DMV Classic

[BigMike]

With all the talk of how awful the BB&T is why doesn't Georgetown take the initiative to create a Philly Big 5 in DC. Instead of holding it at Verizon - you have it at the DC Armory (seats about 10,000). So instantly all games will have a great atmosphere. It's a 2 day event. 3 games a day.

Noon games are high school games - pick the anticipated best 4 teams in DMV.

Then you have us, ODU, UVA, Va. Tech, GW, VCU, George Mason. We can invite Maryland in, they are probably dying to be done with the BB&T and if they want in great - we'll play them but that bogus game we supposedly owe them is history. If they don't want in then you have two amazing days of basketball with lots of recruits watching and Maryland is no where to be seen.

Call it the DMV Classic or the Red Auerbach Classic. Should be pretty easy to get a big sponsor and even without Maryland selling 10,000 seats a day should be easy.

This would be an incredible event, which would be great for DC and hopefully would have the effect of keeping more of the local talent in the area.

[theexorcist]

This has no plus from Georgetown's perspective. The Hoyas have no interest in giving UVA or Virginia Tech a chance to establish their programs' recruiting pipelines in the Washington area, or giving other area programs publicity by competing against the Hoyas (who perenially get lots of commitments from area players anyway). The Hoyas also have no interest in playing an event with clearly inferior competition at a neutral site.

From a logistics perspective, the actual center of these schools isn't DC, but rather Richmond (you skip over American and Howard, which is a pretty clear indication of how good their programs are despite actually being in D.C.).

The Big Five/Six includes two national champions (LaSalle and Villanova), three past Final Four participants (Penn, St. Joseph's, and Temple (who ranks 6th all-time in wins)), and one school with a good and annoying enough lobby to get included (Drexel). Your current list of 7 has one national champ (Georgetown), and two Final Four participants with three between them (UVA and GMU). Not really comparable.

[dreamhoya]

Doesn't have to be "comparable" - apples to oranges.

[theexorcist]

In the immortal words of Chuck Klosterman, apples and oranges are actually pretty similar. This is like comparing apples and Lean Cuisine orange chicken entrees - they're both food, but after that, there's not a lot there.

Georgetown has no interest that I can see in playing clearly inferior competition - which the rest of teams in Washignton, D.C., almost always are - every year. Teams that play local rivals every year bring more fans and usually have a greater level of success than would otherwise be expected. The problem is that the RPI doesn't reflect this. A loss to a team ranked 200th in the RPI doesn't get counted as a better loss since Howard got up for this game.

As for recruits, I can't imagine Hoya recruits getting excited for the Hoyas playing VCU or Navy. I *CAN* imagine potential VCU recruits saying to themselves "Wow! VCU is playing with the Hoyas!". While I can't imagine someone being recruited by the Hoyas deciding to sign instead with a CAA program, I don't like encouraging it.

[lichoya68]

coach has said he will do his schedule based on what he feels his team for that year needs end of discussion.. as for mr. feinstein dissing us and bragging about his charity.. he should just be quiet.. if you take jt3 and his foundation if you take what all atheltes do with hospitals and the community ie teaching inner city kids about aids.. and what a few alums have done with the whole men and women for others thingy ie zo and overton and kidney disease jyd with kids in detroit and mr. deke with his hospital PLEASE MR FEINSTEIN BE QUIIET id take coach over any other coach in the country re coachng scheduling AND DOING AND TEACHING HELPING OTHERS yup bar none including mr . feinstein so i hope hed just be quiet HES ANNOYing AND THIS BOARD SHOULD TRUST AND APPREICATE COACH AND WHAT HES DOING im very proud of how he handles BBALL stuff and all the other things he does very proud.. go hoysaxa beat temple

[SirSaxa]

Dec 6, 2010 9:16:45 GMT -5 lichoya68 said:

coach has said he will do his schedule based on what he feels his team for that year needs end of discussion.. as for mr. feinstein dissing us and bragging about his charity.. he should just be quiet.. if you take jt3 and his foundation if you take what all atheltes do with hospitals and the community ie teaching inner city kids about aids.. and what a few alums have done with the whole men and women for others thingy ie zo and overton and kidney disease jyd with kids in detroit and mr. deke with his hospital PLEASE MR FEINSTEIN BE QUIIET id take coach over any other coach in the country re coachng scheduling AND DOING AND TEACHING HELPING OTHERS yup bar none including mr . feinstein so i hope hed just be quiet HES ANNOYing AND THIS BOARD SHOULD TRUST AND APPREICATE COACH AND WHAT HES DOING im very proud of how he handles BBALL stuff and all the other things he does very proud.. go hoysaxa beat temple

Well Said!
ummm, maybe I should have type .... well intentioned!... in your inimitable LIC way!

