Colorado Leaves For Big 12; Who's Next? A regents meeting that took less than 16 minutes has sent the University of Colorado to the Big 12 Conference. The next move is not yet apparent."After careful thought and consideration, it was determined that a switch in conference would give CU Boulder the stability, resources, and exposure necessary for long-term future success in a college athletics environment that is constantly evolving," read an official statement, careful not to use the driving reason, namely,. money. "The Big 12's national reach across three time zones as well as our shared creative vision for the future we feel makes it an excellent fit for CU Boulder, our students, faculty, and alumni."The University of Connecticut continues to be in the orbit of the Big 12, but a report from writer Brett McMurphy appears to lay out the next steps and considers the Huskies as a fallback candidate:
Only six schools remain from the founding of the Big 12 in 1996 from the Big 8 Conference and four members of the defunct Southwest Conference. Its roster entering 2024 includes Baylor, Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, and West Virginia. Musical Chairs After an uneventful summer of major conference realignment, the University of Colorado may be stirring up that old game of musical chairs.With ongoing frustration over the lack of a TV contract for the Pacific-12 conference after June 2024, Colorado officials are ready to move to the Big 12 Conference, according to multiple reports. The Buffaloes competed in the Big 12 from 1996 to 2011 and its predecessor, the Big 8, from 1948 to 1995."The Pac-12 presidents have still not been presented with a media deal, a reoccurring theme over the past few months," writes ESPN.com. "Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano told the Denver Post last week that he was expecting numbers in a meeting prior to the Pac-12's media day last week. Those never materialized." The Big 12, which would grow to 13 schools with such a move, is not stopping at 13, but whether other Pac-12 schools follow has an effect on the Big East. "If Colorado brings the four corners [Utah, Arizona and Arizona State], that's the ideal scenario," a Big 12 source told Sports Illustrated. "Our schools love the four corners, going from 12 to 16." But "if the rest of the Pac-12 holds together and doesn't follow Colorado," said the writer, "Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark would like to target...Big East basketball member Connecticut. There is belief within the conference that Yormark is far more enamored with the Huskies than other members, but that he would have gained further credibility and trust by delivering Colorado. Thus the Big 12 could sign off on pursuit of UConn, a basketball gold mine in the northeast but a football underachiever over the last decade." The idea of UConn traveling across all sports to play BYU, Texas Tech, and Iowa State makes no logical sense, but logic has nothing to do with it. UConn left the far-flung American Athletic Conference in 2020 to return to the Big East, but the Big 12 could offer significantly more TV revenue for the expense, even if UConn fades from national prominence as it did in the AAC. With two years remaining in the Big East television contract, renewal talks are imminent. Fox Sports wants to know what teams it will be paying for. So do a lot of fans. One & Done: Dawg Town Falls, 95-66 Despite a lineup which included four former players with NBA experience, a collection of Georgetown basketball alumni from the 2010s was no match in the first round of the annual TBT Basketball Tournament following a 95-66 loss in Wheeling, WV.
COVERAGE
Known as Dawg Town, the Georgetown contingent scored the first basket of the game and never led thereafter. The team simply did not defend, giving up 12 three pointers and 17 points via fast break. Its opponent, a collection of former players from various southern schools known as Challenge ALS/Florida, shot 50 percent from the field, 56 percent from three, and outrebounded its opponent 56 to 30.Dawg Town trailed 51-31 at the half and 75-48 after three quarters. Using the Elam Ending, Challenge ALS ended the game on an 8-3 run for 9th win in 12 games in the tournament since 2017. This was Dawg Town's first TBT appearance, though an entry known as "Jack Attack" lost in the first round of the 2018 tournament. Brandon Robinson, a 6-5 guard from Division II Clayton State (GA) from 2009 to 2011, led all scorers with 20 points. Keith Clanton, a 6-9 center who played at Central Florida from 2009 to 2013, had 12 rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
The Georgetown team will return as "Dawg Talk" in an Alumni Basketball League exhibition at Syracuse on August 6. The Dawg Town portion of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Wright 24 4-10 0-1 4-4 0 3 1 12
