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Greg Monroe was awarded one of the league's top honors, as he was named to the All Big East First Team.  Joining him on the list are Luke Harangody, Dominque Jones, Wes Johnson, Scottie Reynolds and Da'Sean Butler.  This is the first appearance for Monroe on the list, who averaged 16 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists this year.  Monroe was the Big East Rookie of the Year last year.

Austin Freeman was named to the All Big East Second Team, the first time he has received any end of season accolades from the coaches since being named to the All Rookie Team in 2008.  Freeman led the Hoyas this season in scoring, averaging 17.3 points a game.

This is the first time since 2008 that Georgetown has had a player named to the first and second team, when seniors Roy Hibbert and Jon Wallace were awarded the honors.  It is the first time a Georgetown underclassman was named to the top team since 2007, when Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert were recognized.

Player and Coach of the Year will be announced later this week.

Full lists after the jump:

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I've wanted to see Allen Iverson rock the Garden since 1995, so the news of his potentially imminent signing with the Knicks is intriguing to say the least.  We all know AI's play has declined over the past few years, but can you see any negatives for him playing in MSG on that awful Knicks squad?  Let's be honest, he'll automatically become the best guard on the team (tonight's starters were Chris Duhon and Toney friggin' Douglas) and there's no reason he can't average 18+ per game in D'Antoni's fun and gun offense.

Not sure why this deal is taking so long, especially given that the Knicks are 2-9 and going nowhere, and oh, Iverson has the same agent as Mr. LeBron James.  I scratch your back, you scratch mine.  Wouldn't you start watching the Knicks again with Iverson running the show?  This HAS to happen.

In other news, nice game for Roy Hibbert tonight.

Again.

Casually.

via www.nba.com

Dime recently sat down with former Hoya Roy Hibbert to discuss his transition from "Rookie to Beast."  Good stuff in the article including a nice quote from Roy about the big man tradition at Georgetown.

Dime: You come from a Georgetown program that has a great big man tradition. Who have you tried to pattern your game after?

RH: When I was at Georgetown, I wanted to be my own player. But I also wanted to have a little mix of Alonzo, Dikembe and Patrick. So I try to be a defensive presence like Dikembe, be physical like Alonzo and have post moves like Patrick. So I want to be a little bit of all of them.    

Nice to see that the Georgetown offense did not turn Hibbert into a robot (yes I am still bitter about Jeremiah).

Good talk.

The Pistons haven't played a single game yet,  but it looks like there's trouble in Detroit already for former Hoya DaJuan Summers.

Detroit Pistons blog MLive isn't exactly predicting great things from Summers this season:

Biggest Disappointment: (Jason) Maxiell. I'm tempted to say DaJuan Summers, because based on his Summer League play, he looked like he would be ready to contribute immediately. In the preseason, he looked lost. But he's a rookie, so he gets the benefit of the doubt.

Can't say I'm surprised, but I hope Summers can prove him wrong to some extent.

Casually. 

via assets.nydailynews.com

Remember him?  Yeah, that's right.  It's Jeremiah Rivers, the linchpin of the 2007 Final Four squad and self-proclaimed top defender in the nation.  In a recent interview with the Indianapolis Star, Rivers talked about being overlooked by preseason publications and how he is "too focused to let anything negative affect him or his team."  

And then he took a swipe at his former team.  When asked about the Indiana offense and its lack of set plays, Rivers stated:

"[The Indiana] offense is so much better because I'm not going out there and worrying about going to a specific spot or running the exact same play three or four times in a row.  At Georgetown I would run the same thing over and over, and it became so repetitive. I really became like a robot there offensively. I had no idea how to play anymore."

The article then went on to report:

At Georgetown, the Hoyas played the Princeton offense predicated on passes to the post and backdoor cuts. It was that style of play that ultimately led to Rivers leaving.

Really Jeremiah!?  I am surprised to learn that you transfered because of the offense.  I always thought it was because Georgetown recruited over you when they realized you had no offensive abilities,  Your future was written on the wall, you would not have started over Sapp, Wright or Freeman, and being a defensive specialist doesn't garner more than twenty sporadic minutes a game.  Hopefully you will learn how to play again soon, sorry Georgetown stuck you in an offense that has produced more NBA draft picks over the past three years than any other Big East school.

Rivers also offered the following piece of original thought:

"You guys can call me the best defender or the best scorer or whatever, as long as at the end of the day we have a ‘W' to show for it.''

Whiny 'lil bitch starts with a "W", Jeremiah.  At the end of the day, you will always be able to show that W.

Good talk.

After the Kevin Broadus and Binghamton scandal blew up two weeks ago, we posed a question - whether recruiting high school players with questionable backgrounds is worth the risk?  In an interview published by USA Today, John Thompson Jr. gives his opinion.  He states:

"[Broadus] probably thinks he made some mistakes, and he's got to deal with that. But I cannot under any circumstances blame him. I'm proud of the fact he tried. That's the thing when you do something like that: Somebody's going to (screw) up. You're dealing with kids, hoping you can hold onto them long enough to help them take advantage of the opportunity you're providing for them."

Two thoughts -  (1) I don't disagree with Thompson.  I do not doubt Broadus' motives for recruiting these players and giving them the opportunities to earn an education through basketball.  I still don't think it was worth the risk though, especially for a new coach in a program looking to establish itself (lot of parallelisms to Thompson and Georgetown but a lot has changed in the last 35+ years).  (2) It's nice to know that when everyone else turns their back, you still have the boisterous support of your Georgetown extended family.

Good talk.

We're not going to post updates on every game of current Hoyas now playing in the NBA (actually, maybe we will), but Roy Hibbert's performance in last night's preseason game is worth noting:

Roy Hibbert scored 20 points, grabbed 11 boards and blocked eight shots as the Pacers beat the Nuggets in Taiwan on Thursday.
 

20, 11, and 8? Not bad.

Coming off an impressive performance in the Orlando Summer League in which he was named one of the best players, Roy may be ready to make an impact in Indiana in this his 2nd season.

Probably worth noting that the Taipei Arena was packed to capacity, with more than 12,000 screaming and shouting fans.

Casually.

Solid article in today's New York Times about NBA players who left school early heading Back to School to get their degrees.  The article focuses on the young trio of Thunder: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Georgetown's own Jeff Green:

Westbrook’s teammate Jeff Green resumed his classes at Georgetown, where he is chipping away at an English degree. One day, he sat near the door when a group of high school students walked past.

"One kid started yelling my name, and it felt weird because I was sitting down trying to pay attention and everyone else in the classroom started looking at me like, ‘What’s going on?’ " Green said. "My teacher handled it well. He just went and closed the door and went about his lesson."

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

Of course, this article may not have needed to be written if the NBA would follow our simple direction and raise the NBA Draft minimum age, but that discussion is for another time.

Casually.