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Georgetown Basketball: August 2008 News Archive

Ewing Jr. Traded To Knicks 8/30/08

Patrick Ewing Jr. (C'08) hasn't played a game as a NBA professional to date, but he's already going to his third team, as the Houston Rockets traded Ewing, who was not expected to make the Rockets' opening day roster, to the New York Knickerbockers for the rights to center Frederic Weis. The 7-2 Weis was drafted with the 15th selection of the 1999 draft but never played in the NBA, whereupon the Knicks retained his rights during Weis' career in Europe.

"Coming to the Knicks, and hopefully being able to contribute, means a lot to me," Ewing Jr. said in this link to the New York Daily News. "It has always been my dream to play for this team. "My goal is to show the coaches that I can play and do all that I can to help the team win some games."

DeGioia Co-Chairs Big East Search 8/27/08

With the retirement of Michael Tranghese as Big East commissioner, Georgetown president Jack DeGioia (C'79) will be co-chairing a six person committee to select his successor. Wednesday's Pittsburgh Tribune Review talks to fellow co-chair Mark Nordenberg from the University of Pittsburgh on the issues that face this search.

"I think we'll be able to attract strong candidates for this position," said Nordenberg. "Of course, a commissioner's role in this day and age is a complicated one. You need to have the ability to work effectively with university leaders and athletic directors, and you have to be a very business-savvy person, in terms of television contracts and all of the other things that go into making a conference successful."

Teammates Visit Wall Street 8/26/08

For the second straight year, a pair of Georgetown players toured Wall Street brokerage firms prior to the start of the school year, reports this article at GUHoyas.com.

Senior Bryon Jansen and sophomore Chris Wright met with a number of Georgetown alumni during a two day trip to the financial markets.

"For me it's always been a text-book knowledge of what goes on and what I've read in magazines," said Jansen. "I read The Economist all the time and so I see some of the impact of how things are affected, but I've never seen the hands-on, people behind the numbers, the people behind the companies and the banks."

"We would walk into a room with a hundred people that I didn't know or didn't recognize and then after being there for a half an hour I realized that a good portion of them were Georgetown alumni so it made Bryon and I feel very welcome and we felt like we fit in very well," said Wright.

Crawford Signs Pro Contract 8/25/08

With the news that guard Jonathan Wallace was signed by a Slovenian team last week, the web site for the Union Olympija (Wallace's new team) has announced the signing of Tyler Crawford to join Wallace in the backcourt. Congratulations to Tyler on the next step in his post-graduate career.

US News: Georgetown #23 8/23/08

Off the sports pages, US News has published its annual America's Best Colleges list, with Georgetown University remaining 23rd in the poll for the third straight year.

The schools comprising the top 25 list is largely unchanged from last year, with minimal changes in rankings between the schools. Athletically speaking, nine are Division I-A, nine I-AA (Georgetown is the only I-AA entry outside the Ivy League), with none from Division II and seven from Division III. All 25 play men's basketball, while 23 of the 25 play college football (Emory and CalTech do not).

By Division I conference, eight are from the Ivy League, two Pac-10, two Big 10, two Big East, two ACC, one SEC, and one from Conference USA.

Big East schools ranked in the national Top 120 included Notre Dame and GU (below), along with Syracuse (53, down from 50 in 2007), Pitt (58, up from 59), Rutgers (64, down from 59), Connecticut (66, down from 64), and Marquette (77, up from 82).

Here's the Top 25, with the 2007 ranking in parentheses.

1. Harvard (2) 8. Chicago (9) 18. Emory (17)
2. Princeton (1) 11. Dartmouth (11) 18. Notre Dame (19)
3. Yale (3) 12.Northwestern (14) 18. Vanderbilt (19)
4. MIT (7) 12. Wash., MO (12) 21. California (21)
5. Stanford (4) 14. Cornell (12) 22. Carnegie-Mellon (22)
6. CalTech (5) 15. J. Hopkins (14) 23. Georgetown (23)
7. Penn (5) 16. Brown (14) 24. Virginia (23)
8. Columbia (9) 17. Rice (17) 25. UCLA (25)
8. Duke (8)
 
Schedule Updates Updated 8/23/08

Another schedule update, as American University has announced a December 4 game with the Hoyas. The Eagles, 21-12 in 2007-08, earned a NCAA tournament berth for the first time since American joined Division I in 1967.

A HoyaTalk reader also pointed out this link to the athletic web site at Mt. St. Mary's (MD), which notes an upcoming game scheduled at Georgetown, date and time not announced. The Mountaineers finished 19-15 and won the Northeast Conference tournament title, defeating Coppin State in the NCAA play-in game prior to a 113-74 loss to #1 seed North Carolina in the first round.

Georgetown and Mt. St. Mary's have not met since the 1961-62 season, with Georgetown owing a 19-5 lead in the series.

Wallace Signs With Slovenian Team 8/23/08

Also cited on the HoyaTalk board: a one year contract for Jonathan Wallace (C'08), who will play professionally in Slovenia, according to Euroleague.net.

Season Tickets For Sale 8/19/08

Georgetown has announced its public sale of season tickets for the 2008-09 season. For more information, visit this link at GUHoyas.com.

