Georgetown Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Hoyas
By Joe Casey
Schedule Outlook for the 20-21 Georgetown Hoyas
Georgetown has released their partial schedule for the 20-21 season featuring out of conference games against UMBC (November 25th), Navy (December 1), #15 West Virginia (December 6), and Coppin State (December 8).
The Hoyas non-conference schedule has slowly come together and matchups against UMBC, Navy, and Coppin State should help the team build chemistry before the start of Big East play. The only game that the Hoyas should be considered outmatched in is their matchup against the 15th ranked Mountaineers.
Under coach Bob Huggins, West Virginia has become a perennial tournament team and look to return to the final four for the first time since 2010, on the backs of backcourt standouts Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe. Georgetown has also added rival Syracuse (January 9th).
Syracuse has a dynamic roster lead by sophomores Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III. As a projected tournament team the Hoyas will have to lean on their seniors and graduate backcourt to challenge Syracuse in The Carrier Dome.
In a best-case scenario, the Hoyas could finish their out of conference schedule at 4-1 or 3-2; however, it is more realistic for the team to end 2-3. Due to the roster turnover from the previous season, it will take time for the coaches and players to get comfortable with the team and system around them.
Their current conference schedule will challenge the team to stay out of the Big East basement as they face off against #3 Villanova (December 11), UConn (December 13), St. John’s (December 20), and Seton Hall (December 23).
Starting conference play with the Villanova Wildcats, which is hard to handle at any point in the season, is even more difficult to see as their first Big East matchup. The Wildcats tout a mixture of youth, depth, and impactful upperclassmen making them one of the favorites for the national championship and Big East crown.
Following Villanova, the Hoyas faceoff against UConn, St. Johns, and Seton Hall, in that order, which could put the Hoyas at 0-4 in the conference. The possibility of losing their first four Big East games would be detrimental to the team’s 20-21 campaign and attempt to prove preseason polls wrong.
Focusing on UConn and St. Johns, UConn has not missed a step since they departed from the Big East and continues to recruit top tier talent. As they reenter the conference, it still remains to be seen how the coaches and players will adjust to playing in the Big East which provides the Hoyas a better chance to steal this game than one of their first two.
In the matchup against St. Johns, the program is still adjusting from the Chris Mullin experiment but the team has seemed to bounce back quicker than most expected under Mike Anderson. If Anderson can continue to build on the progress they made last year the Hoyas may struggle to emerge with a victory in a tough matchup.
Their fourth and final Big East matchup is against the Seton Hall Pirates. Seton Hall had three major losses last year as Myles Powell, Romaro Gil and Quincy Mcknight graduated. However, like Villanova and hopefully Georgetown in a few years, Seton Hall has built the foundation to have a strong mixture of veterans, depth, and impact players.
It will be hard for Georgetown to take any of their first five games but if the Hoyas want any chance of proving the analysts wrong they need to start the season 2-3 and 2-2 in conference play. This will be much easier said than done.