#1 Georgetown fan standing in the lobby of the legendary McDonough Gymnasium in front of the trophy case with trophies, ball and net (NCAA 2007 Final 4) from the 1982 Final vs UNC, 2007 Final Four vs. Ohio State, and 1985 NCAA Final vs.Villanova
WINNERS
It was definitely exciting to see our Hoyas in practice mode for the first time this season. Although they've had a few practices under their belts since Midnight Madness, I was truly ready and excited to see them at the open practice held October 20, 2012. Sort of hurry to the Hilltop, I left from home about 9:00 and got the Georgetown campus around 9:30.
I walked from the parking garage to McDonough Gymnasium only to find no one was in the gymnasium -- just myself. I guess it was meant to be alone in the lobby because this gave me the chance to take photos and record some of the basketball memorabilia there including the Hoya greats painted high above on the wall of the lobby.
The 1984 National Championship and 2007 Final Four trophies, autographed basketball, nets and championship ring, and of course the great Hall of Fame plaque of the legendary Coach John Thompson Jr.
Here's some photo's I took from open practice, they might be a little small, so hopefully you can see. Enjoy!
Hoyas lay up line in progress open practice
Hoyas drills open practice
Hoyas in motion drills, drills, drills ...gotta love it!
Fans look on as Team Hoyas run there in open practice
Coach JTIII talks with this team before a team drill
Hoya drills at this end of the court
Coach Thompson III talking to his Hoya troopers during drills
My Hoyas Kicks of The Day at open practice, and oh, I was ready to do some drills also :)
Coach John Thompson III takes a break in the action to talk with former Hoyas Sead Gadzuric
Front of my brand new Hoyas jacketthat came in the mail the same day as open practice made my day!!!
Back of brand new Hoyas jacket
Hoyas huddled up
Banners! 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2013 Hard Work!
Coach John Thompson III during drills & he's sporting the Georgetown retro shorts also
Autographed photo of our 2012-2013 Georgetown Hoyas
Hoya Hoop Club faithful at Georgetown's open practice
It's time to glide! Glide is BACK! The college basketball season is "officially" here! It's the moment we've been waiting for since last Spring. Although I'm always happy for our seniors, once the season ends I tend to get the blues especially after our seniors graduate and go on to bigger and better things. As far as basketball the next big thing I look forward to is the Kenner League played on the campus of Georgetown University in the legendary McDonough Arena. The summer league normally starts after July 4th.
I, along with the Hoya faithful get a chance to see the beginning of a new season and players (Hoyas) put their talents on display. We get to see how much our upper classmen have developed since the end of the season. We also get to see firsthand all of the incoming freshmen play. After all, the old saying is, "players are made in the off season between March and November", and our motto is "It Always Basketball Season on the Hilltop." So, say from March until July there should have been some looks in the mirror from our players saying, "let me be honest with myself, what part/parts of my game do I need to work on so I can see an improvemen in the near future..You think? I think so! Although you may be good, or great you should never be satisfied with where you are because there's always someone better than you or getting better. So, keep working hard.
From the upper classmen down to the freshmen I saw nothing but fire in their eyes once again during the Kenner Summer League. It was like the Hoyas knew they had a job to finish from last season's NCAA's ending with a 66-63 tough loss to the North Carolina State Wolfpack in Columbus, Ohio. They played like it all summer. It seemed to be relayed to the freshmen because they too played with a "sense of urgency" during the summer league. The freshmen normally play on the Tombs team. Super sophomore Hoya Otto Porter played with new kids on the block, and they followed his lead winning most of their games. We didn't get the chance to see freshman Hoyas' Bradley Hayes and Tyler Adams due to injuries.
One player that stood out happened to play a very critical position was Markel Starks at the point guard position. He played like a man possessed. I guess from hard work and soul searching from last season's end really paid off for our floor general and leader. We all how essential and important the point guard position is. This position is like the engine in a car. If the engine doesn't start the car won't move. The Hoya faithful was surprised as Markel's turnaround from last season during the summer league. His timing and decision making and ability to attack at will were key. He knows his job. He knows the ball belongs in his hands at the most crucial moments to make split second decision to get the ball where it needs to go. Last season Starks gave himself a C-. I thought was pretty fair of himself. Seeking to make a bigger impact his junior year, Starks said he dedicated himself to basketball over the summer, putting in more work than he had since high school. People will see a huge upside to Markel's game. This is just what Hoyas ordered.
