The real story on Gerry McNamara...

according to The Globe's Peter May.

Note who will be coaching him at Bakersfield.


Tuning up with a Jam session
Former Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara is back in the US, and look for him to surface in the NBA's Development League with the Bakersfield Jam. McNamara had signed with the Greek team Olympiakos, but the deal was only for Euroleague play, which, depending on how well the team does, can mean upward of 20 games. (The rest of the schedule is against Greek teams.) McNamara played one minute in the first five Euroleague games. "We asked out," reported McNamara's agent, Bill Neff. "He was getting paid, but he wasn't playing. He wanted to play." Neff said he asked for a "Euroleague only" deal with Olympiakos in part so that his client could get healthy. He said McNamara played with a bad groin all through his senior year at Syracuse and was still hobbled when he went to predraft camp and later when he was trying out for the Orlando Magic. "He just never let it heal, because Gerry wanted to play," Neff said. "He played great one day at the predraft camp. After that, he played well enough to make Jordan Farmar a first-round pick." Neff said McNamara still had options overseas, including one from a team in Iran. "We're not going to field that one," he said. The Jam are coached by former UCLA/URI coach Jim Harrick, and Neff said McNamara thinks that's the way to go. "He can always go back to Europe if he wants to. He has made money [from the Olympiakos deal]. But the NBDL thing looks the most intriguing right now." Among those who think McNamara has a shot in the NBA is Celtics hoops boss Danny Ainge. "In the right conditions, I think he can be an NBA player," Ainge said. "He can shoot. He's tough. So, yeah, he could be an NBA player."

The Dukie's Take on The Game

Here's a link to an article about tomorrow's game from the The Chronicle, an independent daily at Duke. It includes some pretty insightful comments from a few Blue Devil players about where they went wrong last year, and why they think they are in a better position to beat us this year. The article also notes that Duke got a bit of a warm up game by playing Air Force, who runs a Princeton style offense similar to the Hoyas'.

Not to Beat a Dead Horse

But I thought this AP article by Joseph White did a good job summarizing what we all reported about Georgetown's position following the Oregon game.

First, J-Wal accurately identifies the major problem with the team:

"We need to stop thinking so much," said Wallace, a junior guard and the only player to have a decent game in Wednesday night's 57-50 loss to the Ducks. "And just relax and play basketball."

And the author accurately explains what a disappointment Hibbert and Green have been (reflecting Ryan and my respective positions nicely):

The losing would be easier to stomach if it were only attributable to the younger players, but the junior frontcourt duo that was supposed to lead Georgetown to its best season in a decade is off to a slow start. Green and Hibbert didn't score a single point between them in the first half of the Oregon game. They finished with nine points on combined 4-for-11 shooting.

Hibbert simply appeared to have an off night. Ducks center Maarty Leunen pushed the limits of contact nearly every time down the court, grabbing Hibbert's jersey and staying physical in the paint. Hibbert's contested 2-footers would bounce on the rim and not fall in.

But Green simply went missing in action for long stretches, a common occurrence this season. He has failed to reach double figures in three of his last four games. He took only two shots in the loss to Old Dominion, four shots in a victory over Fairfield and four shots in the loss to Oregon. He has the talent to take over a game, but he is too often concerned with making the extra pass instead of looking for his shot.

On Thursday, Green pleaded guilty to taking the lessons of being a team player to the extreme.

"That's just me," he said. "By me being myself, it can hurt me just as much as help me."

Green said he has been limited by double teams and foul trouble - he's fouled out twice already this year. He is averaging 10.8 points, close to his average (11.9) from last season, but that team had Brandon Bowman, Ashanti Cook and Darrel Owens on the perimeter to share the scoring load.

Green acknowledged that he needs to assert himself more. His coach wholeheartedly agreed. As Thompson III said earlier this year: "When he's off, more than likely we will be off."

"We've got to get him more touches," the coach said Thursday. "And he has to be more aggressive."

But the most important message from the article may have come from JT2:

Jonathan Wallace was answering question after question about Georgetown's early season struggles when a familiar, booming voice interrupted.

"What month is it?" said John Thompson, the longtime Hoyas coach and father of current coach John Thompson III.

"November," Wallace answered.

"Thank you," said Thompson, who then walked away, having made his point.

There's still a lot of season left. Bring on Duke!

On to happier thoughts....

We are getting the two best players out of Dematha in 2007 and 2008 -- two top 20 recruits, one of whom is a guard. This makes me feel warm inside on this very cold day for Hoyas fans.

Small Consolation

It doesn't take away the sting of last night's wretched performance, but at least it helps me believe that we didn't lose to an absolutely horrible team. SI.com's Luke Winn has listed the Oregon Ducks as number 14 in NCAA Power Rankings.

Oregon Ducks (6-0) If the coach of any Georgetown opponent were to come into a game saying, "We're going to guard 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert with a 6-9 guy all night, and he'll hold Big Roy to four points and zero offensive rebounds," I'd question his sanity. But that's what Ernie Kent did Wednesday at the Verizon Center, putting Maarty Leunen on the Hoyas' center & and it worked. Extremely well. After the Ducks' 57-50 win, Kent said the game plan was a matter of resistance: "Do you go big to match their size? We said no." Point guard Aaron Brooks, who led the way with 15 points, gave props to Leunen's D. "It's all about Maarty," he said. "If he hadn't done that, there's no way we could have won that game." Now, can the Ducks get more than one vote in the next AP Poll?

Calling Jeff Green (and Roy Hibbert)

There is no need to pile on so I will keep this brief.

Tonight's loss was/is a major disappointment and while you can slice it and dice it any number of ways, we are going to lose and continue to lose more games when your two alleged best players (i.e., Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert) combine for 8 points of total offense.

The expectations for Hibbert are obviously high every time he touches the ball and he did not live up to those expectations this evening. But at least he took some shots and made some attempts to go at the basket. I will cut him a little more slack because overall he has been active this season and as of last game his FG% was hovering at nearly 70%. Point is he played...he might not have played well on the offensive end but at least he played.

The real story of this season so far has been a series of uninspired performances by Jeff Green (the Ball St game essentially does not count since this is akin to stealing from the blind). Don't get me wrong....it's not what Jeff is doing on the court, it's what he's not doing. His play, or lack thereof, has made him irrelevant. For many of this season's contests we might as well be playing with 4 men on the court. Until Green decides to wear the mantle of leader and demonstrate that leadership through his play on the court, we will continue to struggle and probably lose more games than we win. For someone who has been hyped as a top-10 NBA pick, he sure isn't playing like it.

This is a pretty simple thing...if Jeff Green (or Roy Hibbert) had a somewhat decent, not great, but decent, game this evening, we win. They didn't and we lost. End of story.

I would love to see these two, especially Green, publicly call themselves out, acknowledge the poor play, and step it up. This does not seem to be too much to ask.

On to Duke!!!

