Georgetown Hoyas

From Hoopedia

A prior incarnation of the Jack the Bulldog logo

Georgetown University is a private university located in Georgetown, a historic neighborhood of Washington, D.C. With roots extending back to March 25, 1634 and founded in its current form on January 23, 1789 by Father John Carroll, it is both the oldest Roman Catholic and oldest Jesuit university in the United States, and was the first in the United States to receive a charter from the United States Congress. Undergraduate enrollment totals 7,000.

The teams participate in the NCAA's Division I. Georgetown competes in the Big East Conference.

The school's sports teams are called "the Hoyas". Many years ago, students well-versed in the classical languages invented the mixed Greek and Latin chant of "hoya saxa", translating roughly as "what (or such) rocks!" Eight years after the founding of The Hoya student newspaper, a campus sports writer began to refer to teams as the "Hoyas" rather than as the "Hilltoppers". The name was picked up in the local dailies, and Hilltoppers soon fell out of view. The mascot of Georgetown athletics programs is Jack the Bulldog.

1 Men's Basketball
2 Hoyas in the Pros
- 2.1 Postseason results
  - 2.1.1 NCAA Tournament appearances
  - 2.1.2 NIT Tournament appearances
3 Women's Basketball
4 External Links

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Men's Basketball

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Titles and Banners

1984 NCAA Champions.

The Men's basketball team is the most successful and well-known sports program at the university. They won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1984 (over the University of Houston) under coach John Thompson, Jr. The Hoyas also reached and lost the Championship game in 1943 (to Wyoming), 1982 (to Michael Jordan's North Carolina), and 1985 (to Big East rival Villanova).

The team was very successful in the early years of the Big East: it won or tied for the regular-season titles in 1980, 1984, 1987, 1989, and 1992. The team was even more dominant in the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: it won in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989.

Since 1997 Georgetown's men play their home games at the Verizon Center, located in the heart of Washington, DC, at 7th and F Streets NW. The Hoyas share their home with the Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Capitals (NHL), Washington Mystics (WNBA), plus concerts, family shows and sporting events. The Verizon Center also hosted the 2003 NBA All-Star weekend. Georgetown holds a 63-30 mark (67.7% winning pecentage) in the building.

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Current Team

The current coach is Thompson's son, John Thompson III, who took over from Craig Esherick. John Thompson III's first notable win with the team took place on January 21, 2006 when unranked Georgetown upset No. 1 Duke University. This was Georgetown's first win over a No. 1 ranked team in 21 years. An interesting item of trivia is that the last time the Hoyas beat a number one ranked team, John Thompson Jr. was coaching and Patrick Ewing was playing. In their win against Duke, John Thompson III was coaching and Patrick Ewing, Jr. was sitting on the bench (as a redshirt transfer sophomore).

The Hoyas currently employ their own variant of the Princeton offense, a slow, cerebral style of play that is very rare in the modern college game. The hallmark of the offense is the "backdoor" pass, where a player on the wing suddenly moves in towards the basket, receives a bounce pass from a guard on the perimeter, and (if done correctly) finds himself with no defenders between him and a layup. Coach Thompson learned the style while playing for Coach Pete Carril at Princeton. Georgetown has been lauded in the sports media for destroying the "warped stereotype" that "African American kids don't want discipline" as well as for proving that the typically brawny Georgetown team can excel by emphasizing offensive efficiency rather than defense.

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2006-07 Season

The 2006-07 Hoyas are led by a pair of Preseason All Big East big men, forward Jeff Green and center Roy Hibbert. These juniors, along with junior starting point guard Jonathan Wallace, will provide the Hoyas with veteran leadership.

The team's freshmen are DaJuan Summers (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh), Vernon Macklin (Hargrave Military Academy) and Jeremiah Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.). Summers, a 6-8 power forward, was named the Baltimore City Player of the Year. Rivers participated in USA Basketball's Youth Development Festival as well as the NBA Players' Association Top 100 camp. Vernon "The Big Ticket" Macklin has been named a McDonald's All-American. as well as Mr. Basketball (best player) in Virginia.

Other regular players are Tyler Crawford, Jessie Sapp, and Patrick Ewing, Jr.

The 2006-07 season also marks the centennial of Hoya hoops, which was celebrated by honoring some of the team's most famous alumni at the Georgetown-Marquette game on February 10 (Georgetown won, 76-58).

On March 3rd, 2007, the Hoyas completed their first regular-season Big East Championship since 1989. On March 10th, 2007, the Hoyas defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers (65-42) to win the 2007 Big East Tournament Championship for the first time since 1989. Jeff Green was named the Big East Player of the year and the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Georgetown entered the NCAA tournament as a the #2 seed in the East region. The Hoyas demolished Belmont University, 80-55. In the second round they turned their attention to the Boston College Eagles, their old nemesis from the Big East. Games between Boston College and any Big East squad take on a certain level of animosity, a remnant from BC's abandoning the Big East in 2005 and switching to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Georgetown prevailed over the #7 seed Eagles, 62-55.

In the Sweet Sixteen, the Hoyas played a tough game against a surprisingly strong Vanderbilt team, and won, 66-65. Then in the Elite Eight, this generation of Hoyas and Tar Heels reprised their venerable 1982 championship game. This time, however, it was Georgetown that came on strong at end. The Hoyas literally shut down the 'Heels offense, and forced the game into overtime. The Hoyas gave no quarter, holding North Carolina scoreless until the last seconds of the extra stanza. By then it was too late, and Georgetown went home with a 96-84 win and tickets to the Final Four. This trip is their first to the Final Four since their loss in the 1984 championship game to their Big East rivals, the Villanova Wildcats. Sadly for the Hoyas, they were a bit over-matched by a powerful Ohio State team, 67-60 in the national semi-final game.

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