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Talk hoops all year long in Luke Winn's blog, a journal of commentary, news and reader-driven discussions about the college game.
10/13/2007 01:35:00 AM

Madness at Georgetown

Georgetown Midnight Madness
Luke Winn/SI

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- There was a rumor, albeit a flimsy one, floating around the Internet that New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne would be showing up at Georgetown's Midnight Madness. The fact that he has been known to wear a Hoyas hat gave it a bit of credence, and if Villanova could get a surprise 50 Cent appearance last year, and Texas A&M was announcing a Soulja Boy show this year, there were those who figured Weezy-in-D.C. wasn't entirely out of the question ...

It turned out to be only a rumor: there was no Lil' Wayne at Friday night's party in McDonough Gymnasium on Georgetown's campus. There was, however, an appearance by Dances-With-Stars wideout Jerry Rice, who got a lesson in the Soulja Boy from Hoya forward Pat Ewing Jr. The most famous Louisiana resident in attendance turned out to be a 6-foot-10 high school senior: Greg Monroe, who's the No. 1-ranked player in the Class of 2008 according to Rivals.com. He was showered with chants of "Greg Mon-Roe" from the Georgetown students who had packed the 2,500-seat gym to the gills. They seemed very interested in having Monroe replace Roy Hibbert in the Hoyas' frontcourt next season.

Georgetown Midnight Madness
Luke Winn/SI

Monroe, who visited LSU the previous week (witnessing the Tigers' football win over Florida) and heads to Duke next week, wasn't ready to commit on the spot after the festivities. But he did say he had breakfast with coach John Thompson III that morning, and met Big John Thompson, and was "impressed." Asked to compare Georgetown to LSU, Monroe said, "LSU is real big; it has that big feeling. This is smaller and more relaxed. They're two very different schools."

It's unclear whether Monroe will made any college decision during the fall period, but the consensus is that Georgetown and Duke have the leg up in the race to sign him. For what it's worth, he seemed to be in a great mood on Friday: I watched him crack up at the sight of John Thompson III dancing -- "I didn't expect that," Monroe said -- although he did not go as far as to sport one of the "JTIII is my Homeboy" shirts that two students, James DiPietro and Phil McClymont, were hawking in a parking lot outside of McDonough. They said that JTII confronted them last year asking, in a serious tone, where his "cut" was ... before breaking into laughter.

Georgetown Midnight Madness
Luke Winn/SI

There was far more dancing than basketball on the evening; the lone hoops display was a dunking drill and a few lackadaisical minutes of the weave. JTIII forced the team to do a group Soulja Boy, which somewhat botched until Malik Kilkenny Diaw, the little brother of former Hoyas center Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw and an apparent expert in Crank Dat moves, came out to rescue them. Malik told me he thought it would only take "one hour" to teach JTIII a perfect Soulja Boy. Here's Malik in the blog's first (very brief) attempt at video production:


Georgetown fans should hope that Monroe noticed how much the students embraced Hibbert, their current star in the post. While some players used their Midnight Madness introductions as an opportunity to flash dance moves at midcourt, Roy waded into the crowd and bounced up and down as his theme song -- Eye of the Tiger, with the early beats sung as "Roy Roy Roy" -- blared over the speakers. And it was Hibbert who later did the honors of unveiling the Hoyas' 2007 Final Four banner, tugging on a rope to pull away the blue curtain that cloaked the sign. JTIII said it was the final step to "wrap up last year, and move on." Real practice, where there certainly wouldn't be any more Soulja Boy, was to begin on Saturday.

Georgetown Midnight Madness
Luke Winn/SI
posted by Luke Winn | View comments (14) |

14 Comments:

Post a Comment
Posted: 4:44 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
This totally seemed like such a fun event to be at. Everyone looks and sounds like they had a great time.
Posted: 5:00 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Jeff Green walked. Put that on your banner...
Posted: 10:22 PM   by Blogger Sami Ghazi
Roy is ready to dominate in the Big East this year and DaJuan Summers is on the verge of breaking out as a star. With JTIII at the helm, they can take that next step to a championship
Posted: 10:57 PM   by Blogger Ace Cowboy
I heard BYU had a simliar Soulja Boy dance scheduled.
Posted: 1:32 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Looks like it worked since Monroe gave a verbal the next day
Posted: 3:49 AM   by Blogger Evan Hayden
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=haydenmac

http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/246366/overview

My memories of the show
Posted: 6:08 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
another great article on gtown! Keep up the good work
Posted: 6:44 PM   by Blogger yupyup
Was Ewing there still attempting to talk?
Posted: 10:34 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Greg Monroe already committed to Georgetown this weekend.
Posted: 11:46 PM   by Blogger Nitty
The Hoyas won. Get that through your hating heart!
Posted: 11:56 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Still waiting for Roy to call a timeout......
Posted: 2:56 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Let talk about some different teams for a change??
what about the SALUKI basket ball team.
Posted: 2:46 PM   by Anonymous Anonymous
Your Mother's A Hoya!!!! -- Go 'Cuse!!!
Posted: 9:19 AM   by Anonymous Anonymous
GO GU.....The Hoyas are back to dominate.....!!!!
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