• The Hoyas picked up two wins over the week, beating St. John’s at home on Wednesday, and then beating #8 Villanova in Philadelphia on Saturday.
• There were tons of losses in the Top 25 over the past week, and four of the top 5 teams in the country picked up a loss as #2 Pittsburgh lost to Notre Dame on Big Monday, #3 Duke lost to St. John’s yesterday in New York, #4 San Diego State lost their first game to Brigham Young on Wednesday, and #5 Connecticut fell to Louisville in double overtime on Saturday.
• Also, #8 Villanova and #9 Syracuse each lost twice over the week, and #9 Brigham Young, #11 Missouri, #12 Purdue, #13 Texas A&M, #16 Minnesota, #17 Wisconsin, #18 Washington, #19 Vanderbilt, #20 Illinois, #22 Florida State, #24 Florida, and #25 Michigan State all lost a game this week as well.
• #1 Ohio State is the only unbeaten team left in the country, and they narrowly escaped experiencing their first loss with a 58-57 win over Northwestern on Saturday.
• In the NBA, Jeff Green continues to do well with the Thunder, as he scored 19 points and hit the game-tying shot in the overtime win against Minnesota, had 13 and 10 against the Wizards, and then scored 23 in the loss to the Heat yesterday afternoon.
• Roy Hibbert scored 20 points for the first time since November, but followed up that performance against the Nets with a 2 point showing against Chicago . Expect big changes for the Pacers, though, as coach Jim O’Brien was fired and replaced with interim coach Frank Vogel.
• Greg Monroe is continuing to do well with the Pistons as he scored 15 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds in a loss against the Knicks yesterday. DaJuan Summers played 12 minutes in that and scored four points.
• In the NBA Development League, Patrick Ewing, Jr. was traded from the Reno Big Horns to the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Tuesday. In his first games with the Skyforce, he scored 13 and grabbed 15 boards and then followed that up with a team leading 14 points in two losses to the Dakota Wizards.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Last year we shared some old footage of Kevin Braswell, Mike Sweetney, and company singing Christmas songs. This year, we have something a little different.

It’s Indiana Pacers fans singing Christmas songs about Roy Hibbert. Here’s the link: Happy Holidays from Area 55.

And if you really can’t live without it, here’s the classic Jingle Bells from 2001:

• The Hoyas moved to 6-0 with a home win over UNC Asheville on Saturday in which Austin Freeman tied the school record for threes in a game with seven.
• Alonzo Mourning was named one of seven Hoyas who will be entered into the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame in February. The event, taking place in Leavey Center on Friday, February 25, will also include Michael Stahr, Kathryn Federici, Dean Lowry, James Kenny, Mark Marilley, and Andrew Hoffmann from various sports on the Hilltop.
• Five teams in the AP Top 10 lost their first game this week. Unranked Connecticut beat #2 Michigan State and #8 Kentucky. #4 Kansas State lost to top-ranked Duke, #7 Villanova fell to #24 Tennessee, and #10 Purdue were upset by unranked Richmond.
• In the NBA, Jeff Green and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated Roy Hibbert and the Indiana Pacers in overtime on Friday. Big Roy put up 19 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, while Jeff scored 15 and grabbed 14 boards in the hard-fought victory. Hibbert was tough to contain until Green switched to cover his old teammate in the 4th quarter and overtime.
• In Turkey, Allen Iverson earned his first victory in Europe with a 94-85 win over Trabzonspor. Allen scored 14 points, dished out 8 assists, and collected a steal in the W.
• And in the D-League, Patrick Ewing, Jr. helped the Reno Bighorns move to 4-0 with two victories over the Bakersfield Jam over the weekend. He collected 20 points and 9 rebounds in the first game, and managed 17 and 11 in the second.

The season officially gets underway on Friday, but before that happens, I figured I’d let you in on what’s going on with the Hoyas who’ve taken their basketball skills beyond the hilltop.

Yesterday, we got you updated with all the Hoyas on Twitter, and today, I’ll be giving you recent updates on Georgetown players in the NBA and beyond.
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Last year, we set up Twitter lists so you could keep track of all the Hoyas, past and present, who are on Twitter. Well a year’s a long time in the Twitterverse, so we felt it was time to update those lists with some new faces and to add some long-lost fan favorites.
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• The Hoyas played their second and last scrimmage of the preseason this weekend, taking on the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg. While the scrimmage was closed to the public, there are some reports that Georgetown lost on Saturday. Scrimmages are behind us now, though, as the first game of the season takes place Friday night at Tulane.
• As of this weekend, Allen Iverson has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the Memphis Grizzlies to deal with a personal matter. The Grizzlies confirm that it is a family matter and has nothing to do with Allen’s displeasure with his playing time.
• Roy Hibbert returned to the Verizon Center on Friday to take on the Washington Wizards. The Pacers won easily, and Roy had his third-straight double-double putting up 12 and 11 off of 5-9 shooting.

Last week, the NBA season got underway, and here’s how your Hoyas have been faring so far:

• Allen Iverson has yet to play for the Memphis Grizzlies as he injured his hamstring before his new team’s season got started. He did however return to practice this weekend, and he will likely make his Memphis debut tonight.
• Jeff Green has gotten off to a great start with the Thunder as he’s averaging just shy of 20 points in his first three games. Last night, Oklahoma City dropped its first game of the season, but Jeff earned a double-double in the losing effort with 19 and 11.
• Roy Hibbert and the Indiana Pacers are off to an 0-2 start to the 2009-10 season, but the good news is that Roy has been getting some more minutes and he’s been managing his foul trouble situation a bit better than he had in his rookie season. We’ll have to see if he can keep that up, because the more minutes Roy can play, the more of an impact he’ll have. And more good news – the Pacers have picked up the contract option on Roy for the rest of the season.
• DaJuan Summers has yet to see any action with the Pistons so far, as Detroit has gotten off to a 1-2 start. He hasn’t dressed for the first three games, but hopefully his effort in practice will help him break in to the game day roster.

2009-10 Schedule News

• Last week, it was finalized that the Hoyas will play in the 2009 Jimmy V Classic. They will be playing Butler at Madison Square Garden on December 8.
• Also, the Big East conference matchups were announced, and Georgetown will be playing Villanova, Syracuse, and Rutgers twice in the upcoming season. Georgetown’s other home games will be against Connecticut, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and South Florida.
  [Press Release via GUHoyas.com]

NBA Summer League News

• The Orlando Summer League starts tonight, and two Hoyas are set to take part in this week’s games. Roy Hibbert will be teaming up with former Elite Eight opponent Tyler Hansborough for the first time as the Pacers square off against the Philadelphia/New Jersey hybrid team.
• Mike Sweetney is also set to play this week as he has been named to the Boston Celtics Summer League Roster. Big Mike will have a chance to earn his way back in the League starting with his game against Utah tonight. After being drafted #9 in the 2003 NBA Draft, Mike has not been on a team for the past two seasons.
• The Las Vegas Summer League starts up on Friday, and there are two more Hoyas set to take part in those games. DaJuan Summers is on the Pistons’ Summer Roster, and Patrick Ewing, Jr. will be back with the Knicks again trying to make a case for making the final roster after being the last player cut last season.

• Michigan State beat Connecticut in the first game of the Final Four. With the entire city of Detroit behind them, the Spartans upset the Huskies, 82-73, to advance to their first championship game since they won it in 2000.
• In the other semifinal, North Carolina defeated Villanova 83-69. They’re set to face Michigan State in the Championship game tonight on CBS with tipoff scheduled for 9:21.
• Allen Iverson came back to play for Detroit after sitting out a month with a back injury. But apparently, he still wasn’t healthy enough, and Detroit announced that he would sit out the rest of the season.
• Jeff Green and the Oklahoma City Thunder traveled to Indianapolis yesterday to play Roy Hibbert and the Pacers. Roy had 17 points and 8 rebounds for the winning campaign, while Jeff had 11 points in the loss.

Those of you who made out to the Verizon Center on Monday night might remember seeing a message from Roy Hibbert on the big Diamond Vision screen before the 2nd half. (Technically, he was trying to deliver the message before tipoff but the audio didn’t work). Basically Roy introduced himself to the new fans and tried to get the crowd excited for the huge game.

Well apparently, that wasn’t the first time Big Roy has been in front of the camera, as the Indiana Pacers have decided to give Hibbert his very own section of Pacers.com for a video blog called “Roy’s Life.”

In Episode 1, you can see the Big Fella playing Guitar Hero, singing along with “Livin’ on a Prayer” and dancing to “Beat It”.

NBA.com videos don’t let you embed so here’s the link – Roy’s Life: Episode 1