Georgetown Announces New Asst. Coach

5/24/16

The basketball office has announced a new assistant coach to fill one of the two coaching vacancies on John Thompson III's staff, welcoming Akbar Waheed from Hofstra.

"Akbar will be a tremendous addition to our staff," said coach John Thompson III in a brief statement. "His strengths are multi-faceted, he has a history of identifying, evaluating, recruiting and developing young men. Each aspect is essential. He is extremely smart and is a tireless worker."

Waheed, 39, has served as an assistant at Niagara (1999-2010) Boston College (2010-14) and most recently at Hofstra (2015-16). A 1995 graduate of Gonzaga College HS, Waheed received his bachelors and masters degree at Niagara.

The Class of 2016

5/21/16

 

2015-16: A Rough Year For The Hoyas

Updated 5/21/16

With its s 10-5 loss to Villanova last weekend, the Georgetown baseball team wrapped up the last of the head to head team sports for the 2015-16 academic year. The baseball team was subsequently eliminated from the Big East Tournament as a result of Seton Hall's 7-6 win over Butler on Friday evening. While six Big East schools play baseball, only the top four advance to the tournament in Aberdeen, MD on Thursday, May 26.

It's no secret that this has been a difficult year for many Georgetown teams. Only one men's sport, men's soccer, finished above .500 this season:

  W-L Pct.
Men's Soccer 16-2-3 .820
Women's Tennis 13-5 .722
Women's Soccer 11-5-4 .578
Women's Basketball 16-14 .533
Men's Tennis 9-9 .500
Baseball 25-29 .462
Men's Basketball 15-18 .454
Field Hockey 8-11 .421
Football 4-7 .363
Women's Lacrosse 6-11 .352
Volleyball 10-21 .322
Softball 9-35 .204
Men's Lacrosse 2-12 .142
 

Georgetown has won Big East titles in men's cross country and men's golf, both of which were at conference meets.

The Georgetown men's track team finished fourth of seven teams at this weekend's Big East outdoor meet, while the women placed fifth of eight.

Another NBA Lottery Conspiracy?

5/17/16

Thirty years later, it's still the stuff of NBA lore and 6,000 word articles. Did NBA commissioner David Stern really have the New York Knicks' draft lottery card put in a freezer to facilitate the selection of Patrick Ewing (C'85) as their #1 pick? No, but it's a legendary tale.

Now, another Georgetown name is in NBA lottery talk, when Dikembe Mutombo (I'91, H'10) congratulated the Philadelphia 76ers for the #1 pick...four hours before the lottery itself. A quick delete followed, but in the 140 character universe, nothing really goes away.

The #1 pick in the 2016 NBA lottery was revealed later that evening was... the Philadelphia 76ers.

Mutombo called it a mistake and told the Philadelphia Inquirer he was asked by a 76ers staff member to send out congratulations "if" the 76ers were the pick; instead, he sent it out when he got the text.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver accepted the apology and said the integrity of the draft remains secure. But it's going to be a legendary tale.

More Photos From IAC Construction

5/16/16

NBA Draft: Four Big East Prospects

5/15/16

In the first ten years of the Big East, seven different Georgetown guards were drafted. Since Allen Iverson in 1996, no Georgetown guard has been drafted. That streak appears ready to continue, at least according to Draft Express, who lists four Big East prospects for the NBA draft, but none from Georgetown.

The article lists four prospects: Providence's Kris Dunn at #4 overall, Marquette's Henry Ellenson at #13, PC center Ben Bentil at #45 and Seton Hall's Isaiah Whitehead at #46. Dunn and Ellenson have signed with an agent, while Bentil and Whitehead have until June 13 to exit the draft and return to school; Whitehead posted on Twitter that he will announce a decision this week.

As for D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, he rates 76th on Draft Express' list of seniors, and is not in the its top 100 prospects.

Jesse A. Mann (1921-2015)

5/15/16

Services were held over the weekend for professor emeritus Jesse Mann, 94, a former professor and dean at georgetown with over six decades of service to Georgetown and its students.