Licensing: Georgetown #52 8/19/08

Georgetown's merchandise royalties for athletic products fell to #52 nationally, according to the latest study conducted by the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), which represents over 200 U.S. universities.

Georgetown, which in 1991 was ranked #1 in the nation for college merchandise royalties, fell out of the Top 50 for the first time ever in 2006 with a #54 ranking. In 2007, the University was rated #46, but dropped to #52 in 2008.

Other conference schools in the top 75 including Notre Dame (#5, down from #2 in 2007), Syracuse (#22, up from #33) Louisville (#31, down from #27), Pitt (#44, down from #41), Connecticut (#45, down from #42), Cincinnati (#47, down from #45), South Florida (#50, up from #63) Villanova (#68, down from #60) and Marquette (#74, down from #66). West Virginia is not a member of the CLC consortium.

Schedule Update 8/19/08

Jacksonville University will be returning to the schedule this year with a Nov. 17 game against the Hoyas, reports the Jacksonville Times-Union.

The Dolphins were 18-13 in 2007-08 and advanced to the finals of the Atlantic Sun conference tournament.

Jersey Numbers for 2008-09 8/8/08

GUHoyas.com has posted jersey numbers for the 2008-09 season.

Six of the seven returning players will retain their numbers, with Nikita Mescheriakov moving from #10 to #5. Jersey numbers have also been given to freshmen Greg Monroe (#10), Jason Clark (#20) and Henry Sims (#30), with sophomore transfer Julian Vaughn to wear #22.

A review of jersey numbers over the years can be found at the Basketball History site.

Kenner Through The Years 8/7/08

Thursday's Washington Times takes a look back at the Kenner League, which for 27 years has been a summer magnet for local college basketball

"The league basically started before Patrick Ewing's freshman year," said Kenner commissioner Van Johnson. "That year, the old D.C. summer league changed from the Urban Coalition to the Kenner League and games moved to Georgetown's campus. There have been a lot of memorable names and moments between now and then. The Kenner League has become something of a D.C. institution."

Some highlights mentioned in the article raised from Allen Iverson's debut in the summer of 1994 to the 62 points scored by Curt Smith in 2000.

NBA, NHL Schedules 8/7/08

The Washington Wizards have announced its 2008-09 schedule, another one of the annual steps necessary to finalizing the  Georgetown schedule.

Overlaying the NBA's Wizards and the NHL's Capitals schedules, fans can begin to get an idea of the difficulty Georgetown has with matching its open dates to other schools' non-conference plans, as well as watch which open weeknights and weekend afternoons may be available to fill. Here's a calendar below--NBA and NHL games are in gray, while Georgetown games previously announced in the press are in blue. Other previously announced events are in green, with possible inauguration events from Jan. 18-21.

Of some hope to Georgetown fans are the dates Jan. 24, Feb 14, and Feb. 28, three Saturdays with no NBA or NHL conflicts. Barring a concert or other event added to one of those evenings, this could open the opportunity for a Saturday evening game, a Georgetown rarity in recent years. In 11 seasons at MCI/Verizon Center, Georgetown has played just three Saturday night games in conference play, none of which received national TV promotion.

S M Tu W Th F Sa

November

          14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30            

December

  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31      

January

        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
February
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
March
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8            
 

The Georgetown schedule is expected to be announced in early September.

Olympic Memories 8/5/08

In the week before the start of the Summer Olympics, Patrick Ewing (C'85) sat down with NBC Sports to discuss his memories of the 1984 and 1992 teams.

"[In 1984] we set out our goal to win a national championship and we did it. We came against all odds and got the job done," Ewing said. "Then I got to play in the Olympics, which was a great experience. I got to play with Michael (Jordan), Chris Mullin, Sam Perkins, Alvin Robertson, Joe Kleine, to name a few. When you look at the guys that played on that team, it was a great team. "

As to the 1992 team, "that was an amazing run. We just demolished everybody, all comers. It was amazing the way we were able to crush everybody. Playing with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, go down the list. We're all great players in our own right, but we came together as one cohesive unit. "

When asked if he has sat back and reminisced about the Olympic experience, Ewing said "I don't really have time to sit down and reminisce. I'll do that when I'm retired and kick my feet up and feel old. That's when I'll sit down and reflect. Right now, I have too much living to do."

Early ESPN Preview 8/5/08

With another early look at the Big East, ESPN.com places georgetown ninth in the pre-season race.

"While others will focus on what the Hoyas don't have, this is an NCAA tournament team," writes ESPN's Jay Bilas.

Giving Back 8/3/08

Saturday's Washington Post discusses the efforts made from former forward Sead Dizdarevic (C'07) to give back to his homeland in Montenegro. Dizdarevic is bringing four former teammates and director of basketball operations Matt Henry to Montenegro for a week of basketball clinics.

"The main point is not to tell those kids, 'Hey, how about you guys come to the United States'," Dizdarevic told the Post. "The point is to realize how important education is...It doesn't have to be a choice, to play basketball or go to school. I want it to be 'play basketball and go to school'. And maybe from playing basketball, you get some benefits through education as well."

"A lot of it is a tribute to Sead," said Ashanti Cook (C'06), who will be joining Dizdarevic on the trip. "He's very caring and likes to give back. He's just a really, really good friend, and someone you can trust. So why not drop what you're doing for a week to hang out with him and help him and see how his culture is?"

 

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