Georgetown Basketball

Big East Media Day

Updated 10/26/18

Over the last six seasons, Georgetown has finished near the the bottom of the Big East in five of them. By the results of the 2018-19 pre-season poll, voters expect more of the same.

 
Georgetown was picked seventh in the poll released this morning, as higher hopes for St. John's (4-14 in conference) and Marquette (9-9) have lapped that of the Hoyas, who finished 5-13 last season and return thee starters from last season's 15-15 team.

Jessie Govan, named to the first team all-Big East list, is the only individual award for the Hoyas.

There are some constants--Villanova is picked first and DePaul is finished last.

Villanova received eight of ten first place votes with Marquette and Butler picking up the remaining votes.

1. Villanova 79 pts
2. Marquette 70
3. Providence 58
4. St. John's 57
5. Butler 45
6. Xavier 41
7. Georgetown 33
8. Seton Hall 26
9. Creighton 25
10. DePaul 16

Preseason Player of the Year:
Shamorie Ponds, St. John's
Preseason Freshmen of the Year :
Jahvon Quinerly Villanova; David Duke, Providence

Preseason All-Big East First Team
Kamar Baldwin, Butler
Jessie Govan, Georgetown
Markus Howard, Marquette
Alpha Diallo, Providence
Shamorie Ponds, St. John's
Eric Paschall, Villanova

All-Big East Second Team
Max Strus, DePaul
Sam Hauser, Marquette
Justin Simon, St. John's
Myles Powell, Seton Hall
Phil Booth, Villanova

So how has Georgetown fared in pre-season polls versus the real season? Here's a view of the predicted vs. actual finishes since 2013:

Season	Pre-Season	Finished
2013-14	2	7
2014-15	2	2
2015-16	2	8
2016-17	4	9
2017-18	9	8

 

NY Post Feature On Ewing

10/24/18

From the New York Post, Mike Vaccaro sat down with head coach Patrick Ewing last week for a look at the second year coach.

"When I'm talking about energy and getting up and down the floor and multiple efforts, maybe one of these days I'll pop in one of the old tapes and let them see what I'm actually talking about," Ewing said, but later adding, "if these kids know me at all, it's because I was in "Space Jam".

"I could always pick up the phone and ask for advice from Coach Thompson," Ewing said. "That's the relationship I want with my players. I want them to be able to ask me for advice, good or bad. I want to be one of the people they listen to. He always told me, you never know who's watching. That means practice. That means pickup games. It's a lesson I try to share."

AP Top 25 Poll

10/22/18

On the eve of Big East Media Day later this week, the inaugural Associated Press Top 25 Poll features six Big East teams garnering votes, but not Georgetown.

Villanova received one first place vote and 1,085 points overall in the poll, finishing #9 in the survey. Marquette, Butler, Xavier, St. John's, and Providence each received votes below the top 25.

Sporting News: Big East Rankings

10/19/18

More Big East rankings here's one from Sporting News, picking Georgetown seventh in the 2018-19 Big East race.

No mention of why the Hoyas are seventh, but it does provide a few words on Jessie Govan.

"Govan gradually has built himself into an elite college big man," it writes. "The trick now is to make those contributions count toward a winning team. That's obviously not entirely on him; he averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and 1.1 blocks as a junior. He also made over a third of his 3-point attempts and could become more involved as a perimeter threat."

Sports Illustrated: Big East Rankings

10/18/18

More Big East rankings out this week: this time from Sports Illustrated, picking Georgetown sixth in the 2018-19 Big East race.

"This is a young team that will lean on [Jessie] Govan's talent (he scored 30 points in a loss to Villanova late last season) and experience," it writes.

"The Big East has boasted the national champion in two of the past three seasons (Villanova in 2016 and 2018) and had two No. 1 seeds just last year (Villanova and Xavier). However, the conference lost 19 of its top 30 scorers from a year ago to the NBA and graduation, so the league is going to be in rebuilding form this year. Having said that, every team is facing questions and has young talent that's been waiting in the wings to fill roles. We may see the league take a small step back or we could see it send six or seven teams to the NCAA tournament."

NBC Sports: Big East Rankings

10/17/18

Georgetown has finished in the bottom four of the Big East in four of the past five seasons. According to NBC Sports, look for five out of six.

"It's hard to look at the rest of the roster and forecast a major improvement from last season's team that won just five conference games." writes a pessimistic profile of the 2018-19 season. "If some of the youngsters pan out immediately, maybe, but the upside just doesn't appear to be all that significant for Ewing's Hoyas in Year 2."

Over at NCAA.com, four Big East teams were listed in Andy Katz's top 36 list: Villanova (#13), Marquette (#19), Butler (#233), and Providence (#36).

Big East Media Day is scheduled for October 25.

Xavier Sets Season Ticket Record

10/17/18

Selling tickets to Georgetown games has proven challenging in recent years. At Xavier, it's a different story.

The school announced Friday it set a new season ticket mark with over 8,000 season tickets for the 2018-19 season, according to the Cincinnati Business Journal, breaking a mark set in 2001-02.

Tremendous thank you to Xavier Nation for setting a new high water mark for season tickets! Incredibly loyal alumni and fans. It all starts a week from today with Musketeer Madness!#LetsGoX https://t.co/vyV2eJBdkU

— Greg Christopher (@GC_XUAthletics) October 12, 2018

Xavier averaged 10,475 per game at the 10,224 seat Cintas Center last season.

Four Hoyas On 2018-19 NBA Rosters

10/16/18

Four former Georgetown players are on NBA rosters at the opening of the 2018-19 season.

Jeff Green (C'12) and Otto Porter (ex'15) will play with the Washington Wizards, while Greg Monroe (ex '12) is now with the Toronto Raptors.

Marcus Derrickson (ex'19) signed a two-way agreement with the Golden State Warriors, which limits his time to 45 days this season with the main club, and he will spend the remainder of the season with its developmental league affiliate in Santa Cruz, CA. Derrickson would become the first Georgetown player to join NBA since 2013.

Big East, Big 12 Seeking Challenge Series

10/16/18

The Big East and Big 12 are close to a multi-year challenge series between the 10-team conferences, reports the Kansas City Star.

"This is designed to add quality games to each school's schedule," said Kansas' Larry Keating. "As conferences have moved to 20 game schedules, with the Pac-12 going to 20 and ACC and Big Ten at 20 already, it means those teams are less available for nonconference games. This helps make sure everybody is getting quality nonconference games."

The Big East and Big Ten currently have a challenge series through the 2022-23 season.

Antwan Walker Dismissed From Team

10/11/18

Sophomore forward Antwan Walker was kicked off the team Thursday for two fights with a fellow student athlete, according to online reports.

At the time of the announcement, Georgetown gave no details as to the issue that was at play. CBSSports.com reported Thursday night that "Per multiple sources familiar with the situation, Walker has been involved in several altercations in the past few weeks, stemming from a dispute with another Georgetown student athlete from a different Georgetown athletic program. At least two of the aforementioned altercations became physical, and Walker injured his hand in the process."

The 6-9 Walker averaged 2.6 points in 25 games last season and was expected to provide frontcourt support for senior Jessie Govan. He had a career high 16 points against Alabama A&M.

This is the second dismissal of a member of the men's basketball team in less than a year. In December, freshman center Chris Sodom was kicked off the team, later enrolling at George Washington in the summer of 2018 but leaving that school two months later.