Tonight and next year

Here are a few good articles on the game tonight. Everybody is noting how Sapp and Summers have stepped it up. They will both be key this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801732.html

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-115555-9166r.htm

Also, ESPN has its updating rankings of the class of 2007. Freeman is at #9 and Wright is at #20. Is there any way one of these guys can graduate this semester? What is truly amazing is that only Sead is scheduled to graduate at the end of this year. Theoretically, we could have the entire team we have now, plus Freeman and Wright at this time in 2007. Wow.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/tracker/espn150?&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fespn150


Update: Freeman dunking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc_us9bmXhw

From Insiders:

"Austin Freeman is a tremendous college prospect because he is physically strong and mentally mature young man. He is a very consistent and efficient player. He is also a very versatile player, because unlike many players today he has a complete game. He can handle, pass, shoot, defend and rebound. Freeman has elite scoring instincts and reminds me of a young Mitch Richmond. One of Austin?s special skills is that he makes every one around him better. He is a winner, has a hi basketball IQ and very good knowledge of the game. He understands his role and is the consummate team player. Freeman knows how to play with and without the ball. Austin is a very strong physical specimen with NBA skills. He should be able to make the adjustment to college very quickly because of physical maturity and versatility. Austin is a smooth perimeter player, and has deceptive quickness with the ball. He penetrates with ease and is adept going both to his right and left. Freeman is a pure scorer. He is an explosive offensive player. Austin has a tremendous mid range game with an excellent shooting touch. His strength allows him to finish in traffic and elevate with the best of them. He will be a go to guy early in his college career. He has lost weight in the past year it has helped his explosiveness. He needs to continue to improve his lateral quickness so that he will be able to defend at the highest level in college."

Oregon Cheat Sheet

I don't know much about Oregon's team this year, other than the fact that they are 5-0. That being said, they have not played the world's toughest schedule so far.

DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
11/10	Lehigh	W 77-65
11/11	Cal State Northridge	W 84-73
11/12	Portland State	W 116-68
11/17	UC-Irvine	W 85-42
11/20	at Rice	W 79-73

The one thing that is clear from Oregon's games thus far, however, is that they are definitely capable of putting up some points. Let's hope our boys are ready to play some tough D.

"Beatable"

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. The team definitely needs to focus on tonight's game against Oregon. But I wanted to briefly comment on this Saturday's big match up against Duke.

I caught the first half of the Duke-Indiana game last night. Duke was up by 12 at the end of the half, but they only ended up winning by 3 (54-51). What I took away from the game, is that this Duke team is infinitely "beatable."

Even when Duke was up big, they looked sloppy -- not at all what you expect from a Coach K team. They definitely have some players that can shoot, but no one looked unstoppable. McRoberts did not have a good game and, in my estimation, Greg Paulus is a disaster. He's supposed to be fully recovered from his foot injury, but he did not look good. That didn't surprise me, because I've always thought his play was questionable. I would take J-Wal (or even Sapp) over him any day.

I was most impressed by junior DeMarcus Nelson. But you have to assume that he hasn't been a big contributor for the Blue Devils the past two seasons for a reason. If GU plays tough defense they can make him a non-factor.

In short, after watching Duke play I feel much better about our ability to go into Cameron and win this game. Now the question becomes whether we actually do it.

P.S. - Florida, on the other hand, looks very impressive. They beat Southern University by 56! Granted, Southern was 0-5 going into the game, but the Gators victory shows that they have that killer instinct. GU needs to learn to put its lesser opponents away in that manner.

Domination

I thought that this was our most impressive performance this season. We showed that we could effectively attack a zone, albeit a weak one, and maintained balanced scoring from a number of players and on a number of different plays.

Here are my player evals:

Hibbert--Very quiet game but had some nice rebounds. The drive and dunk was fantastic. Why the heck couldn't he defend his man? He never even put his arms up. That needs to be a focus for him this week.

Green--Back to form. Dominated the first half.

Sapp--Great game. I love how he drove to the hoop and he hit a 3. He attacks the zone better than any of our other guards.

Wallace--Quiet game. He took a terrible 3 and just wasn't hitting much of anything. He also missed a layup.

Summers--Summers is a stud. He will be a great Hoya. I love his blocking on defense and he has a nice stroke.

Egerson--Nice game. He hit a three and a sweet little mid-range. He is playing with confidence and doesn't seem to be pressing after losing the starting gig.

Ticket--Loved Vernon's dunks. He is still very raw but lightning quick and freakishly athletic. The dunk off of the Egerson miss was incredible.

Pat--The three will only embolden him.

Rivers--He's a players. His 3 looked good and he showed the ability to dribble-drive. Very happy with his game. Evidently, Doc was in the crowd last night.

All in all, a good win and fine tune-up for Oregon. We really still need to step up our defensive intensity. Oregon's guards are going to eat us alive if we don't tighten things up.

I was happy with the student turnout considering they just got back from vacation and are heading into finals ... and this was Ball State.

Articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701616.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701601.html

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-125201-8013r.htm

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061128-120348-6321r.htm

Update: The Post has a great video with scenes from the game and interviews with the three Thompsons.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/11/28/VI2006112800424.html

Update 2: Another Post video:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/11/28/VI2006112800640.html

Ball State

Great article from the Post over the weekend on the brothers Thompson meeting tomorrow. This has to be a wierd experience for all parties. I just hope we come out and kick some ass. I don't want this coming down to the wire. Anybody else nervous?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/25/AR2006112500585.html

Paging Mr. Green....

What the heck is going on??? We need Jeff in order to do anything this year. He turned in another lackluster performance against Fairfield. At least, Summers stepped up and carried the team. Rivers, Sapp, and J-Wal also played well. I assume they used the zone to neutralize Roy, though no one on Fairfield is taller than 6'7. Egerson and Ticket got extended PT and reportedly looked good. (Note: Summers got the start over Egerson. JTIII is using him as the zone buster.) I didn't see it but based on the box score here are my thoughts.

1. We need to twist the dagger when we build a lead. We let Fairfield back into the game at the end of the first half.

2. Summers and Ticket are going to live up to their billing sooner rather than later.

3. Rivers is better than we expected him to be.

4. J-Wall is shooting well over 50% from behind the arc. He should take the shot every time it is open. Period.

5. We are still out of sync and not clicking. Jeff needs to get out of his funk. We need to utilize Roy better and clearly our defense is not where it needs to be -- but the trajectory is correct.

Here are some articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112202174.html

http://www.connpost.com/sports/ci_4708895

Thoughts on Marquette?

Does anyone have any thoughts on Marquette's victory over Duke?

I see this as bad on two fronts. First, it confirms what I've been saying for months. I think that Marquette is a very dangerous team. I would not be surprised if they finish at the top of the Big East.

Second, an early loss has to make Duke that much more hungry. That doesn't bode well for the Hoya's trip to Cameron.

The Post weighs in

Update on Crawford: Evidently, he is at home in Virginia in the care of his parents. Sounds like he is really sick. I sure hope he gets well soon!


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/21/AR2006112101458.html

Moving forward

Barker once again provides some excellent analysis. This is a lot of what we have been saying. There are three ways to attack the zone (shooting over it, driving through it, or flashing to the elbow). We have opted for doing only what we are worst at (shotting over it). I keep thinking back to how we shredding the Cuse zone last year. Why can't we do that against freakin' ODU?!?!

I also want to echo something that the IPB mentioned -- Jeff Green needs to step up. He is a pre-season All-American. He can control the game against nearly any opponent. No excuses.

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20061121-115333-9704r.htm

The Backtracking Begins

CBS Sportsline's Gary Parrish has a humorous look at his earlier pronouncements about how good the Hoyas are in his Monday Look Back column.

While Oral Roberts was upsetting Kansas last week, I was in Nashville watching Georgetown totally dismantle Vanderbilt. So the next day when I spoke with ORU coach Scott Sutton, one of the things he asked was what I thought of Georgetown, because his Golden Eagles play the Hoyas next month.

