The 2003-04 Georgetown men’s basketball season, which concluded with an overall record of 13-15 and a Big East record of 4-12, will go down in the record books. Unfortunately the season will be remembered not for the team’s accomplishments, but for what the Hoyas did not achieve.
The 2003-04 season is the first year in the 25 years of Big East tournament history that a Georgetown team did not reach at least the quarterfinals. This season will also be remembered as the first time in the last 30 years that the Hoyas did not receive an invitation to a postseason tournament, breaking the longest such streak in NCAA Division I. Then, the sudden firing of Craig Esherick left the Hoyas looking to rebound next season with a new head coach, Princeton’s John Thompson III. All of this came after a promising 10-0 start.
The Hoyas raced out from the gate, picking up 10 straight wins, nine of them against non-conference opponents. The last win in this streak was a 63-57 win over Rutgers, which proved crucial for the Hoyas later in the season when it came time for the Big East tournament.
In its first matchup against a No. 1 team in a 10-day period, Georgetown was soundly defeated at Gampel Pavilion by Connecticut, 94-70. The Hoyas’ defense did not do much to slow down the Huskies, who scored 24 points off fast breaks. The 24-point loss tied Esherick’s worst loss as head coach.
Georgetown’s next game against a No. 1 team was not very different from their first. In front of the largest Georgetown basketball crowd in the history of MCI Center, Georgetown lost to Duke, 85-66. After a promising 16-18 start, the Hoyas could not keep up with the Blue Devils and Duke ended the first half on a 30-8 run.
In their next game Georgetown faced St. John’s, one team that the Hoyas figured they would have an easy win over. Just weeks before the game, several St. John’s players were expelled or suspended from school, leaving the Red Storm with just nine available players, including four walk-ons. St. John’s, however, showed up to play, and the Hoyas seemingly did not. The Storm won the game, 65-58.
The Hoyas’ following games against Syracuse and Pittsburgh – both ranked teams – started and ended in similar ways. At MCI Center, in front of a predominately Syracuse and Pitt crowds, the Hoyas put up strong efforts but came out on the losing ends of both contests.
After the two good outings against Syracuse and Pittsburgh, a win against Seton Hall was within reach. However, the Hoyas had their worst shooting performance of the season and lost to the Pirates, 75-48.
The loss to Seton Hall was the sixth in a row for the Hoyas, who were now looking to finish the season with a .500 record, the requirement for receiving a bid to the NIT.
The Hoyas followed up the Seton Hall debacle with a 61-48 loss at Notre Dame and entered the last regular season game versus Virginia Tech needing a win to ensure a spot in the Big East tournament, but the Hoyas could not even do that. Only after a West Virginia win over Miami were the Hoyas in the field for the Big East tournament. The team’s 4-12 conference record tied it with Miami for the second spot from the bottom, but Georgetown’s two wins over Miami allowed it to pass on to the conference tournament.
The Hoyas just reached New York City and Madison Square Garden by an inch, and they did not last there very long. The season ended with a 68-57 loss to Boston College in the first round of the Big East tournament, putting an end to one of Georgetown’s worst seasons in school history.
