Big East Games Stay At FS1, NXT Moves
The announcement of the 2019-20 Big East schedule is caught between a battle between two networks over broadcast rights to NXT, the developmental league of World Wrestling Entertainment. In the end it was WWE, not the Big East, which will be moving off Fox Sports 1.
In 2018, Fox Broadcasting announced a five year, $1 billion rights agreement with WWE, which would move its Smackdown Live program, the #7 rated cable TV show, from the USA Network to Fox. With the loss of UFC rights to ESPN, Fox had expressed interest in also moving NXT, which currently airs on the WWE's streaming platform, and move it to Wednesday nights on Fox Sports 1 to counter-program against a new program on TNT, All-Elite Wrestling (AEW), being bankrolled by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Tony Khan.But this is where the Big East comes in. Its contract with Fox commits the network to show all its games, either on FS1, FS2, or through a secondary rights agreement with CBS Sports Network, with at least two games a week generally falling on Wednesday during the season. A regular two hour weekly NXT show would have either preempted or realigned all sorts of Big East games out of a prime time slot, unless the conference wanted to move more games off the Wednesday timeframe.
WWE announced Wednesday that NXT will move to the USA network instead.
"If WWE wants NXT on cable television to combat AEW's weekly show on TNT, which launches October 2nd, then they probably do need to go with USA," writes a columnist at Forbes.com. "Fox has commitments for Big East basketball on Fox Sports 1 on numerous Wednesdays during the season, and it's not as if a new deal for NXT would preempt those. If the point of the NXT move wasn't obviously to try to keep viewers from going to AEW, then WWE could try to go with a different night. But now they risk alienating their new, lucrative TV partner over a predatory move to try to kill new competition out of the gates."
One Night In Beijing
Eight years ago this Monday: a melee during a Georgetown exhibition game in China.
"Once it got out of hand, I was in great fear for everyone associated with Georgetown University, because if you look at it in terms of sheer numbers, we were very much outnumbered," recalled head coach John Thompson III. "Once it got to that point, once all the skirmishes had ended, my only thought was to get our fans, our players, our family, our friends out of this building as soon as possible."This web site posted some of the first coverage in the West from the events of August 19, 2011, including an eyewitness report and publishing photos found from a Chinese web site that was later censored by government officials. A video of the event eluded Chinese censors and lives on at YouTube.
"The mood at the game the following evening with the Bayi Rockets, a professional basketball team sponsored by the People's Liberation Army (PLA), was tense, and the game was very physical from the start," wrote Georgetown professor Victor Cha, who attended the 2011 game. "The PLA sent a spectator section of soldiers who chanted loud, disciplined cheers every time the Rockets scored. There was some scuffling among players during the game, prompting several technical fouls, and a bizarre moment when one of the Bayi players approached and started yelling at Georgetown Coach John Thompson III for some unknown reason (Thompson ignored it, but Georgetown players became very upset at this). The foul count was imbalanced (at one point 28 against Georgetown and 11 against Bayi), but other NCAA teams playing in China like Duke experienced similar problems. Unfortunately, that's what you get when you play in China."
"The images of US student-athletes from storied institutions like Georgetown being beaten upon by the PLA basketball team does not play well for China's international image," he noted. "The video of the incident was quickly censored in China, which arguably indicated embarrassment on the part of Chinese authorities."
"What happened on the court between Georgetown and the Bayi Club team will be read as a full blown international incident, because of the simple fact that sports and politics are inextricable in China," said columnist Sally Jenkins at the Washington Post.
Visit the Archive pages for the coverage as it happened on August 19, 2011.
Bahamas Game 3:
Georgetown 91, Bahamas Nat'l Team 61
A 27-7 run to open the game paced the way for a comfortable 91-61 win as the Georgetown Hoyas wrapped up its three game tour in Nassau, Bahamas.
