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Various news items posted during September 2022.
 
 

Early Pre-Season Poll: Georgetown 11th

9/28/22

The first of the Big East media polls has been released by the the Asbury Park Press, where veteran reporter Jerry Carino picks Georgetown 11th.

Carino's Choices:
    1. Creighton
    2. Villanova
    3. Connecticut
    4. Providence
    5. Seton Hall
    6. St. John's
    7. Xavier
    8. Marquette
    9. Butler
    10. DePaul
    11. Georgetown


Creighton gets the early pick, where, according to Carino, "The combination of experience, balance and coaching are present for a run deep into March."

As for Georgetown, Carino is fairly direct. "Massive retention problems have laid this proud program low," he notes. "Can Patrick Ewing save face?"

 

Syracuse: Life After Boeheim

9/28/22

When Jim Boeheim arrived at Syracuse University as a freshman in 1962, John Kennedy was president, Queen Elizabeth II was in her mid-30's, and the big team in town was the NBA's Syracuse Nationals, not the Orangemen.

Boeheim played three seasons at Syracuse and graduated in 1966. He lived near the school while playing in the Eastern League, joined the Syracuse staff as an assistant coach in 1969, adn became head coach in 1975. "I've never left," Boeheim said. "I'm the only coach that's ever done that. People come back. But this is my 60th year."

Time marches on, and ESPN.com asks a question that Syracuse fans are increasingly asking: what will basketball be like without Jim Boeheim as coach?

"People have been asking me that for 15 years," Boeheim said. "Well, 15 years ago, if I'd said it'd be pretty soon, I would have been a liar. I think, realistically, I'm pretty close." The Orangemen suffered its first losing season under Boeheim in 2021-22, finishing 16-17, and since leaving the Big East in 2013, Syracuse has finished better than seventh in the ACC just twice in nine years.

"Don't be fooled by North Carolina's success in Hubert Davis' first season at the helm after Williams' retirement, when he led the team to the 2022 national title game. Schools often struggle in the years that follow the replacement of a longtime coach," writes Myron Medcalf, who did not cite Georgetown as an example. "In this post-Boeheim era, the next coach at Syracuse, or any school, really, might be lucky to go a few years without coming under scrutiny from their program and fan base."

 

Robert P. Ward (1946-2022)

9/24/22

Bob Ward, a Monmouth County, NJ attorney who played two years of basketball at Georgetown from 1964 to 1966, died earlier this week at the age of 76.

Ward, a sturdy 6-6 forward from St. Peter's Prep, was one of six players in the Hoyas' most prominent recruiting class of the decade. He averaged 8.2 points and 5.5 rebounds as a sophomore, seeing action in 23 of 25 games that season. As a junior, he finished second in scoring with a 12.2 points per game average, including 23 versus Columbia, 29 versus Delaware, and a career best 35 versus LaSalle.

In the fall of his senior season, Ward was declared academically ineligible, and opted to join the Marine Corps, reaching the rank of major before earning a law degree from Fordham in 1976. He was an attorney in Brick, NJ for 45 years.

Bob Ward is survived by his wife of 50 years, two daughters, and a son in law. A funeral Mass will be held on Monday.

 

Ewing: Expect GU In The Mix

9/21/22

At 466 words, Jon Rothstein's feature with Patrick Ewing is short and doesn't break any new ground. Nonetheless, the head coach skipped opportunities with local writers to get his message to a larger audience.

"I expect us to be right in the mix with everybody," Ewing said, repeating a talking point from earlier in the summer: "Last year was the worst season of my career. Everyone here knows that nothing like that can ever happen again."

"I'm not going to put a number on anything, but when it's all said and done, I think Hoya Nation will be happy with what the result is."

 

Georgetown Fares Poorly In ROI Charts

9/20/22

Click on the link below to find the Hoyas on this review of wins per dollars over the past five seasons: it's a rough number.

