2004–05 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

2004–05 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball
National Invitation Tournament, Quarterfinals
Conference	Big East
2004–05 record	19-13 (8-8 Big East)
Head coach	John Thompson III (1st year)
Assistant coach	Robert Burke (1st year)
Assistant coach	Kevin Broadus (1st year)
Assistant coach	Sydney Johnson (1st year)
Captain	Ashanti Cook (1st year)
Captain	Brandon Bowman (1st year)
Home arena	Verizon Center

2004–05 Big East men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
#14 Boston College	13	–	3		.813			25	–	5		.833
#13 Connecticut	13	–	3		.813			23	–	8		.742
#19 Villanova	11	–	5		.688			24	–	8		.750
Pittsburgh	10	–	6		.625			20	–	9		.690
Notre Dame	9	–	7		.563			17	–	12		.586
Georgetown	8	–	8		.500			19	–	13		.594
West Virginia	8	–	8		.500			24	–	11		.686
Providence	4	–	12		.250			14	–	17		.452
Seton Hall	4	–	12		.250			12	–	16		.429
Rutgers	2	–	14		.125			10	–	19		.345
St. John's*	3	–	13		.188			9	–	18		.333
#11 Syracuse†**		–	5		.000			12	–	7		.632
† 2005 Big East Tournament winner As of **Syracuse:: 15 reg. season games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed record: Syracuse–(27–7)(11–5); Rankings from AP Poll *Did not qualify for 2005 Big East Tournament

The 2004–05 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University in the 2004–2005 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Hoyas were coached by John Thompson III – his first year at Georgetown – and played their home games at the MCI Center in Washington, DC. The Hoyas are members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 19-13, 8-8 in Big East play. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2005 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament before losing to Connecticut They played in the 2005 National Invitation Tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing to South Carolina.

Season recap

John Thompson III, the son of legendary Georgetown head coach John Thompson, Jr., arrived from Princeton, where he had served as head coach for four seasons, as only the second person with prior head coaching experience to take over the Georgetown's men's basketball program.^{[note 1]} He made a decisive change in Georgetown's style of basketball. John Thompson, Jr., and his successor Craig Esherick had emphasized fast, running, very physical play over their combined 32 years as head coach at Georgetown, but, upon taking over the program from Esherick, John Thompson III introduced the "Princeton offense" he had learned as a player and assistant coach under Pete Carril at Princeton and had himself employed at Princeton during his four years as head coach there. The Princeton offense emphasizes ball movement, dribbling, passing, and backdoor cuts to set up more deliberate, and often more slowly developing, scoring opportunities.^[1][2][3]

Junior forward and team co-captain Brandon Bowman started all 32 games – as he would all 127 games of his collegiate career. The Princeton offense suited him, and his scoring improved from his first two years with the team. Over the first four games of the season, he averaged 22 points, and he went on to lead the team in scoring in 15 games and in rebounding 13 times. He scored on a layup with eight seconds remaining in the game to give the Hoyas an upset win over 16th-ranked Pittsburgh on January 5, 2005, their only win over a ranked opponent during the season. Against seventh-ranked Syracuse 13 days later, he scored to tie the game and force overtime, narrowly missing winning the game with the shot when officials determined that his foot had been on the three-point line when he launched it and ruled it a two-pointer. In a game against Seton Hall on February 2, 2005, he scored 28 points and shot 14-for-15 (93.3%) from the free-throw line.^[4]

The change in the team's offensive philosophy also played to the strengths of junior guard and team co-captain Ashanti Cook, who started all 32 games, the second straight season he had started every game. He averaged 32 minutes a game and emerged as a leader on the floor, displaying expertise on defense and impressive shooting accuracy. He had his best offensive season as a Hoya, averaging 10.8 points a game and scoring in double figures 19 times.^[5] He shot 4-for-4 from three-point range and scored a career-high 23 points at Pittsburgh on January 5, 2005, and he again scored 23 points in the game against Seton Hall on February 2, 2005.^[6]

