We already talked about Mike Sweetney’s current situation in the NBA. Now we’re going to look back at his time spent with the Blue and Gray. His first game as a Hoya was on November 17, 2000 against Bethune Cookman at McDonough Gymnasium. Late in the first half, Mike was posting up just outside the lane near the block. He used a quick spin move around the defender and elevated to the front of the rim for a two-handed slam. The last Hoya big man I’d seen make a move like that was Alonzo Mourning. In that first half with Georgetown, Sweetney played 15 minutes and scored 15 points on 7-9 shooting. True, it was against an inferior opponent, but that was just the start of his remarkable career.

I don’t think that anybody in the history of the Big East has been more irresponsibly overlooked for individual awards than Mike Sweetney. As a freshman, he lost out on the Big East Rookie of the Year award to the highly touted Eddie Griffin of Seton Hall. Sweetney’s team beat Griffin’s in their two regular season meetings. Then two years later, Sweetney was beaten out for the Player of the Year by Carmelo Anthony Troy Bell. There’s no denying how good Anthony was in his only year at Syracuse, but look at the numbers from when those two went head to head in 2003.

February 3: Carrier Dome
	PTS	FG	FGA	FT	FTA	REB	AST	BLK
Sweetney	32	11	18	10	19	13	4	7
Anthony	22	5	13	10	13	7	3	1

March 1: MCI Center
	PTS	FG	FGA	FT	FTA	REB	AST	BLK
Sweetney	31	8	15	15	17	19	7	7
Anthony	30	12	29	5	13	15	2	2

March 13: Big East Tournament
	PTS	FG	FGA	FT	FTA	REB	AST	BLK
Sweetney	29	12	21	5	6	13	3	3
Anthony	21	9	17	2	3	6	2	0

 
Sweetney made history as a sophomore and is still the only Big East player to put up 30+ points and 20+ rebounds in the same game - that unforgettable 4OT game against Notre Dame. The Big East might never see another line like this one:

February 9, 2002
	PTS	FG	FGA	FT	FTA	REB	AST	BLK
Sweetney	35	11	25	13	15	20	6	6

 
Sweetney was a great player when he arrived at Georgetown, but the improvement from his sophomore year to his junior year was astounding. The Hoyas struggled as a team in Sweetney’s junior season, but when you look at the numbers it’s hard to imagine how. There were 14 games in which Sweetney recorded 20+ points and 10+ rebounds. In an overtime loss at Notre Dame he had 38 points and 15 rebounds - 38 and 15!

Mike Sweetney is one of the All-time Hoya greats, and it’s unfortunate that the success of the program did not correspond with his own individual greatness. After his junior season, Sweetney left Georgetown for the NBA; the following list is how his career stats rank on the All-Time Hoya list:

• POINTS: 1,750 (7th)
• REBOUNDS: 887 (5th - More than Mutombo in the exact same number of games)
• PPG: 18.2 (2nd - Iverson is in first place 23.0 PPG)
• RPG: 9.2 (6th - Tied with Ewing, ahead of Mourning)