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Georgetown Basketball: May 2010 News Archive

A Captain's Story 5/26/10

When fans begin to get ready for the 2010-11 season, some may be surprised to see a walk-on joining Chris Wright and Austin Freeman as a team captain, much less one who played for only 13 minutes last season. The story of senior Ryan Dougherty and his travels from St. Alban's to Georgetown (via Division III Rochester) are the subject of this feature story at DCSportsFan.com.

"I took this huge gamble transferring in to Georgetown, so I probably should have been more concerned," said Dougherty. "I knew the guys on the team, I knew the coaches, I knew so many people at the school that it almost seemed like it was a better fit for me than Rochester, in a weird sort of way."

"Coach Thompson later told me that he had called a couple people in the area to find out about me, because more than skill he had wanted to find out what kind of people were trying out for the team. He told me 'people he trusted' had told him that he would never regret adding me to the team and that I would 'shock him' with just how much I contributed," he added.

"I guess only Coach Thompson could tell you know if those people were right, but I think both Coach and I have formed a relationship these past two years where we look to one another for advice. I give him insight into the workings of our team, and he obviously is my coach and I can help guide the direction of our team to meet what he wants."

Recommended reading.

Big East Alters Tournament Format 5/26/10

Big East coaches have voted to restructure the format of the conference tournament in 2011, as reported in this link to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Under the current 16 team format adopted in 2009, teams seeded one through four do not play until Thursday of the five day tournament, teams five through eight do not play until Wednesday, and teams nine through 16 open on Tuesday. The new format, awaiting a vote from school presidents later this year, would schedule seeds one through four and 13 through 16 play on Tuesday, with the winners advancing on Thursday to play the winners of games between the fifth through 12th seeds. This would provide the top four seeds with an early game before the tournament tightens, as the current seeds do not open play until its opponent has one or perhaps two games under its belt.

Staff Change: Matt Henry To MSM 5/21/10

The Washington Post reports a second opening in the men's basketball staff, as director of basketball operations Matt Henry will join Robert Burke's staff at Mt. St. Mary's for 2010-11.

Henry, the last remaining assistant from John Thompson III's first season at Georgetown, served as an assistant coach at Division III Trinity (TX) for three seasons before arriving at GU in 2004.

2010-11 Season Opener? 5/20/10

The Hampton Roads.com basketball blog has confirmed the likely opener for the Hoyas' 2010-11 schedule: a November 12 game at Old Dominion. The visiting team has won each of the five prior games in the series.

Cox To Rutgers Updated 5/19/10

Rutgers University has formally announced the hiring of Georgetown assistant coach David Cox for a similar position at that school.

"David brings a great deal of successful experience to our program,” said Rutgers coach Mike Rice. “In addition to his coaching talents, he has well-established recruiting ties in the Mid-Atlantic region. David has driven players to achieve throughout his career and we look forward to him mentoring our young men here at Rutgers."

Columnist Jerry Carino first reported it last week on his blog, citing sources that report a formal announcement this week. The Newark Star-Ledger noted that Cox and RU head coach Mike Rice both served as assistants at Pittsburgh.

An announcement from Georgetown may not take place, as the school usually does not comment on departing staff. Such was the case last month, when associate athletic director Jennifer Heppel resigned to join the staff at the Big Ten Conference.

2010 Charleston Classic 5/17/10

The Charleston Post & Courier reports Georgetown and North Carolina State will headline an eight team, 12 game tournament in Charleston, SC from Nov. 18-21.

Additional participants in the ESPN Regional Television event include George Mason, Charlotte, Wofford, and East Carolina, with two schools to be named later.

Williams Named Coach At Carroll 5/17/10

Washington's Archbishop Carroll High School has announced the hiring of Reggie Williams (C'87) as its head basketball coach, per the Washington Post.

Williams joins the Lions after coaching last season at Chesapeake College on Maryland's Eastern Shore, finishing with a 6-16 record.

Living With Diabetes 5/13/10

It's been just over two months since Austin Freeman headed back to Washington from West Virginia to seek doctor's care for what was later determined to be diabetes. Now, with regular blood checks and self-administering four insulin shots a day, it's a routine he will likely follow every day for the rest of his life.

Columnist Andy Katz at ESPN.com talks about Freeman's diagnosis and how he working to live with the disease, and asks coach John Thompson III to recall when the news first broke on Freeman's condition.

