With Dante Harris missing the first few games of this season due to personal reasons, Hoya fans began to fear if they would ever see him play in blue and gray again. Unfortunately, these fears have become a reality, as the Junior guard recently announced his intent to transfer to the University of Virginia. Now, after two memorable years, it’s time to say goodbye to Dante Harris.
Harris entered the hilltop as the backup to Arkansas graduate transfer Jalen Harris. But when Jalen took a personal leave of absence from the team, Dante was thrust into the role of starting point guard, and he never looked back. What followed was an impressive Freshman campaign where Harris averaged 8.0 points and 3.2 assists per game. He made his greatest impact during the unforgettable Big East Tournament run, where Harris led the Hoyas to a Big East championship and an NCAA Tournament bid, averaging 11.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. Harris became the eighth Hoya to win the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
His late-season heroics established high expectations for the following year as the Hoyas would aim to defend their Big East title. However, injuries and a lack of talent around Harris held him back, leading to one of the most disappointing seasons in Georgetown basketball history. This current season held an opportunity for Hoya fans to see Harris once again lead the team to success. With the addition of new coaches and improved talent, it seemed like the framework was in place for Harris to thrive. But as the season began, Harris was nowhere to be found and the decision to transfer was ultimately not too shocking.
Now that Harris has departed, we have a few options as Hoya fans. On the one hand, we could do what we have become accustomed to doing: resort to negativity about how yet another promising talent has ultimately left the program. Or, we could appreciate what Dante Harris gave us: perhaps the sole moment of magic in what has been a tumultuous last few years.
Before Dante Harris led Georgetown to its first Big East Tournament, it had been rough going for the Hoyas. In the previous year, we had lost what most believed to be the future of the program after James Akinjo and Josh Leblanc left in a flurry of midseason transfers, and Mac McClung departed shortly after the season’s conclusion.
As fans, we were down and so was our team. After everyone left, the Hoyas struggled to field a full team. They finished at the bottom of the standings yet again and blew a 20-point lead in the Big East Tournament. Fan favorites like Jagan Mosely and Omer Yurtseven were graduating. It was a tough time to be a Hoyas fan, but something about that run just a year later gave everyone hope again.
I always remember back to the quarterfinals against top-seeded Villanova. With seconds remaining down a point, Dante Harris drove to the lane and drew a crucial foul to get to the line. Harris, in the biggest moment of his basketball career, calmly knocks down both free throws, giving the Hoyas the one point advantage that would ultimately decide the game and keep their season alive. He would go on to display the same level of poise and maturity in the finals, scoring in the double-figures and shocking the nation by punching Geoergetown’s ticket to the NCAA Tournament. When it mattered most, Dante Harris delivered.
Say what you want about Dante Harris, but I will remember him as a model for overcoming adversity and working to the top. Starting as an unranked, 5 foot 10 point guard with Georgetown as his only high-major offer, Harris found a way to excel at the highest level of collegiate basketball. In his journey from backup to starter to champion, Harris earned the respect of the coaching staff and the love of Hoya fans alike. Oftentimes the smallest player on the court, Harris nonetheless became a leader through his unrelenting grit and tenacity. Dante Harris gave Georgetown fans a true underdog story and our best moments in 14 years.
From the entire Hoya faithful, thank you Dante Harris. You are a Georgetown legend.
The young man had to do what he had to do. Instead of going through all this foolishness the young man just want to play and go to school.