Georgetown led 39-25 at the half and was led by James Akinjo and Myron Gardner, each with 13 points. It's the last game action fans will see of the 2019-20 Hoyas until the season opener on November 6.Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Akinjo 25 4-6 1-3 2-2 8 6 1 13
Blair 15 0-0 3-6 0-0 1 2 2 9
Allen 14 1-4 0-2 0-0 3 3 4 2
Wilson 10 1-5 0-0 4-6 3 0 2 6
Ighoefe 10 1-1 0-0 0-0 3 0 2 2
Reserves:
Pickett 16 0-2 1-3 1-2 5 0 0 4
McClung 25 2-3 0-4 2-2 4 3 4 6
Alexander 13 2-2 2-4 2-2 6 1 1 12
Gardner 19 3-5 1-2 4-5 4 2 2 13
Muresan 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 2
Robinson 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0
LeBlanc 14 4-6 0-0 0-0 6 1 2 8
Wahab 14 2-4 0-0 4-4 4 1 1 8
Yurtseven 13 3-5 0-1 0-0 4 1 1 6
Team Rebounds 2
DNP: Mosely
TOTALS 200 24-46 8-25 19-23 54 21 22 91
Bahamas Game 2:
Georgetown 112, NBPA Select 67
Mac McClung and Jahvon Blair each scored 21 as the Georgetown Hoyas took a comfortable 112-67 win over a team known as NBPA Select at Nassau, Bahamas.
Head coach Patrick Ewing went with a different starting lineup, led by Blair, who scored 16 by halftime. Georgetown led 60-33 at the break and was never challenged in the contest.Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Blair 16 2-4 5-9 2-2 5 4 3 21
Allen 20 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2
Alexander 17 3-5 0-2 1-4 4 3 2 7
Gardner 16 4-6 1-2 1-2 5 0 1 12
Wahab 11 2-3 0-0 2-2 2 1 0 6
Reserves:
Pickett 11 1-1 1-1 0-0 4 0 1 5
McClung 16 6-6 1-4 6-6 3 4 2 21
Akinjo 25 1-4 4-7 0-0 2 8 3 14
Ighoefe 9 1-3 1-1 0-2 5 0 0 5
Muresan 8 1-1 0-0 1-2 2 0 2 3
Robinson 12 1-3 0-2 3-6 2 3 0 5
LeBlanc 10 2-4 1-1 0-2 4 1 1 7
Wilson 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 6 0 2 0
Yurtseven 11 2-5 0-0 0-0 7 0 1 4
Team Rebounds 1
DNP: Mosely
TOTALS 200 27-48 14-29 16-28 53 26 21 112
Big East All-Academic Team
Three Georgetown men's basketball players were named to the 2018-19 Big East All-Academic Team, joining nearly 3,000 student-athletes from across the conference.
Trey Mourning, George Muresan, and Mac McClung were named to the team, reflecting a 3.0 or higher grade average for the prior academic year. A total of 55 men's basketball players across the ten teams were cited, including 10 from Seton Hall, nine from Villanova, seven each from Butler and DePaul, six from Xavier, four from Marquette and three each from GU, Creighton, Providence, and St. John's.Bahamas Game 1:
Georgetown 103, Commonwealth Bank 77
Six players scored in double figures as the Georgetown Hoyas opened its three game Bahamas trip with a comfortable 103-77 win over the Commonwealth Bank Giants at Nassau, Bahamas.