"I was told "that if he had tried to play [prior to treatment], there's a chance that he would have had a seizure or blacked out," Thompson recalled. "And hearing that scared the hell out of me."

"I know people will be looking up to me," said Freeman on his condition. "It's not an honor, but I know I can help people out and let people know you can beat it and succeed."

Home Attendance: #29 5/13/10

Georgetown's 2009-10 average home attendance was the 29th largest in Division I according to a NCAA attendance report released this week. The Hoyas drew an average of 12,040 per game, down 6 percent from 2008-09 and likely affected by over 9,000 fans who could not attend the Feb. 7 game versus #2 Villanova to heavy snow in the local area.

The Big East attendance averages are below:

Rank Team # Total Avg
2 Syracuse 19 420,890 22,152
3 Louisville 19 368,537 19,397
10 Marquette 17 265,484 15,617
27 W. Virginia 15 185,629 12,375
29 Georgetown 16 192,638 12,040
34 Connecticut 19 222,024 11,685
38 Villanova 14 153,105 10,936
42 Pittsburgh 18 185,209 10,289
59 DePaul 15 126,760 8,451
60 Notre Dame 20 168,033 8,402
61 Providence 17 140,920 8,289
64 Cincinnati 18 145,360 8,076
75 Seton Hall 18 127,848 7,103
88 St. John's 17 103,820 6,107
105 Rutgers 19 99,476 5,236
110 S. Florida 16 78,144 4,884

Fourteen Big East teams were in the Top 100 schools, as the Big East's overall average of 11,014 a game edged out the ACC (10,713), with ten of its 12 in the top 100, excepting Boston College (5,317) and Miami (4,313).

The Ticket Tax? 5/12/10

When government is proactive, it legislates. When it is reactive, it taxes.

Such is the case with the District of Columbia, where a city council committee has recommended levying a tax of up to $1.00 on all sports tickets in the District to cover a budget shortfall in the parks and recreation program.

The proposal, first outlined at in Tuesday's Washington Post, would add 50 cents to any ticket priced over $10, and $1.00 to any tickets priced over $25.01. The proposal exempts over 1.8 million tickets sold annually by the Washington Nationals due to existing clauses in their contract with the city and would not affect the nearly 1 million tickets sold by the Washington Redskins since they play games outside the District.

Owing that nearly all high school and college sporting events in the District are under $10 (excepting some preferred seats at GW's Smith Center and Homecoming football tickets at Howard), the tax could fall mostly on events at Verizon Center, namely, Wizards basketball, Capitals hockey, and Georgetown Hoyas basketball, but a later report suggests these events may be exempt as well.

"We have not yet had a chance to even read the legislation, but I'm surprised we weren't advised in advance that this tax was going to be proposed," said D.C. United president Kevin Payne to the Washington Post, adding that "I'm sure our fans would like to see the District better maintain RFK Stadium and its grounds and parking lots, if they're going to be asked to pay more in ticket taxes."

A council aide commented that sports tickets for UDC would also be exempt, though it is not clear from its web site if UDC charges for games. The Firebirds averaged 111 fans per game in men's basketball last season.

Early Top 25: #21 5/12/10

ESPN.com columnist Andy Katz has an early, early pre-season Top 25 for 2010-11, ranking the Georgetown Hoyas 21st on his list.

"Georgetown had no excuse for its poor performance against Ohio in the first round of the tournament, but that humbling defeat and now the departure of [Greg] Monroe should motivate this crew even more," Katz said.

Matthew H. White (1935-2010) 5/11/10

Funeral services will be held Saturday for Matthew White (C'57), one of the great Georgetown basketball players of the 1950's and a long-time high school coach in the New York area, who died Monday night at the age of 74.

The first 1,000 point scorer in Staten Island history, "Matty" chose Georgetown over North Carolina in the spring of 1953, averaging 12.5 points a game over three seasons with the Hoyas. He finished runner-up in scoring in two of those three years to Georgetown Hall of Famer Joe Missett, but finished in the top five scorers of the decade.

After receiving his degree in Government in 1957, White returned to New York where he enjoyed a distinguished career as a high school teacher and coach. With stops at LaSalle, St. Joseph's, St. Raymond's, St. Patrick's, Port Richmond, Monsignor Farrell and the College of Staten Island, White coached for 41 years before retiring in 2005.

