After twenty minutes of standing in line in the snow listening to buzzed twenty-something Duke and Georgetown alums try their best to talk trash without ever actually mentioning the game — or even the sport — about to be played, I don’t think anyone could have excused the neutral fan from sitting this one out. You’d be hard-pressed to find two fan bases that express more entitlement than these two. After all, one Final Four in 22 years and Hoyas fans are wearing shirts that say, “Respect is back, Fear is next”? How’d they follow that one up anyhow? With an NCAA tourney loss to Davidson and then an NIT bid? Fear, you say?

Still, on paper, this had the makings of a good one: two top-ten squads in need of a real marquee win, Georgetown coach John Thompson III going for his 200th win, the last game of an exciting four-year series between the two programs, and rumors flying that Obama would be in attendance. [Which, obviously, he was. A complete gallery of Obama’s afternoon at Verizon Center in a bit. – Ed.] The gathering snowfall outside didn’t deter too many fans either — the place was packed for a “Gray Out” (we’re not done with this concept yet?) and the Hoya student section was in good voice early.