What happened to Georgetown?

by: Benjy Pastor

The Georgetown Hoyas this past season went 6-25 and were last in the Big East, not even winning a game in conference play and going 0-18. But believe it or not, Georgetown was once the King of College Basketball, what happened?

Georgetown's basketball program was started in 1906, but the program did not have its first big season until the magical 1943 season under coach Elmer Ripley and star player Henry Hyde. In 1943 the Hoyas went all the way to the National Title game, just to fall short to Wyoming. After that, the Hoyas struggled for about 19 years until they hired former Boston Celtic and local High School Coach John Thompson Jr. After Thompson was hired it took a few years to get the ball rolling, the Hoyas would not have a big season under Thompson until 1975 where the Hoyas found themselves in the NCAA tournament after winning the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference). They went back to the following year and then in 1980 they joined the newly formed "Big East." In their first season of Big East play, the Hoyas went all the way to the Elite Eight where they lost to Iowa on a last moment foul call. Although it seemed that the Hoyas had lost hope, they would be back.

The Hoyas came into the 1981-82 season with star freshman Patrick Ewing leading the team into the season. That season the Hoyas went back to the Elite Eight and advanced through the Final Four to the National Title game against North Carolina. The game went back and forth but UNC prevailed thanks to a buzzer beater by Michael Jordan. The next season Georgetown received a lot of hype going into the season being ranked number 2 in the opening AP poll, but unfortunately the Hoyas did not live up to the hype and they went 22-10 and lost in the second round.

Going into Patrick Ewing's junior season Georgetown came to play, winning the Big East regular season and tournament titles and securing a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Hoyas breezed through the first few rounds and found themselves in a matchup with Kentucky in the Final Four. Although the Hoyas trailed by 12 points early in the game, they rallied and won 53-40 to continue to the National Championship Game where they matched up against Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Cougars. Georgetown dominated the whole game and won 84-75, winning them their first National Title in school history.

Going into Patrick Ewing's senior season the preseason hype didn't change as the Hoyas who were defending the National Title. The Hoyas were ranked number 1 in the preseason poll, and the hype aged like fine wine as the Hoyas won their opening 18 games of the season before losing to St. John's at home. The next meeting between St. John's and Georgetown was one to remember as it was a 1 vs. 2 matchup at Madison Square Garden. The Hoyas got their revenge on the Redmen defeating them 85-69. The Hoyas and Redmen would not meet again until the Big East Title Game where the Hoyas defeated the Redmen again, but then St. John's and Georgetown met one more time in the Final Four; long story short the Hoyas dominated the game and won 77-59. The Hoyas advanced to the National Championship game against a Big East opponent in Villanova, whom the Hoyas had swept that season, but that wasn't the case that day as the Wildcats stunned Georgetown 66-64. After that season Patrick Ewing went to the NBA draft and went number 1 overall, becoming the first Georgetown player to ever get drafted number 1 overall.

After that, the Hoyas won the Big East in 1987, thanks to senior Reggie Williams and they eventually made it to the Elite Eight that year. Then after that Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo led the Hoyas to win 3 Big East titles in a 4 year span from 1989 to 1992. It would take another few years for the Hoyas to get back but in 1995 Allen Iverson arrived and made an instant impact, winning Big East Rookie of the Year and bringing the Hoyas back to the Sweet Sixteen. The next season Iverson continued to shine as he played a major role in Georgetown's regular season upset over third ranked UConn and the Hoyas went back to the Sweet Sixteen, this time against Texas Tech. The Hoyas came out and conducted business, taking the Sweet Sixteen win 98-90. Now with the Sweet Sixteen out of the way the Hoyas booked their ticket to an Elite Eight matchup with number one seed UMass, despite the talent Georgetown had, they did not have enough power to keep up with UMass as they fell 86-62.

After Iverson left, the Hoyas went downhill, losing in the first round of the 1997 NCAA tournament to UNC Charlotte and then losing to Georgia Tech in the second round of the NIT the following year.

The Hoyas opened out the 1998-99 season going 7-6 before John Thompson Jr. retired on January 8, 1999, in the middle of the season due to his marriage problems, ending his historic 26 ½ year career at Georgetown. Craig Esherick was announced as the new head coach after Thompson Jr. retired, one day before the Providence game, which the Hoyas surprisingly won. Despite the win, Georgetown continued to struggle, finishing the season at 15-16 and losing in the first round of the NIT to Princeton. For the next few seasons the Hoyas would struggle, but then everything changed in 2001.

