- Jackson To Coach In CBA
- Schedule Update
- Big East: Dan Gavitt Named Assoc. Commissioner
- Faulkner Runs For Tennessee State House
- Schedule Update
- Sun Bowl Field Announced
- Big East Opponents Announced
- Scheduling By The Numbers
- Schedule Update
- 2005-06 Roster Posted
- Muir Begins Work As A.D.
- Mutombo Attends FIBA Camp
- Georgetown Drops In NACDA Rankings
| Jackson To Coach In CBA | Updated 7/30/05 |
Former Georgetown guard Jaren Jackson (B'89) was named as the head coach of the Continental Basketball Association's Gary (IN) Steelheads, according to the Northwest Indiana Times and other reports. Jackson, who was an assistant coach at Georgetown during the 2003-04 season, signed a one year contract with the club.
"More than me wanting to be in the NBA at some point as a coach, I'll be more excited to see a lot of these players with NBA aspirations get their opportunities like I did," said Jackson, who played 12 years in the NBA, including CBA stops with the Wichita Falls Texans (1990-91), LaCrosse Catbirds (1991-92 and 1993-94), Pittsburgh Piranhas (1994-95), and Fort Wayne Fury (1995-96).
"He knows what the CBA is all about — no one would understand it better than him," said a team executive. "He can identify with the players, and he’s someone the players can identify with. He’s exactly the type of guy that our guys would want to pattern their careers after.”
| Schedule Update | 7/27/05 |
Another schedule update: the Fairfield athletics site has announced the date of its game with Georgetown that was previously reported. The Stags will visit Washington on Sunday, Dec. 11 .
| Big East: Dan Gavitt Named Assoc. Commissioner | 7/27/05 |
The Big East Conference has announced the addition of Dan Gavitt as associate commissioner for basketball.
Gavitt, son of conference co-founder Dave Gavitt, was the athletic director at Bryant (RI) since 1999.
Big East Conference basketball has always had a major presence in my life." said Gavitt in the release. "To have the opportunity to play such a significant role in its future is truly humbling and exciting. I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead and the opportunity to work on a daily basis with some of the best college basketball coaches in the country."
| Faulkner Runs For Tennessee State House | 7/25/05 |
During the past week, we came across the item that former Georgetown forward Omari Faulkner (C'04) has filed as a candidate for a special election for the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Faulkner, 23, who toured the world last year for the U.S. State Department, has filed as one of four Democrats in the race for the vacant seat in District 87. The winner of the August 4 primary is expected to carry the general election as no Republican or independent is presently in the race.
Faulkner did not win the endorsement of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal (the link is registration protected) in Sunday's editions. The paper did recognize Faulkner, however, as "a former Hamilton High School basketball star and a 2004 graduate of Georgetown University [who] has strong potential for elected office in the future."
A web site for Faulkner's campaign has not been located to date.
| Schedule Update | 7/22/05 |
Georgetown has added another road game to an already challenging schedule, according to the Harrisonburg News-Record, which reported Friday that Georgetown would travel to James Madison on Nov. 21. The link is no longer active.
| Sun Bowl Field Announced | 7/12/05 |
As reported earlier this month, Georgetown will be participating in the 45th annual Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament in December. The El Paso Times has further news on the tournament, which will feature Georgetown vs. Colgate in one bracket and host school Texas-El Paso meeting Mississippi Valley State in the other bracket.
"This is huge," said tournament chairman Barry Kobren. "In my 18 years lining up teams for the tournament, we've had a few big teams -- Purdue, Maryland -- but none in the class of Georgetown."
According to the release at the UTEP web site, the UTEP-Mississippi Valley State game will be Dec. 27 at 7:00 pm (MST), followed by Georgetown-Colgate at 9:00. Consolation (5:30) and championship games (7:30) follow on Dec. 28.
Georgetown's last visit to El Paso was Dec. 27, 1985, where the Miners upset the #5-ranked Hoyas 78-64. The schools have split the games in the all-time series, 2-2. The Hoyas are 6-1 vs. Colgate, having last met in the 1995-96 pre-season NIT, and 1-0 vs. Mississippi Valley State, having met in the 1996 NCAA tournament.
"We haven't had a team like Georgetown in this tournament in a long, long time," Kobren continued. "The Big East is the toughest conference in America. Playing Georgetown will really help UTEP in the RPI come tournament time. It's a great matchup for both teams. Georgetown has a great recruiting class, and they will be loaded."
| Big East Opponents Announced | 7/8/05 |
The Big East Conference has announced the conference opponents for each of its 16 schools. Georgetown will begin its 27th Big East season with the following opponents (dates and times to be announced):
| Home | Away |
| Cincinnati | Connecticut |
| Pittsburgh | DePaul |
| Providence | Marquette |
| Rutgers | Notre Dame |
| St. John's | St. John's |
| S. Florida | S. Florida |
| Syracuse | Villanova |
| W. Virginia | W. Virginia |
Three teams--West Virginia (24-11 in 2004-05) South Florida (14-16), and St. John's (9-18) will play the Hoyas home and away. Two other teams will not appear on the Hoyas' schedule at all: Louisville and Seton Hall. The interruption of the Seton Hall-Georgetown series will end a streak of 51 straight seasons of games held between the two schools.
A sample of news articles from around the conference follows:
| Scheduling By The Numbers | 7/8/05 |
How did Georgetown get the schedule it did, and why are rivals like Seton Hall off the schedule while the Hoyas get two games with South Florida?
