1939–40 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

1939–40 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball

Conference	Independent
1939–40 record	8–10
Head coach	Elmer Ripley (4th year)
Captain	John Schmitt (1st year)
Home arena	Tech Gymnasium

The 1939–40 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University during the 1939-40 NCAA Division I college basketball season. Elmer Ripley coached it in his fourth of ten seasons as head coach; it was also the second season of his second of three stints at the helm. The team played its home games at Tech Gymnasium on the campus of McKinley Technical High School in Washington, D.C.^[1] The team finished with a record of 8-10 and had no postseason play.

Season recap

Following the demise of the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference after the end of the previous season, Georgetown returned to an independent status. Beginning this season – its first as an independent since 1931-32 – it would play 38 seasons as an independent before becoming a founding member of the original Big East Conference in the 1979-1980 season.

The 1939-40 Hoyas were a young team, with only two seniors on the roster. New to the team was sophomore guard Buddy O'Grady. He averaged 4.9 points per game for the season and became a leader on the court, and would be a star for the Hoyas for three seasons.^[2]

The team became a part of television broadcasting history on February 28, 1940, when television station W2XBS broadcast a men's basketball doubleheader from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Fordham and Pittsburgh played in the first game, and New York University played Georgetown in the second game. It was the first time in history that college basketball was televised.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The 1939-40 Hoyas had a difficult season, finishing with an 8-10 record and no post-season play. Senior forward Al Lujack went on to play professionally for one season with the Washington Capitals of the Basketball Association of America.

Roster

Sources^[2]^[6]^[7]

Sophomore guard Buddy O'Grady would later serve as the Hoyas‍ ' head coach from 1949 to 1952.^[8]

Sophomore guard Don Martin would one day become head coach at Boston College.^[9]

Senior guard Francis "Reds" Daly was killed in action in the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 22, 1945, during World War II military service.^[10]

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
3	Jim Kiernan	6'0"	N/A	F	So.	New York, NY, U.S.	Saint Simon HS
4	John Dieckelman (or Dieckleman)	6'0"	N/A	G	So.	Albany, NY, U.S.	Vincentian HS
11	Russ Miller	N/A	N/A	F/C	So.	Passaic, NJ, U.S.	Passaic HS
12	Jim Giebel	N/A	N/A	G	Jr.	Bethesda, MD, U.S.	St. John's College HS (Washington, DC)
13	George Pajak	6'0"	N/A	G/F	Jr.	Ware, MA, U.S.	Ware HS
18	Francis "Buddy" O'Grady	N/A	160	G	So.	New York, NY, U.S.	St. Peter's Boys HS
20	Irv Rizzi	N/A	N/A	G	Jr.	West New York, NJ, U.S.	Memorial HS
24	Al Matuza	6'2"	N/A	F	Jr.	Shenandoah, PA, U.S.	Shenandoah HS
43	Don Martin	5'8"	N/A	G	So.	Newport, RI, U.S.	La Salle Academy
49	Al Lujack	6'3"	N/A	F	Sr.	Connellsville, PA, U.S.	Connellsville HS
60	Francis "Reds" Daly	6'3"	N/A	G	Sr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	McKinley Technical HS
80	John Schmitt	5'11"	N/A	C	Sr.	Syracuse, NY, U.S.	St. John's Preparatory School (New York, NY)

1939–40 schedule and results

Sources^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Site
Regular Season
Sun., Dec. 3, 1939	at Baltimore	L 34–40	0-1	N/A
Wed., Dec. 6, 1939	Western Maryland	W 52–34	1-1	Tech Gymnasium
Thu., Dec. 14, 1939	at American	W 44–30	2-1	Clendenen Gymnasium
Fri., Jan. 5, 1940	at Temple	L 28–38	2-2	Philadelphia Convention Hall
Sat., Jan. 6, 1940	at George Washington	L 40–49	2-3	Riverside Stadium
Wed, Jan. 10, 1940	at Penn State	L 22–33	2-4	Recreation Hall
Fri., Jan. 12, 1940	at Scranton	L 31–33	2-5	Watres Armory
Wed., Jan 17, 1940	at Maryland	L 40–28	2-6	Ritchie Coliseum
Sat., Jan. 27, 1940	Loyola Maryland	W 65–37	3-6	Tech Gymnasium
Wed., Jan. 31, 1940	at Army	W 35–34	4-6	Hayes Gymnasium
Thu., Feb. 1, 1940	at Syracuse	L 33–38	4-7	Archbold Gymnasium
Fri., Feb. 2, 1940	at Colgate	L 34–39	4-8	Huntington Gymnasium
Wed., Feb. 7, 1940	Temple	W 34–31	5-8	Tech Gymnasium
Mon., Feb. 12, 1940	West Virginia	L 38–40	5-9	Tech Gymnasium
Thu., Feb. 15, 1940	American	W 42–32	6-9	Tech Gymnasium
Wed, Feb. 21, 1940	Penn State	W 38–35	7-9	Tech Gymnasium
Wed., Feb. 28, 1940	at New York University	L 27–50	7-10	Madison Square Garden
Wed., Mar. 6, 1940	George Washington	W 43–39	8-10	Tech Gymnasium
*Non-conference game. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball

Venues	Washington Light Infantry Armory (1906–1907) Convention Hall (1907–1908) Odd Fellows Hall (1908–1911) Arcade Rink (1911–1914, 1927–1928) Ryan Gymnasium (1914–1927) Clendenen Gymnasium (1928–1929) Tech Gymnasium (1929–1940, 1942–1943) Riverside Stadium (1940–1942) Brookland Gymnasium (1945–1946) Uline Arena (1946–1947, 1949–1951) D.C. Armory (1947–1949) McDonough Gymnasium (1951–2009) Capital Centre (1981–1997) Verizon Center (1997–present)

Culture & lore	History Hoya Saxa Jack the Bulldog There Goes Old Georgetown

People	Head coaches NBA draftees

Seasons	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics