Hoya Hoops is launching a new video feature, entitled Georgetown Breakdown. Our own Tony Limarzi was at Verizon Center on Sunday with a full video report of Georgetown’s game vs. Marquette. This is our pilot edition, so take a look and please tell your friends to do the same.

We’re in negotiations with a number of sponsors, so we need as many people as possible to watch the video. Basically, tell your friends and spread the word. The more popular the first feature, the more likely it will be that we can continue to provide more extensive coverage.

The Hoyas are coming off 5 straight Ws and have been playing much better basketball than they did to start the Big East season.

The Friars are 3-7 in conference play but have won 3 of their last 4 including wins over Louisville and Villanova. So far, though, they’ve yet to win a Big East game on the road, and the Hoyas are looking to keep the Friars from getting their first this afternoon.

The Hoyas are set to start the same five: Clark, Wright, Freeman, Lubick, and Vaughn.

Providence will be starting Brooks, Batts, Coleman, Council, and Dixon.

The refs this afternoon are going to be James Breeding, Mike Roberts, and Wally Rutecki.

I’ll be checking in with updates throughout the game so keep refreshing and leaving comments below.

We decided that today would be a perfect day to launch our Hoya Hoops store. Right now, we only have one item in the store – the Hoya Hoops T-shirt – but that’s sure to change soon.

And since it’s Cyber Monday, we’re giving you a discount – all week, you can buy the shirt for just $10.

So if you want to get something to wear for the next home game, need a Christmas present for the Hoya fan in your life, or just can’t wait to win the Pregame Predictions competition, act quickly before the price jumps.

Check out the Hoya Hoops Store today.

Hoyas

This list has all the Georgetown Basketball players we could find. Here’s the updated list:

• Dikembe Mutombo – @TheReal_Mutombo
• Ron Thompson – @RonThompson
• Allen Iverson – @alleniverson
• Brendan Gaughan – @Brendan62
• Jeff Green – @jeff_green22
• Roy Hibbert – @Hoya2aPacer
• Jonathan Wallace – @JonWallace256
• Patrick Ewing, Jr. – @pewingjr6
• Jessie Sapp – @YoungSapp6
• DaJuan Summers – @dsummers35
• Greg Monroe – @G_Monroe10
• Austin Freeman – @SugarFree_15
• Chris Wright – @Cwright_4
• Julian Vaughn – @MrJujuVaughn
• Jason Clark – @JCDeuceUNO
• Nate Lubick – @natelubick
• Aaron Bowen – @A_Bowen23

Follow the list here.

Current Hoyas

This list only has the Georgetown Basketball players who are a part of this year’s team. If you only want to follow Hoyas who are a part of the 2010-11 season, this is the list for you:

• Austin Freeman – @SugarFree_15
• Chris Wright – @Cwright_4
• Julian Vaughn – @MrJujuVaughn
• Jason Clark – @JCDeuceUNO
• Nate Lubick – @natelubick
• Aaron Bowen – @A_Bowen23

Follow the list here.
Note: There are other current players who have Twitter accounts, but since their tweets have been protected, we have not included them on the list.

Hoya News

This list has all the twitterers who cover the Hoyas with news and quick updates. That list includes:

• Hoya Hoops (that’s us) – @Hoya_Hoops
• Georgetown Basketball Office – @GeorgetownHoops
• Hoya Blue – @hoyablue
• Hoya Hoop Club – @HoyaHoopClub
• The Hoya Sports Section – @thehoyasports
• Hoya Report – @HoyaNation
• Casual Hoya – @CasualHoya
• Glide Hoyas – @GlideHoyas

Follow the list here.

Remember, these are the personal accounts of Georgetown players, alums, and reporters, so we have no control over the content posted there. If you’re unhappy with what you find, don’t blame us.

The basic gist:

• A famous dignitary is likely to attend the game on Saturday.
• Get there as early as you can and plan for lots of traffic.
• Doors open at 11:00am despite 1:00pm start.
• Don’t bring bags unless you have to.
• Wear Gray.

Here’s the official message.

Jan. 29, 2010

WASHINGTON – We hope you are excited for Saturday’s men’s basketball game between the No. 7-ranked Georgetown Hoyas and the eighth-ranked Duke Blue Devils at Verizon Center.

On Saturday, Georgetown University Athletics would like to strongly encourage fans and attendees to arrive at Verizon Center at least 45 minutes earlier than normal. As this event is sold out, and due to the number of dignitaries expected to be in attendance, there will be enhanced security at the entrances to the arena.

Therefore entrance into the arena and the parking garages will be slower than usual. To assist in the process, doors and Will Call will open at 11 a.m., two hours prior to the 1 p.m. tipoff.

To have everyone in their seats by tipoff for this nationally-televised event, we ask that attendees consider the following when coming to the game on Saturday:

* Plan to arrive at the arena extra early. * Consider taking the metro instead of driving to the game. * If choosing to drive, the Georgetown Athletics Department strongly encourages parking in a garage away from Verizon Center. * Please leave backpacks, bags and extra items at home.