Hoyas Junior Markel Starks going in against Memphis last season
In case you didn't see the photo shots of the our 2012-2013 Georgetown Hoyas here are some:
Back left to right: Moses Ayeba, Brandon Bolden, David All
Front left to right: Otto Porter, Greg Whittington
"The Original Fresh Five"
Left to Right: Mickael Hopkins, Otto Porter, Jabril Trawick, Greg Whittington, Tyler Adams
Hoya Salute from sophomore guard Jabril Trawick
Left to Right: Freshmen Bradley Hayes, Brandon Bolden and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera
Left to Right Hoyas freshmen Brandon Bolden and Bradley Hayes
The Hoyas definitely have the pieces to the puzzle. Now it's about putting the pieces together. I'm very confident the pieces to the puzzle will all fit into place. There's no doubt in my mind because I believe in our coaching staff full throttle as I've always have. The Hoyas will be tested early and I'm sure they will be ready and confident to accept the challenge.They are tough are ready to begin the "Road To The Final Four."
In case you missed the Hoyas Midnight Madness here's the video:
Hoya photographer Rafael Suanes sporting the "So Other's Might Eat" lid
I thought about doing a story on the the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team for taking time out of their busy schedule and as a part of their school giving back to the Washington, DC community "So Other's Might Eat." What better to do something on the second day of school.
Aaron Bowen getting ready to serve the food
Giving back to your community and representing your university in a city where you attend college is a key factor in college students become adults in learning life's lessons. This give back was not advertised or anything. It was something considerate and thoughtful to do by the basketball staff to represent their university and community where they attend college.
It was all about heart and caring something this basketball team knows all to well of because of how their team bond is with each other and peers. Hoyanation should be proud of our Hoyas basketball team in action today on and off the court. Hoya Salute!
The Georgetown Hoyas basketball team and staff and "So Other's Might Eat's" staff
Let the life I lead speak for me, let the work I do speak for me, let the love I share speak for me
1948 Team USA Basketball Gold Medal Recipient Donald Barksdale
As of late something about Team USA basketball in the 2012 Olympics has been on my mind. I was reminded by Claude Johnson and CEO of The Black Fives.of this. His website has given me so much insight and knowledge of the early history of black basketball in the early 1900's.
I have seen so many mentions of great USA Basketball teams and players of the past especially the 1948 basketball team which won gold in London at this time in recent articles and on the television. There is one player on that gold medal team not mentioned so far during these Olympic games, With one more day to go in Olympic coverage, I felt it was only right for me to write about Donald Barksdale, a gold medal winner in the 1948 Olympics in London and and a 2012 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. He was 6-6 and weighed 200 pounds. Mr. Barksdale was born in Oakland, California March 31, 1923. His early life went into struggle to achieve his basketball goal as his coach did not approve of his talent, the reason being, he was black. This 6’6 200 lbs athlete attended the Berkeley High School, where the coach cut him from short from the team for three straight years as he didn’t wanted any one black player in his team.
Afterwards, he was traded to the Boston Celtics and two years later, his basketball career got cut short due to ankle injury. After his career ended, he returned to radio, where he started his own recording label and even opened two nightclubs in Oakland.
Mr. Barksdale One of the true pioneers in the game of basketball. In Marin Junior College, he honed his playing skills in park and then he played for two years across the San Francisco Bay Barksdale broke the color barrier multiple times as the first African-American NCAA All-America (1947), the first to make the U.S. Olympic team and first-ever to win a gold meal (1948) in basketball, and the first to play in a NBA All-Star game (1953). He signed a contract with the Baltimore Bullets and entered NBA as a 28 year old Rookie.
Following his military service in World War II, Barksdale in 1946-47 earned All-America honors and led UCLA to the Pacific Coast Conference Southern Division championship. He became the first African-American signed by an American Basketball League (ABL) team with the Oakland Bittners, where he set the ABL scoring record in his debut season. Part of the 1948 Olympic team in London, first-ever African-American to . In 1951, he became one of the top 10 highest paid athletes with the Baltimore Bullets and was eventually traded to the Boston Celtics in 1953, where he became the first African-American player to be selected to play in the NBA All-Star Game (1953). In 1983, he launched the Save High School Sports Foundation, which raised over 1 million dollars by the time he passed away in 1993 to save several Oakland school athletic programs from demise.
