Jeff Green, Roy Hibbert, Jonathan Wallace, Patrick Ewing, Jr., and Tyler Crawford were the Georgetown Basketball Class of 2008. Ewing transferred in from Indiana after two years in Bloomington, and Jeff Green left school after his junior season to enter the NBA Draft. Still, these players and that class as a whole did as much for Georgetown Basketball as any group ever.

When the class of ‘08 were graduating high school (in 2004), Georgetown Basketball was in trouble. The team had just come off its worst season in 30 years, the coach had been fired, and there was not a lot of hope on the horizon. But thanks to the efforts of those 5 players, after their four years as Hoyas, the program is back where it belongs.

There are so many ways that the class of ‘08 helped Georgetown Basketball, but the one that is most relevant in light of the current home winning streak is that for the first time since the Hoyas moved to the Capital Center in the early 1980s, the team has a real home-court advantage.

In the old days, when the Hoyas were national championship contenders every season, it didn’t matter where they played. Honestly, the Hoyas were just as likely to win on the road as at home. In fact, the Hoya Class of 1985 (which included Patrick Ewing, Bill Martin, and Ralph Dalton) lost 3 conference games at home over their final two seasons. The Class of 2008 only lost one. I’m sure Coach Thompson III would have preferred a National Championship like the Class of ‘85 had during their junior seasons, but anytime a group can outperform a Patrick Ewing-led team, it’s definitely noteworthy.

Green, Hibbert, Wallace, Ewing, and Crawford laid an essential foundation across the board, but especially at home: the momentous win over Duke, the ability to close out close games, the back-to-back regular season titles clinched at home, and the longest home winning streak since WWI. Jessie Sapp, DaJuan Summers, Austin Freeman and Chris Wright will continue to lead the Hoyas over this and the upcoming seasons, and these players have excellent role models for how to take care of business at home from their former teammates – the Hoya Class of 2008.