My response?

I told him Georgetown was big and great, and that the Hoyas might be ranked too low at No. 8. I believed every word. I thought I sounded smart. And then Georgetown went out Sunday and lost to Old Dominion. At home. By double digits.

Note to Scott Sutton: Forget my scouting report.

The Hoyas clearly aren't any of those words I mumbled. Instead, they're merely the lead to the Monday Look Back.

Parrish went on to say this about the GU-ODU game:

Loss to hide from: Let's revisit that Georgetown defeat. The Hoyas were playing Old Dominion at McDonough Arena, a small on-campus facility that served as a comfort zone over the decades. Georgetown had won its past 23 games at McDonough, a streak that stretched back to 1982. Now, that streak is over, and the Hoyas probably can't wait to get back to the Verizon Center. .. or at least Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium.

Ouch!

Today's edition of The Hoya carries the following letter to the editor. It stings, but I'm glad that the editorial board at The Hoya chose to run it. Rather than have you follow a link to read this scathing submission, I decided to post the entire thing. I hope The Hoya doesn't mind.

To the Editor:

As an Old Dominion University alumnus and basketball fan, I want to congratulate the Hoyas on their fine effort Sunday. Your team is really coming together nicely. I particularly commend the superior coaching of John Thompson III. To come within 13 points of the Monarchs, even in your poor excuse for a high school gym, is quite a feat. Your kids really “nutted up” under the intense pressure that the Monarchs brought to bear.

The first time ODU played at McDonough Gymnasium in 1977, Georgetown lost 80-58. So, as the student body leaves campus to celebrate Thanksgiving, keep your chins up. You were well represented on Sunday.

Obviously, the gap has narrowed, and the Big East has become a real competitive conference. Heck, that was illustrated last year when Connecticut took George Mason into overtime. It’s gotten to the point that I believe the Big East’s top teams, on any given night, could defeat the bottom half of the Colonial Athletic Association. This type of parity is good for the game.

Again, thanks for giving ODU your best. Even though the Hoyas would be no more than a “trial horse” in the CAA, they played closely with ODU for 30 minutes. That was just the type of challenge a top conference team needs early in the season to get ready for conference play. If you were in the CAA, you would know what I am talking about.

See you next year in Norfolk.

David Jones

Old Dominion University Class of 1979

Nov. 20, 2006

The Week 3 ESPN/USA Today Poll Is In...

...and the Hoyas' loss to ODU has them dropping 8 spots to number 16.

The new number 8 team is the Duke Blue Devils, which sets up a nice match up in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: The AP poll came out not too long ago. Georgetown faired a bit better there, only dropping to 14.

Click HERE to see all the rankings.

Luke Does It Again

Though SI.com's Luke Winn leaped to the top of my list of favorite columnists for his praise of GU, he stays up there for good sports reporting.


Luke apparently traveled to McDounough for the GU-ODU game and provides an excellent insider's look at the game, as well as some great analysis. Though the game was awful, Winn's reorting is fantastic.

According to Winn, ODU's victory ranks as the second biggest upset of the young season (after Oral Roberts beating #3 Kansas). He also reports that ODU used JTIII's decision to schedule this game at McDounough as motivation. Apparently, the Monarch's showed up at McDounough and were in disbelief that this is where the 8th ranked team in the country, a member of the mighty Big East, played their games. Coach Taylor explained that this was GU's practice gym and that the only two games there this year were against ODU and Winston-Salem. ODU seemed to take this as a slight. Very interesting stuff.

For the rest of Luke Winn's thoughts, check out his College Basketball Blog on SI.com.

The Post Mortem

Here is The Post's take on the Hoyas' embarassing loss to ODU last night.

And while we're at it, here is "the Time Moretem" from The Washington Times.

We Suck

If we can't win a game like that at McDouough we don't deserve to be ranked. Period.

PS - Jeff Green sucks too. 5 PF and 2 pts. Green and Hibbert seemed to have switched brains. With about 4 minutes left in the game Hibbert did not have a single foul and Green had 4. He needs to reexamine his game.

Hoya wins Rhodes

This is good news, as it appears we've begun getting more of these, following what was an extraordinary draught from about 1997 until the early 2000s. (I believe we had 3 in1996.) GU generally gets one Rhodes per year and a Marshall every other year, on average. I would love to see those numbers go up. And I think that offering merit scholarships would go a long way to landing some of the very top students who obtain such honors. (Notice the number of Washington University students who have been winning recently.) I know there is major institutional resistence to such a program but I'd be interested to starting the debate and getting your thoughts on it.

http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=20779

Hoyas at home, for real

The IPB and I will attend this evening's game at McDonough. I'm looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere in a sold-out McDonough. This is a real game against a real opponent, not the Latvian select team or any such pushover. I pity ODU for having to come to McDonough. In, fact I'd be nervous about it if it were in Verizon. The IPB or I will post a full recap.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/18/AR2006111800916.html

Missed This Yesterday

Some how I missed this yesterday. Barker Davis wrote an article for The Washington Times Blogs about the GU-Vandy game. The focus of his post is JTIII's concern about the team's performance in that game. Despite the typos in the post's title ("Coache oncerned about Hoyas' high-scoring performance"), it gives a pretty good summary of all the Hoyas' positives from that contest.

Despite Thompson's take, 13 of Georgetown's 18 second-half field goals came on layups or dunks -- that's a pretty decent Princeton primer for the second game of the season, particularly given the team's relatively inexperienced backcourt. Juniors Jeff Green (19 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and Jon Wallace (16 points, three assists) both played spectacular on the offensive end, sprinkling in a series of two-man games (give-and-go, back cut, screen-curl-handoff) amid the team's overall attack.

But the ultimate positive from Georgetown's trip to Nashville was that Thompson was able to give extensive and invaluable playing time to youngsters Marc Egerson (33 minutes), DaJuan Summers (17), Patrick Ewing Jr. (15), Vernon Macklin (12) and Jeremiah Rivers (12).

And all of the above responded with flashes of brilliance.
Egerson did a nice defensive job on dangerous Vandy sniper Shan Foster (0-for-5 from the field), though Foster's poor night had less to do with Egerson than with Foster's gimpy right ankle.

Summers and Ewing showed their inside-outside games, as both finished in the paint for one score and buried a long jumper for another.

Macklin dropped in a nice hook shot early in the second half and showed the kind of outstanding athleticism for a 6-foot-10 player that made him a major blue-chipper.

And Rivers posted the first points of his GU career with serious panache, intercepting a pass and finishing his steal-and-score with a run-out jam.

For the rest of Davis's analysis click here.

The Next Zo?

CBSSportsline.com's college basketball section is running this as their top story:

Giant possibilities

Here's the thing about potential: It's another way to say you haven't done anything yet. So instead of hearing about it, Georgetown wants 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert to realize his right now, Gary Parrish says.


Can Roy Hibbert really be another Alonzo Mourning? (US PRESSWIRE)

Go ahead, read the whole article...you know you want to.

Something To Watch Out For

After the Hartford game a couple of us were discussing the Hoyas' pre-Big East schedule. Someone asked how good Oral Roberts was supposed to be this year (GU plays them on December 9). The answer, apparently, is they are pretty good. They took down #3 Kansas last night. For ESPN.com's report on the game, click here.

Hoyas thump Vandy.

