Opening Doors Fulfiling a promise offered at his introductory press conference, head coach Ed Cooley did something not seen on the Hilltop in over five decades: he invited the media to attend a basketball practice.
Georgetown reporter Bobby Bancroft provided a series of Twitter messages with observations from the practice:
2022-23 ScoreboardOn the last day of the Georgetown academic year, here's a rundown of finishes for athletics programs in 2022-23 that maintain a win-loss schedule (programs like track, golf, rowing, etc. do not do so.)
Here Come The Irish A two game series with Notre Dame will begin this season, according to reports.As reported from CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, Georgetown will play at ND in the 2023-24 season, followed by a return trip to Washington for 2024-25.The upcoming season will be a rebuilding season for the Fighting Irish as well as the Hoyas. In Mike Brey's last season at South Bend before retiring at season's end, Notre Dame finished 11-21 (3-17 ACC), and will return one letterman, one redshirt, and two walk-ons from that team for this upcoming season. The schools have met 30 times in men's basketball since 1948, but none since 2013 when Notre Dame left for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgetown leads the overall series 16-13. Dates and times have not been announced. Rich Chvotkin Receives National Award
Third 2024 Verbal A rare Sunday commitment was welcome news to Georgetown fans, with confirmation of an additional freshman for the 2024-25 season.Caleb Williams, a 6-7 forward from Washington's Sidwell Friends HS, committed to Georgetown on Sunday, per multiple sources. An honorable mention All-Met as a junior, Williams enters his senior season ranked between 92nd and 111th nationally and as the second ranked recruit in the Washington area. Choosing Georgetown over offers from Villanova, Syracuse, Michigan, Virginia and Indiana, the commitment promoted one Syracuse recruiting site to note: "Williams' decision does stand out for one big reason. It shows that Georgetown is once again a true player when it comes to DMV recruiting."From an interview at On3.com, Williams was asked why he chose Georgetown. Two words: "Ed Cooley." "The relationship we created in such a short span of time is something I have been looking for in a coach since this process started," he said. "I feel as if Georgetown has everything to offer that will help me get to the next level just like the other schools in my final list. The one thing that other schools couldn't offer me was being able to win at home and that was a huge factor in choosing Georgetown." "My message to Hoya fans is that it's time to bring the winning culture back to Georgetown," he added. "The history is super rich and it's time to get back to that feeling when talking about Georgetown hoops. The new era of Georgetown basketball is in full effect. Let's get Georgetown basketball back to what it used to be." Williams joins 6-4 guard Kayvaun Mulready and 6-9 center Thomas Sorber in Georetown's 2024 recruiting class, with potentially more to follow if Coach Cooley and his staff elect to use two scholarships presently open in 2023-24 for recruiting, or to sign grad transfers that would open up the grants for 2024-25. 2023 NBA Draft With the NBA Draft on Thursday, Georgetown players failed to secure a pick for a 10th consecutive year.Prior to this era, the longest period without any draft selection from GU was from 1953 to 1962.Despite the wholesale turnover in the 2022-23 roster, all but one player are on college rosters next fall. The only GU player eligible for the draft was former grad transfer Bryson Mozone (6.6 ppg), who was not on any Top 100 draft lists and is expected to pursue opportunities overseas. Selections from the Big East were as follows:
Old Habits Open access to information has not been a hallmark of Georgetown basketball over the past four decades. Early returns from the new era are not encouraging.Three months into the Ed Cooley era, GUHoyas.com still posts the above message for the team roster page. To date, 11 scholarship players are on campus and/or already confirmed for the 2023-24 season. Four of the other ten Big East schools have posted a roster to date, but the transparency for fans that want to know more about the 2023-24 season is lacking.A similar lack of clarity can be found among the coaches. Though Cooley's staff has largely been filled, neither the basketball page nor the GUHoyas.com staff directory list any coaches other than Cooley, while the women's basketball team has already listed its staff. Here's a before and after on the Georgetown staff, per online reports and University staff listings: Before: ---------- Head Coach: Patrick Ewing Assistant Coach: Kevin Nickelberry (now an assistant at Florida St.) Assistant Coach: Patrick Baldwin (now an assistant at Valparaiso) Assistant Coach: Clinton Crouch Chief of Staff: Ronny Thompson Special Assistant To The Head Coach: Louis Orr (d. 2022) Director, Player Development: Vernon Hamilton (now an assistant at McNeese St.) Director, Basketball Operations (DBO): Bill Howze Assistant DBO: Irv Horne Video Coordinator: Mark Jenkins After: ---------- Head Coach: Ed Cooley Assistant Coach: Jeff Battle Assistant Coach: Brian Blaney Assistant Coach: Ivan Thomas Chief of Staff: Currently being recruited Special Assistant To The Head Coach: Greg Fahey Director, Player Development: LaDontae Henton Director, Basketball Operations (DBO): Walt Corbean Asst DBO: Matt Fallon Video Coordinator: Kyron Cartwright Georgetown Gains In Learfield Cup RankingsGeorgetown University finished 67th in the Learfield Directors Cup, a measure of post-season performance among Division I schools co-sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Learfield Sports.Points are awarded based on a school's participation and progress through 20 NCAA men's and women's championships events. A total of 301 of 359 Division I teams qualified for some post-season competition in 2022-23.Ten of eleven Big East schools saw points in the survey, with DePaul earning no post-season competition in NCAA events. 1. Georgetown (67th, up from 70th) 2. Connecticut (84th, up from 85th) 3. Creighton (88th, down from 86th) 4. Marquette (96th, up from 229th) 5. Xavier (99th, up from 210th) 6. Providence (129th, down from 81st) 7. Villanova (133rd, down from 54th) 8. St. John's (148th, down from 100th) 9. Butler (170th, down from 145th) 10. Seton Hall (214th, up from 224th) Georgetown's finishes since 1994 are below.
