• Georgetown all-time great Alonzo Mourning has published his autobiography, Resilience: Faith, Focus, Triumph which will be available in bookstores tomorrow. On Wednesday, Zo will be at the Barnes and Noble on M Street signing copies of his book starting at 7:30 PM.
• Georgetown Prep junior Markel Starks has verbally committed to the Big Hoyas. We will be trying to get in touch with his current coach, former Hoya, and friend of the site Dwayne Bryant to find out some more about the 6’1” guard.

So finally, finally, Georgetown has released the schedule for the upcoming season. You can read Georgetown’s press release here, see their online schedule here, or you can check out Hoya Hoops’ very own Google Calendar here. We’re going to be updating it with more information as soon as we get it ranging from TV and Radio updates to previews, recaps, and box scores. For a bigger view of the calendar, you can click here to see it fill your whole browser.

If you’re Google users, you can very easily add the schedule to your Google Calendar by clicking on the Add button on the bottom right of the calendar. If you don’t have a Google account, but you still want to add the schedule to your own calendar application, here is a link to the ICS file, if you know what to do with that.

If you’re not sure what to expect from our calendar, check out what we did with last season’s schedule, and expect more of the same.

Today is Ben Gillery’s birthday. Last year, I wrote an article on who would take the jump ball for the Hoyas after Jeff Green’s departure, and I mentioned Big Ben’s expertise in that area. Another big man gone, and it’s time for the guessing to begin yet again. Who do you think will take the jump for Georgetown this year? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m going with Jason Clark.

Okay, so your guess is probably a little better than mine.

• After our week of buildup, Patrick Ewing was finally inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, being by his former coach and mentor, John Thompson.
• The Big East has finally released their conference schedule for the upcoming season. The Hoyas will face a tough challenge right off the bat as they start the Big East season at Connecticut, home against Pittsburgh, and then away at Notre Dame. Once we get the final schedule with the remaining non-conference games from Mex, we’ll be sure to update our schedule page and give you links for your Google Calendars/Outlook/iCal/whatevers.

So Patrick Ewing is finally getting into the Hall of Fame tonight. If you want to see the ceremony, it will be displayed live on NBA TV and ESPN Classic tonight at 7:30 PM.

In honor of Pat’s big day, we’ve decided to have some fun with you all. Write a hoyku about Patrick Ewing and post it in the comments. Here’s ours, taken from Tony’s favorite Patrick memory.

The ref can’t reach it
The ball is stuck in the net
Patrick saves the day

Congratulation to Patrick and to whoever comes up with the best poem.

Do you all know Billy Crystal? I’ve always thought he was a pretty good comedian. He was great on Saturday Night Live, with his crazy characters like Fernando of “You Look Marvelous” fame, and Willie the masochistic security guard. Plus, his incredible Sammy Davis Jr. impression is one of the best ever. Of course he’s had lots of funny movies like City Slickers (and II), and Analyze This (and That). Plus he was the voice of Mike Wazowski in the hilarious Disney/Pixar movie Monsters Inc. But, of all of the very funny and wild things about Billy Crystal, the funniest and craziest thing of all is that he is a Los Angeles Clippers fan. That’s not a joke.
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For those of you who live or have lived in the nation’s capital, you know there is only one sports team that really affects the life of Washingtonians as a whole, the Washington Redskins. If the Wizards are good, some people rally around them, and everybody can see that Gilbert Arenas is a pretty cool guy. Alex Ovechkin is a national and international sensation, but the Caps barely register on the local sports landscape. There was incredible excitement when Washington finally landed a baseball team, but after building the new stadium, the team moved back to Montreal or something, at least that’s what I assumed since the TV ratings and attendance are at the bottom of Major League Baseball. D.C. United has won four league titles since 1996, but if you don’t know what Barra Brava means, than you also probably don’t know that there is a pro soccer team in DC either. Basically, DC is not a sports town, except maybe during football season.
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For those of you who don’t know, Jeff Green and the Seattle SuperSonics are no longer Jeff Green and the Seattle SuperSonics. They are Jeff Green and the Okalahoma City … well no one knows just yet. Even though the move was made official back in beginning of July, they’ve been nameless ever since. Until now.
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• On Friday, Patrick Ewing, Jr.was traded from the Houston Rockets to the New York Knicks for French international Frederic Weis. Patrick is the 16th man under contract with the Knicks, and with only 15 players per team, Pat will have to earn his spot on the roster. If he does make the team, though, big Pat has said that the Knicks should take #33 down from the rafters.
• Today is Coach John Thompson, Jr.’s birthday. Let’ see what happens if Smokin’ Al Koken forgets to wish him a Happy Birthday on his show this afternoon.
• Patrick Ewing will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this Thursday, and in honor of his accomplishment, we at Hoya Hoops will be paying tribute to Big Pat throughout the week. Be sure to check out what we have to offer.