Senior forward Darrel Owens started the first 12 games of the year, but then moved to the bench to make room for freshman center Roy Hibbert on the starting roster. Owens started only three more games during his collegiate career, and at first struggled in his new reserve role; during a nine-game stretch at midseason after coming out of the starting lineup, he shot only 28 percent from the field and averaged only one field goal per game.^[7] For his part, Hibbert started 17 games during the season, averaging 15.8 minutes, 5.1 points, and 3.5 rebounds per game. He had two double-doubles during the year and finished the season second on the team in blocked shots with 40. Against Notre Dame at the MCI Center on January 23, 2005, he scored on a game-winning slam-dunk to give the Hoyas a 55-54 win, and he went on to achieve what were then various career highs for him, including a 15-point game at Notre Dame, a 14-rebound game at Syracuse, a five-assist game against San Jose State, a three-steal game against West Virginia, and three blocked shots in four different games.^[8]

Freshman guard Jonathan Wallace was another addition to the team. He started all 32 games and averaged 30.4 minutes, 6.5 points, 2.2 assists, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game. He had a season-high 20 points at Davidson, twice had six assists, had four steals against St. John's, and over the course of the year shot 78.8 percent in free throws.^[9]

Freshman forward Jeff Green quickly emerged as a star of the team. He started all 32 games and averaged 33.8 minutes per game. In December 2004 he was selected to the Rainbow Classic All-Tournament Team. Over the course of the season he shot 50.2 percent from the field and had five double-doubles. He finished the year as the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 13.1 points per game overall and 13.4 in Big East play, and as its leader in rebounding with 6.6 per game, assists with 2.9 per game, and blocked shots with 1.6 per game. His season highs were 22 points against Connecticut on January 8, 2005, 12 rebounds at Villanova a week later, seven assists at Boston College on January 29, 2005, six blocked shots against Penn State, and four steals against Long Beach State.^[10]

The team lost its first game of the season, extending Georgetown's losing streak to 10 games dating back to the previous season, but then began to win, and it completed the non-conference portion of its schedule at 8-3. It then began Big East play, pushing its record to 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the conference before dropping its final five games to finish the regular season with a 16-11 overall record and 8-8 in the conference, good for a tie for seventh place in the Big East standings. The Hoyas beat Seton Hall in the first round of the 2005 Big East Tournament with Darrel Owens emerging from his midseason slump to score 14 points against the Pirates,^[7] but lost to 12th-ranked Connecticut in the quarterfinals.

With a 17-12 record after the loss to Connecticut, Georgetown missed the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year and seventh time in the previous eight years. However, the Hoyas returned to post-season tournament play for the first time since the 2002-03 season when they were invited to the 2005 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), their third invitation to and second appearance in the NIT in four years^{[note 2]} and sixth invitation to and fifth appearance in the NIT in eight years.^{[note 2]} Georgetown easily defeated Boston University at the MCI Center in the first round and had a 17-point win over Cal State Fullerton at McDonough Gymnasium in the second round in a game in which Ashanti Cook tied his career high with 10 rebounds. In the quarterfinals, Darrel Owens scored a career-high 26 points to push his per-game scoring average over the three NIT games to 18 points,^[7] but the Hoyas lost in a close game at eventual tournament champion South Carolina to finish the season with a record of 19-15.