Any questions or concerns will be addressed by the Georgetown Athletic Ticket Office at 202-687-HOYA (4692).

Georgetown Athletics looks forward to seeing everyone at the game in their Georgetown Gray as fans Gray Out Verizon Center on Jan. 30.

[via GUHoyas.com]

We’ve already updated our Google Calendar with that information, and if you’ve subscribed to the calendar using Google, iCal, or Outlook 2007, your calendars should already be updated.

If you haven’t subscribed or downloaded the calendar yet, we’ve made it easy by creating a help page with detailed instructions for the major programs you might use to access an online calendar.

And if you just need some quick info and don’t feel like managing the whole calendar interface, you can also check out the schedule in an easy-to-read table over at our updated schedule page.

[HoyaHoops.com: Google Calendar]
[HoyaHoops.com: Calendar Help Page]
[HoyaHoops.com: Text Schedule]
[GUHoyas.com: Radio Press Release]

Apparently, it’s kind of a big deal nowadays. So we did our research and learned all about what Twitter is and how to use it, and we got a Hoya Hoops Twitter account set up. (Follow us here.)

We’ve been tweeting away – posting links and other Hoya-related info – for over a month now, and we’ve also been scowering the twitterverse for other Hoya tweeters.

I was planning on writing a post detailing who’s who on Twitter and who all Hoya fans should be following when they announced a new feature called Twitter Lists. Twitter Lists allow you to put together a whole group of people that you can follow all at once. Sounds like just what the doctor Vincent Kelly ordered.

So here are the three lists we’ve made for you.

Hoyas

This list has all the Georgetown Basketball players we could find. Currently, that list contains:

• Dikembe Mutombo – TheReal_Mutombo
• Allen Iverson – alleniverson
• Ashanti Cook – sheabutta06
• Jeff Green – jeff_green22
• Jessie Sapp – YoungSapp6
• DaJuan Summers – dsummers35
• Austin Freeman – IAMFREE15
• Greg Monroe – moosejuice10

Follow the list here.

Current Hoyas

This list only has the Georgetown Basketball players who are a part of this year’s team. It will always be a subsection of the Hoyas List, but we’ll update it each year to match the current roster. Right now, that means it has:

• Austin Freeman – IAMFREE15
• Greg Monroe – moosejuice10

Follow the list here.

Hoya News

This list has all the twitterers who cover the Hoyas with news and quick updates. So far we’re following:

• HoyaHoops.com (that’s us) – Hoya_Hoops
• Georgetown Basketball Office – GeorgetownHoops
• Hoya Hoop Club – HoyaHoopClub
• CasualHoya.com – CasualHoya

Follow the list here.

Oh, and a word of warning for all of you sensitive readers out there: These are the personal accounts of Georgetown players and alums, and we have no control over the content posted there. If you are uncomfortable with the language you might find there, don’t blame us.

[Edit: We originally said that the GeorgetownHoops account was run by GUHoyas.com. It is instead run by the basketball office. The official Twitter account for all Georgetown Athletics is GeorgetownHoyas which covers all sports. Since we focus only on basketball, we do not include @GeorgetownHoyas in our list.]

The hoops party will take place on Friday, October 15, and lead into midnight on the 16th. There’s no word yet if the event will be televised like it has been the past two years, but the one thing we know for sure is that it will take place at McDonough Gymnasium.
Note: we made the countdown look like McDonough’s scoreboard and not like the Verizon Center’s.

If you can’t wait that long for Hoya basketball, here’s some reading for you to catch up on in the meantime.

• All of our articles about Midnight Madness from year’s past can be found here: Midnight Madness Posts. Be sure to check out Tony’s anti-Midnight Madness post from two years back.
• Vice President of the Hoya Hoop Club, Dr. Tom Wong, has got some basketball posts up over at his personal blog in anticipation of Midnight Madness: A Double Hoya’s Basketball Report
• Dana O’Neill’s article on the hoops hoopla over at ESPN: First practices not so much ‘midnight’ but plenty of ‘madness’

We at HoyaHoops have already made our new Google Calendar with all the info available. So far, all that’s been announced is the games’ dates and locations, along with some TV information. We will continue to update the calendar with times, radio stations, and new television information once that is announced.

And as usual, we will be updating the calendar as the season progresses to include rankings, previews, scores, and more. (For an example of all the things we’ll be adding, check out last year’s calendar.)

Here is where you can find all that you need: 2009-10 Schedule.

[Update: There is now a help page that explains how to download or subscribe to the Google Calendar using whatever calendar application you use: How to Access the Calendar]
[HoyaHoops.com: Super-Cool Google Calendar]
[GUHoyas.com: Schedule]
[GUHoyas.com: Press Release]