2009-10 Schedule News

• Last week, it was finalized that the Hoyas will play in the 2009 Jimmy V Classic. They will be playing Butler at Madison Square Garden on December 8.
• Also, the Big East conference matchups were announced, and Georgetown will be playing Villanova, Syracuse, and Rutgers twice in the upcoming season. Georgetown’s other home games will be against Connecticut, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, and South Florida.
  [Press Release via GUHoyas.com]

NBA Summer League News

• The Orlando Summer League starts tonight, and two Hoyas are set to take part in this week’s games. Roy Hibbert will be teaming up with former Elite Eight opponent Tyler Hansborough for the first time as the Pacers square off against the Philadelphia/New Jersey hybrid team.
• Mike Sweetney is also set to play this week as he has been named to the Boston Celtics Summer League Roster. Big Mike will have a chance to earn his way back in the League starting with his game against Utah tonight. After being drafted #9 in the 2003 NBA Draft, Mike has not been on a team for the past two seasons.
• The Las Vegas Summer League starts up on Friday, and there are two more Hoyas set to take part in those games. DaJuan Summers is on the Pistons’ Summer Roster, and Patrick Ewing, Jr. will be back with the Knicks again trying to make a case for making the final roster after being the last player cut last season.

The 2009 NBA Draft took place last night, and junior DaJuan Summers was picked in the 2nd round by the Detroit Pistons. He was the 35th overall pick after Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin was picked 1st by the L.A. Clippers – as we predicted once they got the top pick – and Big East co-Player of the Year Hasheem Thabeet was picked 2nd by the Memphis Grizzlies.

According to The Baltimore Sun, DaJuan was excited to be picked by Detroit and said, That’s where I wanted to go… I told Joe Dumars I wanted to be a Piston.” The Pistons considered taking DaJuan with their 1st round pick, but opted instead for Gonzaga’s Austin Daye.

After a season with the Pistons, Allen Iverson is now an unrestricted free agent, so it doesn’t look like DaJuan will team up with another Hoya this season.

Georgetown’s official press release on Summers in the draft can be found here: [GUHoyas.com]

• This past week was Senior Week at Georgetown, and on Saturday was Georgetown’s Commencement. With seniors Jessie Sapp, Bryon Jansen, and manager Chris Golski all graduating from the College, there were plenty of Hoyas in attendance. Coach Thompson was watching along with Jason Clark, Julian Vaughn, Nikita Mescheriakov, and recent graduate Tyler Crawford.
• While no HoyaHoops team members were present at Senior Ball on Friday, Roy Hibbert was in attendance and kinda hard to miss.
• In the NBA Playoffs, there were two Game 7s yesterday and both had Hoya implications. In the first game, the Houston Rockets lost to the L.A. Lakers 89-70. With Dikembe announcing his retirement last month, he has lost his final chance at an NBA ring.
• In the second Game 7, the Orlando Magic defeated the reigning Boston Celtics 101-82 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Before the game, Magic Assistant Patrick Ewing had guaranteed victory for Orlando.
• Early last week, Georgetown’s Athletic Director Bernard Muir accepted the position of Director of Athletics and Recreation Services at the University of Delaware. There’s been no word on Muir’s replacement at Georgetown.

• After injuring his knee in Game 2 of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, Dikembe Mutombo has announced that he was retiring from basketball.
• Even if Allen Iverson were to get healthy in the next month, it wouldn’t make any difference, as the Cleveland Cavaliers kicked his Detroit Pistons out of the NBA Playoffs last night. With that, no Hoyas are left in the postseason. If Houston were to win, however, Dikembe would still earn his first NBA Championship ring.
• Coach John Thompson III was seen at the Verizon Center on Friday watching the Capitals in the NHL Playoffs. With the Caps winning both games this weekend, we might catch JTIII at the Phone Booth again tomorrow.