Roster

Source^[11]

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
0	Ashanti Cook	6'2"	180	G	Jr.	Inglewood, CA, U.S.	Westchester HS
1	Brandon Bowman	6'8½"	219	F	Jr.	Santa Monica, CA, U.S.	Westchester HS
2	Jonathan Wallace	6'1"	178	G	Fr.	Harvest, AL, U.S.	Sparkman HS
4	Kenny Izzo	6'8"	210	F	So.	Chicago, IL, U.S.	Fenwick HS
5	Ray Reed	6'1"	175	G	So.	Inglewood, CA, U.S.	Inglewood HS
10	RaMell Ross	6'6"	205	G/|F	RS So.	Fairfax, VA, U.S.	Lake Braddock Secondary
20	Darrell Owens	6'6½"	210	F/G	Sr.	Napoleonville, LA, U.S.	Assumption HS
21	Cornelio Guibunda	6'9"	227	F	Fr.	Maputo, Mozambique	King Low Heywood Thomas (Conn.)
22	Tyler Crawford	6'4"	196	G/F	Fr.	Staunton, VA, U.S.	Robert E. Lee HS
32	Jeff Green	6'8½"	225	F	Fr.	Hyattsville, MD, U.S.	Northwestern HS
40	Ryan Beal	6'5"	195	G	Jr.	Coral Gables, FL, U.S.	Ransom Everglades School
44	Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw	6'8"	235	F/C	Jr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	St. Albans School
52	Sead Dizderevic	6'8"	235	F	So.	Serbia and Montenegro	North Highland HS
55	Roy Hibbert	7'2"	272	C	Fr.	Adelphi, MD, U.S.	Georgetown Prep

Rankings

The team was not ranked in the Top 25 in either the AP Poll or the Coaches' Poll at any time.^[12][13]

2004–05 Schedule and results

Source^[14][15]

