Tim Llewellyn/The Hoya Junior co-captain Courtland Freeman is coming off of an injury-plagued season and will play a key role on this year’s team.

It is a safe assumption that many students on the Georgetown campus have never heard of junior forward Courtland Freeman. After playing an average of only 14.5 minutes per game in his freshman season, Freeman succumbed to nagging back and foot injuries and sat out the rest of last season after only six games.

But this season Freeman has returned, and as a captain of the 2001-02 men’s basketball team at that. And while many students have yet to become familiar with the 6-foot-9, 222-pound forward, Freeman just may be the biggest x factor for a team predicted to win the Big East-West Division.

Residing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Freeman played high school ball at Socastee High School, a local power in South Carolina. The summer before high school, Freeman shot up in height, growing from 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-6. At Socastee he acted as a mobile center, playing down low, but also capable of stepping outside to shoot the three-pointer. Freeman demonstrated this skill at this season’s three-point competition at Midnight Madness, surprising many fans in the process.

“I haven’t shot many threes since I’ve been at Georgetown,” Freeman said. “But when I was in high school I shot threes all the time.”

During high school Freeman faced tough competition from around the nation. His coach set up the Beach Ball Classic, a nationally recognized tournament for prep-school teams. During these tournaments Freeman faced the likes of NBA stars Jermaine O’Neal, Mike Bibby and Kobe Bryant.

In his senior year at Socastee, Freeman posted impressive numbers, recording 17.3 points and 12.2 rebounds a game to compliment his average of five blocks per game.

As Freeman began the college process he was recruited by Georgetown, Clemson, Indiana, South Carolina and West Virginia. However, it took him just one campus visit to decide that Georgetown was where he wanted to spend his collegiate career.

“A big part of it was Coach John Thompson,” Freeman said. “I was a Georgetown fan coming up and always admired the relationship he had with his players. That was the biggest reason.”

But Freeman would never get the opportunity to play under Thompson, as the coach resigned from his post the year before Freeman arrived on campus, leaving the head coaching duties to long-time assistant Craig Esherick.

“I was disappointed when [Thompson] resigned,” Freeman said. “But I knew that Coach Esherick had been here for 20-something years so I figured the tradition and the team wouldn’t change much.”

When Freeman arrived on campus he said that his greatest challenge in adapting to college life was adjusting academically.

“In high school it was never that serious, but here at Georgetown everybody is always studying. It was kind of hard to keep up at first.”

On the court Freeman had an easier time adjusting to the Division I-A program. As a freshman he averaged 14.5 minutes and appeared in all 34 games for Georgetown that year. During that time, Freeman served as a reserve, coming off the bench to spell center Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje or Lee Scruggs. Freeman was effective in this role, averaging 3.1 points and rebounds per game while buying some rest for the other big men.

Freeman said that he was not shocked about the amount of playing time he received his freshman year and in fact had thought he might have even seen more.

“I wasn’t shocked or anything because everybody out of high school was the man on their high school team so everybody goes into college thinking that you’re going to get a lot of playing time,” Freeman said. “I didn’t get as much playing time as I would have enjoyed, but I realized that I was a freshman and that I had a lot of time to develop myself to get more playing time.”

For Freeman, an early season game against Memphis stuck out in his mind. The game was at the Maui Invitational, a tournament he had always watched on television growing up.

“I was sitting down at the scorer’s table and it just sort of hit me,” Freeman said. “It was like `Damn, I’m getting closer and closer to my goals. I’m playing basketball for Georgetown on national television in Maui.’ That was the first time that I felt that I had realized some of my goals.”

Those goals took a season off last year, as Freeman was declared a medical red-shirt after being plagued by foot and back problems. He would have to watch from the bench as his teammates made their improbable run to the Sweet 16.

“It was very disappointing,” Freeman said. “I don’t think anybody wants to sit out, but I figured it was probably best for me to sit out and try to get healthy and not lose that year of eligibility. But it was tough, especially with the team enjoying as much success that it did and not being on the court playing . it was pretty tough.”

When Freeman returns this season, his role will be largely up in the air. It is likely that he will again come off the bench, spelling sophomore Mike Sweetney and junior Wesley Wilson at power forward and center. However, Freeman certainly has the potential to work his way into the starting lineup, particularly if Wilson falters during the season. Freeman’s versatility and excellence from both inside and outside could be invaluable to a team that lost some depth to graduation.

But while his role as a player has yet to be defined, his role as a leader was handed to him when Esherick named him one of the team’s three captains.

“I was kind of shocked myself when I found out,” Freeman said. “I think the main reason I was chosen was to give the younger guys advice and keep them in line off the court rather than on the court. Try to keep them out of trouble, let them know how things work around here at Georgetown, because it’s totally different than public school and it takes some getting used to.”

Coming into this season the Hoyas face the expectation of returning to the NCAA Tournament and repeating their run to the Sweet 16 and Freeman figures to play a vital role in that success whether it be through his play on the court or through his leadership. While he is unknown to many, it would not be surprising to find that by the end of the season, Courtland Freeman is a very common name indeed.