Glidehoyas
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The difference between Lebron James and Kevin Durant is that Durant is a cluth player and James is not. Why? Because James is not in this video:
Sitting here at work thinking about what the Oklahoma City Thunder need to do beat the Miami Heat. There is no doubt the Heat on are the beat - out of the Eastern Conference that is. Congrats! OKC out of the Western Conference. Congrats! In my opinion the Heat were suppose to beat the Boston Celtics, maybe sweep them. Only reason why I say sweep is because of the injuries and age of the Celtic players. I give mad kudos to the Celtics taking the Heat to 7 games.
It took everyting for the Heat to beat the Celtics especially with one of their major and young defensive stoppers Avery Bradley injured. The Celtics were playing off of sheer experience and determination because the odds were against them big time. For a while I didn't know which way this series was going to go, but I do know the Heat should have taken the Celtics out early.
Did this help or hurt the Heat going into this series with the Thunder? Does the Heat enough to beat OKC? Both teams split at home this past season, so I think it's pretty much even going into The Finals, but we must remember this Thunder team has grown up along the way and have gotten better especially beating a GREAT Spurs team with a GREAT Coach Popovich.
Lots of adjustments were made to beat this GREAT Spurs team that had won 20 games straight. The Spurs were definitely a MUCH better team than the Heat in opinion. For OKC to stop such run by the Spurs at that particular was a big feat for them. Score 102-82! Blow out fashion. Now, who would've ever thought such a young team would beat such a veteran team with a great coach by 20 points. Goes to show the maturity and smarts this young OKC team put on display. The Thunder were still down in the series 2-1.
"It was good for us to get a win in front of the home crowd," said Thunder standout Thabo Sefolosha. "We knew coming back home it would be a different ball game. It's going to be a long series. This is only one game."
"They just flat out beat us," San Antonio's Stephen Jackson said. "They played with more energy. They gave us a good old fashioned butt-whipping."
"We haven't lost in a while. We'll see how we react to it," Spurs veteran big man Tim Duncan said. "Hopefully the guys will come back jacked up." They were but OKC tied the series 2-2.
"They played very well. They played like it was a close-out game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
"They played better than we did. We played much more poorly than we have and they played fantastic basketball in every way."
"We played defensive-minded basketball. That's how we win," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said.
I think the biggest change was at the point guard position amongst the other changes. From what I saw the ball needed to slowed down and moved around before a shot was released this mostly was a great change in Russell Westbrook's play at the point guard position. This was very smart on his behalf to slow down, keep his head up, and get his teammates involved in the offense. Indeed a very unselfish move on his behalf. Salute!
I think it'll be the little things that add to the big picture for the Thunder to win. James and Wade LOVE to the basket. Take charges on them all day! Wade likes to split between two defenders, and this is what Wade does best, "split between defenders." Don't let him because he becomes "Flash" when he does this. Lebron's high IQ of the game is something to be reckoned with, so the Thunder will have to keep an eye on him especially when James doesn't have the ball. He's great at moving without the ball at times for second rebounds. Big time communication/point communication will also be a big key.
With Kevin Durant's high basketball IQ, and what through the Spurs off in game 6 was Durant's to take over at the point guard position when he was so desperately going into the second half. It was either do or die. I saw how James Harden and Russell Westbrook were struggling a little bit, so I'd hope Durant would take over at the point guard position and get his teammates involved and know when to take over.
Duran't unselfish and ability to get this teammates the ball was stellar and this became contagious. It was as if the Thunder were developing and learning from each other right before our eyes in game 6. It was almost a miracle to me.
With Westbrook and Harden at the wings you couldn't go wrong at this time in the game. The Thunder were down by 18 points and down 15 by the half. I think this is what mostly shocked the Spurs in this game of how the Thunder roared back off of Durant's leadership. This is something they didn't expect because this sure wasn't on game film from the previous game. Kevin Durant scored 34 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. If this isn't leadership and clutch I don't what is.
I guess you could say I'm wondering if this will be the Heat's first and last dance this season. Below.
Anyways will be seeing this and more! I'm rooting for my homeboy Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder! Who are you rooting for?
I'm pretty sure the photo above tells it all. Again, Roy gets very little touches in the paint. It's sickening watching basketball not properly being played the right way - inside/out, especially when you have true legit center in the middle. I don't know what Coach Vogel was thinking about the last two games, but he seems to be lost in space and has not clue on how to counter the Heat's attack. Both of these games were winnable.