• All times are Eastern

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Regular season
Mon., Nov. 22, 2004* 7:30 p.m.		Temple	L 57-75	0–1	MCI Center (6,320) Washington, DC
Fri., Nov. 26, 2004* 7:30pm		The Citadel	W 69-34	1–1	MCI Center (4,989) Washington, DC
Tue., Nov. 30, 2004* 7:00pm		at Davidson	W 76-51	2–1	John M. Belk Arena (2,726) Davidson, NC
Mon., Dec. 6, 2004* 7:30pm		Penn State	W 66-53	3–1	MCI Center (6,127) Washington, DC
Thu., Dec. 9, 2004* 7:30pm		#1 Illinois	L 59-74	3–2	MCI Center (12,401) Washington, DC
Sat., Dec. 11, 2004* 5:00pm		San Jose State	W 58–40	4–2	MCI Center (2,154) Washington, DC
Mon., Dec. 20, 2004* 10:00pm		vs. Oral Roberts Rainbow Classic Quarterfinal	L 63–81	4–3	Stan Sheriff Center (7,382) Honolulu, HI
Wed., Dec. 22, 2004* 4:00pm		vs. Long Beach State Rainbow Classic Consolation	W 57–51	5–3	Stan Sheriff Center (6,212[16]) Honolulu, HI
Thu., Dec. 23, 2004* 6:30pm		vs. Clemson Rainbow Classic Consolation	W 75–60	6–3	Stan Sheriff Center (6,227) Honolulu, HI
Tue., Dec. 28, 2004* 1:00pm		Norfolk State	W 78–70	7–3	MCI Center (6,071) Washington, DC
Thu., Dec. 30, 2004* 7:30pm		Howard	W 79–56	8–3	MCI Center (7,671) Washington, DC
Wed., Jan. 5, 2005 7:00 noon		at #16 Pittsburgh	W 67-64	9–3 (1–0)	Petersen Events Center (11,425) Pittsburgh, PA
Sat., Jan. 8, 2005 12:00 noon		#10 Connecticut Rivalry	L 59–66	9–4 (1–1)	MCI Center (11,363) Washington, DC
Tue., Jan. 11, 2005 1:00pm		Rutgers	W 65–62	10–4 (2–1)	MCI Center (6,905) Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 15, 2005 2:00pm		at Villanova	W 66–64	11–4 (3–1)	The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA
Tue., Jan. 18, 2005 7:00pm		at #7 Syracuse	L 73–78 ^OT	11–5 (3–2)	Carrier Dome (23,485) Syracuse, NY
Sun., Jan. 23, 2005 12:00 noon		Notre Dame	W 55–54	12–5 (4–2)	MCI Center (9,305) Washington, DC
Thu., Jan. 25, 2005 7:30pm		St. John's	W 66–57	13–5 (5–2)	MCI Center (7,864) Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 29, 2005 7:30pm		at #8 Boston College	L 49–64	13–6 (5–3)	Silvio O. Conte Forum (8,606) Chestnut Hill, MA
Wed., Feb. 2, 2005 8:00pm		Seton Hall	W 61–51	14–6 (6–3)	MCI Center (8,568) Washington, DC
Sat., Feb. 5, 2005 7:00pm		at Rutgers	W 61–56	15–6 (7–3)	Louis Brown Athletic Center (8,007) Piscataway, NJ
Sat., Feb. 12, 2005 4:00pm		West Virginia	W 67–60	16–6 (8–3)	MCI Center (14,458) Washington, DC
Wed., Feb. 16, 2005 8:00pm		at Notre Dame	L 64–70	16–7 (8–4)	Edmund P. Joyce Center (11,418) Notre Dame, IN
Sun., Feb. 20, 2005 2:00pm		at St. John's	L 67–76	16–8 (8–5)	Madison Square Garden (7,464) New York, NY
Sun., Feb. 27, 2005 12:00 noon		#23 Villanova	L 56–67	16–9 (8–6)	MCI Center (11,770) Washington, DC
Wed., Mar. 2, 2005 7:30pm		at #15 Connecticut Rivalry	L 64–83	16–10 (8–7)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, CT
Sat., Mar. 5, 2005 7:30pm		Providence	L 65–68	16–11 (8–8)	MCI Center (11,863) Washington, DC
Big East Tournament
Wed., Mar. 9, 2005 7:00pm		vs. Seton Hall First Round	W 56–51	17–11	Madison Square Garden (19,528) New York, NY
Thu., Mar. 10, 2005 7:00pm		vs. #12 Connecticut Quarterfinal/Rivalry	L 62–66	17–12	Madison Square Garden (19,528) New York, NY
National Invitation Tournament
Wed., Mar. 16, 2005 7:30pm		Boston University First Round	W 64–34	18–12	MCI Center (2,797) Washington, DC
Tue., Mar. 22, 2005 7:00pm		California State Fullerton Second Round	W 74–57	19–12	McDonough Gymnasium (2,604) Washington, DC
Thu., Mar. 24, 2005 7:30pm		at South Carolina Quarterfinal	L 66–69	19–13	Colonial Center (10,662) Columbia, SC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Notes

1. The first, Elmer Ripley, had coached the Hoyas from 1927 to 1929, 1938 to 1943, and 1946 to 1949.
2. Georgetown declined its invitation to the 2002 National Invitation Tournament, choosing to forego postseason play and keep its players in class after the 2001-02 season.

References

1. "Cappon Succumbs To Heart Attack: 'Cappy' Dies After Practice At Princeton". Holland Evening Sentinel. 1961-11-30.
2. "Red Sarachek Dies At 93, November 16, 2005". MacsLive. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
3. Wallace, William N. (1995-02-25). "Carril Demands Versatility". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-11-06.
4. The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 27. Brandon Bowman
5. The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 51. Ashanti Cook
6. guhoyas.com 0 Ashanti Cook
7. The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 71. Darrel Owens
8. guhoyas.com 55 Roy Hibbert
9. guhoyas.com 2 Jonathan Wallace
10. guhoyas.com 32 Jeff Green
11. http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/052405aaa.html
12. sports-reference.com 2004-05 Big East Conference Season Summary
13. espn.go.com 2005 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - USA Today Coaches Poll
14. "2004–05 Schedule". Archived from the original on 10 January 2010. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
15. 2012-2013 Georgetown Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 66.
16. The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Records vs. Opponents: Georgetown vs. Long Beach State, Rainbow Classic, December 22, 2004