Hoya Staff Writer Friday, August 25, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya Brandon Bowman

Basketball may be a winter sport, but the summer months have been active ones for the Georgetown men’s basketball program. After a successful run to the Sweet 16 in March, the Hoyas saw the departure of three productive seniors. Guard Ashanti Cook (COL ’06) and forwards Brandon Bowman (COL ’06) and Darrell Owens (COL ’05) have all left the Hilltop with plans of continuing their basketball careers and each has taken a different path to do so. Bowman, an NBA Draft hopeful who was projected as high as the late-first round, was ultimately not selected in the June draft, but did sign a contract with the Portland Trail Blazers to play with their summer league team in the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League. In the Blazers’ five games Bowman scored four points and picked up three rebounds in 15 minutes of play, but was not asked to sign a regular season contract. He remains unsigned. Cook was not picked up by an NBA team either, but has found a professional career in Germany. In July he signed with Braunschweig, a team in the top division of the German Basketball League. Owens also spent his summer playing in a summer league, the Goodman League in Washington, D.C. Featuring standout high school, college and professional players, Owens was joined by such players as former George Washington University players Pops Mensah Bonsu and J.R. Pinnock, former George Mason player Lamar Butler, former Syracuse star Lawrence Moten, plus University of North Carolina freshman Tywon Lawson and Texas freshman Kevin Durant. Owens has not signed a professional contract to date. As players leave the Hilltop others arrive, and the summer saw Georgetown recruit Austin Freeman, a 6-foot-4 guard from Hyattsville, Md. climb as high as No. 9 in Rivals’ Basketball Rankings Class of 2007 list. Freeman, who plays for DeMatha Catholic High School, is a top-10 recruit and widely considered one of the top scorers in the nation. He can officially sign a letter of intent (thus far his commitment is only verbal) as early as November, and he would join the Hoyas for the 2007-08 season. In Hoya basketball alumni news, Othella Harrington (CAS ’96) was signed as a free agent by the Charlotte Bobcats in July. The 30th overall pick in the 1996 Draft, Harrington has appeared in 661 career games and has averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for his 10-year career. Harrington’s last two seasons were spent with the Chicago Bulls and fellow former Hoya Mike Sweetney. “I am very excited to join the Charlotte Bobcats. I am looking forward to a great season and to jelling with the young guys,” Harrington said in a July press release. “I always admired how hard they played. Even through adversity this team continued to play hard and I am happy to be a part of this group.” In the biggest alumni news of the summer, Alonzo Mourning (CAS ’92) re-signed with the NBA Champion Miami Heat last week. The Heat’s all-time blocked shots leader, Mourning appeared in 21 postseason games this year on the Heat’s run to the NBA title, averaging 3.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.14 blocks and 10.8 minutes in the playoffs. “I’m very excited about re-signing with the Heat,” Mourning said in last week’s press release. “I love this organization, the fans and the whole South Florida community and I’m happy to have the opportunity to join my teammates and defend our championship this season. I look forward to one day retiring as a member of the Heat, but right now, I feel great and can’t wait to get out on the court and try to repeat.”