The NBA season begins today. As a Knicks fans during the Ewing era, I fondly remember the NBA seasons of the mid 1990’s. That was the time when Hoyas dominated the league from sea to shining sea. There were some days during that period when the NBA Hoyas’ total points scored would outscore entire NBA teams. Patrick Ewing, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Jaren Jackson, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, Don Reid, Othella Harrington, Jerome Williams, and Allen Iverson all played in the league in the 1996-97 season. That’s ten players from Georgetown, which was the perfect number to “Create a Team” on EA Sports’ NBA Live ‘97. Ten years later, there are only five Hoyas on NBA rosters to start opening day, but it could be the beginning of the new wave.

In 1982 Eric “Sleepy” Floyd began his NBA career. By the time he retired (13 seasons later) Georgetown had become a university known for producing top flight NBA players. This season Mutombo, Mourning, Harrington, and Iverson are all continuing their illustrious careers. This will be Mutombo’s 17th season and Mourning’s 15th (remember he missed the 2002-03 season with his kidney ailment) while Harrington and Iverson will both be starting their 12th seasons. None of those players have as much impact as they once did, and it seems like this could be the final season for any or all of these long time greats.

And then there’s Jeff Green. Green is beginning his rookie season with the Seattle SuperSonics. This could be an excellent transition season for Hoyas in the pros. Just as the sun is setting on the wonderful career of the elder Hoyas, a new dawn is beginning for the most important player in the renaissance of Georgetown Basketball. Green is only the first of many Hoyas who will be making the jump to the NBA in the years to come, and it is likely that a new day of Hoyas in the NBA is just around the corner.

It’s almost absurd to think that the next generation of Hoyas in the NBA could be in the same category as the players from the Golden Age of NBA Hoyas, but no one could’ve imagined the future success of the program during Sleepy Floyd’s rookie season either.