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Georgetown Basketball: August 2007 News Archive

Georgetown Voice Critical of Student Seating 8/30/07

Despite efforts by the Georgetown athletic department to open up more seating at Verizon Center for students, an editorial in the Georgetown Voice contends that it is not enough.

"Universities across the country, including Duke University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Kentucky, have far superior student seating, and Georgetown must follow suit," reads the editorial.

Moving all students into lower level seating would be prohibitive, however. The editorial did not address specifics with regards to the significant rent charged by Verizon Center for these games, much of which is met through public season ticket sales in the lower level.

Still The King 8/29/07

Five years after his retirement from the NBA and 25 years since his arrival at Georgetown University, the Patrick Ewing story continues to be a compelling one to fans of the sport.

Slam Magazine had an recent opportunity to talk with Ewing and look back on his life, from his early days in Jamaica, to high school and national attention in Boston, four years at Georgetown, and his Hall of Fame career in the NBA. It's recommended reading.

Back To School 8/25/07

With students back in school, the opening issues of this year's editions of The HOYA and Georgetown Voice discuss Roy Hibbert's international play as well as Kenner summer league action in advance of the upcoming season. Links to the stories are below.

Schedule Update 8/21/07

The Ann Arbor News has confirmed a midweek date for the Georgetown-Michigan game, which will be held November 15 at Verizon Center.

Meanwhile, the Georgetown-Ball State game on November 21 remains on, despite the resignation of Ronny Thompson (C'92) earlier this summer. The contract contained a $100,000 penalty if Georgetown backs out of the game.

When asked about the game, GU sports communications director Bill Shapland told the Ball State Daily News "Until we have the schedule we don't release anything."

Green Adjusting To NBA Life 8/21/07

Not yet 21, Jeff Green continues his adjustment to the life of an NBA pro, according to the Washington Post.. Green and fellow Seattle teammate Kevin Durant are in Las Vegas for practices involving the U.S. national team.

"I don't go out and party anyway...too expensive," Green said. "I can't live the lavish life yet. I haven't done anything yet, to make a name for myself. I'm not trying to get too far ahead of myself."

Licensing: Georgetown #46 8/17/07

Georgetown appears to have ended a run of declining merchandise royalties for athletic products, according to the latest study conducted by the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC).

Georgetown, which in 1991 was ranked #1 in the nation for college merchandise royalties, fell out of the top 50 list for the first time ever in 2006. In 2007, the University was rated #46, or about where it was in 2004 (#44).

Georgetown was seventh among Big East schools, with other conference schools in the top 75 including Notre Dame (#2, up from #3), Louisville (#27, up from #32), Syracuse (#33, unchanged from 2006), Pitt (#41, up from #37), Connecticut ($42, down from #36), Cincinnati (#45, down from #42), Villanova (#60, down from 59) South Florida, #63, new to the Top 75 list) and Marquette (#66, up from #74).

US News: Georgetown #23 8/17/07

Off the sports pages, US News has published its annual America's Best Colleges list, with Georgetown University remaining 23rd in the poll, tied with the University of Virginia.

The schools comprising the top 25 list (technically 26 with Michigan and UCLA tying at #25) is largely unchanged from last year, with minimal changes in rankings between the schools. Athletically speaking, ten are Division I-A, nine I-AA (Georgetown is the only I-AA entry outside the Ivy League), with none from Division II and seven from Division III. All 25 play men's basketball, while 23 of the 25 play college football (Emory and CalTech do not).

By Division I conference, eight are from the Ivy League, three Pac-10, two Big 10, two Big East, two ACC, one SEC, and one from Conference USA.

Big East schools ranked in the national Top 120 included Notre Dame and GU (below), along with Syracuse (50, up from 52 in 2006), Pitt (59, down from 57), Rutgers (59, up from 60), Connecticut (64, up from 67), and Marquette (82, down from 81). Villanova and Providence finished 1-2 in the regional rankings for northern universities.

 
1. Princeton (1) 9. Chicago (9) 19. Vanderbilt (18)
2. Harvard (2) 11. Dartmouth (9) 19. Notre Dame (20)
3. Yale (3) 12. Wash., MO (12) 21. California (21)
4. Stanford (4) 12. Cornell (12) 22. Carnegie-Mellon (21)
5 .Penn (7) 14. Brown (15) 23. Georgetown (23)
5. CalTech (4) 14.Northwestern (14) 23. Virginia (24)
7.MIT (4) 14. J. Hopkins (16) 25. Michigan (25)
8. Duke (8) 17. Rice (17) 25. UCLA (26)
9. Columbia (9) 17. Emory (18)
 
Green Continues Summer Development 8/17/07

Jeff Green's rookie summer continues in the NBA, where he was selected earlier this summer to work with the USA Select team. Green was part of a Q&A session with USABasketball.com about his efforts to date.

