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SCHEDULE: Georgetown Drops Out of 2020 Wooden Legacy

Reported: Georgetown OUT, UVA, Kansas, UCLA still in...

By whipple
Xavier v Georgetown Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

The Georgetown Hoyas were previously invited to join the Virginia Cavaliers, the UCLA Bruins, and the Kansas Jayhawks in the 2020 Wooden Legacy multi-team event, usually held in Anaheim. Last week, Jon Rothstein reported that the Wooden Legacy, among other early season tournaments, is headed to Orlando, FL.

Well, it appears the Hoyas are now OUT!

While this is the COVID-19 year and safety really should be closer to the forefront of everyone’s minds, this is still really disappointing and brings back all-too-recent memories of DePaul replacing Georgetown in the PK80 in 2017.

Amazingly, UCLA is still in. Casual Hoya had previously relayed that the Wooden games may be impacted by the PAC-12’s cancellation of athletic competition until 2021, but it looks like that changed (e.g., with the availability of “rapid testing”).

If the decision to skip the Wooden Legacy is really about safety in the COVID-19 era, then Patrick Ewing and Lee Reed deserve to be commended. Georgetown was the last BIG EAST team to have athletes on campus and may not even be practicing together yet (see below). Taking it slow and playing it safe should not be overlooked.

However, if the convenience of dodging two expected losses ever crossed anyone’s mind in the decision-making process ... perhaps GU might be burning a bridge. Fans will wait and see it GU gets invited to MTEs any time soon.

Last November, Georgetown’s announced participation was met with large excitement by the fanbase—right before the exodus. The Hoyas were expected to be noise-makers led by talented juniors in a battle against three other historic programs in Anaheim. That’s gone in a puff of smoke.

Georgetown seems to be preparing for a potential BIG EAST schedule potentially starting in mid-December. Based on today’s news of dropping out of a preseason tournament, one might assume Georgetown is one of the schools dragging its feet.

The NCAA vote last week decided the start date of the season to be November 25, 2020.

Andy Katz believes the BIG EAST/B1G Gavitt Games may proceed differently, but Matt Norlander is not optimistic.

Meanwhile, Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas are still likely a day or two from even beginning to practice as a team—following a 2-week on-campus quarantine.

Here is a potential schedule, based on what we know. Who knows if anything can be assumed?

  • 2020 Wooden Legacy featuring Georgetown, UCLA, UVA, and Kansas in Orlando, around Thanksgiving (November 26 - 28, 2020).
  • WVU (home) in early December, as part of the BIG EAST-BIg 12 challenge (still expected).
  • Syracuse (away) in mid-December.
  • A Big Ten game as part of the Gavitt Games (presumably away) in mid-December.
  • UMBC (presumably home) in November/December.
  • A few (maximum of 7?) other non-conference games
  • 20 BIG EAST games

At least we have Jamorko Pickett giving the inside look.

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