Georgetown Gains In Learfield Cup RankingsGeorgetown University finished 70th in the Learfield Directors Cup, a measure of post-season performance among Division I schools co-sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and Learfield Sports.Points are awarded based on a school's participation and progress through 20 NCAA men's and women's championships events. The finish was down from 2021 but comparable to 2019. Basketball, once a regular in the calculation, has not offered any points to the total over the last six years.A total of 295 Division I teams qualified for some post-season competition in 2021-22. Texas won the award for the second consecutive year over Stanford. Six of eleven Big East schools saw increases in the rankings, as follows: 1. Villanova (54th, up from 84th) 2. Georgetown (70th, down from 63rd) 3. Providence (81st, up from 206th) 4. Connecticut (85th, down from 78th) 5. Creighton (86th, up from 162nd) 6. St. John's (100th, up from 182nd) 7. Butler (145th, up from 213th) 8. Xavier (210th, up from 240th) 9. Seton Hall (224th, down from 194th) 10. Marquette (229th, down from 162nd) 11. DePaul (258th, down from 255th) Georgetown's finishes since 1994 are below.
2021-22 ScoreboardHere's a rundown of finishes for Georgetown athletics programs in 2021-22 that maintain a win-loss schedule (programs like track, golf, rowing, etc. do not do so.)Men's basketball finished at the bottom of teams this past year.
2022 Gavitt Games A first ever meeting with Northwestern awaits Georgetown fans this season as part of the 2022 Big East-Big Ten Gavitt Games.The Wildcats return four starters from a 15-16 team; its leading scorer from last season, senior Pete Nance, is exercising a graduate transfer option at North Carolina.This game, which will be played at Capital One Arena at a date to be announced, figures to be the highest ranked opponent on the Hoyas' pre-season home slate, with a home game versus South Carolina close behind. Other games in the Gavitt Games series include the following: Villanova at Michigan State Indiana at Xavier Iowa at Seton Hall Marquette at Purdue Butler at Penn State Nebraska at St. John's DePaul at Minnesota Kenner League At 40 A rite of summer arrives this weekend as Kenner League basketball returns to McDonough Gymnasium after a three year absence.Lost to COVID-19 in the summers of 2020 and 2021, Kenner returns this weekend for a six week slate of weekend games that holds true to its original vision: a structured set of games for college athletes from across the region.The roots of the Kenner League date to 1982, where coaches at Georgetown, American, Howard, and UDC helped launch a NCAA-certified summer league for college athletes as an alternative to the Urban Coalition, founded ten years earlier. The Coalition, played at Dunbar HS, was an inner-city phenomenon, attracting large crowds to watch college players, street ballers, and NBA players together under one roof. Coaches had another view of the league, however. "I didn't think the Urban Coalition helped all of my kids last year," Howard coach A.B. Williamson told the Washington Post in 1982. Gus and Ray Williams came in one year and took 70 shots in a game. It was great for the fans, I guess, but one of my better players didn't take a single shot. I'm not sure if the Coalition is a vehicle to help the middle range kids improve their games in the summer. This new league seems well conceived and may be a little better for the average college player." It was without saying that John Thompson had more than a passive interest in the new league. Thompson knew the Urban Coalition well and didn't want his players in an unsupervised environment where street agents were lurking or where medical staff was not available in case of an injury. With Georgetown players taking classes on campus for the summer, the Kenner League offered both the ability for meaningful competition and the opportunity for "watchful eyes" at McDonough Gymnasium to keep players focused on the games and away from any negative influences off the court. The league began on June 18, 1982. Open to players on local college teams and players living within a 100 mile radius of Washington DC, the Kenner League would soon attract local players from a number of schools, including George Mason, George Washington, Maryland, Villanova and Syracuse. A Nike-sponsored team won the inaugural championship on August 8, 1982 with Georgetown guard Gene Smith named the tournament MVP following 37 points in the final. The continued migration of college players to the Kenner League and the move by the NBA to manage its own summer leagues took its toll on the Urban Coalition, which lost its certification in the late 1990's and was succeeded by the street ball of the Goodman League at Barry Farm. While nearly every Georgetown player of the last 40 years has come through the Kenner League, a number of other local players have gone on to NBA stardom in the years since their days at Kenner, such as Gilbert Arenas, Josh Hart, Kevin Durant and DeMarcus Cousins. One weekend lives in Kenner and local DC basketball lore. On Friday, August 4, 1994, Allen Iverson arrived in Washington for the first time, just a week after having been paroled from his 1993 assault conviction. Having not played organized basketball in a year and a half, he went for 30 in the first half and 40 in his debut game. By Sunday, he had scored 99 points in three games. A bootleg video of Iverson's debut (in an era where video coverage was not