Why don't all teams play zone against us? I just don't get it. Here are the reports from the Post and the Times.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501662.html

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20061116-123948-5968r.htm

And the NYTimes has a great article on the rise of Roy Hibbert.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/sports/ncaabasketball/16hoyas.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


Edit: SI weighs in on Hibbert's development. Evidently, JTIII was underwhelmed by Roy's performance last night. He is looking for bigger and better things.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9807812

The Jester's Take on the Vandy Game

Overall, I think that the game against Vandy was very good. Sure, things were very close for much of the game, and the team looked a bit sloppy at times, but I think most of that can be explained. JTIII admits that he is using these early games to test different combinations of players to see who gels, with whom. I think a lot of the miscues last night can be attributed to this--just different combinations of people who don't particularly fit well together. As the season progresses and Thompson learns who his best combinations are, expect things to go much smoother.

Highlight of the Game: By far my favorite moment last night was Pat Ewing Jr.'s drive down the lane, where he was fouled and had the opportunity for the three-point play. As Ewing walked down the baseline following his shot you could clearly hear him scream "and one." It was a perfect example of the kind of enthusiasm and intensity that Ewing brings to the court. Unlike the Hoyas' opener, I thought that Ewing did a nice job contributing. Not only did he have that great drive, but he also had a nice three pointer on the wing falling away from the basket. That being said, Ewing may be too emotional. At times he plays a bit out of control and it seems to lead to some dumb fouls.

The juniors led the way: Green, Hibbert, and Wallace all looked great. Green had some fantastic passes (as usual) and some great moves down the lane. He really looked like he wanted to be a leader out there; a great development. Hibbert was dominant during the first half. He actually threw some dunks down (which, of course, is what you're supposed to do if you're 7'2). I was a bit concerned about some of the dumb fouls he picked up early. It definitely limited his effectiveness. Plus, I thought he looked a bit sluggish down the stretch. Hopefully, his stamina improves as the season progresses. Wallace took more shots and they looked fantastic. Also, whenever Wallace as the ball in his hands at the point the entire team looks more controlled. The biggest thing I took away from the game tonight was that the Hoyas are a very good team when these three are on the court and they are a completely different team when they are not. Teams will target these three and try to get them in foul trouble (especially Jeff and Roy). It'll be really interesting to see how other players progress to pick up the slack.

The rest: Most players looked much better than they did last week. I though Sapp really stepped up. He did a good job taking the ball to the hoop and ended up getting to take a lot of shots from the charity stripe. I thought he generally looked good handling the ball and I was happy to see him get more opportunities to run the point. Still, I don't feel as "safe" when he has the ball as I do when Jonathan does...but the season's still young. Rivers looked much better. I actually saw some of the "poise" that Diamond suggested he saw in the Harford game. I definitely thing Egerson is a great asset. There was no one thing that stands out in my mind about his performance last night, but I remember thinking throughout the game that he just looked solid. Both Summers and Macklin looked like freshmen, talented freshmen, but still freshmen. They both picked up a lot of dumb fouls. Macklin actually looked a little old-school Roy-ish in the way that he seemed to have trouble controlling his long limbs at time. But you can tell both are going to be contributors real soon. Macklin barely missed a follow-up dunk that would have been huge. Look for both guys to quickly to improve.

The question: Will the Hoyas ever make an alley oop? They have tried to a bunch of times in the first two games and you would think they could be successful given all of the big bodies they have down low. Still, they have had zero luck so far. Maybe next game.

Bring on ODU!

Feature on Marc and other game day articles

JTIII and Marc's teammates seem to think Marc will be key to this season. Even the IPB has started to warm up to him after his performance against Hartford.

Hoyas Count on Egerson's Versatility

"He has that ability," Coach John Thompson III said after the game. "Marc can do a lot of things on the floor; he has a pretty good feel. A couple of times we got it in there, he was able to get to the basket, matched up with their big guy, he was able to make things happen. We're going to need that from him."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401322.html

There are a number of other pregame articles online. This will be a huge test for the Hoyas. They need to bounce back with authority from the Hartford debacle. Roy and Jeff in particular need to step it up. And J-Wal needs to shoot more. Those are our go-to guys.

Here's a good pre-game article from Nashville:

Hoya paranoia descends on Memorial Gym

As openers go, Vanderbilt’s home showdown tonight against Georgetown couldn’t be more challenging.The No. 8 Hoyas have been tabbed by USA Today as one of eight teams capable of winning the national championship next spring and return three starters from last season.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=7&screen=news&news_id=53271

Here's the take on the game from Rivals' Vandy writers:

http://vanderbilt.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=607531

Check out the picture of Ronny Thompson, misidentified as JTIII! Fortunately, there is no discussion of Jesse Sappy or Patrick Ewing Jar.

Roy Roy Roy

Let's hope that this hitting new stands pumps Roy up in advance of Vandy. We are going to need a big game from him -- no more missing chippies -- dunk the ball!

I'm seriously concerned about the Vandy game. Last year's was awful and Shan Foster will once again come out and punish the Hoyas for not offering him a scholarship. Between Shan and Noah, I felt like the ghost of Esherick was haunting the Hoyas last year.

Oh yeah, and J-Wall need to shoot more. I'd like to see him take 8 or 9 shots from the outside per game -- but no more of those NBA threes.

GUHoyas hosts official 100th year website

Check it out! http://www.guhoyas100.com/index.cfm

There is a cool video and great vintage photos like this one of Ralph Dalton speaking with another gentleman. I'm not sure who he is. Possibly the IPB can identify him for us....

Interesting how many ties there are between the Hoyas and Celtics. In addition to JT and his friendship with Russell and Red, a string of Celtics coaches have sent their sons to Georgetown. Granted, the children of Pitino and O'Brien did not play on the team, but I'm still optimistic about the future Rivers has in blue and gray.

Georgetown-Winston Salem

There is a Georgetown game at McDonough on Saturday, December 16 @ 7:30 p.m. versus Winston-Salem St.

Yes, I know, not the most stellar opponent, but it will allow us to experience to some extent what the games of old in McDonough were like.

Is anyone interested in attending (Stallion--perhaps you can come down to DC for some post-exam relief with the Mrs. and Jeff assuming Jeff can pry himself away from the printer)?

Let me know as we should aim to get our order in in the next few weeks.

Bracketology (It's Never Too Early)

In the opening edition of Joe Lundari's Bracketology on ESPN.com, the Hoyas are listed as a three seed. Let's hope they start plahying like it.

Seth Davis, Part II

Apparently Mr. Davis heard my criticsm. After the severe tounge-lashing I offered last week on this blog he decided to reexamine his position on the Hoya's potential for success.

In his Hoop Thoughts column on SI.com today, Davis presents a piece entitled, Postcard From Georgetown: Hoyas will use smarts to overcome youth on perimeter. In this piece he recants his earlier comments that Georgetown would be this season's biggeset bust. He now draws this conclusion:

Bottom line: I frankly went to Georgetown expecting to be under whelmed, but I came away believing this team has a real chance to finish in the top two of the Big East. With this system, the Hoyas don't need to have stellar guard play -- just very good guard play. As long as the Hoyas are able to take care of the ball, I see them finishing no worse than third in the conference behind Pittsburgh and Syracuse. They'll be a shoo-in for the NCAA tournament, but unless they really improve I think they'll be hard-pressed to reach the Sweet 16.