POST-GAME COVERAGE
The Hoyas led by 35 in the game, leading by 25 at the half and scoring 52 points in the paint. James Akinjo led all scorers with 16 points in 17 minutes of action.Here's the Georgetown half of the box score:
MIN 2FG 3FG FT REB A PF PTS
Starters:
Akinjo 17 5-8 2-2 0-0 2 3 0 16
McClung 15 4-5 1-3 4-5 2 2 2 15
Pickett 19 3-4 2-3 2-2 4 4 0 14
LeBlanc 13 3-5 0-1 0-1 4 2 4 6
Yurtseven 16 5-13 0-0 0-0 9 0 2 10
Reserves:
Blair 23 1-5 4-8 0-0 1 2 2 14
Ighoefe 9 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 3 0
Alexander 16 2-3 0-1 0-2 3 2 2 4
Allen 19 4-4 1-2 0-0 2 1 0 11
Gardner 18 2-3 0-0 1-2 3 4 5 5
Muresan 6 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Robinson 5 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2
Wilson 11 2-7 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 4
Wahab 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 2
Team Rebounds 5
DNP: Mosely
TOTALS 200 33-64 10-20 13-16 30 20 22 103
Joseph White (1963-2019)
From the Staunton News-Leader, news Saturday night on the death of Joseph White, who covered Georgetown basketball for the Associated Press from 1995 through 2015.
White, named Associated Press Sportswriter of the Year in 2005 of his extensive coverage of Washington area sports, retired in 2015 to run a grocery story in Staunton, VA. According to reports, White suffered an injury last month while hiking the Appalachaian Trail.KenPom: Georgetown #36
If you want to argue about something, I ranked every D-1 program from 1-353. A handy reference if you get multiple head coaching or scholarship offers.https://t.co/7LxB180013
— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) August 9, 2019
Basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy ranks Georgetown 36th in a 22 year review of his team ratings since 1997.
The Hoyas have been ranked is high as 4th (2007) and as low as 124th (2004) during the last 22 years. Last year's team finished 100th.The rundown of Big East teams is as follows:
7. Villanova
19. Connecticut
25. Xavier
33. Marquette
36. Georgetown
44. Creighton
47. Butler
53. Providence
67. Seton Hall
75. St. John's
101. DePaul
Hibbert Joins 76ers Staff
Former Georgetown center Roy Hibbert (C'08) has joined the Philadelphia 76ers in a player development role, reports NBC Sports
Hibbert, 32, retired in 2017 after nine seasons in the NBA. He played seven seasons with the Indiana Pacers, followed by contracts with the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, and Denver Nuggets.GU Athletics Announces 150th. Anniv. Activities
In 1870, Georgetown College numbered five buildings and graduated a class of four. Six years before the founding of the National League, the college held its first athletic contest, a baseball game versus Columbian College, better known as George Washington University.
The Georgetown University Athletic Department has announced a series of plans to salute the 150th anniversary of Georgetown Athletics during the 2019-20 season."For 150 years, Georgetown and intercollegiate athletics have continued to evolve and grow," aid athletic director Lee Reed in a press release. "G150 is a chance to celebrate how far we've come and look ahead to the next 150 years."
The first intercollegiate team was formed with a collection of players from the college's two intramural baseball clubs, the Stonewalls and the Quicksteps. Baseball was the only sport on campus until the founding of the Football Association in 1874 and the Rowing Association in 1876. Track and field followed in the 1880's, with basketball not arriving until 1907. The first women's sports were chartered in 1960.
Over the ensuing 15 decades, Georgetown has fielded varsity teams in 33 sports, 29 of which are active to this day. Former intercollegiate teams included rifle (1920-72), ice hockey (1940-49), boxing (1949-55), and women's gymnastics (1961-82).
Kenner League Report Card
From 247Sports, a review of the recently concluded Kenner League.
25 Years Ago: Allen Iverson's Arrival At Georgetown
From the Georgetown Basketball History Project:
"For those who were there at McDonough Gymnasium on August 4, 1994, few will forget the arrival of a 6-0 freshman guard who needed no introduction. The rumors of Allen Iverson's arrival to the Kenner League were true, and by game's end, Iverson had scored 40 points. By the Sunday afternoon final, before an overflow crowd inside the gym and a crowd of those outside who could not get in, Iverson finished a combined 99 point effort in three days against some of the best collegiate talent in the city. This, of course, from a player that had not played organized basketball in over a year."The Allen Iverson years had begun."