Jeff Green: NBA ChampionWith Monday night's win by the Denver Nuggets, Jeff Green (C'12) becomes just the fifth former Georgetown player with an NBA championship, joining Billy Hassett (1949-50 Lakers), Jaren Jackson (1998-99 Spurs), Alonzo Mourning (2005-06 Heat), and Otto Porter (2021-22 Warriors).
Pac-12, Big-12, and UConn: Not This Again? The next three weeks could be a rocky road for two major conferences, and by extension, the Big East.Like it has so many times before, conference realignment is a living example of the game of musical chairs. In 2021, Big 12 members Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving for the Southeastern Conference in 2024-25, reducing the Big 12 to eight schools and casting doubts on its viability. The conference moved to add Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston for the 2023-24 season and signed a favorable TV contact in the process.In 2022, Pac 12 members USC and UCLA announced it was leaving for the Big 10 Conference in 2024-25. Unlike the Big 12, the Pac-12 has not secured a media rights deal beyond 2024 and this has caused both concern among its members and growing interest by the Big 12 to add as many as four Pac-12 schools to bring it to the 16 team size of the future Big Ten and SEC, which would doom the Pac-12 as a major conference. The Pac-12 promises a media rights deal by the end of the month to keep its schools united; if not, some schools could give notice by month's end. And then there's Connecticut. In 2019, UConn was struggling as a program in the American Athletic Conference, with its football team finishing 1-11 and an eighth consecutive losing season since its 2011 Big East title. Its men's basketball had suffered three consecutive losing seasons in the AAC against the likes of Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston. With a $42 million athletics deficit, UConn left the AAC to rejoin the Big East, moving its football team to play as an independent. Recent times have been good in Storrs, with the Huskies winning the NCAA men's basketball championship and the football team earning a bowl invitation in seven seasons. With this renaissance comes visibility. If enough Pac-12 teams don't jump to the Big 12, an unlikely pair of Gonzaga University and UConn are expansion targets. Why? The same reason as it's ever been, money. Despite the risk of a return to mediocrity and a significant coast to coast travel schedule across all its sports, the Big 12 media rights are considerably more than the Big East because of football. There's a bizarre irony that the schools UConn left behind in the AAC - Cincinnati, Central Florida and Houston - would return to its schedules, and the Huskies fan base would no longer see Madison Square Garden outside a non-conference game. Adding UConn is no sure thing. "I don't see any movement for a non-Power Five [team]," a Big 12 athletic director told the Daily Oklahoman last week. "I do not think there's enough support to get them across the finish line." The Big 12 could also wait for the Pac-12's next media rights opening at decade's end, where schools may be more interested in what it has to offer. Amidst all this, the Big East enters its negotiation window this summer with Fox Sports with two years left in its contract. A team like UConn, provides additional support for a significant increase in rights with Fox or an interested third party; absent them, the numbers are in question. There's a lot of money in major college sports, and a lot of expense. UConn has a 2022 budget of $92 million for athletics, most of any Big East school and double what Georgetown spends. However, that's $46 million less than the smallest school currently in the Big 12, TCU. Connecticut had a deficit of $53 million in its budget last year and over $60 million in renovations are needed for its football stadium, which begs another question: who's coming to Hartford to watch Iowa State or Texas Tech? The musical chairs begin to spin at month's end. If the Huskies suffer in football or basketball going forward, even the Big 12 TV money won't be enough to forestall significant change. Jersey Number Changes Approved An NCAA committee has opened the door on changes to the college jersey unseen in the last 65 years.The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel has agreed to allow schools to extend jersey numbers to the NBA and FIBA standards of any combination from 0 to 99.Since the 1958-59 season, players have worn jerseys with just 36 possible combinations of the numerals 0 through 55, per NCAA rules that jersey numbers allow the officials to signal a player's number with a single hand (a #43 versus a #8) for the purposes of identifying players or calling fouls. The limit of combinations has become an issue with schools that regularly retire jersey numbers: Duke, for instance, has retired 13 of the numbers available and issued one of its freshman a retired jersey number last season. What jersey numbers have been retired by Big East schools?
* Jerseys "retired" but number is still available for use.
Georgetown has not published any roster to date this season. The Six Degrees Of Jeff Green "After 16 NBA seasons with 12 teams and 240 different teammates, the man they call Uncle Jeff is a living piece of NBA history," writes The Ringer on former Georgetown All-American Jeff Green (C'12).The article not only looks at Green's contributions to the Denver Nuggets (and many other teams over his 16 year NBA career), but introduces a new twist on his career: every player that has played in the NBA is within six degrees of Green's career."Green now brings an invaluable perspective to the locker room," it writes. "Superstars respect him, and lobby for their teams to sign him. Coaches can't help but play him. Teams have had their doubts about Green in some form or fashion for a decade and a half, but none could keep him off the floor. Sometimes a player learns how much they're wanted through a five-year supermax; sometimes they learn from the fact that, no matter how many teams and deals and cities pass by, the game won't let them go." Ed Cooley Video Chat Head coach Ed Cooley held a one hour Zoom call Thursday.The conversation, moderated by Fox Sports' John Fanta and Hoya Hoop Club president Mark Guerrera, followed the tone of Cooley's other public conversations: gratitude upon arriving at Georgetown, promoting fan turnout, but not over-promising for the season ahead. A few items of interest:
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