Maryland Basketball Clamoring For Series With Georgetown
by Hire Esherick on May 4, 2011 8:36 AM EDT
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PrintThe Washington Times reports that the University of Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson is hoping to institute a home-and-home series with Georgetown. The article quotes Anderson as saying:
Lee Reed, the athletic director at Georgetown, is a very good friend of mine. We've talked about renewing that series and doing a home-and-home series. We're in a serious conversation now.
A Maryland-Georgetown series is something that has been discussed countless times by many publications, but this is the first time in recent memory that a school official has publicly acknowledged a desire to play the other program.
(More After the Jump)
Two sides on this:
(1) Screw Maryland and Gary Williams. While Williams is not quoted in the article, the Maryland head coach has desperately clung to the belief that he is owed a game at the Comcast Center because the Terps played the Hoyas at the Capital Centre in 1993, despite the fact that Maryland wore home uniforms for that game and the schools split admissions revenue. Also, Williams had the following to say to The Washington Post in 2004, when Georgetown was at rock bottom, about playing local and "inferior" teams:
It's tough playing local teams when you're supposed to be the best team, to be honest with you. What does that do? It makes the basketball fans of Washington happy, but we have to do what's best for our program.
Is playing Maryland now doing "what's best" for the Georgetown program?
--or--
(2) I am sick of the damn stand-still on a scheduled Maryland-Georgetown game. I was not alive when St. Anthony's coach John Thompson Jr. advised prized DC recruit Donald Washington to attend UNC over Maryland (and others) in 1971. Who cares that John Thompson Jr. cursed at Lefty Driesell on the court in 1979 or that no one can agree on whether a game 18 years ago was a Georgetown, Maryland, or neutral match. Let bygones be bygones; this is about the now, and Maryland-Georgetown is good for the fans and city. As Maryland SBN Blog Testudo Times states:
It makes sense on all sides. Maryland needs to learn how to schedule other elite programs for home games - seriously, the best OOC home opponent last year was College of Charleston. Georgetown gets Maryland in the Verizon Center, which should help fill the cavernous arena (for the record, the same goes for Maryland). And the winner gets bragging rights.
Personally, I side with #2. I was excited when Georgetown and Maryland played in the the 2008 Old Spice Classic and ecstatic after the young Hoyas whooped the Terps 75-48 on national television. Realistically, Georgetown doesn't need Maryland, it is able to schedule a competitive out-of-conference slate without an average team from the ACC (fighting words, on purpose). But for two schools that often see talented players leave the region, it would benefit both programs to rekindle the rivalry and incite some fierce local competition. As a Georgetown fan, I would care a lot more about the Hoyas wining "The Beltway Battle" than The Charleston Classic.
I am skeptical, however, that a series will happen while Gary Williams is at the helm at Maryland.
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Needs sponsorship
And more alliteration. Busch Beltway Braggin’ Rights.
by J-Wall's Mom's Broom on May 4, 2011 8:57 AM EDT reply actions
Yeah I’m sort of torn. On the one hand I think the series would be great. It’d be great for the basketball fans in the area and I think it would help recruiting.
On the other hand It’s going to suck around here(the DC area) whenever we lose a game to those jerks. It’s not at the same level as syracuse but if we had an annual series with Maryland they’d immediately jump up to #2 on my hated list and every loss to them would be unbearable.
That being said I think we would win more than we lost against Maryland so when push comes to shove I think I’m for it.
They would feel the same way as well
so this would make it even sweeter, even in the defunct acc/be challenge it was mind bogglin’ that both teams didn’t play against each other!
They're already #2 on my most hated list
And that’s with scheduling them once every 30 years. If I had to see them every year, it would run the risk of completely overshadowing my Cuse hate and that would be a terrible thing.
by HoyaSmacksYa on May 4, 2011 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I'd like it, but my concern is that maryland will get two home games
the number of grads in the area + the animosity from their side towards g’town + the relative non-chalance of g’town fans and grads towards maryland (we’ve got bigger fish to give a fuck about), means g’town’s ticket office would have to be pretty diligent to make sure the verizon center isn’t 50/50 or even worse.
i’d personally love for the game to be a yearly contest @ verizon as a neutral site. Let one side be g’town fans, the other maryland. 50/50 ticket split. i know the verizon center is technically georgetown’s home court, but it’s not on campus, and it’s pretty much as easy to get to from college park as it is from g’town, so why not (other than ncaa regulations)?
by thejerseytornado on May 4, 2011 11:08 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
This my biggest concern as well.