"Coach [John Thompson III] called me and told me that USA Basketball was putting together a team, and that I was being considered," Green said. "I was excited to get a chance to play against LeBron, Kobe, Dwight Howard, all those guys. I jumped at the challenge because I like challenges. Just to see what I'm going to be up against during the season. I jumped at that, especially because we have P.J. Carlesimo as our Select coach, and he's going to be my coach with the Sonics."

Columnists Debate R. Thompson's Departure 8/14/07

The issue of Ronny Thompson's abrupt departure from Ball State earlier this season is abnck in the news, as a column from Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post sharply criticized the environment Thompson found at the school.

Thompson is considering legal action against the school, according to the article, and suggests that there is a "systematic attempt to discredit me and my staff" following the resignation.

Wilbon's points were sharply contested by Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, who wrote at FoxSports.com that Wilbon's column "was irresponsible, filled with blatant inaccuracies told to him by Thompson and an embarrassment to The Post." Whitlock added that "[Thompson] bombed because he was too immature, too soft and too arrogant to deal with working in a poorly run, dysfunctional athletic department."

Columnist Doug Zaleski of the Muncie Star Press, who was visibly critical of Thompson at the end of his tenure, published a column critical of Wilbon and Thompson this week following the Post's article.

Ball State hired former Lehigh coach Billy Taylor as Thompson's successor.

Jackson To Serve As NBDL Coach 8/7/07

Earlier this week, former Georgetown assistant Jaren Jackson (B'89) was featured in the Chicago Tribune. Jackson will be an assistant coach in the NBA's developmental league this season.

"I'm going to be in this for a while," Jackson says. "I loved playing, but this is a way to contribute to the game and have an impact on young lives. You can teach. That's the joy of it."

Schedule Talk: Jacksonville 8/3/07

Add Jacksonville University to the list of non-conference opponents (posted to the left) that will be joining the 2007-08 schedule. Jacksonville announced a Dec. 9 game with Georgetown in a school release posted on Thursday.

The Dolphins were 15-14 in 2006-07 with an RPI of 196.

The two schools have not met to date...or have they? On Dec. 18, 1969, Georgetown traveled to meet the #18-ranked Dolphins, led by All-American Artis Gilmore. The Dolphins led 41-26 in the first half when hostile fans ran onto the court and interrupted play. Coach Jack Magee subsequently pulled his team off the floor, and Jacksonville officials reported the game as a forfeit. (The game is still listed as a forfeit in the Jacksonville record book.)

Georgetown officials appealed to the NCAA, which later declared the game a "no-contest", allowing Georgetown to qualify for the NIT tournament with six losses, not seven. The game is not recognized as an official game in Georgetown records.

NBA Schedules 8/3/07

The Washington Wizards have announced its 2007-08 schedule, another one of the annual steps necessary to finalizing the Georgetown schedule.

Overlaying the NBA's Wizards and the NHL's Capitals schedules, fans can begin to get an idea of the difficulty Georgetown has with matching its open dates to other schools' non-conference plans, as well as watch which open weeknights and weekend afternoons may be available to fill. Here's a calendar below--NBA and NHL games are in gray, while other events previously scheduled are in gold.

S M Tu W Th F Sa

November
          9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30  

December
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31          

January
    1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31    
February
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29  
March
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9            
 
New York AG Seeks Georgetown Data 8/2/07 

The state attorney general of New York has requested documents from Georgetown and 39 other university athletic departments over any relationship between the schools and a company named Student Financial Services Inc. (aka University Financial Services), a private student lender.

"A Georgetown spokesman confirmed the university received a subpoena from Cuomo's office yesterday afternoon and said the University will review the request and comply when appropriate," wrote the Washington Post. Other schools have challenged the move outright, claiming Cuomo lacks jurisdiction in their state.

Where Georgetown fits into this is unclear. At Marquette, another school cited in Cuomo's action, the company in question was merely an advertiser, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and no students actually had loans under the company.

Battling student lenders has proven successful to Cuomo's office, which has been able to collect on millions of dollars in legal settlements. In May, Columbia University agreed to pay Cuomo over $1 million into a "National Education Fund" administered by the New York AG's office.

"UFS' relationship is with Host Communications, which owns Kansas athletics’ multimedia rights,” said Kansas associate athletic director Jim Marchiony to the Kansas City Star. “If they’re looking for something shady, they’re going to be very disappointed.”

 
 

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