only rare, but forbidden in the gym) added to the legend: In the last Kenner League in 2019, stars included Omer Yurtseven, Mac McClung, James Akinjo, and Josh LeBlanc, so there will be new names and faces across this year's teams. Given its informal nature, rosters and game times can change, and fans that attend the weekend games take it in stride. Social media coverage has grown over the years, while informal recaps on the HoyaTalk board and other sites are eagerly awaited by Georgetown fans seeking to learn about the newcomers for the first time, spread across multiple teams. "The mission is for local kids in our area to have somewhere to come and play in front of our community," said Kenner League commissioner Van Johnson in a 2018 article. "We have a lot of kids here playing at a high level. We give them a chance to play in a safe environment and against good competition." The goals of the Kenner League is, to Johnson, much the same as it was in 1982: "to continue to provide good basketball, all-around basketball and competitive basketball, and give the people a safe haven to watch a game." 2022 NBA Draft Recap Former Georgetown forward Aminu Mohammed was not selected in Thursday's NBA Draft, and secured a non-guaranteed free agent deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.The only selection from the Big East was Connecticut forward Tyrese Martin (2nd round, #51, to Golden State).The most recent NBA draft pick from Georgetown was Otto Porter, who was selected third overall in the 2013 NBA Draft. Basketball Office Adds Two New Staff The basketball office announced two new additions to the Georgetown staff: an assistant coach and new role known as a director of player development.The new assistant coach is Patrick Baldwin, 49, formerly at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Baldwin was fired in March following a 10-22 record this past season and a record of 57-92 overall. Baldwin replaces Louis Orr, who pivots to the title of "Special Assistant to the Head Coach", which is in practice an assistant coach that is not allowed to recruit off campus.The new director of player development is Vernon Hamilton, 37, who follows Kevin Nickelberry from LSU, where the LSU web site said that he assisted the coaching staff "in planning and projects." Hamilton played as an undergraduate at Clemson , served as a graduate assistant there, and was an assistant coach for two seasons with a South Korean professional team. The director of player development is not an assistant coach and its exact role varies among schools. At Maryland, the director "oversees the student-athletes involvement in community service efforts and assist with internship opportunities" while at Northwestern, the DPD is tasked to "guide and promote the academic success of student-athletes." In other schools, it is a new title for a video coordinator; however, Georgetown already has a basketball video director. In a brief statement, head coach Patrick Ewing did not elaborate on the position. "I'm looking forward to working with both Pat Baldwin and Vernon Hamilton. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I think both will play a substantial role in the process as we prepare for the upcoming season." DeGioia Selected to NCAA Board Of Governors Georgetown president Jack DeGioia (C'79, G'95) has been selected to the revised NCAA Board of Governors for the 2022-23 academic year."DeGioia, the current chair, will serve on the board for one year to assist with the transition. After that, Division I will select a replacement representing its division," reads an NCAA release.The board has been reduced from 25 voting members to nine as part of recent NCAA reforms. Ewing Discusses 2021-22 Season In a talk with Fox Sports 1's John Fanta, head coach Patrick Ewing pointed to player talent as a chief cause for the outcome of the 2021-22 season."My goal is to get it back to the level that coach Thompson had it when we were here, and you can't do it without talent," Ewing said in an interview conducted in the men's basketball practice facility. "Nothing against the guys that were here, they tried their hardest, unfortunately, most of the games we were right there in them to have opportunities to win, but we just didn't have enough to get over the hump..." Mark S. Shields (1937-2022) Off the sports pages, news today of the passing of Mark Shields, 85, a columnist, author, and lecturer in the McCourt School of Public Policy.Born in Weymouth, MA and educated at Notre Dame, Shields arrived in Washington in 1965 following service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served on the campaign staffs of three Democratic presidential contenders, most notably Robert F. Kennedy, before joining the Washington Post in 1979. A frequent guest on TV political shows, he was a regular on CNN's "The Capital Gang" and the "PBS News Hour", from which he retired in 2020 after 32 years on the program."Mr. Shields tended to view politics with a touch of sorrow-filled regret," wrote the Washington Post. "He often mused that if Kennedy had been elected he would have become the most inspiring and transformative president in a generation. Instead, Mr. Shields was left to measure the aspirations and achievements of later generations of political figures, typically couching his views with [a] bemused sense of humor, brushed with the disappointment of reality." Shields taught at Georgetown on U.S. politics and participated in a number of seminars through what is now the McCourt