"The decisions regarding repeat opponents are based on natural interest, geography, rivalries and television contractual obligations," said the Big East on its web site, but the conference has primarily focused its attention on getting the best matchups for television. The Hoyas' three "mirror" (home and away) teams--South Florida, West Virginia, and St. John's--are not likely to see as much TV time, while Villanova, a pre-season favorite following its NCAA regional appearance last spring, will see lots of TV with tough games featuring Syracuse, Connecticut and Louisville.
Here's a look at the strength of schedule based on the 2004-05 records of the other schools on its 2005-06 Big East schedule, with the mirror games counted twice. Teams that made the NCAA are listed as well:
| Team | W-L | Pct. |
| Connecticut (NCAA) | 341-172 | .665 |
| Cincinnati (NCAA) | 343-175 | .662 |
| Louisville (NCAA) | 334-173 | .659 |
| Villanova (NCAA) | 335-176 | .656 |
| Syracuse (NCAA) | 322-178 | .644 |
| W. Virginia (NCAA) | 320-179 | .641 |
| Marquette | 307-187 | .621 |
| Providence | 302-190 | .614 |
| Pittsburgh (NCAA) | 309-197 | .611 |
| St. John's | 300-200 | .600 |
| Notre Dame | 296-199 | .598 |
| S. Florida | 298-201 | .597 |
| Georgetown | 293-201 | .593 |
| DePaul | 293-201 | .593 |
| Rutgers | 288-202 | .588 |
| Seton Hall | 279-209 | .572 |
| Schedule Update | 7/7/05 |
The Durham Herald-Sun is reporting in Thursday's edition that Duke will play Georgetown at MCI Center this season.
"In addition to playing at the home of the 76ers, Duke also will play on the Washington Wizards' homecourt, returning to the MCI Center -- where they won the 2005 ACC Tournament -- to renew their series with Georgetown," writes the paper. No date was announced.
A link from the athletics web site at Colgate University also lists Georgetown as one of four teams scheduled to play in the 45th annual Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament Dec. 27-28 in El Paso, TX. Georgetown is listed along with host school Texas-El Paso (27-8 in 2004-05), Mississippi Valley State (13-15), and Colgate (12-16).
An announcement on the home and away opponents for Big East play is expected later today. Under the new 16 team configuration, Georgetown will play three teams home and away, five teams home only, five teams away only, and two teams will not be on the Hoyas' conference schedule at all this season.
| 2005-06 Roster Posted | 7/7/05 |
The official Georgetown athletics web site at GUHoyas.com has posted a roster for the 2005-06 team, confirming the return of all five starters from 2004-05 and listing the four freshmen signed earlier. No jersey numbers have been assigned to date for freshmen Marc Egerson, Jesse Sapp, Octavius Spann, or Josh Thornton.
| Muir Begins Work As A.D. | 7/5/05 |
The Gainesville (FL) Sun has a feature on Bernard Muir, who officially began work as Director of Athletics on July 1.
"I always knew in high school that this was what I wanted. It was the dream I wanted to pursue," said Muir. "I knew I didn't have the talent to play at Florida or in the SEC, but I wanted to be involved in college athletics."
| Mutombo Attends FIBA Camp | 7/5/05 |
NBA All-star Dikembe Mutombo (SLL '91) was the guest at a recent FIBA basketball camp in Buenos Aires and spoke about influences in his life to date.
"My college coach was the most influential person in my career," Mutombo said. "He's like a father who wants to see his kids become successful. If you are a father in the household and want the kids to be successful, the kids will want to make you proud so they will work hard."
Mutombo also commented on efforts to renew attention on Africa at the G-8 summit.
"So much is being said about how much money will be given," Mutombo says. "Africa is tired of promises - they want them to be delivered. I think we have to wait and see."
| Georgetown Drops In NACDA Rankings | 7/3/05 |
Georgetown University has placed 74th in the totals for the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup.
Formerly the Sears Cup, the Cup is presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) for success across all intercollegiate sports during the 2004-05 academic year. The list for 2005 is posted in a release from the NACDA web site.
Points are calculated based on NCAA post-season play, so the men's and women's basketball results gained the school zero points in the standings for a fourth straight year. Georgetown's points in 2005 came from NCAA finishes in cross country, track, and lacrosse, but the track and cross country scores were lower due to fewer NCAA qualifiers.
Of the top 50 schools ranked, 48 were in Division I-A. Georgetown's finish was down 21 places from a 53rd place showing in 2004. Among schools below the I-A level, Georgetown fell from 2nd overall in 2004 to 8th in 2005.
The Big East rundown is as follows, with the net change from the 2004 results listed. The NACDA Cup no longer discloses scores below the top 100 schools, so scores from Syracuse, Seton Hall, and St. John's were not reported.
| 16. Notre Dame (+3) | 74. Georgetown (-21) |
| 57. Boston College (+11) | 75. Villanova (-21) |
| 59. West Virginia (+18) | 91. Providence (-16) |
| 63. Connecticut (-30) | 97. Pittsburgh (-9) |
| 66. Rutgers (-3) |
Among entering Big East schools, Louisville (50th) was the only new entrant to place in the top 100.
Here's a recap of Georgetown's finishes over the years per the NACDA web site:
| Year | Finish | Among Big East Schools |
| 1994 | 47th | 3rd |
| 1995 | 44th | 3rd |
| 1996 | 55th | 2nd |
| 1997 | 63rd | 5th |
| 1998 | 62nd | 6th |
| 1999 | 45th | 3rd |
| 2000 | 55th | 4th |
| 2001 | 42nd | 3rd |
| 2002 | 51st | 3rd |
| 2003 | 61st | 5th |
| 2004 | 53rd | 3rd |
| 2005 | 74th | 6th |
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