In 2001 the Hoyas had a magical season under future first round pick Michael Sweetney. In 2001 the Hoyas went 23-7 and they went all the way to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to the regional champion Maryland Terrapins. After the 2001 season things would go back to normal for Esherick who was eventually fired in 2004 after going 13-15 and receiving no NCAA tournament or NIT invitations for the first time since 1974.

After the Esherick era came to an end, Georgetown decided to hire the son of their legendary head coach John Thompson Jr., John Thompson III, who was the head coach at Princeton for a decade where he won three Ivy League titles and made the NCAA tournament twice, not to mention one appearance in the NIT. Thompson III brought his offensive philosophy that he learned under former Princeton Head Coach Pete Carril to Georgetown. It would take a year to get the ball rolling for Thompson III but once the ball started rolling, it could not be stopped. The Hoyas were led by former Princeton recruit John Wallace, Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, and on January 21, 2006, the Hoyas stunned the world when they beat number 1 Duke and went back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001, this time as a 7 seed. The Hoyas got past Northern Iowa in the first round and then past Ohio State in the second round to book a date with Florida in the Sweet Sixteen. The Hoyas battled and kept it close, but in the end they lost 53-57.

The Hoyas were feeling confident going into the 2006-2007 season, led by their four star juniors Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green, John Wallace and Patrick Ewing Jr. (son of Patrick Ewing). The Hoyas went 26-6 and won the Big East regular season title for the first time since 1992 and they won the Big East tournament for the first since 1989 and they booked their ticket to the NCAA tournament as a 2 seed. The Hoyas breezed through the East Region and won the region in an overtime thriller against North Carolina 96-84. The Hoyas were set for a rematch against Ohio State in the Final Four. The Hoyas went out and gave it all they got but they fell to Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Ohio State in the Final Four. After that the Hoyas had many good seasons including the 2010 season, where they were a 3 seed but lost in the first round, the 2011 season where they also lost in the first round, the 2012 season where they were a 3 seed and lost in the second round, and most famously in 2013, when the Hoyas were a two seed and were upset by future sweet sixteen team Florida Gulf Coast and for the fourth time time in a row the Hoyas were beaten by a double digit seed in the NCAA tournament. The next season the Hoyas were a 4 seed in the NIT and lost to Florida State and the season after that the Hoyas were ranked at points in the regular season and they were 4 seed in the NCAA tournament but they lost to Utah in the second round. After that Georgetown would not make the NIT or NCAA tournament again under Thompson III, going 15-18 then 14-18. In 2017 John Thompson III was fired after his struggle in missing both the NCAA tournament and the NIT in back to back seasons and was replaced by Georgetown legend, Patrick Ewing.

Despite the new coach, the Hoyas continued to struggle as they missed the NCAA tournament for a couple of consecutive years, until 2021.

In 2021 it seemed that Georgetown's situation had gotten even worse with their leading scorer Mac McClung transferring to Texas Tech and the four transfers that happened previously in the midseason of 2020, the Hoyas were left with 8 new players it seemed that Georgetown Basketball was officially done for good. To add on to the struggle the Hoyas had a 21 day pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic but they still managed to get some games in going 10-13 and 7-9 in conference play. When it all seemed over the Hoyas pulled out some magic beating Marquette, Villanova and Seton Hall and then finally beating Creighton 73-48 for their first Big East tournament title since 2007. Unfortunately, the Hoyas would not go far in the NCAA tournament, losing to 5 seed Colorado in the first round. Despite the disappointment, the Hoyas recruited a top 20 class and and brought in 5 star Aminu Mohhamed and Ryan Mutombo (son of Georgetown legend DK Mutombo) and it was looking bright for the Hoyas, but it all crashed down in game one of the 2021-22 season when the Hoyas were stunned at home by Dartmouth. They didn't recover and they went on to go 6-25 and 0-18 in conference play. With Ewing on the hot seat the Hoyas must recover quickly, and Ewing has gotten to work, recruiting transfers Akok Akok from UConn and Brandon Murray from LSU. The Hoyas have also picked up some good recruits, receiving 4 star Combo Guard Denver Anglin and 3 star Power Forward D'ante Bass. This season will clearly be Patrick Ewing's make or break year as the Head Coach of Georgetown... and that's what happened to Georgetown.

Works Cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995%E2%80%9396_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997%E2%80%9398_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%9399_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%9399_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sweetney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Terrapins_men%27s_basketball

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005%E2%80%9306_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006%E2%80%9307_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006%E2%80%9307_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_Georgetown_Hoyas_men%27s_basketball_team

https://247sports.com/college/georgetown/Season/2022-Basketball/Commits/

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/46/georgetown-hoyas

https://247sports.com/college/georgetown/Season/20...