-league player at Washington D.C.’s Phelps Vocational school. Jeff Green Sr. didn’t handle his academics and never went to college.
“Actually, Jeff was eligible as a freshman,” Green Sr. said. “But he wasn’t putting the work in that he needed to so I wouldn’t let him play. It ate him up.”
Green Jr., from Cheverly, Md., was leaning toward attending Maryland, but he met Roy Hibbert through AAU ball and the two hit it off. Hibbert, who wanted to continue the legacy of Patrick Ewing Sr., Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, was Georgetown bound.
Green figured the two would make a nice package, which is like the car dealer throwing in the all-wheel-drive turbo-charged V-8 for free. Green this season joined Reggie Williams as the only players in Hoyas history to score 1,000 points, grab 600 rebounds, and dish 300 assists.
“I don’t know why people aren’t talking about him as player of the year,” teammate Patrick Ewing Jr. said. “I know about Kevin Durant and Greg Oden. They’re great players. But no one means more to his team than Jeff means to us.”
Never was that more obvious than in the East Region. It was Green who had the poise and determination to recover after fumbling the ball to split a pair of Vanderbilt defenders and will the game-winning basket off the glass with 2.5 seconds left.
It was Green whose back-door pass found Jonathan Wallace for a layup that gave the Hoyas an 83-81 lead over North Carolina in overtime. The Hoyas cruised 96-84.
This did not surprise anyone at Northwestern who still recall Green taking off from just inside the foul line to dunk the game-winner in the prep regional final.
“In golf, people say a person’s shot has integrity,” Dickens said. “It’s like that with Jeff’s shot. Even when he misses it looks good.”
Everything about Green has looked good in this tournament. He’s averaged 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists. He could be the difference-maker Saturday when Georgetown (30-6) meets Ohio State (34-3) in a national semifinal. Green Sr. will be watching and remembering a vow his son made years ago.
“We were in a grocery store when he was about 12 and one of the guys said to me, ‘You could play, you should have gone far in college,’ ” Green Sr. said. “Jeff said, ‘He’ll go through me.’ “