Decades of petulance, self-serving ego inflating one-upmanship will end on November 17, 2015. That’s the date when the Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team will step onto Gary Williams Court at the Xfinity Center in College Park This will be the first time the Hoyas will play in College Park since 1973. The Terps had a pretty good roster that year led by a sophomore guard named John Lucas and anchored in the front court by a pair of seniors – Len Elmore and Tom McMillen. Maryland rolled to 1 115-83 win.
If you don’t think this renewal is a milestone in the local NCAA men’s basketball scene, let me toss some other dates at you:
2008
1993
1966 and 1975
The tale of the years:
2008: The last time Georgetown and Maryland played a men’s basketball game – anywhere. It Happened One Night in Orlando and the outcome for Maryland was akin to Clark Gable’s success in trying to show Claudette Colbert how to hitchhike. Georgetown 75 Maryland 48.
1993: The last time Georgetown and Maryland played a men’s basketball game in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. This game was played at the no longer extant Capital Centre in Largo, MD that was at the time, the home court for the Hoyas. That day was the coming out party for a freshman named Joe Smith though it was a teammate who hit the game winner. Yes, things turned out a little bit better for Maryland that day in an 84-83 overtime win.
1966 and 1975: These are the only two years from 1947 to 1980 that Maryland and Georgetown didn’t play one another on the hardwood. Excluding the opponents from Maryland’s 60 years in the ACC, in the 91 years of Maryland Basketball history, the Terps have played only one non-conference opponent more than the 62 times (according to Maryland’s website) they have faced Georgetown. (That team would be the George Washington Colonials, by the way, whom the Terps have played on 66 occasions.) Maryland holds a 36-26 advantage in the all-time series. A story in the Washing post cited 63 meetings and a 36-27 Terrapins advantage. No matter. To me, that signifies that this game is not merely a tradition but a rivalry.
What people have to say
On his afternoon radio show on ESPN 980, former Georgetown coach John Thompson, Jr. – father of current Hoya’s coach John Thompson III had this to say – as compiled by Dan Steinberg in his Washington Post DC Sports Bog:
“I was glad that they did it,” he began. “Listen, let me tell you something, you make decisions strategically based on a business. Basketball in college is semi-amateur, and we don’t want to admit that. Now, I went through what I went through, and everyone’s arguing about whose fault it was, and that’s fine. But in the meantime, if John decides, and their coach decides, that they want to play, that’s fine with me.”
Expressing a sentiment somewhat contrarian to others you’ll read, he later added,
“I don’t buy all that stuff, that it’s good for the community. These guys act like it’s a religious experience. No matter what happens, you’re gonna be judged on how you do in your league. Oh, it’s the greatest thing in the world that could happen, it pulls the community together and all that kind of stuff. I mean, that’s fine if they want to believe that stuff. But it’s up to John.”
The fellow that hit the game winning shot, Duane Simpkins, who is now an assistant coach at UNC Greensboro shared his thoughts,
“It’s about time,” said Simpkins. “The D.C. area is so filled with great basketball tradition, teams and players and coaches, there’s no reason why you have two quality basketball programs like Maryland and Georgetown that don’t play at least once every two years. So this is a long time coming.”
Elmore, who pulled down 19 rebounds in that last game played at College Park said, “I hate to see teams not play another team because they fear that they have something to lose, and I don’t know from whose perspective that notion came, but certainly that was a driving force behind not playing each other.”
I’ll lift one final quote from this Washington Post story: “Obviously it’s been on the minds of a lot of D.C., Maryland basketball fans,” former Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “Every time I was coaching, every time you went and spoke somewhere . . . one of the questions: When’s Maryland going to play Georgetown? Or when is Georgetown going to play Maryland? It is a big game for the fans in the area, there’s no doubt about it.”
The Washington Post also published this big picture retrospective on the Terps and Hoyas. It’s well worth the read. As for the game, let’s hope the teams make it well worth the wait.
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