Last night, Georgetown honored the 2007-08 Men’s Basketball Team at the Hoya Hoop Club Basketball Banquet. We know that a lot of you were unable to make it, so we had decided to send a Hoya Hoops representative to the Leavey Center to provide some details to those who missed out. I was that representative, and while I am not going to give you a full recount of what took place, I’ll do my best to talk about the highlights.

The evening started with cocktail hour where attendees could sign six posters, one for each of the senior players, one for senior manager Greg
Feeney, and one for graduate manager Martin Bahar. There wasn’t any room to sign on those posters by the end of the half hour.

Afterwards, people made their way to their seats and there were some introductions, prayers, and thank yous, and then as dinner was being served, they began the 2008 year-in-review video which chronicled the season from Midnight Madness to the NCAA Tournament.

Then Director of Basketball Operations Matt Henry introduced the team, saying something personal about each of the managers and players before calling them up to receive their gift. About Jonathan Wallace, he said, “He has a tremendous knack for getting fouled late in the game,” which earned a standing ovation from Coach Thompson.

There were more speeches and clapping and dessert and things until at 9:10 Coach Thompson began to speak. He was told he only had seven minutes, and to help him get through it, he said he would let all of the graduating members say a few words. Coach didn’t get to say his thank you and goodbyes until 10:20, but I think the longer-than-seven-minutes collaborative speech was well worth it. Here are some highlights:

Martin Bahar:

I didn’t know I was going to speak today, so I’m going to be concise and let you get to your Pope post party.

 
Tyler Crawford:

Sapp told me not to cry. I’m supposed to be the tough one.

 
Coach John Thompson III:

I want to thank in the strongest way possible the parent of this group of seniors. You raised men. And they came here as men. … I hope that as a parent, I can be some small part as successful as the parents of this group of men. … I thank you for sending them here, for raising them as you did.

 
Patrick Ewing, Jr., on blocking Jonathan Wallace’s shot one of the first times they met:

I don’t know why everyone keeps talking about him.

 
Patrick Ewing Jr.:

Sapp told me not to cry.

 
Roy Hibbert, on the excellent coaching staff:

I was really bad when I first got here.

 
Roy Hibbert:

I just wanna hear this one last time. Not “Roy, Roy, Roy,” I just wanna hear “WE ARE… GEORGETOWN.”

 
Coach John Thompson III on the end of the year:

We gotta move on.