[bigelephant]

Non-Starter
The Armory - are you kidding???
Coach is Wright -our schedule fits our needs prior to BE play not what some others think we should do.

[Bando]

Why is the Armory so bad? I mean, I've only been watching roller derby there lately, but it seems to be all right.

The real problem with this is the NCAA restriction on tournaments, so that all the DC teams couldn't play every year. An invitational (say with Howard, GU, American, and GW and 4 out of area teams) would work better, but again you'd run into the same problem.

[DanMcQ]

I think we played China in a preseason exhibition at the Armory when I was in school. The Armory was also where Mr. Driesell introduced this impressionable college junior to the joys of including an F-Bomb in every sentence whilst coaching (a 12 point loss will bring that out in a guy). I was in awe. Coach Thompson was far more situational in his use of such linguistic delicacies.

The Armory has to be way dustier now than it was then.

[lichoya68]

ah dan remember that game and didnt buck wiliams go after big john cant remember ah those were the days but NO MARYLAND TILL THEY MAKE UP FOR THE JOE SMITH GAME ATVERIZON HALF THE SEATS HALF THE TAKE AND THEN THE replay game at cole we woulda got nadda few hundred seats and not money NOPE MARYLAND NEVER unless coach determines he NEEDS THAT GAME to make his team better go hoyas wowoowoow w

[DanMcQ]

China had a lumbering center who was at least 7-5 and 350 who was at that point the biggest human I had ever seen. Basketball was clearly not his specialty.

[EasyEd]

Back in my day we used to take covered wagons to the Armory or Uline Arena or Fort Myer to see the Hoyas play, all before McDonough opened up.

[bigelephant]

After a day and night of pondering this conundrum I still feel -

Non-Starter
The Armory - are you kidding???
Coach is Wright -our schedule fits our needs prior to BE play not what some others think we should do.

[whipple]

Big 5 plays games throughout the season against each other. It's a philly tradition, but Villanova has a target on their backs every year. It creates lopsided rivalries . . . St. Joe's hates Nova daily, but Nova only thinks about St. Joe's twice a year. I think that it only hurts Villanova (the entire university) by keeping the school so local/regional and not allowing it to become a national school.

But anyway, you can't manufacture DC to become a basketball town.

[SFHoya99]

Dec 7, 2010 10:26:54 GMT -5 whipple said:

Big 5 plays games throughout the season against each other. It's a philly tradition, but Villanova has a target on their backs every year. It creates lopsided rivalries . . . St. Joe's hates Nova daily, but Nova only thinks about St. Joe's twice a year. I think that it only hurts Villanova (the entire university) by keeping the school so local/regional and not allowing it to become a national school.

But anyway, you can't manufacture DC to become a basketball town.

I don't think the Big Five is in any way the reason that Villanova isn't a national school. Never mind that basketball probably has a much smaller impact that most would like to think; they play just as many national games and are constantly on tv. Because their creampuff is St. Joe's and not Appalachian State isn't holding them back (yes, I'm aware St. Joe's is better than that).

DC IS a basketball town. I think a Big Five would do pretty well. I wouldn't include UVA or Va Tech, though. Too far.

The thing I agree with, though, is that there's no upside for Georgetown or Maryland. It's a nice tradition and you probably get a bit better attendance than Appalachian St, but it's the Super Bowl for WG every year and barely a game for us. The players, if local, might appreciate it, but the out of state ones probably prefer to play a national game. We or Maryland would be expected to go 3-1 or 4-0 every year and if we lost to WG it's a big thing and if we win, there's no upside.