An obituary follows in this link to the Staten Island Advance.

Editorial: No Hoyas Need Apply 5/10/10

In the country-club world of NCAA lacrosse, favoritism in the selection of the men's tournament is almost a given; a 7-7 Johns Hopkins team will always be a selection over any of a dozen worthy competitors. This year's snub of Georgetown, its third straight in as many years, is particularly astounding.

The #14-ranked Hoyas (9-5) finished second in the Big East, ninth in the RPI, and ninth in strength of schedule. No matter to the committee, who chose #18-ranked Notre Dame, 18th in the RPI and fourth in the Big East (and a team Georgetown defeated in the regular season) ahead of them. The statistical review at Laxpower.com ranked Georgetown the most likely at-large team available for one of four bids, so what happened?

"There were a bunch of schools grouped together among the at-large teams, and we had to use all of our selection criteria to determine the teams that got in," said committee chair Tim Pavlechko in the Washington Post. "Georgetown's results against the RPI compared to some other institutions, other schools had wins that Georgetown didn't."

That's committee-speak for "Notre Dame didn't beat Georgetown, but it beat Duke, and that's good enough for us." That doesn't answer the questions of why ND leapfrogged Georgetown (and 13th ranked Villanova, for that matter). In the final Nike/Inside Lacrosse national poll, Georgetown got 103 votes, Johns Hopkins 11 votes, Notre Dame seven. In basketball terms, this would be the equivalent of the Hoyas missing the 2010 tournament in favor of Cincinnati.

Head coach Dave Urick won't say anything publicly, but he knows what a lot of lacrosse people are asking right now: is Georgetown University now on the outside of the sport looking in? After another year of a polite "better try next year" response from the committee, is the NCAA sending a message that, when it comes to this sport's elite, "no Hoyas need apply?"

Lacrosse is not a sport to raise one's voices too loudly. Well, someone ought to.

Meet Nate Lubick 5/9/10

Incoming freshman Nate Lubick is the subject of a feature in Sunday's Worcester Telegram, talking about his focus in high school and his decision to attend Georgetown this fall.

“[Coach Thompson] impressed my parents and impressed me,” Lubick said. “I just think he genuinely cares, not only about the program but specifically about the kids — not just what happens when they're there, but what happens after, too.”

“That's a big reason I went to Georgetown — to set me up to make a decision when the air runs out of the ball,” he said. “Obviously, I'm going take basketball as far as I can, but I feel like I'll be in a good position to be happy either way.”

Another Realignment Scenario 5/7/10

While realignment talk has taken a break in the press, the Newark Star-Ledger has published a full sized page in Sunday's edition of its predictions for large-scale Division I reorganization.

Where did Georgetown land?

According to the Ledger, in an amalgam called the "Big Atlantic", comprised of 20 schools from the Big East, ACC, and Conference USA after these conferences were raided by the Big Ten and SEC. But it could be worse--in this scenario, Marquette, DePaul, Providence, and Seton Hall were relegated to the Atlantic Ten.

Burke To The Mount, Rice To Rutgers 5/7/10

Former Georgetown assistant Rob Burke was named head coach at Mount St. Mary's, becoming the third former Georgetown assistant under John Thompson III to secure a head coaching position. Burke succeeds Milan Brown, who was hired at Holy Cross last month.

In Big East news, Rutgers has confirmed the hiring of Mike Rice as its new coach, succeeding Fred Hill Jr, with a five year, $3.2 million agreement.

"There are no white flags with Mike Rice," he said. "Patience is not something I do well either, but I will persevere. I will put daily goals of improving every single day and learning from some setbacks." Rutgers has not received an NCAA bid since 1991 and loses its top two players from a 15-17 team last season.

Kenneth J. Brown, Jr. (1924-2010) 5/2/10

Ken (Bud) Brown, a star on Georgetown's post-war teams under Hall of Fame coach Elmer Ripley, died last week in Marion IL at the age of 85. An extensive obituary follows in this link the the Muncie Star Press.

An all-state selection and a "Mr. Basketball" award winner in 1942, Brown served in World War II and entered Georgetown in 1946, playing three years on the varsity and averaging 8.8 points per game (statistics are limited in two of those three seasons). Brown received his BSFS degree in 1949 and passed on playing pro basketball to return to his native Indiana, where he later served as three terms as an Indiana state senator and built a successful brokerage business.

 

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