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Georgetown Basketball: August 2009 News Archive

Grad. Mgr. Joins Princeton Staff 8/26/09

Former manager Martin Bahar (G'08) has been named as director of basketball operations at Princeton, per a Tuesday news release from that school.

"We are pleased to have Martin Bahar joining Princeton basketball as our director of basketball operations," said head coach Sydney Johnson. "Martin comes to us from...two elite academic institutions with highly successful basketball programs. Martin’s appreciation for Princeton's high standards on the court and in the classroom make him a very good fit for our program."

Bahar joined the Georgetown staff in the summer of 2006 after graduating from Vanderbilt. He received his master's degree from Georgetown in 2008. Congratulations to Martin on the opportunity.

Duke Game Confirmed 8/25/09

A release from the Atlantic Coast Conference has confirmed a 1:00 pm start time on Saturday, Jan. 30 between Georgetown and Duke. The game will be televised on CBS, and marks the first game between the schools at Verizon Center since the Hoyas upset the #1-ranked Blue Devils in 2006.

Building Bridges 8/24/09

Earlier this year, we told the story of the efforts of former lettermen Sead Dizdarevic to continue a project of cultural exchange programs with the U.S. Department of State. Thanks to Dizdarevic's efforts, the program met its financial goals and a team of Georgetown representatives were able to travel to Montenegro to participate in the program. Here's an article from the University's staff newspaper, Blue & Gray, detailing the efforts.

"Being native to Montenegro, it was great to have the support of the U.S. State Department and the participating embassies," said Dizdarevic, a 2007 graduate of the College who is now enrolled in graduate school, to GUHoyas.com. "Being able to give back to my country is something I'm really proud of."

In addition, a series of videos produced in conjunction with the U.S. Embassy is available on YouTube and Facebook:

Schedule Update 8/22/09

Georgetown will go on the road to Savannah State with a November 21 game, reports the Savannah Morning News. The game will be held at SSU's 6,000 seat Tiger Arena, built in 2000 for $9.6 million.

US News: Georgetown #23 8/20/09

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 fourth straight year.

The schools comprising the top 25 list is 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 basketball 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.

1. Harvard (1) 10. Duke (8) 17. Rice (17)
1. Princeton (2) 11. Dartmouth (11) 17. Vanderbilt (18)
3. Yale (3) 12.Northwestern (12) 20. Notre Dame (18)
4. Cal Tech (6) 13. Wash., MO (13) 21. California (21)
4. MIT (4) 14. J. Hopkins (15) 22. Carnegie-Mellon (22)
4. Stanford (4) 15. Cornell (14) 23. Georgetown (23)
4. Penn (6) 16. Brown (16) 24. Virginia (24)
8. Columbia (8) 17. Emory (18) 24. UCLA (25)
8. Chicago (8)
 
Licensing: Georgetown #57 8/20/09

Georgetown merchandising royalties for athletic products fell for a second straight year to #57 nationally, according to the latest study conducted by the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), which represents over 200 U.S. universities.

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

Other conference schools in the top 75 including Notre Dame (#9, down from #5 in 2008), West Virginia (#18, joined the CLC in 2009) Louisville (#32, down from #31), Syracuse (#39, down from #22) , Pitt (#41, up from #44), Connecticut (#45, unchanged), Cincinnati (#50, down from #47), South Florida (#53, down from #50) Villanova (#67, up from #68) and Marquette (#75, down from #74).

Thompson Jr. To Receive Award 8/20/09

Former coach John Thompson will be one of three legendary coaches honored at a Nov. 19 luncheon in conjunction with the Coaches vs. Cancer doubleheader at Madison Square Garden, according to GUHoyas.com.

Thompson, Jack Curran, and the late Kay Yow will be honored with the Joe Lapchick Character Award, with the support of the NCAA and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Season Tickets On Sale 8/17/09

Georgetown has opened the public phase of season ticket sales for the 2009-10 season--details are available in this link to GUHoyas.com.

Per-seat donations are required in the 100 and 200-level seats; however, for the first time, donations to any Georgetown sport are eligible for the per-seat donation, not just to the Hoya Hoop Club.

