Georgetown's Blueprint for a Deep Run in the 2015 NCAA Tournament

Georgetown is one of those teams that can beat or lose to pretty much any good team in the nation on a given night.

The Hoyas enter the field of 68 as a No. 4 seed and will face Easter Washington in the second round.

Georgetown comes into play just 6-4 in its last 10 games, including a third defeat of the season to Xavier in the Big East tournament, but it has the horses to make a deep run if things break right.

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera is one of the best guards in the country who operates somewhat under the radar, and Josh Smith is the big clogging presence in the middle who can control games on the defensive end.

How far will this bunch go?

We'll find out in a couple of days, but if the Hoyas want to make some noise, they'll need to emphasize the following five points.

Somewhere out there right now you can hear the sounds of palms slapping foreheads.

Get out of the opening weekend to make a deep run? And you get paid for this stuff?

It sounds ridiculously simple, but it's been anything but for the Georgetown Hoyas in their recent tournament history.

Georgetown missed the Big Dance last year, and that came on the heels of a second-round upset to upstart Florida Gulf Coast in 2013. Before that it was double-digit seeds NC State, Virginia Commonwealth, Ohio and Davidson that sent the Hoyas packing early.

The last time Georgetown advanced to see the Sweet 16? 

2008.

There are a few holdovers on this team from the loss to the "Dunk City" Eagles from the Atlantic Sun, and you can bet that they'll be looking to make sure a surprise early exit doesn't befall this team once again.

Taking care of business and avoiding the early upset are obviously keys—a simple idea but not easy for this team in recent years—if the Hoyas want to return to some sense of national prominence on the biggest of stages.

Josh Smith is a big, big boy.

How big?

How's about 6'10" and 350 pounds big?

The Hoyas are a completely different team when their senior center is on the floor. His scoring average has dipped slightly from last season, when he only played 13 games due to academic issues, but his rebounding has shot up from 3.4 to 5.9 per contest.

The problem, as it often is for big men who clog the middle, is foul trouble and conditioning. 

Smith is no good to the Hoyas if he can't stay on the floor, and while he's done a better job at that this season, he needs to be conscious and stay out of early foul trouble. 

You can't underestimate the value of a player who can clear space on the interior and make teams think twice about driving into the lane. 

But he's been in early foul trouble way too often for the Hoyas' good this season, and that's a potentially big issue against teams willing to come at him and draw contact in hopes of forcing him to sit.

His interior defense and presence is extremely valuable, but he needs to play smart defense and not take himself out of the game.

Smith-Rivera is one of the most underappreciated and sometimes overlooked guards in the country.

He's not scoring quite as much this year as he did last year. That's at least partly a product of a deeper team and better ability to distribute the ball, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Smith-Rivera has become a more complete player in his junior season in D.C., and he has the flair of a competitor who can sling his team on his back and help key a deep run into March Madness. 

Will he be this year's Shabazz Napier and take a seemingly long-shot team to March glory?

It's definitely possible. 

Smith-Rivera has the goods to go off against even the top teams in the country.

His 29 points in an early-season loss to Frank Kaminsky's powerhouse Wisconsin nearly led the Hoyas to a significant upset. A month later he dropped 29 in a win over Indiana and then helped seal an upset over Villanova with 17 points, including 9-of-10 from the line.

He can score, dish, grab rebounds and is a virtual automatic from the charity stripe at just under 88 percent.

Smith-Rivera is just that diverse and dangerous. He's the key to a deep run for Georgetown.

Smith-Rivera is the unquestioned leader and best player on head coach John Thompson III's team. There is absolutely no debate on that question.

None. 

Zero.

But no player, no matter how good, can do it alone, and the Hoyas do have a nine-man rotation that's more than capable of putting up points and pushing this team past the finish line in big games.

Smith-Rivera can beat you in many ways, which we've already discussed.

Smith is a powerful big man who can clog the lane and have a huge impact, if he's not in early foul trouble.

Overall, the Hoyas have eight players who average over five points a game, including veteran seniors Jabril Trawick (9.0 points per game) and Mikael Hopkins (5.1 points, 5.7 boards), and freshmen L.J. Peak (7.8), Isaac Copeland (6.8) and Paul White (5.0). 

Guard Tre Campbell is the overlooked member of that dynamite freshman class, and while he only averages a bit over three points a game, he's come up big with double digits in key wins over Butler and Seton Hall. 

This is a good mix of steady, experienced players led by Smith-Rivera and a bunch of young guns who contribute in a big way.

It can either go really well, such as the Hoyas' 20-point win over Villanova in January, or not so well.

Xavier, anyone?

Know what kills a team in March?

Turnovers.

The intensity of the games you'll play in the Big Dance isn't matched by anything you'll see during the regular season—with rare exceptions—because every single team you face is one win from moving on or going home.

Ball security is key to making sure that you fall into the former and not the latter category.

The Hoyas ranked just 182nd in the nation in turnovers—tied with New Mexico and St. Francis (PA) in averaging 12.6 giveaways each night. 

Turnovers have plagued Georgetown in many of its biggest games this season.

The Hoyas handed the ball away 15 times against Wisconsin, 16 against Kansas and a combined 30 times in a pair of losses to conference-rival Providence. 

That's not going to get the job done in a tournament marked by defensive intensity and a need to get the most out of every offensive possession.

Georgetown needs to clean that up in a hurry, or it won't be around for long.