The data analytics site known as JG Trends published on a Twitter a review of program expenses against wins for major college programs from 2017 to present, which covers Patrick Ewing's five seasons as head coach. Per the chart, the Georgetown men's basketball program has allocated over $75 million in costs against a cumulative record of 68-84, or more than $1.1 million in expenses per win over that period.


The site's review of NCAA tournament wins since 2013 lists Georgetown and TCU among the least efficient programs, each with just one tournament win over that time span.

 

Jamaica Classic Travel Information

9/14/22

Hotel information for the Nov. 18-20 Jamaica Classic has been posted.

Prices for the event are at a premium, according to the event web site. A four day, all inclusive package, with double occupancy, ranges from $1,845 to $2,175 per person, with single occupancy quarters topping at $3,756. The quoted costs do not include air travel, with limited nonstop options from Washington.

This is the first tournament hosted on the island since 2019. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, while the 2021 event was a six team tournament in St. Petersburg, FL.

Tickets for those who do not purchase a hotel package go on sale October 11.

 

Georgetown: #22

9/12/22

Georgetown University is ranked #22 in the annual US News college rankings, which was released Sunday night. Georgetown was 23rd in last year's survey.

Overall, the top 25 list remains fairly static, with one major exception: Columbia. After that school admitted submitting inaccurate data on class size and faculty degrees which resulted in a #2 ranking in 2021-22, US News removed them from the 2021-22 list entirely later that year. With the new information provided for 2022-23, Columbia fell to 18th.

Georgetown has been ranked in the Top 25 every year since 1988.

Here are the 2022-23 Top 25 Rankings:

1. Princeton 10. Duke 18. Notre Dame
2. MIT 10. Northwestern 20. California
3. Harvard 12. Dartmouth 22. Carnegie-Mellon
3. Stanford 13. Brown 22. Emory
3. Yale 13. Vanderbilt 22. Georgetown
6. Chicago 15. Rice 25. NYU
7. Johns Hopkins 15. Washington (MO) 25. Michigan
7. Pennsylvania 17. Cornell 25. Southern California
9. Cal Tech 18. Columbia 25. Virginia
 
Among Big East schools, Villanova was #51, with Connecticut (#67) and Marquette (#83) as the only other Big East universities ranked nationally in the top 100. Other nationally classified schools include Creighton (#115), DePaul (#137), Seton Hall (#137), St. John's (#166), and Xavier (#166). Providence and Butler are ranked in regional categories.

Georgetown scored highest in the following categories, according to the publication:

#3 in International Business (unchanged from 2021-22)
#8 in Study Abroad (up from #9)
#11 in Service Learning (down from #10)
#29 in Best Undergraduate Teaching (down from #27)
#32 in Best Colleges for Veterans (down from #28)
#39 in Best Value (up from #71)

 

2022-23 Big East Schedule

9/9/22
 

Big East schedules for Georgetown and the 10 other Big East teams were released Friday morning, with Georgetown's schedule noted to the left. At a glance, some observations:

  • The Big East portion of the season starts two weeks earlier than usual. This is a tacit acknowledgement of the impact that COVID-19 has placed upon schedules over the last two seasons, and the need for contingencies if games are postponed along the way. Notwithstanding, the last place Hoyas were left out of the conference's big five game finale on March 4 and thus will end the season three days early.
  • All home games return to Capital One Arena. but this could be another rough year for the 10 year trend of declining home attendance at the 20,500 seat arena. Four of the ten home games are within Georgetown's Christmas break, where crowds are absent of students and generally small. Following the new year, only two home games thereafter are on a Saturday, both at 12 noon: Connecticut (Feb. 4) and Marquette (Feb. 11).
  • Georgetown's toughest stretch comes in mid-January, with road games at Marquette (Jan. 7), Villanova (Jan. 16) and Xavier (Jan. 21).
  • The Hoyas return to Madison Square Garden on Jan. 29 to meet St. John's, which will be seen nationally on Fox prior to the NFC championship game. Georgetown will not play at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, however, as Villanova has chosen to play this game on campus at Finneran Pavilion. Villanova will play four other opponents (UConn, Creighton, Providence and Seton Hall) at Wells Fargo Center. Likewise, GU will not be among the five Big East teams playing at the XL Center as opposed to Gampel Pavilion.
  • Of the 20 games, one game will be seen on Fox Sports 2, two on Fox broadcast, three on CBS Sports Network, and 13 on Fox Sports 1.
  • And, perhaps, this uncomfortable question: when does Georgetown end its 20 game in-conference losing streak? Opening games with Xavier (Dec. 16) and at UConn (Dec. 20) seem a reach. A Dec. 29 game at DePaul or a Jan. 1 home game with Butler are the most likely targets at this point, but after that, it could be a while.
Ticket information has not been announced.