Just play it at Verizon, no need to go to comcast.
by bunk moreland on May 4, 2011 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions
For what it's worth
Verizon FiOS > Comcast xfinity
jus’ sayin’
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
by vivanloshoyas on May 4, 2011 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Of course, the problem is
That a 50/50 game at Verizon is a “Georgetown home game” in Gary’s eyes.
Generally speaking though, I’m completely in favor of starting a series with Maryland.
What are these assertions!?
by DHB Enterprises on May 4, 2011 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
i don't care what gary thinks. clearly g'town is the team in better shape
thus, gary’s gonna have to bend, not vice versa. that’s already true if maryland’s no longer demanding a 2-for-1.
by thejerseytornado on May 4, 2011 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions
No thanks
I don’t see what we have to gain at this point. I’d NEVER give them the 2 for 1 that Gary is demanding. If I was Reed, I’d almost demand our own 2 for 1 to see how they liked that.
Maryland just wants (to try) to be relevant again. Why give them that opportunity?
or play in mcdonough
Good talk.
Casual Hoya
by Hire Esherick on May 4, 2011 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Why not?
Any way you cut this up, I think it would be fine. A 50/50 game in the VC would be cool. A McD/CC would work, and even if it was a VC/CC split, I think we’d just have to launch a particularly strong raid up the green line to balance out their attendence at VC.
In terms of opponent quality it’s not likely to shift our SOS/RPI numbers in one direction or the other, and ultimately – rivalry games bring publicity. And publicity is always fun.
Yes
I’m always in favor of local series. Much as I love the way JT3’s been scheduling OOC, local rivalries are the one thing that are really missing. The Philly schools get this – even when none of the teams are good, those games draw strong local interest. Teams like Louisville and Kentucky get it. If GU wants to expand its fanbase to more non-alumni locals, this would be a good start.
But Gary shouldn’t get a free home game. Move on, dude.
To have a local rivalry, we would first need a local rival
And not a single Nova or Temple fan is interested in playing the bitch schools in their area. The “local interest” comes from the lesser teams wanting a free shot at knocking off a power conference opponent who would never schedule them under any other circumstances.
We don’t want to be in that pair of shoes, and frankly I don’t think we should dignify the Harvard of College Park with any undue considerations.
by HoyaSmacksYa on May 4, 2011 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions
^does not know about the big five
‘Nova vs. St Joe’s @ the palestra is a top 5 hardest ticket in college basketball. Possibly the hardest because the palestra is so small.
by thejerseytornado on May 4, 2011 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions
except when it's a 'Nova "home game"
then they play it at the Pavillion instead of the Palestra.
by fromCourtlandtoAustin on May 4, 2011 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions
then it's only a pretty damn difficult ticket to get.
bottomline, nova fans definitely care about beating st. joe’s. temple too. and losing to penn or la salle would be very, very painful to them in a way other OOC games wouldn’t be.
by thejerseytornado on May 4, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
We have a local rival- ODU
If we want to add another local mid-major it should be a team with more recent success like George Mason or VCU.
by AnotherGtownJack on May 4, 2011 12:50 PM EDT reply actions
Also, I'm worried about the added load
for area Fire Departments should UMD win some of these games.
by AnotherGtownJack on May 4, 2011 12:52 PM EDT reply actions
One benefit of doing the series
Mark Plotkin would self-combust with outrage/envy. No need for the Tperps to burn stuff.
After that last, unholy row,
I never, ever play, basketball now.
It joins a list of things I'll miss like fencing foils and lovely girls I'll never kiss.
would we schedule home and home series with two ACC teams
would a maryland series come at the expense of the duke series?
Good talk.
Casual Hoya
My question is
How much pull does the AD have on scheduling.
If Gary says no can the AD make this happen anyway?
Gary is the only impediment for this happening and since he wasn’t quoted in the article it’s impossible to say how close to a reality this is to happening.
Not a fan of the idea
(1) We play enough teams from mid-major conferneces in our OOC already.
(2) I don’t want to take the hit to our RPI.
(3) I would much rather play any of the following: Virginia Tech, George Mason, GW, VCU, Richmond, VMI.
by StPetersburgHoya on May 4, 2011 1:36 PM EDT reply actions
AU, Howard, MSM, USNA...
All better adversaries in the area than UMd.
VTech would be a torpedo to our RPI.
GMU fans have become far too big for the britches.
I think it would be fun
And give me an opportunity to mock my friends from UMD on occasions other than missing out on the NIT
Manley Field House is officially closed!
A Women's rivalry
is more interesting than this would be.
by Coach K's kneepads on May 4, 2011 2:39 PM EDT reply actions
If you go by how good both teams should be next year...
