Predictions and Outcomes for Georgetown's Entire Non-Conference Schedule

Georgetown's full schedule was released last week and while the Big East slate is full of games against familiar and perhaps less intriguing foes, the non-conference schedule is chock full of awesome.  Here to break it down and offer rundowns and predictions on each non-conference game are Casual Hoya's triumvirate of dudes who covered the team while they were students at Georgetown and have now come to THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON after graduating in pursuit of illumination.

RADFORD HIGHLANDERS

November 14, Noon

RUNDOWN

The Hoyas had little trouble with Radford last year, dispatching the Highlanders 76-49. Radford is bringing back their two leading scorers from last season, but without any recruits of note, there is no reason to believe that Georgetown will have any more trouble than they did a year ago. Expect the Hoyas to get ahead early and cruise to the finish.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 65, Radford 40

- Chris Almeida

@ MARYLAND TERRAPINS

November 17, 9 p.m.

RUNDOWN

Here's the big one. Yes, I know most of us (myself included) care way more about beating ‘Cuse. But to the extent that you can be objective about these things, this is objectively the most important game of the non-conference schedule. Maryland will almost certainly enter the year as a consensus top-five team, with a legitimate case for the No. 1 ranking. Even if Georgetown is ranked where they deserve to be — and we'll see what the Newhouse Alumni Association has to say about that — beating Maryland in its own place would be a HUGE deal.

Of course, there's a reason for that: The Terps are absolutely loaded this year. The headlines will probably focus on stud point guard Melo Trimble and blue-chip big man Diamond Stone, but the depth and experience rounding out the roster is terrifying. Jake (SUNSHIIINE) Layman is a long, athletic do-it-all guy on the wing, and Georgia Tech transfer/Kenner League star Robert Carter will put a bruising on anyone we throw out at the four. Remember Rasheed Sulaimon, the former McDonald's All-American who got the boot from Duke amidst sexual assault allegations? Yeah, he's in College Park now. How the hell did this team get this much talent? They'll likely take some time to jell, but there are very few apparent weaknesses here.

This is going to be much closer than a lot of people will predict. It's only the Terps' second game of the season, and three of five starters didn't play together last year; they'll take some time to figure out rotation and shot distribution. Still, it's a road game against a scary talented team. Hoyas lose the nail-biter.

PREDICTION

Maryland 77, Georgetown 74

- St. Patrick

@ 2K CLASSIC

November 20 & 22, 5 p.m. & TBA

RUNDOWN

Georgetown has no break after Maryland, however, as the team heads to MSG to compete in the 2K Classic. The only guaranteed game is a matchup against Wisconsin. I think I speak for Hoyas fans everywhere when I say that I want revenge. Last year's loss to Wisconsin falls squarely in the "shoulda" category as the Hoyas let a sizable lead squander over the final 6-8 minutes of game time. This year's Badgers team shouldn't be feared as much - the losses of Kaminsky and Dekker should certainly hurt, and Wisconsin will ultimately have to replace four starters this year. Bo Ryan's recent string of regular season and tournament successes has made the Badgers one of the premier names in college basketball, and Ryan typically does a great job getting his team prepared for an early season game like this. Even the return of forward Nigel Hayes and guard Bronson Koenig won't prevent the talent drain in Wisconsin that should be too difficult for the Badgers to overcome so early in the season, and I feel confident in the Hoyas' ability to take this one.

The Hoyas then move on to the corresponding winner / loser of VCU and Duke. I'm interested to see how VCU handles losing the coach that built its program, though I'm not convinced that Rams can continue a high level of success the way Butler has without Shaka Smart. VCU lost a bulk of its recruiting class as well as a couple transfers after Smart departed for Texas, and I don't anticipate them being a particularly formidable team next year.

Duke, however, has had no issue replacing its missing pieces. Losing Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones, and Jahlil Okafor will definitely hurt, but the Blue Devils bring in four top-100 recruits, including three 5-stars and a 4-star. The Blue Devils also retain some key pieces, including National Championship hero Grayson Allen and Amile Jefferson. Even more daunting is Coach K's ability to get his team prepared for difficult early season tournaments - though half a world away, the Blue Devils have never lost a game in the Maui Invitational, winning it five times. Georgetown's relative success against Duke in (somewhat) recent history is comforting, but I think the Hoyas drop to Duke at the end of a tough three-game stretch away from home.

PREDICTIONS

Georgetown 72, Wisconsin 63

Duke 81, Georgetown 75

- Run DSR

BRYANT BULLDOGS

November 28, Noon

RUNDOWN

Last season, Bryant finished 16-15 in the Northeast Conference with no postseason to speak of. Interestingly, Bryant plays a lot of the same teams we do (Providence, Duke, Brown) this season, but only one of those games (Duke) will be before Georgetown. Given that Bryant only brought in one recruit who I'm pretty sure isn't LeBron James, I don't see this as a trap game in any way. It should be a good welcome home to Verizon Center after a tough stretch with Maryland, Wisconsin, and Duke/VCU.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 75, Bryant 55

- Run DSR

MARYLAND-EASTERN SHORE HAWKS

December 1, 7 p.m.

RUNDOWN

Not much to say here. UMES went 18-15 last year, but the Hawks have a rookie coach at the helm of a program that has only made one appearance in the NIT, which was over 40 years ago. With Syracuse coming up in the following matchup, we could have a trap game on our hands, but the Hoyas should roll here.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 80, UMES 50

- Chris Almeida

SYRACUSE ORANGE

December 5, 1 p.m.

RUNDOWN

This season, the Orange will return to the Verizon Center for the first time since 2013 as the first part of a four-year series between the Hoyas and Jim Boeheim's army of bathrobe thieves. Last year was a disappointing season for the Orange, who finished eighth in the ACC during the regular season and then banned themselves from the postseason amid NCAA investigations.

Boeheim and company recruited three ESPN top-100 players, but lost power forward Mustapha Diagne who committed to the Orange but left to play at a two-year college. There are five other freshmen on the roster, but none coming to Syracuse with much acclaim. After losing Chris McCullough and Rakeem Christmas to the NBA, the Orange will be without two of their four leading scorers from last year.

Though the Hoyas lost a number of important players after last season, their issues don't compare to those of Syracuse, who will be stretched unusually thin, as far as impact players go, this season. Expect this roster turnover to work out favorably for the more experienced Hoyas.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 60, Syracuse 54

- Chris Almeida

BROWN BEARS

December 7, 7 p.m.

RUNDOWN

Congratulations to Brown on receiving the 2015-16 Admiral Ackbar/Fetty Wap/USF Trap Game Trophy! The Bears aren't particularly good. In fact, it's probably safe to say they're bad — tying for last place in the Ivy League doesn't exactly strike fear into anyone's hearts. Top scorer Leland King transferred to Nevada, and they don't have any highly touted freshmen coming in. They play crap defense. They don't have a fire-breathing two-guard. They have some cool names (Cedric Kuakumensah, Dockery Walker), and that's basically it. There's nothing to be afraid of. We're going to lose by 20.

Okay, fine, we won't actually lose. But you'll notice that this game is on a Monday barely 48 hours removed from the Syracuse game. There's a high likelihood Georgetown is still on Cloud Nine after wiping the floor with Boeheim's face, and Brown, while bad, is capable of taking advantage of mental lapses. Remember when they beat Providence last year? Yeah, it happened. Hoyas pull out a shootout win during which I develop many more gray hairs.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 85, Brown 75

- St. Patrick

UNC-WILMINGTON SEAHAWKS

December 12, 2:30 p.m.

RUNDOWN

Smack in the middle of the Hoyas' long home stand is UNC-Wilmington of the CAA. The Seahawks earned a postseason trip last year to the CIT, falling in the first round to Sam Houston State. UNC-Wilmington finished 18-14 last season, including a 12-6 conference record, so the Seahawks are actually a decent team. But Georgetown shouldn't have any problems handling them and will look to cruise through the only easy portion of its schedule next year.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 70, UNC-Wilmington 60

- Run DSR

MONMOUTH HAWKS

December 15, 7:30 p.m.

RUNDOWN

Plopped in the middle of the bizarre all-North Carolina-school stretch of the Hoyas' schedule, the game against the Jersey Shore's Monmouth Hawks doesn't look particularly exciting or dangerous. They're fine! They finished in the top half of the MAAC last year and played Towson, Rutgers and West Virginia to very close games in November and December. The leading scorer is a 5-foot-8 guard named Justin Robinson, who will probably turn in a ridiculously fun/infuriating 20-point game. All in all, this is a classic JT3 scheduling job: decent team, small conference, history of playing tough with major-conference teams. He'll have the boys ready.

...Which leaves us to talk about more important things, like the fact that the Hawks coach is "KING RICE" and they have a guard named "JE'LON HORNBEAK" and WE ARE PLAYING A TEAM FROM WESTEROS WHAT THE SHIT JT3 WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS

PREDICTION

Georgetown 66, Monmouth 53*

*assumes no dragons

- St. Patrick

UNC-ASHEVILLE BULLDOGS

December 19, Noon

RUNDOWN

Last year, the Bulldogs, who play in the Big South along with Radford, stumbled to a 15-16 record. UNCA's leading scorer from last season, Andrew Rowsey, who averaged almost two times as many points per game as the team's next leading scorer, transferred to Marquette in the offseason. If the Bulldogs spend the next few months practicing blood magic instead of basketball, they could steal one from the Hoyas. Otherwise, the Blue and Gray should wrap up their home non-league schedule with a shiny bow.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 70, UNCA 56

- Chris Almeida

@ CHARLOTTE BOBCATS HORNETS 49ERS

December 22, Noon

RUNDOWN

Like their football counterparts out west, the Charlotte 49ers had a tough offseason. They return only one of their top six scorers from last year, losing three to transfer and two to graduation. Woof. Charlotte did add a solid three-man freshman class and a 7-footer in Auburn transfer Benas Griciunas, but it'll be pretty damn hard to replace all that scoring immediately (in other news, I'm more thankful for DSR's return every day). As long as the Hoyas can defend the three-point line — Florida transfer Braxton Ogbueze hits almost 41 percent from deep — and stay focused in a road game before Christmas, they should be fine here.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 78, Charlotte 69

- St. Patrick

@ CONNECTICUT HUSKIES

January 23, Noon

RUNDOWN

Towards the end of January, the Hoyas will travel to Hartford to take on UConn in the middle of Big East play. It's almost as if the Hoyas and Huskies were in the same conference, but that would make entirely too much sense for college sports. Kevin Ollie has done a pretty fantastic job keeping UConn a top-tier program despite getting the short end of the stick in the conference realignment madness. The Huskies definitely dipped a bit last year, earning just an NIT bid, but bring back Omar Calhoun and welcome Seton Hall transfer Sterling Gibbs. The Huskies are also going to rely on a couple of young guards in sophomore Daniel Hamilton freshman Jalen Adams, who should follow the mold of typical UConn guards. They also have Sam Cassell Jr., son of former NBA Martian Sam Cassell, which is kind of cool.

I'm pretty excited for this matchup; hopefully we can see some old school Big East play. These two teams haven't played in a while but still definitely know each other well. Still, the Huskies will probably play closer to how they did last year than their banner year, and the Hoyas should take this on the road.

PREDICTION

Georgetown 72, UConn 66

- Run DSR

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?