Most sports-minded Hoyas spent Sunday watching football. A year earlier, though, it was not the NFL playoffs but their own Georgetown Hoyas that had Hilltop sports buffs on Cloud Nine. It was not Rex Grossman or Peyton Manning who had done the unthinkable; it was Brandon Bowman and Ashanti Cook. It wasn’t Indianapolis beating New England or Chicago downing New Orleans. It was Georgetown upsetting Duke.

It was the kind of game that players wait their whole lives to be a part of, and the sort of afternoon that fans will remember for years to come. It was Jan. 21, 2006, and the score was Georgetown 87, No. 1 Duke 84.

“It was a good game,” John Thompson III said modestly after what some described as the upset of the year.

For most, the excitement was a day-long affair – a day that started earlier than usual. The most ardent of Hoya Blue’s crazies spent the night of Jan. 20 camping outside MCI Center, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until tip-off. Others rose early and hopped onto a city bus or into a cab to arrive at the arena before the school-sponsored busses delivered the masses.

Once outside the arena on F Street, Georgetown students waited in anticipation, despite the cold. Finally allowed inside, students anxious to claim their seats sprinted to the lower level, hoping to get as close to the action as possible. Even those who arrived hours before the game was to begin were stuck nearly 20 rows from the court.

The game itself was a blur. Lasting images include Roy Hibbert’s tip-in to open scoring or the Hoyas staking themselves to an early 18-8 lead. Most recall Brandon Bowman (COL ’06) or Jeff Green slamming the ball home after a picturesque backdoor cut, but it’s difficult to recollect when exactly any of that happened.

Anyone who saw the game remembers J.J. Redick scoring early and often – he finished the afternoon with 41 points – and is probably still thankful that usual star Shelden Williams was relatively quiet, converting just two buckets in 34 minutes of action.

The game’s final sequence may well have been the afternoon’s most indelible image. Freshman guard Greg Paulus dribbles down the court, his team down three points, and instead of finding Redick, he coughs up the ball into the hands of Brandon Bowman.

Then? Bedlam.

Students and alumni stormed the court almost as quickly as Duke left it. The Georgetown players screamed, hugged and high-fived. The crowd lifted Hibbert on its shoulders. Patrick Ewing lifted Ashanti Cook on his. The win lifted up the entire school.

“That game probably gained more attention for us nationally with people who had not been following Georgetown,” Thompson said before this year’s rematch with the Blue Devils. “Now, all of the sudden, people who hadn’t been following Georgetown for years kinda looked at us and so oh, ok.”

Immediately following the contest, it was a little bit more than, “Oh, ok.”

The Washington Post called the win Georgetown’s biggest in 20 years. ESPN.com featured the upset as its lead story, boldly proclaiming, “Duke Nuked.” Across the nation, over 500 stories were run about the Hoyas’ improbable victory.

It’s been a little over 365 days now, but the effects of that milestone victory have lasted. The Hoyas’ triumph over the Blue Devils pushed Georgetown into the AP top 25, a position they occupied until early December (Ironically, it was a loss to those same Blue Devils that finally dropped the Hoyas from the rankings). It gave Georgetown the momentum it needed to win its next five games and ultimately make it to the Sweet 16. The win against Duke thrust the Hoyas back into the national spotlight, signaling to the college basketball world that Georgetown – if it wasn’t quite there yet – was fast returning to national prominence.

“We unbelievably respect Georgetown and what they are doing and their kids. It’s been a heck of a series,” Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after this year’s rematch.

Now, Hoya faithful complain when the squad only receives a dozen votes in the AP Poll – two or three years ago 12 votes would have been a minor miracle.

Knocking off the Blue Devils probably played a part in Georgetown’s top-10 preseason ranking this fall, and had it not taken place, Hibbert and Wallace may not have been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in November.

Austin Freeman, the top-ranked player in Georgetown’s next recruiting class, had already committed, but was in attendance, as was Chris Braswell, a 2008 recruit and teammate of Freeman, who committed this fall. How could any recruit in attendance that afternoon not be stirred by such a momentous victory?

Even the football team benefited – newly-hired Head Coach Kevin Kelly and his sons were in attendance and got a taste of how special Georgetown could be, as did several of his first recruits.

“It was just a great atmosphere, with all of our students, alumni and fans there, seeing what the Georgetown spirit is like,” Kelly said after the game. “We had a good group of recruits there, and for those kids to see that type of atmosphere – a packed house, a great game, a big win and the spirit of it all – you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

In a very short period of time, Georgetown basketball has risen from a dysfunctional has-been to a program mentioned in the same sentence as Connecticut and Syracuse as the Class of the Big East. A number of factors have contributed – the hiring of JT III, the class of 2008 and last year’s trip to the NCAA tournament, to name a few – but no single day made a greater difference than that fateful day last January.

– Editor’s Note: Portions of this article originally appeared THE HOYA’s Year in Review issue on Friday, April 28, 2006.