Smith-Rivera 26 3-8 2-5 0-0 3 3 1 12
Clark 18 2-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 0 4
Whittington 29 5-6 1-5 0-0 9 0 3 13
Sims 27 5-9 0-3 0-1 4 0 2 10
Reserves:
Mosely 11 1-4 0-0 1-2 4 4 1 3
Pryor 23 2-5 2-6 0-0 4 4 2 10
Vaughn 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Bowen 10 1-1 0-0 0-2 3 2 3 2
Benimon 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Team Rebounds 2
TOTALS 200 23-46 5-21 5-9 30 17 13 66
Walk-On Announces Arrival For 2023-24 A second walk-on candidate has announced he will join the 2023-24 Georgetown Hoyas.A 6-6 forward, Donovan Grant played two seasons at Campbell HS in Smyrna, GA, averaging 15.2 points per game and graduated in 2019, accordong to Maxpreps.com. A season with the Atlanta based Skills Factory followed in 2019-20, where he was signed that summer to play for Division III New York University. Unfortunately, NYU cancelled its 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, and Grant never played there. He returned to Atlanta and played in the NBA Academy circuit, walking on at Oregon State in the fall of 2022. Grant did not see any action as a freshman during an 11-21 season, and entered the transfer portal in April.Grant's appearances at Georgetown practices and at the Kenner League led many fans to assume he had already transferred to Georgetown, but it was not until Grant's Instagram post on Monday that offered any formal confirmation. There has been no release from Georgetown as to Grant's place on the roster. The 6-6 Grant joins another identified walk-on, 6-0 Hashem Asad, as having declared their intent to play for the Hoyas in 2023-24. Asad, a native of Kuwait, has not yet arrived on campus and is not playing in the Kenner League, nor is senior Victor Muresan, a three year walk-on. Head coach Ed Cooley has two open scholarships for the 2023-24 season and has indicated an interest in keeping at least "one in the back pocket" should a late grad transfer or mid-season candidate become available. Non-Conference Schedule Announced Another sign of positive change: when Georgetown finalized its 2023-24 non-conference schedule, they didn't sit on it--they released it in July.This is believed to be the earliest schedule release for the basketball office, who was known in prior staffs to delay such announcements. Not so in 2023, and the schedule goes as follows:
Game times and media assignments are yet to be announced. More On Georgetown's "MTE" Two games on this schedule are part of what is known as a "multi-team event". What does this mean?In NCAA parlance, a multi-team event refers to a scheduling of teams, such as tournaments (Maui Invitational, 2K Classic), or in cases where no tournament invite was pending, a round robin against multiple opponents. Since Georgetown was not invited to a tournament this season, it arranged with Mount St. Mary's and American for a three game series, where each team plays two against the others (a game with MSM and AU has not been announced).This is the third MTE hosted by Georgetown, though the prior versions weren't known as such. On December 29-30, 1964, Georgetown hosted a two game series known as the "Georgetown Invitational" with wins over Richmond (79-73) and Lehigh (70-63) at McDonough Gymnasium. Owing to the post-Christmas dates, the event drew poorly on campus, with attendance of 500 versus Navy and 900 for Lehigh. A decade later, a four game series with Georgetown, Georgia, St Leo (FL), and Xavier (LA) was held at McDonough on December 10-11, 1977, dubbed the "Hoya Invitational". The two major college teams advanced as was expected in a doubleheader before 2,178, where Georgetown won over Georgia the following evening, 66-60 before a crowd of 3,079. (Xavier defeated St. Leo in the consolation game, 74-69.) For a number of years after the first and only Hoya Invitational, a title banner was seen at the gymnasium. This season's event has no name or title sponsor, though Georgetown would likely be happy to accommodate an interested entrant. . John F. Carroll (2019-2023)Some sad news from campus, as "John F. Carroll", the eighth in a series of mascots better known as Jack the Bulldog, died this past weekend at the age of four.A new mascot search will be pending this fall.
Schedule Update Next up on the 2023-24 Georgetown schedule: a November 29 game with Merrimack College.Merrimack, a member of the Northeast Conference, won its final 11 games of the season to finish 18-16 and capture the NEC championship, but was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament during its ongoing upgrade from Division II. As a result of two sub-Division I opponents and weaker non-conference scheduling, it finished #307 in last season's NET rankings despite a winning record.The Warriors return two starters and welcome three players from the transfer portal for this upcoming season. This is the first meeting between the schools. |