Schedule Update Updated 8/10/09

Another addition to the 2009-10 schedule has been confirmed, as American University has announced a Dec. 5 game with the Hoyas. American (24-8, RPI 73) advanced to its second NCAA in 2009, losing in the first round to Villanova.

A Twitter feed from the Tulane men's basketball office announced a Nov. 13 date for its home opener with the Hoyas.

Tulane (13-17 in 2008-09, RPI 188) plays its home games at its McDonough-sized on-campus gym, Fogelman Arena. Any hopes of moving the game to the 18,000 seat New Orleans Arena were dashed when the NBA's New Orleans Hornets announced a Nov. 13 home game against Portland.

Also added: a late December game with Harvard, scheduled for noon on Dec. 23. The Crimson (13-14 in 2008-09, RPI 242) make their first appearance on a Georgetown schedule since they met in the 1976 Carolina Classic tournament.

Summers Signs With Pistons 8/8/09

Following his successful play in the NBA summer league, former Georgetown forward Dajuan Summers (ex'10) signed a contract with the Detroit Pistons prior to training camp later this summer. Terms were not disclosed.

Summers also stepped away from a potentially embarrassing story--his Twitter page had noted a contest between Summers and an adult entertainment star as to who could get to 4,000 followers first on their respective account. By the time the Detroit Free Press picked up on it, Summers quickly distanced himself from the effort.

"There is no longer a race to 4k followers... so please no questions or mentions about it to me...thank you!", he replied.

From A Question To The Answer 8/4/09

No web site message boards. Few, if any, cell phones. No Twitter.

If you were at McDonough Gymnasium on or about August 4, 1994, there was no advance notice to one of the most electrifying moments in Georgetown basketball history. Arriving to the Kenner League quarterfinals was a freshman guard who hadn't played competitive basketball in a year and a half, and whose scholarship status was announced earlier that summer after sophomore Eric Micoud was conscripted into the French army.

Fifteen years ago, Allen Iverson made his Washington debut, scoring 40 points with a performance still remembered in Kenner League annals. A recap of the action from that first night is quoted in this 2008 link to DC MetroSports.com.

"I saw this little kid, I know he was no bigger than 5'10" and hundred fifty some pounds with a cutoff shirt suddenly throw a bounce pass on the floor and laid the ball up. His hand looked like it was two feet above the rim!", said Kenner regular Mike Baker. "Iverson was handling the ball between his legs and had his man on skates. He then pulled up from about 30 feet out." I said to my buddy, 'He has that kind of range?'"

"That was one of the most exciting atmospheres I've ever experienced at McDonough," John Thompson III told the Washington Times in a 2008 article. "I'd put the Missouri game [in 1982] with Steve Stipanovich and Patrick [Ewing] at No. 1. But Allen's Kenner League debut ranks right up there...I drove down from Jersey to see that one, and I remember telling Pops afterward, 'OK, your fella can go.' Allen put on a show that night."

By the semifinals two days later, Iverson shot 12-16 from the field for 33 points before over 2,000 in attendance. Sunday's final saw nearly 4,000 jam inside the gym, with many more turned away outside. With 26 points on the afternoon, Iverson finished his Kenner play averaging 33 points per game.

Three months later, in his Georgetown debut in an exhibition against Ft. Hood, Iverson scored 36 points in just 23 minutes of play, leading veteran Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell to remark: "I saw Lew Alcindor, Austin Carr, Moses Malone, Alonzo Mourning, Albert King, Ralph Sampson and Patrick Ewing play in high school. Now, I have two memories on my first impression top shelf. The man who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Allen Iverson."

"Hang his number up in the rafters," wrote Tom Knott of the Washington Times. "He's better than most of the point guards in the NBA right now."

Now a 34 year old free agent, Iverson is considered by some NBA teams as over the hill, with the latest offer coming from a team in Greece willing to pay Iverson $5 million a year to go overseas if he cannot sign a contract in the U.S. But there's still some basketball left in Iverson, and if he quietly found his way down to the Kenner one day, is there any doubt he could still put on a show?

Except it wouldn't be a secret for long.

 
 

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