 

2022-23 Roster Released

9/2/22
 

With less that a week until the announcement of the Big East portion of the 2022-23 schedule, the basketball office has released the team roster.

Georgetown was the last Big East school to release a roster, one held back during the roster upheaval from last season and the uncertainty regarding the number of scholarship-eligible players that would make the roster, pending an NCAA eligibility on Arizona State transfer Jay Heath.

While Georgetown has not commented on Heath's status, he is listed on the official roster, which features two freshmen, six transfers, and returning center Qudus Wahab. Only three returning scholarship players saw playing time last season: junior Dante Harris (11.9 ppg) and sophomores Ryan Mutombo (5.1 ppg) and Jordan Riley (3.2 ppg).

Also back: junior guard Wayne Bristol (0.0 ppg), who did not see any playing time last season after transferring from Howard, and junior walk-on Victor Muresan (0.0 ppg), with a total of three minutes of play last season.

Not included on the 2022-23 roster without comment: senior Malcolm Wilson, following speculation his scholarship was in question following a total of nine players signed by Ewing for eight available scholarships. Wilson is now listed as a team manager and therefore will not play his final season at Georgetown.

Included without comment: the first public reference on an official Georgetown document to Ronny Thompson (C'92), whose previously undisclosed role within the program has been the subject of long-held speculation among media and fans. Thompson, 53, is listed as the program's first-ever chief of staff, though as of Thursday evening he is listed on the site without any description of his present responsibilities. In his prior role as an assistant coach from 1998-2003, Thompson received a full page biography in the Georgetown media guide that season.

Some familiar jersey numbers will be seen on the newest members of the Georgetown basketball family this season:

#0

LSU transfer Brandon Murray will wear jersey number 0, worn last season by Aminu Mohammed, who left school and will play for the Philadelphia 76ers' minor league team.

#1

Duquesne transfer Amir (Primo) Spears will wear jersey number 1, last worn by Jamorko Pickett from 2017 through 2021.

#4

Freshman Denver Anglin will wear jersey number 4, worn last season by Jalin Billingsley, who transferred to Eastern Michigan.

#5

Arizona State transfer Jay Heath will wear jersey number 5, worn last season by Tim Ighoefe, who transferred to Cal-Baptist.

#11

Connecticut transfer Akok Akok will wear jersey number 11, worn last season by Kaiden Rice, who left school and is seeking professional basketball opportunities.

#15

South Carolina-Upstate transfer Bryson Mozone will wear jersey number 15, last worn by Myron Gardner for eight games in the 2019-20 season before transferring at mid-season. Gardner is now a senior at Arkansas-Little Rock.

#22

LSU transfer Brad Ezewiro will wear jersey number 22, last worn by walk-on Jaden Robinson (C'22) from 2018 through 2021.

#23

Freshman D'Ante Bass will wear jersey number 23, worn last season by Collin Holloway, who transferred to Tulane.

#34

Maryland transfer Qudus Wahab regains the number 34 jersey he wore at Georgetown from 2019 through 2021.