Mann, a native of Washington who attended Gonzaga College HS and received a Ph.D. from Catholic, arrived at Georgetown in 1947 as part of a group of lay educators brought into Georgetown after World War II. Alongside the likes of Carroll Quigley, Jan Karski, Jules Davids, Walter Giles, and others that formed the core of the SFS curriculum for the next two decades. Mann, a chairman of the philosophy department, served as dean of the SFS from 1967-69 and also served as dean of what is now the School of Continuing Studies.

Professor Mann was a devoted follower of Georgetown athletics and served as the University's NCAA faculty representative from 1977 through 1988.

Asst. Coach Hardy Leaves For Georgia Tech

5/6/16

For the second time in the last month, a Georgetown assistant coach has been recruited to join a new staff.

This time, it's Tavaras Hardy, who will be joining Josh Pastner at Georgia Tech, per a school release.

"Tavaras is a tremendous addition to our staff," said Pastner. "He has played and worked at two tremendous institutions in Georgetown and Northwestern, and is very good with player development and talent evaluation. He has built excellent relationships in recruiting and coaching."

Hardy joined the Georgetown staff in 2013 after seven seasons at Northwestern, and acknowledged the move on a Twitter post:

Head coach John Thompson III will be filling two assistant roles for the first time since 2007, when Kevin Broadus and Sydney Johnson left for head coaching opportunities , and were succeeded by David Cox and Kenya Hunter, Broadus, who returned to the staff as an assistant in 2012, remains on the staff.

Schedule Update

5/5/16

A date has been set for the return game at Syracuse: Saturday, Dec. 17, per CBS Sports.com:

The Orangemen, which have scheduled St. John's and Villanova in recent years, have also added Connecticut to its non-conference slate, also per CBS Sports.com.

Realignment Watch: Big 12 Conference

5/5/16

Big East fans know all too well when schools begin to lobby other conferences: trouble ensues.

So it goes with the ten team Big 12 Conference, which is moving towards an expansion of two schools from a list that includes BYU and five different American Athletic Conference schools.

At issue: location and money. Distant schools are not popular among Big 12 schools, which now includes West Virginia, but could bring in media markets to a future TV deal. And Texas, the most powerful member of the Big 12, is opposed to expansion to protect its interest in the ESPN-financed Longhorn Network.

"I still see no willingness on Texas' part to fold the Longhorn Network into a Big 12 network, even if the league gives the Longhorns an extra $15 million share to cover its LHN income," wrote Kurt Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman. "If we get rid of LHN, it will be to change conferences, in my opinion."

Of interest back east: Connecticut. With the ACC still against adding UConn, and the relative distance from Storrs to places like Ames, Iowa or Lubbock, TX, losing Cincinnati or South Florida further isolates the Huskies, with replacements from non-traditional opponents like Conference USA (Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, Texas El-Paso). Any new members would likely stir up past thoughts that Connecticut should rejoin the Big East.

For now, it's a waiting game.

Gavitt Games Schedule Set

5/4/16

The schedule for the Big East-Big 10 Gavitt Games was announced. As previously reported, Georgetown will host Maryland on Nov. 15.

Monday, Nov. 14: Villanova at Purdue
Tuesday, Nov. 15: Maryland at Georgetown, Wisconsin at Creighton
Wednesday, Nov. 16: Northwestern at Butler
Thursday, Nov. 17: Seton Hall at Iowa, PC at Ohio State, Rutgers at DePaul
Friday, Nov. 18: St. John's at Minnesota

Schedule Update

5/3/16

Georgetown will make its first visit to Miami in 13 years next season, as the Hoyas will play LaSalle (9-22) as part of a doubleheader at the American Airlines Arena, reports CBS Sports.com. The second half of the doubleheader has not been announced.

Georgetown played LaSalle regularly from the 1945-46 through the 1965-66 seasons and last met the Explorers in the 1980-81 season.

It will be the Hoyas' first game in the NBA arena, as prior games with the University of Miami were played at the former Miami Arena and the Hurricanes' 7,000 seat on-campus convocation center.