The most interesting matchup Saturday afternoon when Georgetown and American meet at Verizon Center will not be on the floor. Rather, it will be the pairing of two assistant coaches – Mike Brennan on the Georgetown bench and Robert Burke on American’s side.

The coaches were each on the opposite side of the contest when the Hoyas beat the Eagles 73-49 a year ago. Over the summer, the two essentially switched places.

Both Brennan and Burke coached together under Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III at Princeton, where they won three Ivy League titles.

Burke, who played high school basketball with Thompson, spent the past five years at Georgetown, where he was mainly responsible for recruiting and game preparation. Over the summer, Burke’s name dropped off the roster on the team Web site, and no official announcement was made about his future with the program. The former assistant coach did not respond to requests for comment.

“It’s a new year, it’s a new group,” Thompson said when asked about the coaching staff changes at the

team’s media day in October. “The staff, we have a different chemistry, and that’s [the case] whenever there are changes in the group.”

Brennan, meanwhile, came to the Hoyas in June after helping the Eagles to NCAA tournament appearances in each of his two years at American. Brennan was a four-year starter under Pete Carril at Princeton.

“[Brennan] knows the game and can teach the game, and is a huge asset in terms of the development of players individually as well as collectively,” Thompson said.

Though the assistant coaches will likely not play a tangible role in Saturday’s game, the action on the court may do little to distract attention from the storyline.

The Hoyas have not lost to the Eagles in over 25 years, and Georgetown holds a 42-8 advantage in the all-time series. The Hoyas enter with a sparkling 5-0 record, while the Eagles earned their first victory in eight games this season against a winless Howard team. American lost by 11 at home to the same Mount St. Mary’s squad that Georgetown beat by 21.

Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Verizon Center.”