Well, we made it. The offseason could not have felt longer, but today is the day. We are just a few hours away from our Georgetown Hoyas officially tipping off their 2023-2024 season.
Call me crazy, but I actually feel good about this season. Sure, the Hoyas aren’t going to make a run at the Big East and they probably won’t make the NCAA Tournament – hell they might not even break .500 – but that’s not the point. Instead, Georgetown basketball is seeing something that we haven’t had in my lifetime: change. For once, things feel like they are going to be ok. We are trending in the right direction and we can once again be proud to be Hoyas.
When Ed Cooley was hired in March, we knew things were going to be different both on the court and off it. Say what you will about his time at Providence, but as Jon Rothstein pointed out this morning, today is the first time since March 4, 1972 that Georgetown’s head coach has no direct ties to the Thompson Family. For the last 51 years, Georgetown basketball has been one of the most culturally significant programs in the country that runs like a family business. That changes today.
Sure, there always has to be some sense of optimism heading into a season. Even during the Ewing experiment, we had players to look forward to and could disillusion ourselves into thinking we could win games, but now we have a reason to be optimistic. We might not win every game (or most games for that matter), but we can finally say we are building toward something. As Cooley himself put it in response to my question on media day, “We are just going to build. ‘Re’ takes away from the history and the legacy of what Georgetown is. Building is something that we are going to do.”
If you were following along with our Preseason Preview, you’d see that Cooley has built. Between the coaching staff and the seven new scholarship players, it feels like everything is new. As John Kurkjian mentioned in his review of Ed Cooley’s first offseason, this was most evident with the team’s presence on campus. Before hiring Cooley, aside from attending games, you never would have known a basketball team existed on campus with how invisible they were.
Bottom line, this year will take patients. It will not be perfect, and while I am no proponent of “moral victories” we will have to take what we can get. We are going to be happy with what we get, but at the same time, the product, both on the court and off it, will me light years better than what we are used to.
So now on to Le Moyne. We open the Ed Cooley Era by playing the newest member of Division I and, interestingly enough, the youngest Jesuit college in the United States.
To be completely honest, we don’t know much about Le Moyne. Coming from the Division II level, they didn’t get much coverage except for two Division I exhibition games from a few years ago.
What we do know, however, is that they are entering this season with an experienced team. While they might be ranked 361st out of 362 teams, according to KenPom, their experience will get them wins. The Dolphins are returning two of their top scorers from last year – grads Isaiah Sater and Luke Sutherland.
Le Moyne will also pose an interesting test for the Hoyas as they enter Cooley’s first season. For years, this program has been plagued with poor three-point defense, and, from all indications, Le Moyne seems to be trigger happy from behind the arc. While they were not spectacular shooting the ball last season, they did shoot a collective 35% from three which by no means is a lackluster clip. Considering anyone can get hot on any given night (let me remind you of Dartmouth and Ryan Cornish), if the Hoyas can play good three-point defense it will be a good sign for things to come.
Ultimately, though, the Hoyas match up extremely well against this Le Moyne squad. Even though Georgetown is extremely thin in the frontcourt, Le Moyne only has one true center on the roster in Northern Colorado transfer Jamal Melvin. Instead, their game centers around their guards which should bode well for this Hoyas squad.
Overall, I would not expect this to be much of a game, but considering the question marks surrounding this Hoyas team and the lack of scouting on Le Moyne, anything can happen. With that said, there is fresh air on the Hilltop so let’s look for game one to be a jumping off point for a revitalization of the Hoyas program as we look to the future.
Again, all things are looking up on the Hilltop.
