Hoyas Sign First 2020 Recruit
The Georgetown Hoyas secured its first signee for the College Class of 2024, receiving a verbal commit Monday evening from Washington DC forward Terrence Williams.
A 6-6 rising senior at Gonzaga, Williams is rated #81 on the ESPN summer top 100 list and #91 by Rivals.com. An All-Met selection as a junior, Williams averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Purple Eagles last season and would be the first scholarship signee from Gonzaga in 30 years, or since Robert Churchwell and Lamont Morgan joined the Hoyas in the fall of 1990.Georgetown currently has one open scholarship remaining for the 2019-20 recruiting cycle.
Attendance Boost Needed In 2019-20
From the HoyaTalk board, a chart on Reddit illustrates what a lot of Georgetown fans already know: men's basketball attendance needs to improve.
In a survey of 121 schools from major conferences, Georgetown had the lowest percentage of capacity among schools with an arena size of more than 5,000. Only Fresno State (averaging 5,807 per game at the 14,544 seat SaveMart Center) was even close.Georgetown averaged 7,212 per game this past season, its lowest average since moving off-campus in 1981. Capital One Arena is the sixth largest arena by capacity in Division I and the third largest for an off-campus facility.
Fan reaction to the chart included the following:
Thompson III Joins Wizards' Front Office
Former Georgetown coach John Thompson III has accepted a front office position with the Washington Wizards.
As part of a reorganization within the Washington Wizards and its related teams in the WNBA and G League, Thompson has been selected for a role to focus on athlete development and engagement for the club. "Thompson will use his vast experience to lead a team that will focus on maximizing player potential both on and off the court for all Monumental Basketball athletes," read a press release. "Employing a holistic development approach, the department will focus on financial literacy, post-playing career opportunities and the overall empowerment and development of the athletes."In the two years since his departure from Georgetown, the 53 year old Thompson has served as a television analyst and an assistant with USA Basketball. Thompson's name surfaced in job searches at Vanderbilt and Howard in this off-season, but was not chosen for either position.
Time For An Encore:
Welcoming Back the 1979-80 Hoyas
Next week begins this site's review of "40 for 40", the 40 greatest players in the 40 year history of the Big East conference. It begs the question, however, how Georgetown can salute the original champions of the conference, the 1979-80 team, celebrating its 40th anniversary this season.
The hagiography around Georgetown basketball often begins with Patrick Ewing, but the efforts of the 1979-80 team deserve some recognition all its own. Coming off a 24 win season in 1979, the Hoyas were hardly expected to match that total in a new and difficult Big East, but did exactly that. Behind seniors John Duren, Craig Shelton, and Al Dutch, the Hoyas won a then-school record 16 straight games, including wins over four top 10 teams in its final 10 games of the season, including a 52-50 win at #2 Syracuse, defeating Syracuse 87-81 in the inaugural Big East final, and then upsetting #8 Maryland 74-68 in the Eastern regional semifinal.The Hoyas advanced to the regional final at the Philadelphia Spectrum against Iowa. Despite shooting a remarkable 68 percent in the second half, the Hoyas fell one point short, in one of the all-time heart-breakers for a team dubbed the "Heart Attack Hoyas". The Hawkeyes shot 71 percent in the second half and connected on a three point play by center Steve Waite in the final seconds for an 81-80 win. Had the Hoyas survived and advanced to the Final Four, a national title was not out of the question for this remarkable team, finishing 26-6 on the season.
Seven members of the team were drafted into the NBA, while three eventually played in the pros.
In this anniversary year, it would be fitting to welcome this team back for a recognition event at a Big East home game at Capital One Arena, but it's never that simple at Georgetown. Recognition events are rare even with Georgetown's most memorable teams, with only three in the past 20 years and none since the 2006-07 season. But the members of the 1979-80 team are now in their late 50's and early 60's, and there is no better time to welcome them back and thank them for setting a standard that three generations of Georgetown men have followed.
Front row: John Irwin, Ron Blaylock, Lonnie Duren, John Duren, Kurt Kaull, Eric Floyd.
Top Row: Scott Wolf (mgr), Eric Smith, Al Dutch, Craig Shelton, David Blue, Geof Rochester (mgr), Ed Spriggs, Jeff Bullis, Mike Hancock, Terry Fenlon, Andre Hawkins (mgr.)
Schedule Update
Oklahoma State has released its non-conference schedule for the 2019-20 season: pic.twitter.com/mJfs0Vyiqs
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 18, 2019
Schedule Update
Games at Duke, Georgetown and a pair in California highlight the 25th annual Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project for the Panthers this November. https://t.co/pWn64u4Iun pic.twitter.com/QEUOkSh5Xq
— GSU Men's Basketball (@GeorgiaStateMBB) July 11, 2019
Sources: Duke will play Cal and Georgetown will face Texas in the first round of the 2019 Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 10, 2019
ESPN: Chasing Ghosts
A summer series at ESPN.com is features Georgetown's 20 year struggle to regain its national exposure.
The series, titled "Chasing Ghosts", involves various ESPN analysts discussing the state of various programs that have moved off the national stage since the departure of a famous coach. Previous segments have included UCLA, UNLV, Indiana, DePaul, and St. John's, among others."Anyone who thought Georgetown was actually moving forward with a new coach without Big John's input was fooling themselves," said senior basketball writer Myron Metcalf. "I'm not intimidated by much. But the first time I met Big John, I was nervous. He's a force, even at 77. When he enters a room, everyone turns to him and kinda waits for him to speak. He's a legend, especially in the African-American community."
With passing mention to former coach Craig Esherick ("Though the Esherick era is not remembered fondly by most Georgetown supporters, there were positives"), much of the article is a contrast between coaches John Thompson III and Patrick Ewing.
"I think the mix of his style of play and lack of recruiting locally ultimately did [Thompson III] in," said writer Jeff Borzello. [He] was a proponent of the Princeton-style offense, and it brought early success with the likes of Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, both of whom signed under the previous regime back in the 2004 class. But as seemingly every team in the country was trying to play faster, Georgetown consistently ranked near the bottom of the country in pace and tempo. When the wins stopped coming in, especially in the NCAA tournament, the backlash against the Princeton-style offense increased."
"[The] Hoyas haven't had a guard selected in the NBA draft since 1996. That's obviously not just on JT3, but it can be considered an indictment on both style of play and recruiting."
"Count me among those pleasantly surprised by Patrick Ewing's tenure to date," said ESPN columnist Joe Lunardi. "My initial reaction was that far more could go wrong than right with his hire. Instead, Georgetown's singular legend, some say Allen Iverson, but it's Ewing by a mile, has rolled up his sleeves and done the dirty work of program building."
"I think Georgetown is a long way from competing for national titles, but they're taking the requisite steps to at least getting the program back in the national discussion," said Borzello.
Reclaiming the Birthright