…the Lady Hoyas-Lady Terps rivalry (both will be pre-season Top 20 and will play early next season in College Park) will be a much better matchup in 2011/12 than a possible men’s version.
We trying to kill this thing with lukewarm matchups?
2001: Sweet 16—okay, that’s a plus. Minus side—it’s in Anaheim. That was my freshman year, and I honestly don’t think the Maryland part generated even close to the same buzz that a good Big East (Cuse, Nova, UConn) or non-conf (Duke) game would these days, to say nothing of the next Sweet 16 game in 2006.
2008: Old Spice Classic. Couldn’t have picked a worse time/place/location/result for this to have any impact. 4:30pm on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (when everyone’s out of town), on the same day as a Giants-Skins game at FedEx (for those who were in town). The game’s in ORLANDO, in a half-full gym, in the 3rd place game of a tournament. I was at the OSC…had a great time with my family, but if I’m being honest there was ZERO atmosphere in the Milk House for that game. Maybe 1,000 fans combined from both teams. Aaaaaaaand we won by 27. But did anyone really care, like, 2 weeks later? The game article was below the fold (again, Skins) on the WaPo sports section. Heck, the GU-MD women’s S16 game this year got a quarter-page C1 picture.
2011 (if it happens): GU’s 8th place Big East/1st Round NCAA team minus Wright, Freeman, and Vaughn vs. Maryland’s team that MISSED THE POSTSEASON minus Adrian Bowie, Dino Gregory, Cliff Tucker, and Jordan Williams.
No thanks. Not because it’s not a good idea and a potential good rivalry…but because it’s a BB&T level blah game next year IMO.
I am all for this!
Don’t care about our cavernous arena, larger UMD student population, or any other excuse not to do this. Would instantly become one of the biggest rivalry games of the year and could give Chapel Hill-Durham area a run for their money in the future.
Long-term, great for local recruiting and an absolute winner with the fans.
The only people who should be against this are Syracuse fans. Could threaten to erode the significance of their rivalry with us over time. So be it. I WANT Maryland!
Let's schedule MD for next year
Without Jordan Williams, they will be awful. Of course, maybe we will too.
I fully endorse the idea of playing MD on a yearly basis.
I think it needs to happen. Would be a great rivalry.
I marched on Leavey to keep the Pub open in the 90's.
To settle it then
just have both squads play in the BB&T and call it a day (Hoyas, UMD, GMU, GW)
or just call it the DMV/Beltway Classic
Not as good as annual home and home
but better than nothing. That would be an awesome tournament!
actually a very bad idea
each team can only compete in one preseason tourney a year. No way G’town should commit to the BB&T when it’s getting invites to much more impressive tourneys like Maui.
by thejerseytornado on May 5, 2011 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions
BB&T doesn’t count as a tournament anymore since it’s just 1 game and not a true tournament. We could do both.
by hoyasincebirth on May 5, 2011 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions
"Kevin and I are friends and athletic directors," Reed said through a university spokesman. "We’ve had conversations about scheduling possibilities, but it was far too preliminary a talk for it to be the subject for newspaper articles. It’s inappropriate to prematurely blow this out of proportion."
Good talk.
Casual Hoya
who wants to be coach of maryland
will they Hire Esherick??!?!
Good talk.
Casual Hoya
by Hire Esherick on May 5, 2011 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Good riddance to bad rubbish I say.
I marched on Leavey to keep the Pub open in the 90's.
by Cuse Swallows on May 5, 2011 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow Several things
1) Maryland is going to be awful next year now. He’s really screwing them over retiring now. Both Gibbs and Faust just decommitted as well.
2) This can be bad for us if they can pull off a good hire. Luckily this late in the year it’s less likely to happen.
3) It sure makes a Georgetown v. Maryland Series a lot more likely to happen.
Mike Brey is probably on the short list right now.
That’s my guess.
I marched on Leavey to keep the Pub open in the 90's.
Mike Brey is stupid to leave ND.
Because they’ll actually pay attention and judge him at Maryland. Granted, Gary didn’t live up to their standards the past few seasons but they actually have standards for basketball unlike ND.
JT Jr. Weighs in
John Thompson Jr.:
“I’m gonna tell you something, the AD at Maryland is not the person who schedules for Georgetown.”
“Lemme ask you, this Kevin Anderson, is he new in town?”
http://twitter.com/#!/dcsportsbog
Good talk.
Casual Hoya
Classic Big John
I marched on Leavey to keep the Pub open in the 90's.
by Cuse Swallows on May 6, 2011 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions
I doubt it
if Sean Miller leaves, he has pretty much Zona, playing pretty good basketball in only year 2
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