Watch out, basketball world. Once again, Georgetown is all the rage.

Greg Monroe, considered by many the nation’s top high school basketball player, has verbally committed to playing for Georgetown next year.

Friday night offered all sorts of possible reasons why Monroe might want to go to Georgetown. The Hoyas’ newest Final Four banner was unveiled, Jeff Green, a player to whom many compare onroe, had his NBA jersey placed on the gym’s north wall, and Jerry Rice did the Soulja Boy dance with Patrick Ewing Jr.

The weekend even afforded Monroe a chance to eat breakfast and dinner with Head Coach John Thompson III.

It is somewhat ironic, then, that Monroe did indeed chose to commit to play on the Hilltop, but for reasons unrelated to Friday night’s festivities.

“[Georgetown] just felt comfortable to me,” Monroe told the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Saturday afternoon. “I was comfortable with the style of play.”

Dave Telep, national recruiting director for the recruiting Web site scout.com, said that Monroe is the best high school basketball player in the country.

“He’s tailor-made to how Georgetown plays,” Telep said. “He’s an unselfish guy, he handles the ball well and he’s great with his back to the basket.”

Telep, who has seen the Helen Cox High School star play in AAU leagues, believes the 6-foot-10 220-pound Monroe will easily transition to Georgetown’s Princeton offense.

Telep also said the talent already in place at Georgetown gives the team a legitimate chance to win a national championship in the coming years.

“He hasn’t had a lot of help [on his current teams]. He’s been like a Batman with no Robin,” Telep said.

Monroe will join freshman guards Austin Freeman and Chris Wright, two McDonald’s all-Americans who committed to Georgetown last year. Monroe was also interested in LSU, Duke, Texas and Connecticut, having already visited his in-state LSU.

Friday’s Midnight Madness brought together the elements that cement Georgetown’s resurgence as a national basketball power.

Jeff Green’s Seattle Supersonics jersey was unveiled, joining the likes of Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning on the northern wall of McDonough Gymnasium.

The Final Four banner from last year also made its debut, along with new, modern looking banners commemorating the runs in 1982 and 1985 and the 1984 national championship.

Thompson, freshly signed to a six-year contract extension, stood amidst his handiwork on the wall, the title contender he’s assembled in three years standing by on the court and the slew of top-notch recruits watching from the top of the McDonough bleachers.

Monroe and fellow high-profile recruits, senior Renaldo Woolridge and junior Hollis Thompson, were present at Friday’s Midnight Madness and spent most of the evening together. The trio sat together throughout the night’s events and left together after the festivities.

They offered similar assessments of Georgetown.

“I like it here,” Monroe said to The Hoya. “All the students are very friendly, the support on campus is nice.”

Monroe declined Friday night to say if one school was leading in his recruitment. He told reporters he intended to continue with the recruitment process, which would have had him visit Duke at the end of October.

Afterward, Woolridge, a 6-foot-8 forward out of North Hollywood, Calif., said he enjoyed Midnight Madness and the loud student support inside was encouraging.

He said he was still deciding between Georgetown, The University of Southern California and Tennessee but his visit to the Hilltop will help him make a decision.

“I’m still taking everything in ,but it’s real cool to see the fan support like this,” Woolridge said amidst the Athletic Department’s after party in the McDonough parking lot. Woolridge said he has been enjoying the time with onroe and Hollis Thompson, with whom he is familiar from the AAU circuit.

Thompson, a lanky small forward from Los Angeles, had similar words for Midnight Madness, saying he was impressed with Georgetown but had not yet reached a decision.

Shooting guard Jason Clark, center Henry Sims and power forward Chris Braswell, now seniors in high school, all verbally committed to the Hoyas as juniors but, like Monroe, cannot sign letters of intent until Nov.14.

Woolridge and Augustus Gilchrist, who also attended Midnight adness, are the highest-profile class of 2008 recruits still considering Georgetown. Gilchrist, a 6-foot-9 center, committed to Virginia Tech last year but asked to be released from his letter of intent following the shootings. Reports on recruiting Web site Rivals.com and in the Washington Post have indicated that Gilchrist may be interested in joining the Hoyas, possibly as soon as January.

But even if Monroe’s addition caps the class of 2008, Thompson III has already cemented one of the country’s top incoming groups.

“The pied piper has just been signed,” Telep said of onroe.

Editor’s Note: Portions of this article originally appeared online at www.thehoya.com