Ken Davis

Some All-Americans are defined by their total package, by the things they accomplish in the span of a 40-minute college basketball game.

Others make headlines by rising above the crowd in critical situations, making plays that determine the outcome of games, and changing the course of a season.

Then there is Georgetown’s Jeff Green. He does all the above — and then some more.

Friday night in East Rutherford, N.J., Green joined UConn’s Tate George and Duke’s Christian Laettner as a member of the “Miracle in the Meadowlands” club. Green’s turnaround bank shot with 2.5 seconds remaining capped an incredible Georgetown rally and gave the Hoyas a 66-65 victory over Vanderbilt in the semifinals of the NCAA East Regional.

If you haven’t seen Green’s play yet, be sure to check out the “One Shining Moment” feature by CBS-TV after the national championship game next Monday. The network should be saving a slot for Green somewhere in that annual video montage.

Immediately after the game, Green was asked to describe his mentality on the floor. Is he one of those players who “wants the ball” at those key moments of the game? Does he know before the fact that he will deliver?

“Yeah, I like to have the ball in my hands in [those situations] because I have confidence in myself that I can make plays,” Green said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to try to win the game — if that’s having the ball in my hands or making another play to get my teammate open.

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“Hopefully I’m one of those top players who can make those plays.”

Georgetown coach John Thompson III, sitting next to Green at that press conference, wasn’t asked to comment on Green’s ability to deliver. But John III felt the need to interject.

“His coach feels that way,” he said, cracking a smile.

It couldn’t be any clearer. If the Hoyas need someone to make a play this weekend in the Final Four, they have options. But Thompson and everyone else in the Georgetown program will feel best if Green gets the ball.

Double-team him? Go ahead. That’s what Vanderbilt did.

“I just had to go over the top of them,” Green said. “I didn’t see them until the last minute. I tried to explode over them.”

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The level of star talent will be very high at this Final Four. It’s been a long time since we’ve been blessed with one big man, let alone so many. Greg Oden, Roy Hibbert, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Patrick Ewing, Jr. and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute will be in the spotlight.

But the best basketball player at the Final Four, the king of versatility, and the guy who will make the crowd “ooh” and “ah” is ... Jeff Green.

The Georgetown media guide calls him a 6-9 forward. OK. We’ve got to list him as something.

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But his coach refuses to label him as a big guy or a small guy. Try to go either way, John III says, and Green will go out on the floor and do just the opposite. Ewing Jr., whose father defined the term “big man” in the 1980’s, has said that every aspect of Green’s game “is a step ahead of everybody else.”

“He is a basketball player,” John III says. Thompson has repeated that so many times he should be hoarse. “I can put him at any spot on the floor, and he can have success.”

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Green only averages 14.3 points and 6.2 rebounds. With those numbers, it’s understandable that most of the country didn’t know who he was until the postseason. If there still are basketball fans out there that don’t know him, I guarantee that will change this weekend.

If you are lucky enough to have a ticket to the Georgia Dome, do yourself a favor when the Hoyas play. Focus on Green and nobody else. Watch what he does. Notice the subtleties of his game. He will teach you what it means to be unselfish. He can pass. He can rebound. Green understands the fundamentals of the game so well and that makes him the kind of guy you want on your side.

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