And so it begins

Tonight the Georgetown men's basketball season begins in earnest as they travel to No. 16 Pittsburgh. It's not going to be pretty. The Panthers (10-1) are hoping to exact some revenge after having inexplicably dropped the ball against Bucknell at home. This season Pitt has limited opponents to under 40 percent shooting. (Then again, the Hoyas, who are 8-3, normally shoot around this range, even when they're winning, so they should feel quite comfortable.) And one of the more lethal Big East guards happens to play for Pittsburgh--the terrifically named Carl Krauser averages about 16 points per game.

The Washington Post's Camille Powell, however, gives props to the Hoyas and new coach John Thompson III for "mixing in tougher nonconference opponents" such as No. 1 Illinois, Clemson (not a powerhouse but at least from the powerhouse ACC), and even Oral Roberts, who Powell says is "considered to be the best team in the Mid-Continent Conference." Sportswriter John Feinstein recently told me that he thinks the new coach "will do fine at G-town, but he needs some players and he'll be in a brutal league beginning next year. I still think they need an on-campus facility."

As they say, you first need to learn how to walk before you can run. Or crawl before you walk. Or run before you dribble. Or something like that. So it is we rid ourselves of a bad coach last year, and now on to a new arena. And then the Final Four.

I'd say it's a generational struggle.