MEN’S BASKETBALL Georgetown Ready For 2001-02 Season Hoyas Tip-Off Against Marymount Tonight By Sean Gormley Hoya Staff Writer
Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior center Wesley Wilson and the Hoyas begin their 2001-02 campaign tonight.
Tonight marks the opening of Georgetown basketball’s 2001-02 regular season, and as is usual for Hilltop season openers, don’t expect the Hoyas to face much of a challenge tonight. Georgetown hits the hardwood in McDonough at 7:30 p.m. to take on the Marymount Saints, a Division III school located in Arlington, Va.
Marymount is coming off a 12-15 season after making the Division III NCAA tournament for the first time in 2000 and will struggle to keep up with Georgetown’s bigger, more talented squad. The Saints’ roster consists primarily of local players and will have to reckon with the Hoyas’ height (four players 6-foot-8 or taller versus one on Marymount) and superior guard skills.
Marymount is led by Coach Chuck Driesell, son of legendary college coach Lefty Dreisell, while former Marymount assistant Blake Esherick is the brother of Georgetown Head Coach Craig Esherick – this and other connections (Esherick’s children attend Marymount’s summer basketball camp) are likely the reasons for the meetings of the teams.
Tonight Georgetown will likely feature the same starting lineup seen in the two exhibition games the team played in: Kevin Braswell at point guard, Gerald Riley at shooting guard, Victor Samnick at small forward, Mike Sweetney at power forward and Wesley Wilson at center. Coming off the bench to see significant action will be freshmen guards Tony Bethel and Drew Hall and junior forward Courtland Freeman.
The Saints’ top returning frontcourt player, Dallas Crawley, stands just 6-foot-6 and will likely be manhandled in the middle by the duo of Wilson and Sweetney. The Marymount backcourt was decimated by graduation and will have to fight just to keep Braswell and Riley under wraps, not to mention deal with further height deficits in the backcourt and at small forward, where Saints small forward Terry Hoffman will give up four inches to Victor Samnick.
Barring word from the NCAA, freshman forward Harvey Thomas will once again be gracing the sideline in street clothes, continuing to await word from the NCAA Clearinghouse regarding his eligibility for the now-underway season.
As the No. 15 Hoyas embark on the regular season, they will be looking to build upon their 2001 Sweet 16 campaign and two exhibition games in which they easily dismantled Army-Fort Hood (108-65) and New Zealand Select (87-53, after beginning the game on a 33-0 run).
Tonight’s game will likely see Georgetown pull away early and probably empty out the bench in the second half, but the play of a couple of Hoyas will be worth watching. Gerald Riley averaged 15.5 points in the first two preseason games, while Victor Samnick put together a pair of double-doubles, and it will be interesting to see if they can continue to build on this solid play and compliment the inside-outside one-two punch of Braswell and Sweetney as the regular season commences.
Following tonight’s game, Georgetown will face its first hurdle of note when the Hoyas travel to Springfield, Mass., and the Basketball Hall of Fame to face Georgia in the Tip-off Classic on onday night. Georgia was an NCAA Tournament team in 2001 but lost three of five starters to graduation and has been picked to finish in the bottom half of the SEC this season.
en’s Basketball Preview
