The Georgetown basketball story has its fair share of overachievers, those players who exceeded expectations from their arrival on campus. One of these, Bill Lynn, was among Georgetown's best rebounders of the mid-1970's, despite having played organized basketball for just two years prior to college.

Lynn only picked up basketball when his family moved from the Bronx, NY to Washington in 1970. Spingarn had scrimmaged St. Anthony's during Lynn's years there, and new coach John Thompson saw potential in the 6-9 Lynn, despite his narrow frame (185 lbs.) One of the original five Thompson era recruits in 1972, Lynn saw limited time backing up Mark Gallagher in 1972-73, but when Gallagher suffered a back injury prior to the 1973-74 season, Lynn emerged as a much needed scorer and rebounder.

Although the coaching staff may have grumbled at his defensive inconsistency, Lynn was a spark on offense. Whether the Hoyas were battling or simply being battered, Lynn was an able shooter and rebounder. Among his sophomore year efforts were a 20 point, nine rebound effort versus #2 Notre Dame and a 28 point, 18 rebound performance versus Boston College. Moved inside to help take pressure off center Merlin Wilson, Lynn finished his sophomore year averaging 13 points and 8.1 rebounds a game, second to Jon Smith in scoring and Merlin Wilson in rebounding.

With Smith and Wilson at the forefront, the Hoyas raced to the 1975 NCAA's, with Lynn forming a key third scoring option. He finished runner up to Smith in scoring a second straight season, with a 22 point effort against Southern Connecticut and a 14 point, 11 rebound game in the NCAA subregional versus Central Michigan as season highlights. For his senior year, Lynn tied Wilson for third in scoring, and was second to Wilson in rebounding. He improved his shooting in each of his four years, from a low point of 37 percent his freshman year to shooting over 53 percent by his senior season, many of which were jump shots from the outside.

Despite seeing limited duty in 1972-73, Lynn finished his career as the third Thompson era player to post 1,000 points, ending his career 11th all time in scoring and 4th all time in rebounding.

Bill Lynn's balance of scoring and rebounding fit the emerging style of Thompson's teams, and with it, set a standard for the players to follow.