GEORGETOWN RECRUITING UPDATE

VERBAL COMMITMENT ALERT: Vernon Macklin, PF (hargrave Military Academy)

Projected 2006-2007 Roster:

Seniors: Sead Dizdarevic
Juniors: Jeff Green (F), Roy Hibbert (C), Jon Wallace (PG), Tyler Crawford (G), Pat Ewing Jr (F)
Sophomores: Jesse Sapp (G), Josh Thornton (G), Marc Edgerson (SF), Octavious Spann (SF)
Freshmen: Jeremiah Rivers (PG), Dajuan Summers (F), Vernon Macklin (PF)


Previous recruiting reports:July 23 Round-Up and July 1 Report.

John Thompson III has definitely breathed new life into a program that became very stagnant under Craig Esherick and yesterday he got confirmation that the Georgetown program is definitely one to reckon with again in the Big East. The big news is the commitment of highly recruited Vernon Macklin. Macklin is a 6'9 210 lb PF from Virginia that chose the Hoyas over Wake Forest and North Carolina. Widely regarded among the top 20 players in the country, Macklin is a difference maker for the new staff. He was also a member of the powerful Boo Williams AAU program that dominated play this past summer. We will see if this connection continues to stock the Hoyas in the future.

You can read more about the Macklin commitment at these links: Wash Times on Macklin, Wash Post on Macklin Commitment and Hamptonroads.com on Macklin.

After guiding the Hoyas to an 8-8 BE regular season and NIT appearance, JT III got off to a quick start in recruiting nabbing early commitments from Jeremiah Rivers (son of Doc Rivers) and Dajuan Summers. Both players are definitely top 100-calibre. Rivers is a solid floor general with a great basketball IQ and will be a very good player in the JT III system. Summers is a bouncy athlete that can play either forward slot, but will probably man the athletic 4 for Georgetown and looks to be a nice compliment to Jeff Green. Macklin puts a bold exclamation point on the class.

At this point, I have the Hoyas down for all 13 scholarships accounted for, hopefully a Hoya fan can double check my projected roster. I am not 100% sure if Jon Wallace is on an athletic scholarship or not. One interesting player is Macklin's AAU teammate, Duke Crews, who has seen a lot of interest from Georgetown in the recruiting process, if a scholarship is available, this would be another trememndous target for the Hoyas. With just one senior on the projected roster for 2006-2007 (Dizdarevic), they also could hold out and wait again to see what will materialize from the always well stocked recruiting area that Georgetown finds itself in.

In any event, Georgetown fans can celebrate, Vernon Macklin is a Hoya!!

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GEORGETOWN 2005-2006 TEAM PROFILE

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY HOYAS

2005-2006 Team Roster from Official Team Site: ROSTER.

The Georgetown Coaching Staff: STAFF.

Home Court: MCI Center (off campus): MCI CENTER.

OVERVIEW: A familiar name with a new face began roaming the Georgetown sidelines in the 2004-2005 season as John Thompson III took over the coaching duties of the program his father led to the heights of college basketball during his tenure. Georgetown was coming off their first losing season in 30 years and John Thompson III righted the ship by bringing the Princeton offense with him to Washington and the Hoyas were the surprise team of the conference out of the gates with an impressive opening conference night win at Pittsburgh. The Hoyas continued to stay near the top of the conference standings as they won 8 of their first 11 Big East Conference games before they hit the wall and faltered down the stretch, dropping their last 5 conference games. It was their offense that stopped putting points on the board as they struggled to average 61 points a game over their last 13 conference contests (including 2 tournament games), but they stayed in every game because players bought into the new system and they followed through in their determination to work on defense. Also, having three freshmen log minutes as starters also probably added to the team wearing down over the course of the season as freshmen sometimes begin to hit a wall as the season progresses.


John Thompson III not only coaches at Princeton, but he was also a solid player for the Tigers as he was an undergraduate student at Princeton. He was the head coach at Princeton for 4 seasons after serving as an assistant to Pete Carril, leading the Tigers to a couple NCAA appearances. Thompson guided the Hoyas to a 19-13 record and an 8-8 finish in the Big East in his first season. The Hoyas advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT before losing to a solid South Carolina team and left the Hoyas wanting more in 2005-2006.