Nice start, Mr. Davis. That's much better. I'll recall the dogs. My legions of fans will stop sending you hate mail. Now, the newfound respect for the Hoyas is great. But this was the comment from Seth's article (we're friends again, I can call him by his first name) that really got me excited:

X-factor: Summers. One thing I didn't fully realize until I watched practice was just how good a shooter Summers is. He's athletic and long and repeatedly stroked in deep jump shots with ease. He only took one shot against Hartford in 10 minutes off the bench, but if he can progress to the point where he moves into the starting lineup, then you'll know this team is ready to take a major, major step forward.

Could the freakishly athletic Summers be the shooter we've been looking for?

Update: I wanted to post this earlier, but needed to get home to Mrs. Jester. Though I'm happy with Davis's decision to pull an about face on the Hoyas, his inability to spell player's names is inexcusable. Emerson? Sappy? Well, I kind of like Sappy. But, still.

It's Good To Be Ranked

The official Georgetown Hoyas' website is reporting that this Wednesday's game at Vanderbilt will be broadcast on MASN. What a change from the past, when you had to hope and pray to see the Blue & Gray on TV.

MASN to Air Wednesday Night's Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt Men's Basketball Contest

Nov. 13, 2006

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University men's basketball road opener on Wednesday, November 15 at Vanderbilt will be televised live by the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN). The Hoyas and the Commodores are scheduled to tip-off at 9 p.m. (ET) at Memorial Gymnasium.

Click HERE to see the rest of the press release.

Hartford

I must admit that I thought the game against Hartford was a pre-season game which is why I wasn't concerned about the score (I didn't see / listen to the game).

For those that went, did Hartford play that tough, or did GU just not play well? Or conversely, did GU just execute the Princeton offense which doesn't tend to blow other teams out of the water?

From the Associated Press

With a Thompson and a Ewing, it's like old times for No. 8 Hoyas
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Sports Writer
November 9, 2006
AP - Nov 9, 12:55 pm EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An elite Georgetown squad will once again be leaning on Thompson and Ewing.

No, it's not 1984. It's 2006.

And that's coach John Thompson III and Patrick Ewing Jr. ...

Read More...

Why I Hate Seth Davis

(a.k.a. "Why I Love Luke Winn")

SI.com's hoops experts have a piece on line where they gaze into the Crystal Ball and make predictions for the upcoming NCAA season. Luke Winn currently gets my vote for greatest basketball prognosticator ever with this bold pick:

Final Four teams
Davis: Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, Pitt
Wahl: Kansas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona
Winn: North Carolina, Georgetown, Arizona, Wisconsin

Seth Davis, on the other hand, will feel my wrath for the rest of the season, as he has selected the Hoyas as his "Biggest Flop" of the season.

Davis: Georgetown
You've gotta love Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green up front, but college hoops is still a guard-oriented sport, and the Hoyas simply don't have the perimeter talent and depth to justify the lofty preseason expectations.

At least Mr. Davis is smart enough to give Green and Hibs some love.

JTIII!!!

Evidently, Monica is going through a second round of treatment. I'm sorry to hear that. Other than that, a very upbeat assessment of what he has accomplished.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2006/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2654676

100 Years...And 2 Days Until The Season Starts!

This picture comes from an article in the November issue of Washington Life about 100 years of Georgetown basketball. Diamond posted a link to the article (see the post entitled "Great article"), but due to a technical snafu that post did not appear until today. Because I was worried people may not see Diamond's post burried in the recent flurry of blog postings, I decided to directly insert this fantastic graphic.

So, enjoy. And go check out the article, it's fantastic too.

Two of the Top 65 Reasons to Watch College Basketball

ESPN.com's Page 2 has an article today by Bomani Jones entitled Road to the Final Four has begun. This article lists the 65 reasons to watch college basketball during the 145 days between now and the start of the NCAA tournament. Our Hoyas give fans two of those 65 reasons.

35. Georgetown's version of the Princeton offense, which actually is fun to watch.

36. Georgetown's big men, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, who are also fun to watch.

Luke Winn on Hoyas' Recruiting Class

In honor of Signing Day for the class of 2007, SI.com's Luke Winn has worked with scout.com's Dave Telep to create a list of the top 10 classes. That list, which is posted on Luke's College Basketball Blog has the Hoyas at number 10.

10. Georgetown
Impact Players: Austin Freeman (No. 3 SG), Chris Wright (No. 6 PG)

The Hoyas' traditional recruiting strength has been in the frontcourt, securing stars such as Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert and Vernon Macklin in recent years. This year's class is unusual in that it features two big-time guards. Freeman, a 6-4 scorer from prep powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, and Wright, a tough, 6-1 point who had originally committed to N.C. State, will form Georgetown's backcourt of the future. "Freeman is a multi-year college basketball player," said Telep. "I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at a kid who might be a future Big East Player of the Year."

A Pair of Articles from the Post

In the midst of all the fallout from the mid-term elections, our readers may have missed this series of articles from today's Washington Post. As such, I figured that it wwas my duty to help out. Without further ado...

Third Year's the Charm
Thompson III Is Still Building at Georgetown, but Expectations Are High

By Camille Powell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 8, 2006; Page E01

Some college basketball coaches can approach the regular season confident their teams will be invited to the NCAA tournament. John Thompson Jr., who led Georgetown to 14 consecutive NCAA appearances from 1979 to 1992, was one of those coaches. His son, the current Georgetown coach, is not. At least not yet....

[Click here for more]


Resurgent Hoyas Again Attract Area's Top Recruits
Top Recruits Again Pick Georgetown

By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 8, 2006; Page E01

Chris Wright was a Duke basketball fan when he was younger. Like most teenagers in the Washington area, the All-Met guard from St. John's was only vaguely familiar with the glory days of Georgetown basketball; he wasn't even born when the Hoyas won the national championship in 1984.

Today, however, on the first day that high school seniors can formally accept college basketball scholarships, Wright and fellow All-Met guard Austin Freeman of DeMatha are set to sign letters-of-intent to play for Georgetown. And with top juniors Jason Clark of O'Connell and Chris Braswell of DeMatha already pledged to the Hoyas, Georgetown has four of the top recruits from the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, the region's premier basketball league....

[Click here for the rest of this article]

Great article

http://www.washingtonlife.com/issues/november-2006/georgetown-university-basketball/

AP Pre-Season Poll

Mirroring the choice of the coaches in the ESPN/USA Today poll, the AP Pre-season poll has the Hoyas listed at number 8.

However, Andy Katz argues that Georgetown is one of the teams that should be considered as a potential fourth Number 1 seed! That is definitely some big time props.

Tickets?

IBP, Diamond, any sign of the season tickets, yet?

