The 2008 season is over. Happy New Year! Now everybody can start planning for the 2008-09 season. For the Hoyas, there will be a lot of changes from ‘08. It will be very strange not hearing “Jonathan Wallace” announced in the Georgetown starting line-up and not seeing Big Roy demanding the ball in the post, but such is life in college basketball.

Even though it’s not the beginning of a calendar year, the end of the basketball season usually coincides nicely with Mother Nature’s schedule. The weather in the nation’s capital is a little colder than it should be these days, but spring is in the air. Nothing fills people with natural hope and optimism than the first few days of spring - the cherry blossoms are out, the days are getting longer, and the cute co-eds are sunbathing on Healy lawn. Life is good.

So as joy, love, hope, and thoughts of summer vacation are beginning to fill our heads, let’s try to apply these excellent sensations to what to expect from the Hoyas in 2008-09. Here goes:

Three-Point Shooting

The Hoyas did a good job from long range this season, but surely the presence of Hibbert in the low post gave Georgetown a lot of good looks from downtown. Next season it seems like Georgetown might be better off working outside-in instead of the other way around. The three returning starters (Jessie Sapp, DaJuan Summers, and Austin Freeman) will be the guys in charge of leading the offense, and even though they all get to the hoop pretty well, their three-point shooting will be weapon number one. Basically, there will be lots of green lights for the shooters, which lends to fun and exciting basketball.

Fresh Man

In case you haven’t heard, his name is Greg Monroe. He’s an incoming freshman. And he’s good. He’s the biggest high school senior to sign with the Hoyas since Othella Harrington. It’s hard to know how much of the hype to believe, and if you only see him in college all-star games than you’d think the reputation is absurd. But we know that all-star games are not for everybody, as superstar guards are not thinking about running the offense or feeding the post in those run and gun games. At any rate, Monroe is a very good player, who could possibly be a better shot-blocker than Hibbert right now. His defense will help immediately, and with the structured system in the offense, there won’t be much pressure on him to put up big numbers right away.

Ex Factor

As in Ex-perience. The key returning players are champions. They won back-to-back Big East regular season titles, the 2007 Big East Tournament, and the 2007 East Regional. The departed players were not the only reason for the recent success, and the returning players know exactly how and why the Hoyas have been at the top of the Big East for two years. Some players blossom when they finally get their chance to be the main player in the spotlight, and based on their personalities and ability to shine in crunch time, Sapp and Summers are two such players.

Six months from now things will truly get started for the 2008-09 season, but until then, appreciate the accomplishments of the guys that will graduate next month, but don’t think that the success of the program leaves campus with them. Their departure shouldn’t be considered holes that need to be filled, but challenges that need to be accepted. We can expect more fun times next year as the new leaders answer that call.