“My dream came true.”

Senior forward Darrel Owens always wanted to be a Hoya. He watched Allen Iverson dart up and down the court, sinking shot after shot. He watched Alonzo Mourning (COL ’92) dominate the paint. He wore a Georgetown jacket as he followed his Hoyas season after season. He knew that was the team he wanted to be on.

Owens even remembers first stepping foot on campus as a Hoya. “After watching Georgetown for so long, and then having the opportunity to play here, is pretty special,” he said.

Owens has earned a special spot in Hoya fans’ hearts, too. Since that first moment, he has steadily increased his presence on campus and on the court. From sitting out his freshman year to returning to play as a fifth-year senior this season, Owens has come a long way in his journey on the Hilltop, as a person and as an athlete.

“My career has been a lot of ups and downs,” Owens said about his college experience. “So far it’s just been signs of improvement every year. Hopefully this year I can put that exclamation mark on it.”

His four-year sentence nears completion as Owens enters the 2005-06 season at the best point in his career. In his first contest during his sophomore year, Owens scored four points against Grambling State. In the Hoyas’ last game of 2005, he sunk seven three-pointers on his way to a career-high 26 points against South Carolina in the NIT. He also matched a career-high 10 rebounds in the game.

Owens’ story is one of development on and off the court. In addition to his basketball, he has changed so much since he first came here, he said. He entered his freshman year in 2001 “an unsteady freshman, not knowing where to go, right or left.” He was a self-described “momma’s boy” from Napoleonville, La., spending his year on the bench.

“Not too many people from the little town I’m from in Louisiana get to say that they went to a great institution like Georgetown,” Owens said, adding that growing up surrounded by sugarcane fields “broadened my horizons so much.”

After adjusting to his new setting in the nation’s capital, Owens took the court in his sophomore year, seeing action in all but two games and following forward Mike Sweetney’s lead to the NIT Championship game in the 2002-03 season.

“We had a lot of talent that just didn’t know how to play well as a cohesive unit. We always were trying to do different things at different times,” Owens said of those first Hoya teams. “But this year it seems as if everybody is on the same page.”

As the team’s oldest player, Owens brings a unique viewpoint to the team. He has experienced Georgetown’s ups and downs, including a major coaching change. The basketball team hit a historic low when the Hoyas failed to reach the postseason in 2003-04, ending the longest postseason appearance streak in NCAA history. (They hadn’t missed a tournament since 1974.) But Owens was a part of an eye-catching turnaround season in 2004-05 under new Head Coach John Thompson III.

“That was the first step of bringing in Coach Thompson,” Owens said. “The best thing to happen to me since I’ve been here is having Coach Thompson as a coach. He’s given me all the confidence I need, I think, to lead.”

The Hoyas will welcome that leadership this year as the young team, comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores, finds its way in the competitive world of NCAA basketball, and the Owens has noticed the buzz.

“The anticipation is so high, anticipation of us, of winning,” he said. “Just the love that we get from the school is amazing right now, just waiting for the season to start. I think this year has a lot of good things for us.”

Owens hopes to make the most of his last season as a Hoya. Every player has a different role on the team, and Owens said that his goal this season is to make his open shots and be a leader off the court.

“Being here – this is my fifth year – I definitely consider myself a leader,” Owens said. “I try to do all the necessary things on and off the court.”

Outside of the locker room, Owens continues to set an example for his teammates. He is currently finishing up a second major, theology. “I’m definitely proud of that,” he said.

Through all the academic and athletic accomplishments, though, Owens still remembers his roots in Napoleonville. He goes back to visit his high school and see the players there whenever he can. He always tells them, “Look where I came from, and I’m finishing up my second degree. Anything’s possible.”

There are 27 regular season games left in Owens’ college career and, if everything goes well, two possible postseason tournament berths. Knowing this is his last year in Hoya blue and grey, Owens is focused on helping Georgetown get there – and making Napoleonville proud in the process.