NEW YORK – Patrick Ewing Jr. didn’t think much of Roy Hibbert the first time the two met at an AAU basketball tournament in high school.

‘I just remember, like, the first play of the game, I dunked on him,’ Ewing said. ‘And I was just like, ‘Who is this kid?’ Then I remember hearing this story about him going to Georgetown – and at the time, that’s where I was planning on going – and all I could think was ‘Why do they want this kid? He’s not good.”

Fast forward six years, and the two are teammates at Georgetown, about to embark on their senior season together. When reminded of the moment, Hibbert sees the game from a different perspective.

‘He might have dunked on me, but I got the championship,’ Hibbert said.

The answer speaks volumes to Hibbert’s priorities as a player. The 7-foot-2 center demonstrated that clearly last spring when he withdrew his name from the NBA Draft. Despite making it to the Final Four and becoming a projected mid-first-round pick in the draft, Hibbert decided to come back for his senior season at college.

‘We were so close, two games away from our goal,’ Hibbert said of last season. ‘So this year, we’ve just got to get there.’

Hibbert’s most recent collegiate game – the national semifinal game against Ohio State – was still creating a buzz six-and-a-half months later at Big East media day in New York City. Billed as a battle of big men, the matchup paired Hibbert against OSU freshman phenom center Greg Oden, the most highly touted freshman in years.

Three minutes after tipoff, Oden was already on the bench in foul trouble, and Hibbert was on his way to a 19-point performance. The Hoyas lost the game, but Hibbert proved to the college basketball world that he could play with anyone.

After the season, Hibbert and fellow Georgetown junior forward Jeff Green both declared themselves eligible for the NBA. But at a joint news conference in May, the duo decided to go their separate ways: Green to the NBA, where he would be drafted fifth by Seattle. Hibbert opted to stay in school, a decision he said he had been leaning toward. While some aspects of the league were tempting for Hibbert, he can name one that definitely was not: the business aspect.

‘I’m just going to have fun this year,’ Hibbert said. ‘You know, there’s nothing like playing in front of my college again and help my team win before everything gets so much like a business, where you have to worry about agents and contracts and everything like that. So what’s one more year of just being a kid and having coach (John) Thompson (III), you know, help figure things out and help win and everything.’

Hibbert said he knows he is going against the grain as far as returning to play a fourth season. Every year, more and more players forego eligibility in favor of the pros. And while some go on to success, there are cautionary tales. Most notably, months after Oden was drafted first overall in June, he suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for the entire upcoming season.

While Hibbert said no one can fully expect an injury like that, he is trying to physically mature during his time left in college, in hopes of being fully prepared for a career in the pros. His outlook has many Big East coaches appreciating his departure from the current trend.

‘Knowing the kid, and knowing his interest academically and how grounded he is, I’m not surprised,’ Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. ‘I think it’s kind of refreshing to see him back.’

Those coaches are expecting big things from the big man this season as Hibbert was made the conference’s preseason Player of the Year. Even after the loss of Green, the Hoyas return four seniors from last year’s squad and share the No. 1 spot in the conference’s preseason poll with Louisville.

Georgetown head coach John Thompson III, who has coached Hibbert in his last three seasons, thinks the latter distinction is more important to his center than the former.

‘As much as you pick up this book and see that he’s preseason Player of the Year, I think his biggest goal is a team goal,’ Thompson said, referring to a preseason media guide. ‘But he’s put in the work.’

Much of that work came during Hibbert’s offseason, when he traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to play for the United States in the Pan-American Games. There, he was second on the team in rebounds and third in scoring, as his team finished in fifth place out of eight teams.

While he was there, Hibbert used the opportunity to play against some of the best amateur talent in the world as a chance to improve his game and become a more versatile player. For the past three seasons, Hibbert has made his living under the hoop, as most 7-foot-2 centers do. But this season, he said, will be different.

‘I think I’ll take a couple more jump shots,’ Hibbert said. ‘Living in the paint is fine, I love down low, but you might see me take a couple threes this year. I don’t know if coach will let me.’

In Rio, Hibbert’s development was overseen by Villanova coach Jay Wright, who also coaches the U.S. Pan-American team. Wright said what stuck out to him the most about Hibbert was his intelligence on the court.

‘We were putting in plays, and he was saying to me, ‘Oh, that’s the play that (former Villanova player) Curtis Sumpter hit a jump shot on our baseline out of bounds last year,” Wright said. ‘And so as he was saying that to me, I’m thinking to myself, ‘He’s remembering that? He’s going to remember what we’re doing here when we play them.’ Because he’s really bright, and he really loves the game.’

As Hibbert faces a horde of media interrogating him about his decision to come back, he gives the feeling that it really wasn’t as difficult a decision as everyone seems to believe. And while he admits he’s concerned about where he is picked in June, he makes it clear what’s more important.

‘Whatever happens, happens this year,’ Hibbert said. ‘If I go one through 60, as long as I have a good senior year and help my team win this year, and I’ll take it from there.’

Published on November 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm