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Georgetown Basketball: June 2011 News Archive

2011-12 Big East Opponents Named 6/30/11

Using a software package designed to sort out the intricacies of the 16 team conference, the Big East has announced home and away matchups for the 2011-12 season. The Hoyas get home games with Cincinnati, UConn, Marquette, Notre Dame, PC, Rutgers, St. John's, South Florida and Villanova and go on the road to DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Syracuse, and West Virginia.

Home attendance may take a step backward as a result of the pairings, given that three of Georgetown's best attended opponents over the past decade have been with Syracuse, Pitt, and West Virginia, all on the road, while Providence, Rutgers and South Florida have drawn poorly at Verizon Center in recent years.

Summers Cut By NBA's Detroit Pistons 6/30/11

One day before the collective bargaining agreement will expire in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons chose not to extend an offer to Dajuan Summers (ex '10) for the 2011-12 season, effectively ending his two year career with the Pistons. Summers, who averaged 3.2 points and 0.9 rebounds in 66 games, was expendable after the Pistons selected Duke forward Kyle Singler in this year's draft.

Benimon To Towson 6/28/11

Following Georgetown's announcement on May 5, the Baltimore Sun is reporting that former Georgetown forward Jerrelle Benimon will transfer to Towson for the fall 2011 season, and be eligible in the 2012-13 season.

Benimon averaged 1.3 points in 61 games with the Hoyas from 2009-11.

Ewing Interviews With Detroit 6/26/11

Orlando Magic assistant Patrick Ewing (C'85) has long sought a head coaching post in the NBA, and was interviewed by the Detroit Pistons late last week for its vacant head coaching position, according to the New York Daily News.

"It's disappointing that I haven't moved to the next step to getting a head coaching job, but all I can do is keep working hard and keep on preparing myself for whenever that opportunity arises," Ewing said in an interview late last season. "A lot of people try to pigeonhole me into just a big man's coach and I'm just not a big man's coach. I'm a coach."

"Pat is more than ready to be a head coach," said Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "I know people only think of Pat as a great player but he has the chance to become a great coach."

Other candidates include Minnesota assistant coach (and former Pistons star) Bill Laimbeer, former Indiana University head coach Kelvin Sampson, and former New Jersey Nets coach Lawrence Frank, among others.

Washington Examiner On GU Transfers 6/26/11

Noting a high transfer rate in recent years, the Washington Examiner talked to a number of recent Georgetown transfers to get their take on the program. For all of the players contacted, a lack of playing time was at issue, not the program or the style of play.

"It's absolutely nothing against Georgetown," said guard Omar Wattad, now playing at Tennessee-Chattanooga. "It was great, but I felt like I had a better opportunity to showcase my talent, and that's all it was."

Nor is it, as some have suggested, the style of the Georgetown offense.

"It's not really bad on players. I think it helps you," said center Vernon Macklin, who played at Florida in 2010-11 and was recently selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. "Your basketball IQ gets higher by playing the Princeton-style offense, but just for me, it wasn't the type of offense for me."

"Ninety percent of all transfers in college basketball are because of playing time," coach John Thompson III previously told the Associated Press. "Each case is different, and I have made it a point not to talk about specific cases. We've had people leave here for academic reasons, which haven't become public. We've had people leave here for personal reasons. For the most part, we just say they're transferring."

NBA Draft Recap 6/24/11

For the first time in five years, no Georgetown players were taken in the NBA draft, as none of the three scholarship seniors were selected in the two round draft Thursday night.

Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, and Julian Vaughn will attempt to make an NBA team via the free agent route. Since 1980, three alumni have made an NBA roster as a rookie free agent: Ben Gillery (Sacramento Kings, 1988), Charles Smith (Boston Celtics, 1989), and Jaren Jackson (New Jersey Nets, 1989).

Former center Vernon Macklin (2006-08) was drafted in the second round by the Detroit Pistons, where Dajuan Summers and Greg Monroe played last season. Macklin becomes the fifth player from Georgetown's 2007 Final Four team to be drafted. How does this measure against other Georgetown Final Four teams?

  • 1942-43: Although there was no draft, three players from the team played in the NBA: John Mahnken, Dan Kraus, and Billy Hassett.
  • 1981-82: Nine drafted (Eric Floyd, Eric Smith, Ed Spriggs, Fred Brown, Gene Smith, Patrick Ewing, Anthony Jones, Ralph Dalton, Bill Martin), four played in the NBA (Floyd, Ewing, Jones, Martin)
  • 1983-84: Nine drafted (Fred Brown, Gene Smith, Patrick Ewing, Ralph Dalton, Bill Martin, Michael Jackson, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Michael Graham), five played in the NBA (Ewing, Martin, Jackson, Wingate, Williams)
  • 1984-85: Six drafted (Patrick Ewing, Ralph Dalton, Bill Martin, Michael Jackson, David Wingate, Reggie Williams), five played in the NBA (Ewing, Martin, Jackson, Wingate, Williams)
  • 2006-07: Five drafted (Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, Dajuan Summers, Patrick Ewing Jr., Vernon Macklin), four played in the NBA to date (Green, Hibbert, Summers, Ewing)

(It should be noted that NBA drafts ranged from seven to 10 rounds in the 1980's versus just two rounds in recent years.)

Mutombo Visits JTIII Basketball Camp 6/24/11

Former Georgetown All-American Dikembe Mutombo (I'91, Hon.'10) enrolled two of his sons at the John Thompson III Basketball Camp, and decided to join the camp as a counselor.

"I told [Coach Thompson] I was bringing my boys and that I wanted to help and I wanted to help and be one of the counselors," Mutombo told GUHoyas.com. "I wanted to be able to mentor some of the kids."

"My sons were asking me to put them in more basketball camps and I want to make sure we keep this going," Mutombo said. "I would love to participate again next year and hopefully there won't be any schedule conflicts."

The eight time NBA All-Star remains ever loyal to his alma mater. "This institution helped me become who I am today, basketball-wise, education-wise. This place helped me become the man I am today and I am so proud to be part of this institution and part of this family. I am really glad I took the time to be here."

And a happy birthday to Dikembe, as he turns 45 on Saturday.

Media Comments on Broadus Hire 6/24/11

A variety of media reaction followed the addition of Kevin Broadus to the Georgetown staff. These included the following:

  • Matt Norlander, CBS Sports:  "The 46-year-old Broadus is lucky. He must know that. Many more coaches have fallen off the college coaching map eternally for much less egregious deeds. It pays to have friends in good places, and Broadus certainly has that. The plan seems clear: stay on staff at Georgetown in this minimized position until one of JT3's assistants gets a promotion somewhere else. Then Broadus slides into an official assistant's role and begins to climb the ladder again."
  • Eamonn Brennan, ESPN.com: "Broadus was an epic flameout in upstate New York, with a mass of players arrested, dismissed or suspended during his tenure, during which he built a reputation as, shall we say, apathetic toward academics. Broadus' tenure ended in a tidy buyout, but his name became briefly synonymous with scandal. Did John Thompson III really want to attach that name to his program? The answer, apparently, is yes."
  • Tim Shine, Georgetown Voice: "Broadus’s sins are in the past and accounted for, and Georgetown can reap the rewards of being ground zero of the rehabilitation of his once promising coaching career."
  • Marty Chase, Georgetown Patch: "In effect, the hiring by Georgetown offers a second chance for Broadus, a popular local hoops figure who stumbled badly in his initial foray into the head coaching ranks at Binghamton even though his teams were highly successful making the NCAA tournament in 2009."
  • Dave McKenna, Washington City Paper: "His rehiring comes just as Maryland, George Washington, and Howard have hired coaches known for working their AAU connections to bring in local blue-chippers. Everybody's fishing D.C.'s waters hoping to land the next Kevin Durant or Michael Beasley..."
Broadus Returns To Basketball Staff 6/23/11

Former assistant coach Kevin Broadus has joined the Georgetown staff as a "special assistant" to head coach John Thompson III, reports a short release at GUHoyas.com.

The release indicates that Broadus will not recruit off-campus and does not replace any of the three assistants currently on staff in Mike Brennan, Kenya Hunter, and Robert Kirby.

Broadus, an assistant coach from 2004-07, left the Hilltop to become head coach at Binghamton. The tenure was a controversial one. The Associated Press summarized it as follows: "Broadus led the Bearcats to their first NCAA tournament berth in 2009, but one of his players was arrested on drug charges and five other players were dismissed for violations. An outside review found Broadus circumvented standards to get a player enrolled and lobbied for a player's grade to be changed."