• Michigan State beat Connecticut in the first game of the Final Four. With the entire city of Detroit behind them, the Spartans upset the Huskies, 82-73, to advance to their first championship game since they won it in 2000.
• In the other semifinal, North Carolina defeated Villanova 83-69. They’re set to face Michigan State in the Championship game tonight on CBS with tipoff scheduled for 9:21.
• Allen Iverson came back to play for Detroit after sitting out a month with a back injury. But apparently, he still wasn’t healthy enough, and Detroit announced that he would sit out the rest of the season.
• Jeff Green and the Oklahoma City Thunder traveled to Indianapolis yesterday to play Roy Hibbert and the Pacers. Roy had 17 points and 8 rebounds for the winning campaign, while Jeff had 11 points in the loss.

John Thompson III just released a statement that DaJuan Summers will be putting his name in the NBA Draft and will be hiring an agent. That means that unlike Roy Hibbert, there’s no chance of his return, and we’ve seen the last of DaJuan in a Georgetown uniform. Here’s a copy of the release, which can be found at GUHoyas.com:

We wish DaJuan all the best in his future endeavors, wherever they may take him. He informed me that he is closing the book on his college career and focusing fully on the opportunity to play professionally. He is in the process of choosing an agent.

• The NCAA Final Four is set: Connecticut, Villanova, Michigan State, and North Carolina. Georgetown beat the two Big East teams this season, and the last time they played North Carolina was a victory as well. The Hoyas lost to Michigan State in their only meeting back in the 1986 NCAA Tournament.
• Georgetown’s Women’s Basketball team fell to Boston College 65-56 last night, ending their postseason run in the WNIT Quarter Finals. The Lady Hoyas ended the season with a 20-14 record and will return the core of their lineup for next season.
• Alonzo Mourning will become the first player in Miami Heat history to have his jersey retired when they hoist #33 in the rafters tonight during Miami’s game against the Orlando Magic. Patrick, Dikembe, and Big John will all be there to honor Alonzo at the halftime ceremony. After his career-ending injury last season, we talked to some Georgetown and NBA experts about his legacy, and here’s what Rich Chvotkin, Dwayne Bryant, and Dave Johnson had to say: Alonzo’s Legacy

Those of you who made out to the Verizon Center on Monday night might remember seeing a message from Roy Hibbert on the big Diamond Vision screen before the 2nd half. (Technically, he was trying to deliver the message before tipoff but the audio didn’t work). Basically Roy introduced himself to the new fans and tried to get the crowd excited for the huge game.

Well apparently, that wasn’t the first time Big Roy has been in front of the camera, as the Indiana Pacers have decided to give Hibbert his very own section of Pacers.com for a video blog called “Roy’s Life.”

In Episode 1, you can see the Big Fella playing Guitar Hero, singing along with “Livin’ on a Prayer” and dancing to “Beat It”.

NBA.com videos don’t let you embed so here’s the link – Roy’s Life: Episode 1

Just a quick reminder that we’ve reached the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, and plenty of Hoyas are going to be in on the festivities.

• Tonight at 9:00, Jeff Green and Thunder teammate Kevin Durant will be playing on the Sophomore team in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge. The game will be shown nationally on TNT.
• Also tonight at 9:00, Patrick Ewing, Jr. of the D-League’s Reno Bighorns will be participating in the Dunk Contest as a part of the 2009 Dream Factory. Patrick had a great showinglast year at the college Dunk Contest during Final Four weekend as he came away with second place.
• Allen Iverson will be participating in the NBA All-Star game at 8:00pm on Sunday night. This will be Iverson’s 10th All-Star game, and his 9th time as a starter. The only year he did not start was in 2007, his first year in the Western Conference, after being traded to Denver, but he did not play at all in that game due to injury.

So I guess I wasn’t paying too much attention. Maybe I was too focused on the Memphis game, I don’t know, but I completely forgot that Roy Hibbert and the Pacers were coming to the Verizon Center to play the Wizards last night. I realized it yesterday morning, and without a press pass, I decided I would fork over the $20 to see the game from the stands.
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