Business administration and basketball are two areas in which Georgetown has gained national prominence of late. Those same two strengths have lured a highly ranked class of 2008 hoops recruit to the Hilltop.
Henry Sims, a 6-foot-10 center from Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, made a verbal commitment to Georgetown assistant coach Robert Burke Sunday night. He later informed Head Coach John Thompson III of his decision.
“When I watched Georgetown get to the Final Four I enjoyed every minute of it,” Sims said.
Georgetown cannot confirm the commitment until Sims signs a national letter of intent which cannot happen until Nov. 1.
Sims was also being recruited by Maryland and Virginia and said that, after meeting with the head coach at each of the three schools, had seriously considered attending Virginia. Pegged the ninth-best center in his class by Rivals.com, a leading recruiting service, Sims cited Georgetown’s long history of developing low post talent as the biggest factor in his decision.
“Coach Thompson said when I played pick up with him [last week], `We turn our big men into millionaires,'” Sims said. “There’s a big tradition at Georgetown. Virginia doesn’t have that.”
The opportunity to work with former Georgetown centers like Patrick Ewing (CAS ’85), Dikembe Mutombo (FLL ’91) and Alonzo Mourning (CAS ’92) in summer workouts lured Sims, who sees his defense as an area in need of particular improvement.But unlike Ewing, Mutombo and Mourning, Sims does not necessarily see his stay at Georgetown lasting four years.
“I don’t know right now,” Sims said. “But if I have a good year and I could be one of the top picks, I would probably go.”
Siims said that thinks he will mature into the role that junior forward Jeff Green has played for the last three seasons, adding an element of ball handling to complement the scoring and rebounding expected from someone his size.
“I can run the floor, rebound and dribble,” Sims said. “But I always want to aim to be better than Jeff.”
Sims said he looks forward to playing with fellow-Baltimore native, freshman forward DaJuan Summers, and current high school juniors Chris Braswell and Jason Clark, both of whom have also made verbal commitments to Georgetown.
“It’s going to be lots of fun,” he said. “I know a lot of the kids there, and I know a lot of the kids coming in. If all those guys stayed [for four years] that would encourage me to stay. That’s the idea for any college player, to win a national championship.”
Off the court, Sims looked to the McDonough School of Business’ high national ranking as an another advantage Georgetown held over Virginia. Sims said that his interest in business administration is steering him towards the MSB.