Broadus was suspended by the school before the 2009-10 season and subsequently reached an $1.02 million out of court settlement with the university. Binghamton did not receive NCAA sanction for the incidents in question.

Thompson may face his toughest criticism of his seven year tenure over Broadus' return, especially among alumni. Concerns have been raised that Broadus' mere presence will attract heightened NCAA scrutiny and become a magnet for zealous reporters like the New York Times' Pete Thamel, who broke the story at Binghamton. Any perception of trouble will be directed at Thompson and the University as a whole. A column at Casual Hoya minced no words: The burden of this hire is on John Thompson III...If it works, then kudos to Thompson III for giving a hard-working coach another chance...If it fails, then I hope both Broadus and Thompson have succession plans."

"I did not go into this naive, thinking there wouldn’t be some negative thoughts out there, negative feelings toward him," Thompson told the Washington Post. "But at the end of the day, Kevin knows how we do things at Georgetown and how we don’t do things at Georgetown.”

Kenner League Certified 6/20/11

As of Friday, the NCAA web site has confirmed the certification of the Nike Pro City College Pro Basketball League (aka Kenner League) for action beginning on July 2.

The web site listed for the league is not active, so rosters have not been announced to date.

Revisiting The "Tip-Off Tournament" 6/22/11

With conference changes come scheduling impasses. In 1980, a combination of bad blood and an expanded Big East schedule ended a series between Georgetown and Maryland began in December 1907 and had been played regularly since the 1934-35 season.

Today, it's an issue at Utah, where the Utes' move to the Pac-12 will precipitate ending a series with Utah State of 223 games dating to the 1908-09 season. To its credit, Utah officials are proposing an alternative, according to the Deseret News: a doubleheader of the state's four major Division I teams (Utah, Utah State, Weber State, Brigham Young) to open the season each year in Salt Lake City.

The opening season doubleheader is not a new concept--Butler, Indiana, Notre Dame and Purdue will participate in a doubleheader in Indianapolis, for example. And in the late 1970's, the idea took hold in, of all places, Washington DC.

Known as the Tip-Off Tournament, a four team, two night event debuted at Capital Centre on Nov. 27, 1977, featuring Maryland, American, Georgetown, and Navy. The Terps and Hoyas advanced to the finals the next evening, won by Maryland 91-87.

Unfortunately for the tournament, the opening round games were scheduled as the Washington Redskins were winding up a game with the Dallas Cowboys at RFK Stadium. With a wind chill of 20 degrees, only 4,500 chose to drive to Landover rather than watch the Cowboys' 14-7 comeback win on TV. The second night of the tournament drew just 6,500.

In 1978, the tournament was reduced to a single night doubleheader, with Navy defeating American and Georgetown defeating Maryland before a crowd of 8,100, and the event was not renewed for the 1979-80 season.

With the retirement of Gary Williams, talk has resurfaced about a Georgetown-Maryland series, but coaches Thompson and Turgeon may be less excited than the fans in an annual series. The talk of a Georgetown-Maryland game does not answer the ongoing droughts among these schools and other local teams. For example, the Hoyas have played just one game with George Mason (a road game in the 1985-86 season), while the Terrapins and Patriots have met just three times in the last 20 years outside the NCAA tournament.

The Tip-Off Tournament died because of apathy--no corporate sponsor, American and Navy didn't draw, Landover was a long way from everywhere, and NFL football was of more interest than a college doubleheader. Now, fast-forward to 2012, in the heart of Gallery Place, a Saturday night ESPN doubleheader at Verizon Center to open the season, with 5,000 tickets to each school, divided down the middle of the arena. The opportunity exists for an electricity surrounding the games that the cavernous Capital Centre or the Sunday afternoon setting of the BB&T Classic could never match.

The four largest schools in the region (Georgetown, Maryland, George Washington, George Mason) represent an undergraduate population of 65,000 students and well over 200,000 alumni in the DC region, and if Verizon Center can spare a Saturday night game outside the NBA and NHL (the Hoyas have not had a single Saturday night home game since moving downtown in 1997), it becomes a destination game with the nightlife and Metro connections that Capital Centre never had.

Taking a page from other regional doubleheaders, games could be rotated each year so that every school gets a different opponent within a three year cycle:

Year One Year Two Year Three
Georgetown vs. George Mason
George Washington vs. Maryland		 Georgetown vs. Maryland
George Mason vs. George Washington 		Georgetown vs. George Washington
George Mason vs. Maryland
 

Whither the BB&T? Mr. Feinstein's protestations notwithstanding, that tournament can certainly continue its present Sunday format in December, owing that it maintains a healthy roster of intersectional opponents (the 2010 teams included Florida and Temple, with VCU scheduled in 2011). Georgetown isn't welcome in that tournament, a given, but that does not preclude other local teams from participating if they choose to do so. It is not (and has never been) the case that the BB&T is the only acceptable scheduling option for local teams.

It's too late for such an idea in the 2011-12 season, but it may be worth a look down the road.

A Forgotten Game...Remembered 6/16/11

Over the school record 142 games started by Patrick Ewing from 1981-1985, Georgetown lost only seven games played outside the Big East. Of the seven, four were by two points or less, a five point loss to #1-ranked Virginia in 1992, and a nine point loss in the 1983 NCAA's to Memphis State after Ewing had fouled out.

But there was another game whose numbers defy such an impressive streak, and it remains largely forgotten.

Today, a late December matchup between two top 10 teams would be certainly be covered by CBS, ESPN or one of the numerous cable affiliates across the nation. But on Dec. 29, 1982, the matchup with #6 Alabama and #10 Georgetown saw no such coverage, with 10,940 in attendance at the 16,100 seat Los Angeles Sports Arena. In the finals of the Winston Tire Classic (a tournament which evokes thoughts of a NASCAR event rather than a college basketball game), sixth ranked Alabama throttled the tenth ranked Hoyas 94-73 behind 28 points from junior forward Terry Williams, one of the great individual performances by an opponent in Georgetown basketball history.

"The funny part of that is that I didn’t score a point the night before against Southern Cal," Williams told the Athens (AL) News-Courier."So before our game with Georgetown, [former Alabama guard and current UAB men’s basketball coach] Mike Davis came up to me and jokingly told me that we needed more points out of our small forward. I hit my first shot against Georgetown and it was just one of those nights that I was in a comfort zone and felt like I couldn’t miss."

Williams shot an incredible 14 for 15 in the game, negating a 24 point effort from Bill Martin and 19 points and 13 rebounds from Ewing. The margin of defeat, 21, was the most surrendered in any Georgetown game held from the 1977-78 through 1987-88 seasons. In fact, only three non-conference opponents in the 29 years since have won by a larger margin, two of them were #1-seeds in the NCAA tournament (Temple, 1988; Massachusetts, 1996).

Drafted by Seattle in 1984, Williams' professional career was mostly overseas. "Basketball allowed me to travel and see places that otherwise I would have never seen,” he told the newspaper. “Counting college and professional, I played basketball in 42 states here and nine different countries. It was sort of ironic that a teacher in high school tried to get me to take a foreign language course. I refused thinking I would never leave this country. What I didn’t know was that one day I would be sitting in an elementary school room class in Paris, France watching my daughter being taught [French]."

The win was largely ignored even in Alabama--on that same day, legendary football coach Paul (Bear) Bryant coached his last game in the 1982 Liberty Bowl, and it overshadowed sports pages statewide. Bryant died less than a month later.

Brunson: Making It Happen 6/16/11

The most honored athlete to date in Georgetown women's basketball history, Rebekkah Brunson (C'04) continues the hard work that has kept her in the WNBA seven years after receiving her degree from GU. Brunson told WNBA.com that a strong work ethic runs in her family.

"If you were to look at my family, there’s always been some influence to work hard," she said. "Take my grandmother for example, who grew up in Germany and was there throughout Hitler’s regime. She saw all the Nazism, and experienced all those hardships. She chose to escape by coming to America with a mixed child, and married a black man, and had to fight all types of stuff. But she definitely got ahead by her strong work ethic and never let anybody tell her no and never let anybody tell her she couldn’t do anything or be anywhere. She definitely instilled that in me. Nobody is going to tell me that I can’t do anything. If I want it, I’m going to make it happen.”

"We use the word relentless with Brunson, and she takes great pride in that," said Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. "She brings it every night she plays and hangs her hat on that. Her approach brings her a great deal of success and I'll tell you...players around the league...they don't want to matchup against her."

“I quickly realized there are a lot of people who were definitely better scorers than me or definitely had better natural talents and gifts," Brunson said. "So, for me to succeed at this level, I feel like one of the things I had to do was outwork people and I’ve always had that mindset and that starts with being hungry defensively and being hungry to get rebounds. If I think I’m just going to sit and try to outscore you, I’d be jobless, so I have to put forth that extra effort and it has become habitual for me. I constantly have to try and outwork you no matter what else is going on. No matter what other obstacles there are, you can always control how hard you work.”

Ewing: Still Waiting For NBA Opportunity 6/13/11

In his seventh season as an NBA assistant coach, Patrick Ewing (C'85) is patient but resolute on becoming a head coach someday.

"It's disappointing that I haven't moved to the next step to get a head coaching job, but all I can do is keep going and move on," Ewing told the YES Network in an upcoming program covered by ESPN.com.

Ewing conceded he has not been in touch with New York Knickerbockers owner James Dolan over the years, but said that "I should probably pick up the phone and give him a call."

Johnson Joins St. Alban's Staff 6/7/11

Former Georgetown guard O.J. Johnson has been named head basketball coach at St. Alban's School, reported the Washington Post.

Johnson, a 1997 grad of St. Alban's, has a record of 90-32 after five seasons at Wise (MD). Johnson, a two sport letterman who transferred to Georgetown from Virginia, played in 11 games for the Hoyas over the 2001-01 and 2001-02 basketball seasons.

More On Big East TV Rights 6/7/11

Did a cash-strapped Georgetown University really vote against a TV deal worth $130 million a year for the Big East?

So says Sports Business Daily, who noted that within weeks, the Pac-12 had secured a deal of $250 million a year. The story goes into detail how the Big East is wagering that rights fees in 2012 will far exceed what is available in 2011. Recommended reading.

NACDA Directors Cup: #51 6/6/11

Entering the final month of scoring in the NACDA Directors Cup (aka Learfield Sports Directors Cup), Georgetown is 51st nationally, trailing Villanova and just head of Syracuse. Among schools playing football below the I-A level, Georgetown trails only Princeton and Villanova.

Of the 51 schools , Georgetown is one of five without any points for spring sports, given that neither lacrosse program qualified for the NCAA's and schools like baseball and tennis have not done so in many years. Any points gained at the NCAA outdoor track championships could get the Hoyas into the Top 50 when the final points are released at month's end for the first time since 2001.

JT III Summer Camp Contest 6/6/11

Each summer, kids from 8-13 arrive at Georgetown for one week of instruction at the John Thompson III basketball school. This season, NBA stars Jeff Green (degree in progress) and Roy Hibbert (C'08) will each sponsor one student to attend the camp via an essay contest. Further information can be found in this link to GUHoyas.com.

On The Road Again 6/6/11

Next stop for Austin Freeman's NBA workouts? Portland, reports The Oregonian.

"Guys in the range we're drafting are typically role players, someone who can contribute off the bench," said interim GM Chad Buchanan. "We're looking for somebody to come in and make a contribution for us, even if it's in a limited role. So we might look a little bit at need down at 21. If there's a guy who for some reason slips on draft night that we feel like is a great talent and it's hard to pass on, we won't be afraid to pull the trigger. Even if he plays at a position we're deep at. But I doubt this draft will have a guy who slides like that."

Chris Wright will be working out with Golden State on Monday, reports Comcast Sports.

Zormelo Providing NBA-Level Consulting 6/3/11

From Geof Rochester to Chris Antonetti, many men's basketball managers have found considerable success following graduation. For Justin Zormelo (C'06), it's a matter of taking video coverage of basketball to the next level.

Zormelo's firm, Best Ball Analytics, uses quantitative video analysis to improve basketball fundamentals.

"Our clients receive insight and information based on their skill level and position on the court that’s geared toward them as individuals," Zormelo told the Network Journal. "Each client receives their very own interface where files are sent to them with memos and videos that are geared towards specific needs. Improvement, progress and perfection are really the heart of the matter with our training program.”

The service is getting response from NBA superstars as well.

"I wanted to give it a try to see what it was like and I really liked it," said Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. "I started using it this year and I was able to see my mistakes in what I call the ‘truth box’. I’m always looking for ways to make myself a better player. It’s very important and very helpful to me and crucial to my improvement as a player."

Freeman Continues NBA Workouts 6/3/11

Austin Freeman's recent workout with the NBA Washington Wizards is the subject of an article in Thursday's Washington Post, where Freeman has shed 20 pounds in order to be a stronger candidate as a shooting guard en route to the upcoming NBA draft.

 

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