Georgetown Basketball: September 1998 News Archive
Check your travel calendars and frequent flier miles for November 1999, as GU has confirmed its particiaption in the 1999 Maui Classic, an eight team tournament that consists of Georgetown, North Carolina, Purdue, Florida, Southern California, Memphis, Utah State, and host school Chaminade. Each team is guaranteed three games over the course of the tournament, and portions of the tournament will be broadcast by ESPN. The Maui Classic is Georgetown's first major in-season tournament since the 1995-96 season, and its first games in Hawaii since 1991.
It's not often when Georgetown lowers prices for students, but that's exactly what's in store for student season ticket holders, according to the Georgetown Independent. Responding to student complaints, the Department of Athletics has lowered season tickets from $95 to $65 per student, although it eliminates tickets for games over the holidays that students don't attend anyway. The cost for 11 home games at MCI Center and two exhibition games means an average ticket will cost $5.00 per student, a bargain for any Hoya fan. Still, the Independent wonders if "the team's prospects for the coming season may scare away potential season-ticket buyers among seniors and freshmen who are left waiting and hoping for a star who can bring excitement back to the team." Haven't these people heard of Anthony Perry?
A pair of online recruiting services are reporting that Georgetown has secured a verbal commitment from 6-8 PF Courtland Freeman from Myrtle Beach, SC, ranked #43 in ESPN's Top 50 recruiting list. ESPN listed Freeman as considering Georgetown, Michigan, Clemson, and Syracuse, but has not yet confirmed this report. More on this story as additional reports are found. The Michigan recruiting site, mindful that Georgetown is recruiting against Michigan for a number of top players in that state, claims that Georgetown is almost out of scholarships to give this fall. Well, that's false, because 1) GU has not announced any commitments, and 2) until a player signs a letter of intent, a verbal commitment is just that--verbal--and no scholarships have been awarded to anyone. Players may not sign formal letters of intent until November 11.
September 16--Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese was on a recent ESPN chat discussing the conference. An edited version appears in this link from ESPN. Not much new here, but Tranghese did refer to the fact that there is a "specific and severe" financial penalty for a school to leave the conference. No figure was given, though some unofficial Big East football sites have claimed the figure is as much as $5 million.
Athlon Magazine, better known for its football previews, showed their lack of knowledge about the Big East to pick Georgetown and Seton Hall 10th and 11th, respectively, in the conference preview, saying neither will even make the NIT. What was even more bizarre was picking these teams behind West Virginia, which lost its top seven scorers from last year and added nine newcomers to fill in the gaps. Maybe someone forgot to tell Athlon about Georgetown's four returning starters, Anthony Perry, and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. But if all a pre-season annual is going to do is take 1998's standings and call it a 1999 preview, what's the point?
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