When I look at the Indiana Pacers game stats I just literally shake my head. I feel as if someone should make a bobble head Glidehoyas for just this purpose, so everytime I watch a basketball game I would have the bobblehead right beside me, so when I "unsmart" basketball I could tap and watch it's head bobble. (lol)
Although Roy missed five of his shots you could clearly see his team playing selfishly and not giving him the ball throughout the game. The announcers even were saying this. While I was on Twitter the Pacers fans were outraged by the "inability" of Roy's teammates to get him the ball. Roy shot three jumpshots and made one three pointer and it reminded me of this. Although the Pacers did not win the game it was great to hear the legendary Rich Chvotkin, "The Voice of the Hoyas" in this video.
Oh, I did see one great stat. Free throws. Okay, when I'm coaching my team I get the stat sheet after each quarter and halftime. I see the only good stat, again, free throws 17-23 @73.9%. Although this was stat was at the end of the game, it still was only good stat throughout the game.
So, why didn't Coach Vogel recognize this and tell his team to pound the ball into the post so they could get to the free throw line? Go figure! Instead his team settled for the jumpshots. One thing about shooting many jumpshots and missing against a very good team such as the Heat - it's makes it easier for them to get the ball in transition and score.
This actually helps the other team get easy baskets. It's as bad as a turnover, and your literally giving the game away. Part of my gameplan would've been to pound, pound pound the ball inside or tell your guards, "I don't care how you get the ball inside, find a way." One thing about Michael Jordan, he always found a way. It's about the mentality, heart and determination of the game especially in the NBA playoffs. Roy's stats, and he only played 28 minutes, no foul trouble. 8 points, 12 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist and 1 turnover. This is why see photo below!
Pacers center Big Roy Hibbert calls for the ball but his teammates rather settle for jumpshots
I know it's been a while since I've posted but I guess you could say I just wanted to vent here on my blog about former Hoya big man Roy Hibbert sitting for so long during game 4 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. I know and realize Big Roy had 4 fouls when his coach sat him down in late in the 3rd quarter. He only had two touches. He didn't come back in the game until 6:11 in the fourth quarter. Big Roy sat for two long. I'm pretty sure he would've managed his fouls at 4 he still had two more, but sat at very key points in the game. Afterwards, Lebron James and Wade were in attack mode for the remainder, so by the time Big Roy came back in the game it was practically too late for he and his team to counter the Heat blows.
In my opinion you cannot sit your "key" players down for too long no matter the circumstances. When Roy is in foul trouble Coach Vogel needs to stress for his teammates to have his back and take some "charges" when both Wade and James are in attack mode. This would help a great deal, but it would take lots of communication on Roy's teammates behalf.
Actually Big Roy was playing well before he got in foul trouble his stat line was in 32 minutes he was 4-9 in field goals, 2-4 free throws, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 3 turnovers. If you don't get your big the ball he gets frustrated, and the fouls start piling because he's not properly being used in the offense.
The Pacers still managed to shoot 33-79 @ 41.8% in field goals for the game, but would have had a better chance at raising this percentage with Big Roy in the game at crucial moments especially in the fourth quarter. I didn't understand him not starting the fourth quarter or at least coming in at the nine minute mark of this quarter.
Also, as the Pacers shot 7-22 @ 31.8% from the 3 point line? This is why Big Roy had very limited touches while he was in the game (5)? Are you kidding me? Another thing that bothered me in this game is the starting lineup. The Pacers start two shooting guards and not a point guard? To me this makes one heck of difference especially when both your point guard and center are the focal points of any team. Darren Collison is a pretty nice point guard with good leadership skills but sat for most of the game. This another major problem by not having your point guard in the game especially when he did get in the game he played well.
Collison's stat line was 16 points (lead all bench scorers on both teams) in 20 minutes? But, anyways, he was 6-7 in field goals, 0-1 in 3 pointers, (this was good because he was smart enough to know when to "attack" and get inside the paint or give it to the big in the paint the little bit of time he was in the game). 4-6 on the free throw line (another good stat). 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. His energy was there.
As a matter of fact he brough such a furious energy it ignited his team and the Pacers' fans big time, but he ended up on the bench for what unknown reason. We all know coaches make mistakes, so hopefully Coach Vogel see's this and can fix this problem and othe problems as well. The Pacers shouldn't have to make too many adjustments. They just have to play, and coach smarter.
"Let's get back to playing smart and give me the ball"
Jon Rothstein 
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