MOVING FORWARD: The New Big East Conference undoubtedly finds a Georgetown program hungry to reach the heights they once rose to under John Thompson, the Hall of Fame father of John Thompson III. Their success in his first season has probably only fueled that fire. When taking over the job, Thompson III spoke of small steps and incremental improvement in order to achieve their goal. One wonders now if the early success and large jump forward in success has gotten the expectations to be just a tad too high in the more competitive conference that is the New Big East. With your top seven scorers returning intact and a recruiting class that is expected to add additional talent, it is no wonder why Hoya fans are anxiously awaiting year two of the Thompson III tenure.

RETURNEES: Georgetown is going to have the services for one more year of all-league performer Brandon Bowman. Bowman may have worried some of the Hoya faithful when he put his name into the NBA draft after the season, but it was nothing more than an exploration process and when it was quickly confirmed he was not a 1st round pick, breathing returned to normal for the Hoya faithful. Bowman is one of the top talents in the conference and brings excellent size and experience to the wing position. At 6’8 he represents tough match-ups for much of the league at the wing and he also has the ability to play the 4 effectively in the conference. He is teamed with Jeff Green to make up one of the best forward combinations in the league and Ashanti Cook adds experience and more outside shooting to the mix. All 3 guys are very capable at hitting the 3-pt shot and making the back door pass to an open teammate. Cook has the versatility to play the point guard position and can spell Jon Wallace, a consistent ball handler and dependable perimeter shooter, at the position. Another wing player returning will be senior Darrel Owens who can play both wing spots and loves to spot up and drain the 3-pt shot. Tyler Crawford is another wing player that will look to add more as a sophomore. The man anchoring the middle will be 7’2 Roy Hibbert. Hibbert is definitely a project, but he showed to be a tad farther along than originally expected last season. He needs to improve footwork, strength and conditioning, but his size is going to be an asset no matter what and he showed a developing offensive game that has promise. Sead Dizdarevic also returns to add depth upfront.

INCOMING: Coach Thompson has definitely shown the rest of the conference he can get out and recruit. We have already looked at his early success with the class of 2006 and he landed 4 excellent additions to the program for 2005-2006. The most highly regarded is former NYC resident Jesse Sapp. Sapp should push for immediate time at the off-guard spot backing up Cook and also forcing Cook to play some PG to get both on the floor at the same time. He will bring a more wide open talent to the Princeton offense, so, depending on how quickly he can adjust to the structured offense will also impact his time. The other three recruits will probably spend a year mostly learning the ropes of the Big East and the Princeton offense as Mark Edgerson and Octavious Spann are wing players that will probably be caught behind Bowman and Owens. Josh Thornton could get early time in the backcourt depending on the development of Sapp and improvement from Crawford.

LOSSES: RaMell Ross was the only senior on the team last year and played just 7 minutes a game in 20 contests. Ray Reed got quite a bit of time at the guard spot the last two seasons, but decided to transfer and seldom used frosh, Cornelia Guibunda also opted to leave the program.

SCHEDULE: On the moderately easy side for the Big East Conference. They miss out on having to play Louisville (along with Seton Hall) and are given South Florida, St John’s and West Virginia as their mirror schools. Traveling to Connecticut and Villanova are definite tough options, but the rest of the road slate provides opportunity for a team to make up ground on the rest of the league. There isn’t a home game that the Hoyas should look at and not expect to have a chance to win and it will depend on how many they can steal on the road if this team is to make something better out of this season.

OUTLOOK: Promising is a word I would use for their 2005-2006 season. The schedule is definitely a tad bit in their favor and they return a lot of experience to go with a star player in Bowman. If they can get elevated play on a consistent basis from Cook and a freshmen like Sapp can give them a little more athletic spark to go with natural progressions from Hibbert and Green, we have a team that will challenge for an NCAA tournament bid. A definite bubble watch team in my opinion, they could be the first true test on how many teams can get in from one conference.

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