School. In a 2013 forum at the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life discussing the newly elected Pope Francis, Shields asked the audience, "Are the strong among us more just, are they more humane, are they more engaged? Are the weak among us more secure, more confident and more valued? To me that is a message that we desperately need in this country, and in this world." In 2019, he spoke to the Georgetown University Board of Regents in a event titled "Civil Dialogue in a Divided Nation, Lay Leadership in a Broken Church." For over 40 years, Mark Shields was a devoted Georgetown basketball fan. Sitting alongside Wall Street Journal columnist Al Hunt, Shields was a regular season ticket holder at Capital Centre and Capital One Arena, a man who could discuss the Electoral College and John Thompson's defense with the best of them. Shields and Hunt often served as gentle antagonists to fellow Capital Gang co-host Robert Novak, an avowed Maryland basketball fan. In the obituary published in the New York Times, Shields looked back on his days in political campaigns. "You think you are going to make a difference that's going to be better for the country, and especially for widows and orphans and people who don't even know your name and never will know your name. Boy, that's probably as good as it gets." Mark Shields is survived by his wife of 56 years, one daughter, and two grandchildren. Men's Basketball APR Falls In 2021 The NCAA released its Academic Progress Rate totals on Tuesday, where Georgetown averted possible sanctions due to a suspended NCAA ruling.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
The Academic Performance Rate (APR) is a ratio of the number of players eligible and enrolled in a program over a four year period. Each player on a given roster earns a maximum of two points per term, one for being academically eligible (at least 1.8 as a freshman, 1.9 as a sophomore, and 2.0 as an upperclassman) and one for staying with the institution. A team's APR is the total points of a team's roster at a given time divided by the total points. The NCAA Division I average for men's basketball is 968. Georgetown's four year APR for men's basketball was 917, the lowest score of any team playing in a major basketball conference. "Teams that scored below the [930] benchmark would have to face penalties that encourage an emphasis and prioritization on academics," noted an NCAA release. "However, due to the current penalty suspension in place, teams will not be subjected to penalties this year." The penalties are expected to return in 2023, which can range from a reduction of scholarships to a ban on post-season competition. The men's basketball totals on a per year basis are as follows:
The Georgetown multi-year results among all sports are below (note that men's rowing and sailing are not included in that they are not recognized NCAA sports.)
Back To The Beach College basketball reporter Jeff Goodman reports that Georgetown will be returning to Jamaica for two games in November.A Twitter message last week from the Hoya Hoop Club teased "an exciting Pre-Thanksgiving Tournament" but without elaboration.Georgetown was one of just two Big East schools without a invitation to an MTE or multi-team event (formerly known as an in-season tournament) to date, having been passed over for the 16 team Nike-sponsored PK85 tournament in Portland. With most MTE's already filled, Georgetown has apparently accepted the offer from the Nov. 18-20 Jamaica Classic, where it competed in 2018 against Loyola Marymount and South Florida at the 1,600 seat Montego Bay Convention Center. Georgetown is one of four schools in the main bracket, according to Goodman, with two games to be scheduled out of either LaSalle (11-19 in 2021-22), Loyola Marymount (11-18), or Wake Forest (25-10). A secondary bracket featuring Wisconsin-Green Bay and Utah Valley is still under construction and a game versus one of these teams may be added to the Georgetown home slate as a result. Mohammed Makes It Official: He's Gone Freshman guard Aminu Mohammed confirmed Wednesday what had been expected for two months, formally ending his college career in pursuit of the NBA Draft."I have talked with my family and have looked at all my options, " Mohammed said in a release posted to Twitter. "Based on the feedback we have gotten before the NBA Combine and after the Combine I feel is is best for me to remain in the NBA Draft."Mohammed averaged 13.7 points and 8.2 rebounds for Georgetown in 2021-22, leading the team in both categories despite shooting just 37 percent from the field. He led the Hoyas in scoring in six Big East games and was named to the conference's all-freshman team as Georgetown's only post-season honoree in the post-season. Mohammed's place in the 58 man NBA Draft is speculative at this point, but he is not a projected first round candidate. He is ranked 61st by NBA DraftRoom.com and as low as 90th by a May 2022 review at Sports Illustrated. As noted at his biography at the Georgetown Basketball History Project, "Aminu Mohammed's overall production was the most of any Georgetown freshman in two decades, comparable to that of Mike Sweetney (2000-03) or Jeff Green (2004-07). Sweetney and Green were eventual NBA lottery picks, but not before two additional seasons of college experience followed. Mohammed's gambit is that he is ready now, not later, for the elite level of pro basketball." Georgetown's last selection in the NBA Draft was Otto Porter in 2013. |