Georgetown Hoyas NCAA Basketball News

There has been an indisputable truth that dates back to the dawn of the Big East: Teams with toughness and experience prevail.

College basketball is an interesting clique. There are some dysfunctional elements to the game , and some elements that display their utter perfection every year .

To avoid a repeat of last season's disappointing finish, Georgetown probably needs a traditional second-year leap from its frontcourt tandem of Julian Vaughn and Henry Sims.

On what otherwise might have been a smug, self-satisfied train ride back to Philadelphia after his team was picked to win this season's Big East title, Villanova Coach Jay Wright spoke to his players about toughness and leadership.

Not the toughness and leadership the squad boasted, but the toughness and leadership they had yet to demonstrate.

'We're going to take that [coaches' vote at Big East media day] today as a great honor,' Wright told them, 'and then we're going to go back to practice, because we've got a lot to prove. Nobody's going to go through this league on talent.'

Leading into the college basketball season openers, Sporting News will preview each of the top 25, counting backward from our preseason power poll.

There was a time when Greg Monroe was clearly the No. 1 player in the 2008 recruiting class, although that was before he signed with Georgetown and then concluded his high school career.

Greg Monroe was the perfect candidate to leave school early for the NBA draft. He was a big man with exceptional passing reads who had lived up to his high school hype.

KG's excited to be back Kevin Garnett says it wasn't fun being a cheerleader during the playoffs last year but he says he is excited to be back.

As far as John Thompson III is concerned, no one is exempt from blame for the way Georgetown's basketball team fell apart a year ago.

The UConn men's basketball team was predicted to finish third in the Big East in a preseason poll of coaches, it was announced Wednesday during the conference's annual media day at Madison Square Garden.

Kyrie Irving put on a blue ball cap and announced that he is committing to Duke on ESPN-U on Thursday evening.

DaJuan Summers Essentials Position: Small forward/ power forward Age: 21 Height: 6-foot-8 Weight: 240 pounds Years pro: Rookie From: Georgetown Role Summers is buried on the bench right now.

Notre Dame senior forward Luke Harangody joined Georgetown great Patrick Ewing as the only players to be chosen Big East preseason player of the year more than once.

Coach: John Thompson III . Last season's record: 16-15 overall, 7-11 in Big East Postseason: Lost in first round of NIT to Baylor.

John Thompson III will not dance at Friday's Midnight Madness festivities. ESPN and a few thousand students will converge on McDonough Gymnasium to watch the Georgetown basketball team christen a new season of hoops on the Hilltop this weekend.

In 1984, the Georgetown program took home a national title under John Thompson, father of current head coach John Thompson III.

Our first look at the prospects in the always interesting Big East features Georgetown's Greg Monroe , West Virgiana's Devin Ebanks , Louisville's Terrence Williams , and Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker from Connecticut.

Duke announced the release of its 2009-10 mena s basketball schedule just over two months ago.

We're on a one-year winning streak when it comes to predicting the eventual NCAA champion.

Key Returners: Greg Monroe , Chris Wright , Austin Freeman A Strengths With three McDonalda TMs All-Americans returning, therea TMs no reason why the Hoyas shouldna TMt be expected to have a drastic improvement over last season.