1953–54 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

1953–54 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball

Conference	Independent
1953–54 record	11–18
Head coach	Harry "Buddy" Jeannette (2nd year)
Assistant coach	Hugh Beins (1st year)
Captain	Joe Carroll (1st year)
Captain	Lou Gigante (1st year)
Home arena	McDonough Gymnasium

	Conf				Overall
1953–54 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#3 Holy Cross		–		–	26	–	2	.929
#17 Seattle		–		–	26	–	2	.929
#5 Duquesne		–		–	26	–	3	.897
#6 Notre Dame		–		–	22	–	3	.880
#2 La Salle		–		–	26	–	4	.867
Dayton		–		–	25	–	7	.781
Louisville		–		–	22	–	7	.759
#9 Penn State		–		–	18	–	6	.750
Oklahoma City		–		–	18	–	7	.720
Navy		–		–	18	–	8	.692
Army		–		–	15	–	7	.682
Villanova		–		–	20	–	11	.645
Lafayette		–		–	17	–	10	.630
Saint Joseph's		–		–	14	–	9	.609
Xavier		–		–	18	–	12	.600
#7 Bradley		–		–	19	–	13	.594
John Carroll		–		–	15	–	11	.577
Seton Hall		–		–	13	–	10	.565
Temple		–		–	15	–	12	.556
Muhlenberg		–		–	12	–	10	.545
Washington University		–		–	12	–	10	.545
Syracuse		–		–	10	–	9	.526
Cincinnati		–		–	11	–	10	.524
DePaul		–		–	11	–	10	.524
Iona		–		–	11	–	10	.524
Butler		–		–	13	–	12	.520
Boston College		–		–	11	–	11	.500
Loyola Marymount		–		–	14	–	16	.467
Rutgers		–		–	11	–	13	.458
Creighton		–		–	14	–	17	.452
Gonzaga		–		–	12	–	15	.444
Valparaiso		–		–	10	–	13	.435
Marquette		–		–	11	–	15	.423
Lehigh		–		–	8	–	12	.400
Pittsburgh		–		–	9	–	14	.391
Georgetown		–		–	11	–	18	.379
Siena		–		–	7	–	14	.333
Portland		–		–	9	–	19	.321
Loyola (IL)		–		–	7	–	15	.318
Drake		–		–	7	–	16	.304
Colgate		–		–	5	–	12	.294
Bucknell		–		–	4	–	16	.200


Rankings from AP Poll

The 1953–54 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University during the 1953-54 NCAA Division I college basketball season. Harry "Buddy" Jeannette coached them in his second season as head coach. The team was an independent and played its home games at McDonough Gymnasium on the Georgetown campus in Washington, D.C.. It finished the season with a record of 11-18 and had no postseason play.

Season recap

Sophomore forward Warren Buehler joined the varsity team as a starter after a year on the freshman team, replacing star Bill Bolger, who had graduated after the previous season. Destined to become the top Georgetown scorer of the 1950s, Buehler got off to a quick start, ending the season as the team‍ 's top scorer for the first of two consecutive seasons. Playing in 28 of the season‍ 's 29 games, he scored in double figures 26 times, including 29 points each against Pittsburgh and Duquesne, 30 against Detroit, and a career-high 36 points against Virginia – in a game which Georgetown nonetheless lost when Virginia‍ 's Buzzy Wilkinson scored 45 points against the Hoyas. By the end of the year, Buehler had scored a Georgetown-record 511 points and averaged 18.2 points per game, second in school history.^[1]

Senior guard and team co-captain Lou Gigante had starred for the team during the two previous seasons, and began another strong season this year, averaging in double figures. During the game against New York University at Madison Square Garden in New York City on January 12, 1954, however, he broke his foot, ending his season and collegiate career. He had averaged 9.2 points per game during his three varsity seasons.^[2]

The previous season, Georgetown had made its first-ever appearance in the National Invitation Tournament and its first post-season tournament appearance since the 1942-43 team went to the 1943 NCAA Tournament. In sharp contrast, this season was a disappointment: In the face of academic losses and injuries that would plague the Hoyas throughout the last three seasons of Buddy Jeannette‍ 's four-year tenure as head coach,^[3] – in addition to losing Gigante to an injury, the team lost one of its top scorers at midseason to an academic suspension^[1] – the Hoyas finished with a record of 11-18 and had no post-season play. They were not ranked in the Top 20 in the Associated Press Poll or Coaches' Poll at any time.^[4]^[5]

Roster

Sources^[1]^[6]^[7]

After senior guard Lou Gigante suffered an injury, senior guard Jim Frisby replaced him on the team. Both wore No. 13 during the season.^[7]

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
5	Warren Buehler	6"4"	185	F	So.	Bayonne, NJ, U.S.	Sweeney HS
6	Tommy Doyle	6'0"	N/A	F	Sr.	New York, NY, U.S.	St. Francis Preparatory School
8	Tom Heyman	N/A	N/A	F	So.	N/A	N/A
9	Bob Scott	N/A	N/A	F	Sr.	N/A	N/A
10	Jack Vail	6'0"	N/A	C	Jr.	South Amboy, NJ, U.S.	St. Mary High School
11	John Morchower	6'7"	N/A	G	So.	Bayonne, NJ, U.S.	Sweeney HS
12	Joe Bolger	6'3"	N/A	G	Jr.	New York, NY, U.S.	Xavier HS
13	Lou Gigante	5'9"	N/A	G	Sr.	New York, NY, U.S.	Cardinal Hayes HS
13	Jim Frisby	N/A	N/A	G	Sr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	N/A
14	Frank Major	N/A	N/A	G	Jr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	St. John's HS
17	Bill Cowley	N/A	N/A	F	So.	N/A	N/A
20	Jack Walsh	5'11"	N/A	F	So.	New York, NY, U.S.	Brooklyn Preparatory School
21	Dale Seymour	6'5"	N/A	G	Fr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	Gonzaga College HS
22	Joe Carroll	N/A	N/A	G	Sr.	Baltimore, MD, U.S.	Calvert Hall College HS
N/A	Matt Grochowski (also spelled Grohoski)	N/A	N/A	F	Jr.	Glen Lyon, PA, U.S.	N/A

1953–54 schedule and results

Sources^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site
Regular Season
Wed., Dec. 2, 1953	Baltimore	W 110–59	1-0	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Dec. 5, 1953	Saint Peter's	W 69–60	2-0	McDonough Gymnasium
Mon., Dec. 7, 1953	Mount St. Mary's	W 93–83	3-0	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Dec. 12, 1953	St. Joseph's	W 75–71	4-0	McDonough Gymnasium
Mon., Dec. 14, 1953	Xavier	L 54–74	4-1	McDonough Gymnasium
Wed., Dec. 16, 1953	Loyola Maryland	W 92–79	5-1	McDonough Gymnasium
Fri., Dec. 18, 1953	at #20 La Salle	L 49–58	5-2	Philadelphia Convention Hall
Mon., Dec. 28, 1953	vs. Detroit (Motor City Tournament)	L 66–72	5-3	Detroit Olympia
Tue., Dec. 29, 1953	vs. Wayne State (Motor City Tournament)	L 48–62	5-4	Detroit Olympia
Thu., Jan. 7, 1954	at #12 George Washington	L 64–88	5-5	Uline Arena
Sat., Jan. 9, 1954	Maryland	W 58–56	6-5	McDonough Gymnasium
Tue., Jan. 12, 1954	at New York University	W 75–67	7-5	Madison Square Garden
Sat., Jan. 16, 1954	American	W 59–46	8-5	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Jan. 23, 1954	at St. Francis (NY)	L 52–77	8-6	N/A
Wed., Jan. 27, 1954	at #2 Duquesne	L 56–69	8-7	Duquesne Gardens
Thu., Jan. 28, 1954	at Youngstown State	L 74–78	8-8	South Field House
Sat., Jan. 30, 1954	at John Carroll	L 88–97	8-9	Cleveland Arena
Tue., Feb. 2, 1954	Pittsburgh	L 73–80	8-10	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Feb. 6, 1954	at Fordham	L 51–68	8-11	Rose Hill Gymnasium
Wed., Feb. 10, 1954	at #16 Navy	L 75–110	8-12	Dahlgren Hall
Sat., Feb. 13, 1954	Virginia	L 78–85	8-13	McDonough Gymnasium
Tue., Feb. 16, 1954	at Mount St. Mary's	W 65-54	9-13	Alumni Gymnasium
Thu., Feb. 18, 1954	at #11 Maryland	L 50–53	9-14	Ritchie Coliseum
Sat., Feb. 20, 1954	Niagara	L 56–69	9-15	McDonough Gymnasium
Wed., Feb. 24, 1954	at American	W 56–49	10-15	Clendenen Gymnasium
Sat., Feb. 27, 1954	Temple	W 61–59	11-15	McDonough Gymnasium
Tue., Mar. 2, 1954	#9 George Washington	L 67–79	11-16	McDonough Gymnasium
Thu., Mar. 4, 1954	at Penn State	L 54–61	11-17	Recreation Hall
Sat., Mar. 6, 1954	at Saint Francis (Pa.)	L 80–109	11-18	Doyle Hall
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. ( ) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

hoyabasketball.com The Georgetown basketball History Project: Assistant Coaches

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