Great article

http://www.nydailynews.com/11-05-2006/sports/story/468292p-394094c.html

Great update on LaSalle scrimmage from the Board

"A friend of mine attended today's scrimmage and Philly-MD all-star games last weekend. I was only able to talk to him for a few minutes, but this is what he told me about each event - LaSalle Scrimmage:

- the scrimmage consisted of 2 twenty minute and 1 ten minute game.
- He estimated that the Hoyas won the 1st scrimmage by 4 points, the 2nd one by 15, and the 3rd one by approx 20.
- Starting Lineup - Wallace, Sapp, Egerson, Green, Hibbert
- Hibbert dominated the first scrimmaged. He is in great shape and displayed great hands. The fed him the ball repeatedly and must have been something like 10-12 on FGs.
- Green was his usual all-around great player. Still needs to be more aggressive with his scoring.
- Egerson is in really good shape and probably was the best player on the court for the 2nd scrimmage.
- Summers was very impressive. Hit 3 3's. Staff expect hims to start sooner than later. He would push either Egerson or Sapp to the bench.
- Crawford was solid off the bench.
- Ewing added a lot of energy of the bench.
- Macklin did not play because of a bruise tailbone. The staff feels that he is already the best rebounder on the team. Also, they were raving about his passing ability - he is one of the best passing big men they have ever coached. The previous comment really took me by surprise.
- Rivers played pretty well. His biggest problem is that he plays too fast.
- No surprise here - Recruiting wise the staff is focused on the class of 2008.
- My friend was very impressed with the coaching staff. They do an excellent job teaching.

Philly-MD HS game- Chris Wright was terrific. Definite top 20 player in the country."

Must-read from the Hoya

Provides a recap of JTIII's recruiting success with great quotes from Dave Telep.

http://thehoya.com/sports/110306/sports2.cfm

Breaking News for the IBP

"With the eleventh pick in this year's draft, the Bakersfield Jam selects Brandon Bowman from Georgetown University."

Yes, you heard right. Brandon was picked up in the D-League's draft yesterday evening. I always knew that Brandon was a first-rounder.

Starting Line Up

There is a thread on the HoyaTalk boards reporting that this was the starting line up at last week's scrimmage:

C - Hibbert
PF - Green
SF - Egerson
SG - Crawford
PG - Wallace

Obviously, Egerson at small forward is quite a surprise. Who thinks that this will remain the starting line up when it's time for the actual games?

Luke Winn's Top 10 Frontcourts

SI.com's Luke Winn lists the Hoyas as the number 2 frontcourt in the country (and that's without giving any props to contributions from Ewing Jr.). He gives the number 1 spot to Florida.

Hibbert, the Hoyas' ever-improving 7-2 giant, has an ultra-athletic sidekick in Green and will welcome a McDonald's All-American in Macklin. Georgetown was Florida's toughest challenger in the NCAA tournament for a reason -- its size -- and has the big boys to make another deep run.

Hoyas pay tribute to Red

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/30/AR2006103001438.html

Hoyas at #8 in ESPN/USA Today poll

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings

Gray, Hibbert and Thabeet

http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/6099328

ESPN Preview up

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insider/news/story?id=2613132&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncb%2finsider%2fnews%2fstory%3fid%3d2613132

Pre-season articles

10 Big East players to watch -- Green & Hibbs (also mentions of Summers and Ticket.)

http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1161838011113720.xml&coll=1

Big East writers pick GU to win the BE.

http://www.syracuse.com/sports/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1161767105169020.xml&coll=1

Hoyas prepare for the big time.

http://washingtontimes.com/sports/20061025-113835-1732r.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102500532.html

BTW: The IPB and I attended an open practice and got to see the team in person. I believe he is going to post his comments.

Big East Preseason Predictions

The Big East coaches have tapped Pitt as their choice to win the regular season title. Georgetown, however, was voted a close second. Pitt received 219 total points, including 10 first-place votes. The Hoyas received 212 points and 4 first-place votes. Syracuse came in third and Marquette trailed the Orange by one vote. Click HERE for the complete article.

Additionally, Green and Hibbert were unanimous selections to the Preseason All-Big East team.

Top 3 shooting guards

Interesting analysis of top 3 shooting guards in the senior class -- obviously, this includes Austin Freeman.

http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?cid=589580

Money quotes:

"Freeman is as good as most at shooting off the catch from 3-point range. Where he separates himself is with his ability to hit tough shots in the mid-range and short-range area. With deft body control and a soft touch, Freeman can drive hard to the basket and score while avoiding the charge. "

"Expect Freeman to immediately mesh with the Princeton-style offense that Georgetown employs. He has a high basketball IQ, knows how to move without the ball and is an efficient scorer. Like Bayless, he will likely be the No. 1 perimeter scoring option. As his conditioning improves, so should his defense. "

Barker sums it all up.

http://washingtontimes.com/blogs/storyview.php?StoryID=20061020-114105-8951r&TopicsID=discourse

More Hoya happenings

Josh Thornton has left the program for "personal reasons." This explains why the seeming scholarship crunch was not one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901642.html

The Examiner reports on the Clark commit.

http://www.examiner.com/a-353438~Clark_commits_to_Hoyas.html

Interview w/ Clark. He sounds like a great kid.

http://www.dcmetrohoops.net/jasonclarkinter.htm

Since We All Missed It

I don’t think that we can truly excited about the upcoming season without having experienced Midnights Madness. So, here’s a few video posts from last week’s kick-off to the 2006-2007 campaign.

Midnight Madness!

Hoyas Dunking

Pat Senior

I also found this. It's not from Midnight Madness, but it's denifinitely worth watching. It's a compilation of Pat Jr. dunks. It's very impressive (unlike the clips that Diamond posts of our new recruits).

All these clips comes from YouTube. I’m sure that everyone, other than the IPB, is familiar with that little corner of the internet.

Jason Clark's Hoya!!!

More info to follow.

http://www.dcmetrohoops.net/

Interview w/ Bras

http://www.dcmetrohoops.net/

Money quote: "I want to help put Georgetown back on the map. We want to relive the dominance the Hoyas once had. We are on our way"

Also, the article noted that "Bishop O'Connell junior Jason Clark is expected to Pick the Hoyas over Maryland and Virgina in the next couple of days."

Clark is 4 star pg whom Virginia and Maryland have been pursuing.

http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=8&c=1&nid=2434276

Hoyas land Braswell!

GU picked up a commit from a top 25 player in the class of 2008 (current high school junior). He is considered one of the best players in the D.C. metro area and has been a Hoyas target for a long time. He picked GU over Nova, UConn, Maryland, Virginia, and a host of others. Here are some links:

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=2&c=580116&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fscouthoops.scout.com%2f2%2f580116.html

Rivals ranks him 12 nationally:
http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=1617

Here's some video:
http://www.hssmtv.com/Players/Chirs%20Braswell.htm

Needless to say, Freeman and Wright played a big role in this commit. Freeman is a teammate of his at Dematha -- two Dematha players on the Hoyas!!!! This is truly a sign of the second coming.

In other recruiting news, the Hoyas reportedly recieved a commitment from a mid-major caliber guard from Tennessee for next year. This is wierd for a number of reasons. First, we didn't have room for Chris Wright but it was reasonable to assume that Jeff might go pro or someone would transfer. In any event, you make room for someone like Wright. Where will the scholarship for this guy come from? Here are some possible scenarios: First, maybe the staff just thinks they've found the second J-Wal -- someone nobody else really recruited but they think will be a stud. Supposedly, he is a ridiculous shooter. Second, maybe this offer is contingent on a scholarship opening up. That is, they would rather have this guy as a sophomore than a more highly touted freshman come 2008. Third, he is being offered the J-Wal deal -- walk-on but you can earn a scholarship. Fourth, maybe he is a straight walk on. Fifth, maybe JTIII just wanted to bring the first Arab-American to GU basketball.

This was how one Hoyatalk member who has played against the recruit, Omar Wattad, described him:

Wattad made it official today. He committed to Georgetown at 3:oo pm in a press conference at his high school. Wattad is a 6-5 combo guard. He weighs about 215 right now and has been putting on pounds, without giving up quickness, over the last 4 months. He can stroke it from deep. Real deep. He is an ultimate team player and his b-ball Iq is tremendous. I had a hard time keeping this kid infront of me and i played ball in college (albeit dII but still). His length is deceptive. Not tremendously athletic but he makes up for it with great positioning. He really understands the game. I've seen him function in all types of systems and his game is perfect for the Princeton-style offense. I think JTIII found a diamond in the rough with this kid.

Maybe this kid is a diamond in the rough, but with the 2008 interest GU has -- esp. from guys like Ed Davis, why use up the scholarship? This is an interesting story that has been drowned out by the Braswell commit. What I hope this does not mean is that the staff KNOWS Jeff is gone after this year, despite him publicly saying that he will stay. I think Roy, whose statements have been much stronger, can be taken at his word.

Patrick Ewing Sr. Meets the IPB

True story--so I was dining in a restaurant in Bethesda last evening when in walks Patrick Ewing Sr. and a young female companion. Turns out he was seated at the table right next to me, which I am guessing was a request on his part.

At one point I got up from my seat to use the restroom and Ewing followed me there.

We had a nice chat on the way back from the restroom to our tables in which Patrick told me he was looking forward to seeing me at Georgetown games this year and that his son was incredibly excited about the start of the season.

We also exchanged pleasantries as I left the restaurant.

This is a true story (well most of it).

Number 5?

MSNBC has the Hoyas ranked number 5 in their top 25.

Of course this is subspect since they list Jonathan Wallace as their "Must See." I love Wallace, and I hope that he steps up his game, but c'mon...who are we kidding...

Hmmmm....

Also from CNNSI

Here's Seth Davis's article about the biggest questions for 20 elite teams.

Mr. Davis's comments on G-town:

Georgetown: Will the littles be as good as the bigs?

We know 7-2 junior Roy Hibbert, 6-9 junior Jeff Green and 6-9 freshman Vernon (Big Ticket) Macklin will give the Hoyas the best frontcourt in the Big East. The backcourt, however, is much less of a sure thing. Jonathan Wallace, a 6-1 junior, did a very good job as the de facto point guard last year (2.26 assist-to-turnover ratio), but he had the luxury of playing alongside Ashanti Cook. With Cook gone, Wallace will probably move to the two spot, where he'll have to show more aggressiveness than he has in the past. The point duties, meanwhile, will probably be handled by Jessie Sapp, a 6-3 sophomore who averaged 16 minutes per game last year. The Hoyas have Final Four potential, but as of now, their guards are a question, not an answer.

SI Pre-Season Rankings

CNNSI.com did their first pre-season Power Rankings on Friday. So, I guess it's old news. Nonetheless, I thought I'd presented it to the rest of the VBBs who hadn't seen it yet. Our beloved Hoyas are ranked 7 (one spot above Pitt).

Georgetown Hoyas
Gotta dig into the murky world of message boards for this nugget, but if you're in the minority who doesn't expect big things from Roy Hibbert this season, check out his unofficial stat-line from the famed D.C. Kenner League title game this summer: 32 points (8-for-11 on FGs, 16-of-19 on FTs), nine rebounds, two blocks -- against a team led by ex-Maryland star Lonny Baxter. The championship took place on July 30, just 17 days before Baxter's infamous gun-near-the-White House incident. I speculated in the blog a few weeks back that it might have had something to do with a grudge against Karl Rove ... but maybe Baxter was just frustrated about getting beat by Big Roy?

For the rest of the article, click here.

Midnight Madness

By all accounts, the Midnight Madness last Friday/Saturday seemed to be a success. Patrick Ewing, Sr. made an appearance--his first in McDonough since his playing days. And they were either selling or handing out really cool t-shirts, which commemorate the fact that this is the 100th year of basketball at Georgetown (a factoid that I did not know and, for some reason, doubt).

Here are some pictures from the event.

On Campus Arena?

In The Voice's article about JTIII's recent talk to the student body in Gaston Hall, there are some interesting quotes about the prospect of building an arena on campus. And when I say "interesting," I mean depressing.

The coach said that he was as not optimistic about building an on-campus arena, saying that an upgraded practice facility is more feasible.

“Would we rather have something here on campus? Hell yea,” he said.

Thompson said that the obstacles to a new home for the Hoyas go beyond fundraising to include zoning and ward approval.

“Washington D.C. may inhibit having an on-campus arena at Georgetown.”

The entire article is worth a read, if you have the time. Good stuff about JTIII's take on the atmosphere at Verizon Center, the demand for student tickets, and playing other DC-area teams.

Junkies

I hate NPR's pledge drives. So, this morning I spent a fair amount of time listening to the DC-Baltimore-area morning show the Junkies on WJFK. (Note: if your office is like mine the Junkies' website might get caught it your smut filter).

Anyway, they were commenting on how Midnight Madness was this weekend and then started talking about the various local teams. It wasn't a long discussion, but they mentioned how Georgetown's next two classes are "just sick," and how the Hoyas are quietly collecting Final Four type talent.

Nothing really new, but I thought it was good evidence of how people are starting to turn their attention back to the Beasts of the East.

First report from Media Day

I love this from the Post:

"[C]onfidence is rampant out here [at Georgetown]. Like, real rampant. I asked Pat Ewing which team was the best in the area (more on this later), and here's what he said.

"Best team in the area? I'm not really concerned with teams in the area. We're more concerned with the best team in the nation, and I think as long as we get what we need to get done, we're the best team in the nation."

"The nation?" I said.

"The nation," he said. "As long as we do what we're supposed to get done, no one should be able to beat us."

Keeping the expectations low out here.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/

EDIT: Check out the line from Jeff Green about staying all FOUR years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the Weiss post

I wasn't able to put this in my response to the IPB:

http://blogs.nydailynews.com/weiss/archives/2006/10/hoyas_add_two_blue_chippers.php

Money quote: "The two blue chippers - who are legitimate McDonald's candidates - could be exactly what John Thompson III needs in his quest to duplicate his father's accomplishments in the early 80's - one national championship in 1984 and two other trips to the Final Four - and make a strong run at a national championship within the next three years."

Also, note his mention of Chris Braswell. It is rumored that Bras will verbal to the Hoyas next month. He has cut his list down to GU, Virginia, UConn, and Nova, trimming among others Sweaty Gary's program in College Park.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001246.html

Braswell is only a high school junior but having him on board could bring another elite class to the Hilltop to follow on the heels of the Freeman/Wright triumph. By all accounts, he is also a top ten-type and will be hamburger AA.

Midnight Madness

Midnight Madness comes to the Hilltop this Friday. I saw that this event is not only open to students, but to the general public as well. I was wondering if anyone was thinking about going.

re: Recruits and Freshman

Diamond,

Can you pls post some additional background info about Wright and Freeman? I would like to know more about them (where they are from, what HS they play for, summaries and opinions of their on-court skills and strenghts, weaknesses)? Also will we have other recruits/incoming freshman next year or just Wright and Freeman?

Also, other than the Big Ticket, can you pls remind us who our new freshman are this year and what impact, if any, you expect them to have?

First 2 pts as a Hoya.

Wright's a Hoya!

From the press conference . . . .

Final Four 2007

Big Jeff and Roy baby!

Chris Wright press conference today at 3:30

This would be a huge pick-up. The Wright-Freeman back court would dominate. Of course, we don't have a scholarship available so one must assume that the staff understands Jeff is gone after this year. I'll post an update when we know something.

Roy . . . Roy Roy Roy is staying for four years!

"I'm totally committed to staying here for four years because I love Georgetown and being a student here. Plus, ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a part of the Georgetown tradition. My dream was always to have people talk about me as one of the great ones in Georgetown's line of centers. I watch tapes of Patrick and Alonzo and Dikembe, and that's the epitome of what I want to be. That's a four-year project. And hopefully after four years, I'll have a chance to be mentioned in that company."

http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20061010-122639-8565r.htm

A long time coming...

It's been quite a while since we've had a new post on ye olde blog. So, I figured it was time to get my fingers-a-flyin' over ye olde keyboard. If we don't keep up contributions now, during the off season, someone is likely to suffer a blogging injury during the basketball season due to a lack of conditioning.

Anyway, today's Hoya ran an article about funding for the university's new retreat center in Clarke County, Virginia. According to that article [CLICK HERE], the ESACPE prorrma will use this new facility most heavily. Given the prominent role ESCAPE played in the genesis of the Stallion household I thought this article would be of particular interest.

Show of Patriotism

While I personally respect the guy's patriotism & compassion for his countrymen, I must admit this is a bit strange. But hey, we all show our emotions in different ways. I like how his daughter's boyfriends think it's cool.

I once pulled something like this when I was younger. When I was 12 & playing in a Staten Island little league tournament, we won the first game & I vowed not to shower until we lost. Unfortunatel (or fortunately depending upon whose side you take), our run to the promised land (& mine at being Pig Pen) ended a day later.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/13/bin.laden.beard.ap/index.html

Return of Brendan

You've got to be kidding me. It's quite funny that he labels himself as part of the basketball / football teams. While we are all aware of his very sub-par hoops skills, all reports I've heard about his grid-iron time are equally as funny.

But, hey, it's worth a laugh & it's for GU.

By the way, is anybody else aware of the backdrop to part of why Coach Benson was fired? It's an interesting story.

http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/090606aab.html

Hoopnet Preview

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/preview/2006/bigeast/georgetown.htm

Money quote: "The Hoyas have some extremely talented players, but their suspect outside shooting may well cost them a few games, even with Hibbert and Green up front. If they do discover that outside threat, this is a potential Final Four team."

OOC schedule

Well, the OCC schedule is done. Not very impressive. Much like last year's, but with a top 10 team, we could have challenged ourselves a bit. Home: Old Dominion, Oregon, James Madison, Oral Roberts, Winston-Salem State (?!), Towson, and Navy. Road: Vandy, Duke, U.Mich. In particular, this really blows for those of us with season tickets. The three best games are away.

Coach K

For such a great coach, he has a serious blind-spot when it comes to defense. Doesn't it sound like the Greek coach just popped in a tape of the Georgetown game?

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1521274,00.html

New Big East deal

This is great news. At least, 41 of the 144 regular season Big East games for the next six seasons will be on ESPN or ESPN2. The rest will be picked up by CBS, ESPNClassic, ESPNU, ESPN360, or ESPNregional. All Big East tourney games will be on ESPN or ESPN2. That means, on average, each Big East team will have 5 of its 18 regular season games broadcast nationally. But, in reality, the better teams in the conference will probably have 8 or 9 -- and that's not including games picked up on ESPNClassic, which most cabel providers now feature.

http://www.bigeast.org/genrel/082906aab.html

http://www.nypost.com/sports/big_east_spn_sports_lenn_robbins.htm

Update: This is the best article I've seen on the deal; money quote: "After this week, it doesn't appear the Big East is going anywhere ... except the bank." Based on the estimates, it sounds like this deal will at least double the TV income for our basketball program.
http://www.dailymail.com/news/Sports/2006090111/?pt=0

Katz's Late-Summer Top 50

ESPN's Andy Katz has been running a series of articles this week that run through what he believes will be the top 50 teams of the upcoming college basketball season. Each of Katz's articles discusses ten teams. So, far he's done four of them. The first discussed 50 through 41, the second 40 through 31, the third 30 through 21, and the fourth 20 through 11.

Still no Hoyas. You have to assume we're a top 50 team this year. So it looks like Katz is going to put us in his top 10. I can't wait to see exactly where he ranks us.

Yee-Haw Jester's Excited!

Wick update

I just learned that the Wick is rejoining our LA office in October. He left for a year to clerk on the 9th Circuit. Go Wick!

D.C. High School Talent

Here's a nice piece from CNNSI.com about the pool of talented high school basketball players in the D.C. area. [CLICK HERE]

As should be expected, Alma Mater figures into the discussions about recruiting from this "hot bed" of talent.

Books & Diamond

hope all of you are staying cool. i was wondering if you had any good sites to buy law school books. i've been searching on lawbookfinder.com & lawbooksforless.com, but was wondering if you had any other good ones to take a peep at.

diamond, when are your nuptials?

Move over Comcast we got MASN

Now they just need to start broadcasting in hi def.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101159.html

Big East preview

Gettin' pumped for the season!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2535108

Pittsnogled

IPB may have to change his Big East allegiances. It was recently announced that undrafted West Virginia standout, Kevin Pittsnogle, has signed a two-year deal with the Celtics.

For more on this story click here.

Scouting report

The IPB and I attended one of last night's Kenner League games. We saw The Tombs (Green, Wallace, Ticket, Rivers, Summers) versus Clyde's (Hibbert, Sapp). Here's my brief scouting report. I'll let IPB fill in more details. In general, the game was a lot of fun -- high intensity but not much teamwork. Pops and Red were in attendance.

Green -- He's a beast. Looked great. Showed his skyhook and took it to the hole strong. I don't remember him taking an outside shot though. (IPB and I were in the front row. You can really get a sense for how hard it would be to stop Green when he's driving. Best case scenario is that you take the charge and break a couple of ribs!)

Hibbert -- Seems to have gained a step from last year. Quicker and more agile. Dunked everything around the hoop. He appears to have taken another step forward.

Wallace -- Also appears to have taken a step forward. Added muscle and was driving to the hoop and finishing. Outside shot looks silky smooth.

Sapp -- Seems to have added some muscle. Looked good. His shot seems to have improved a bit.

Ticket -- Freakishly athletic. NBA body. Was basically a non-factor. Roy schooled him. Dropped a couple of passes he should have caught.

Summers -- Like Ticket, very developed. Showed an nice outside shot. Fairly quiet as he deferred to Green.

Rivers -- Extremely quiet. Didn't make many mistakes but just deferred to Wallace most of the night. Had one fantastic drive but missed the dunk.

The freshmen definitely looked like freshman but you can see all sorts of potential. It was clear why they were ranked so highly but playing against two lottery picks exposed them as inexperienced.

Big East opponents announced

Tough schedule!!!!

http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/071406aab.html

Interview w/ JIII

This will make the IPB happy -- more PT for Tyler.

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/preview/interviews/2006johnthompson.htm

Summer update on Hibbs

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2512328

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/seth_davis/07/07/hoop.thoughts/index.html

The IPB and I are going to catch some Kenner games this summer so hopefully we can give first-hand updates.

Professor Tucker's new job

She was one of my favorites as an undergrad.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/DNI_Appoints_Ombudsman_To_Guard_Analysis_999.html