A reminder of last night’s Georgetown victory as we near the one-hour mark before tip-off of Georgetown vs. No. 1 Indiana.
ALL PHOTOS CHRIS YEDIBALIAN FOR THE HOYA
Tagged with Men’s Basketball …
Scenes From Tonight’s “Other Game”
It’s the start of the second half of the Progressive Legends Classic consolation game between Georgia and No. 11 UCLA. The Bulldogs lead the Bruins, 30-25. But what’s more important is that you check out these photos from pregame warm-ups and tip-off, featuring everything from UCLA’s squint-inducing neon shoes to Dickie V. hanging out with the UCLA dance team to the Nets’ honoring of the good ol’ days.
ALL PHOTOS CONNOR GREGOIRE/THE HOYA
Moses Ayegba on the Shelf for Nine Games
John Thompson III announced earlier today that do to NCAA pre-enrollment violations, freshman big man Moses Ayegba will have to sit out the Hoyas’ first nine games. Prior to enrolling in high school and before Thompson began recruiting him, someone other than a family member apparently purchased Ayegba’s ticket to the U.S.
I’m getting set to jump in the car and drive down to Norfolk for tonight’s opener, so follow along on our live blog from courtside tonight.
Georgetown-Tulane Preview Coverage
The season opener is less than 24 hours away, and there is plenty of media buzz. Here’s a quick rundown of the articles previewing the Georgetown-Tulane game:
- The Hoya: GU Set to Tip Off in Big Easy
- Hoya Paranoia: The Georgetown-New Orleans Connection
- Washington Post: Hoyas see toughness and intensity as the keys to a rebound
- Washington Times: Hoyas’ Season Rests on Monroe’s Shoulders
- Washington Times: Inside Georgetown
- Times-Picayune: Georgetown’s Greg Monroe returning to play Tulane on Friday
- STATS: Georgetown-Tulane Preview
- Georgetown Voice: Basketball seeks Big Easy win
- Tulane Hallabaloo: Monroe and the Hoyas set to invade Fogelman Arena
- GUHoyas: No. 20 Georgetown Opens 2009-10 Season on Friday at Tulane
- Tulane Athletic Site: Green Wave Open the Season at Home against Nationally Ranked Georgetown
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Post and Times have previews in Friday’s editions, as well.
Greg Monroe Looks Forward to Home Cooking
Tomorrow night’s opener at Tulane will be a special one for New Orleans-native Greg Monroe. Not only will he have the opportunity to play in front of his hometown crowd for the first time since high school, but he will get to eat his mother’s homemade cooking before the game. The Times-Picayune reports that Monroe’s mother, Norma Dixon Monroe, will host the entire team for what sounds like a delicious meal.
“Oh yes, I’ve got gumbo, red beans and rice, stuffed peppers again, fettucini, ” Dixon Monroe said. “I’ve got some turkey necks and corn and potatoes, fried fish . . . I ordered a king cake for them. I’m giving them a taste of New Orleans. I’ve got pecan candy coming, bread budding, banana pudding.”
His mother also spoke about her son’s decision to return to school rather than enter the NBA draft. It sounds like she knows a lot about the NBA, asking her son if he thought he was ready to go up against some of the top players in the league.
“I told him, you’ve got to be ready physically and mentally, ” Dixon Monroe said. “If you think you go against Chris Paul and you can go against LeBron James, those players, then go ahead. But if you’re not physically or you’re not mentally ready, don’t go. . . . That’s the truth. That’s how I felt.
“You might be big like them, but physically, do you think you can handle them – physically, mentally, you know, and he might think he’s ready, but I think he decided to go back to school and get a little bit stronger. I think that’s one reason he decided to go back. I told him I would support him either way he goes.”
Monroe’s decision to return gave him the opportunity to play in front of a number of family and friends in a Georgetown uniform.
Dixon Monroe said about 25 family members will attend, her church ordered 50 tickets, 33 friends and co-workers plan on going and more than 20 students from Helen Cox have tickets.
Stay tuned for The Hoya’s preview of the game in Friday’s issue and live-blog coverage from Tulane tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern.
Poll of Polls: Georgetown No. 17
With all of the college basketball polls out there, The Hoya Paranoia decided to combine the top ones into a Poll of Polls. The five preseason polls included are the Associated Press Poll, the USA Today Coaches Poll, CBSSports’ Top 25, ESPN’s Power Rankings, and Sporting News’ Top 25. A team has to be ranked in at least four of the five polls to be eligible. If a team does not appear in one of the polls, a rank of 30 is applied to that team for that poll. All five polls are weighted equally, and the average determines a team’s rank in the Poll of Polls.
| Rank | Team | AP | Co. | CBS | ESPN | SN | Ave |
| 1 | Kansas | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Michigan St. | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2.4 |
| 3 | Kentucky | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3.4 |
| 4 | Texas | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3.8 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Villanova | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 6.2 |
| 7 | Purdue | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7.2 |
| 8 | West Virginia | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 7.8 |
| 9 | Duke | 9 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8.8 |
| 10 | Butler | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 11.2 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 10 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 12 | 11.6 |
| 12 | Connecticut | 12 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 12.2 |
| 13 | Washington | 14 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 13.2 |
| 14 | California | 13 | 12 | 20 | 11 | 16 | 14.4 |
| 15 | Ohio St. | 16 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 17.2 |
| 16 | Michigan | 15 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 23 | 17.4 |
| 17 | Georgetown | 20 | 21 | 24 | 19 | 11 | 19 |
| 17 | Mississippi St. | 18 | 19 | 30 | 18 | 10 | 19 |
| 17 | Oklahoma | 17 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 30 | 19 |
| 20 | Dayton | 21 | 22 | 17 | 23 | 22 | 21 |
| 21 | Louisville | 19 | 23 | 22 | 21 | 30 | 23 |
| 22 | Illinois | 23 | 30 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 23.4 |
The Hoyas benefitted from their No. 11 ranking in Sporting News and jumped into a tie for 17th place. It’s interesting to look at the breakdown of the teams: There are clear distinctions that separate the teams into tiers of 1-5, 6-9, 11-16 and 17-22. The Hoyas have two Big East opponents in the second tier (Nova and WVU), one in the third tier (UConn) and one in the fourth tier (Louisville). They also have non-conference opponents in the second tier (Duke) and third tier (Butler and Washington).