1970–71 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

1970-71 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball

Conference	Independent
1970-71 record	12–14
Head coach	John Magee (5th year)
Assistant coach	Ed Hockenbury (1st year)
Captain	Bob Hannan (1st year)
Captain	Don Weber (1st year)
Home arena	McDonough Gymnasium

The 1970–71 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University during the 1970-71 NCAA Division I college basketball season. John Magee coached them in his fifth 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 12-14 and had no post-season play.

Season recap

In recent seasons, Georgetown had established a pattern of strong starts followed by late-season collapses that sank hopes for a berth in a post-season tournament, losing seven of its final 10 games in the 1964-65 season, eight of its final 11 games in 1966-67, and seven of its last nine games in 1968-69. In 1969-70, however, it had played well enough for a bid in the 1970 National Invitation Tournament and had come close to defeating Pete Maravich and his Louisiana State teammates in the first round. With junior forward Art White – generally viewed at the time as the greatest player in Georgetown basketball history – as well as senior guard Don Weber and junior forward Mike Laughna returning, Magee had high hopes that a new era of success had dawned in Georgetown men's basketball.

Laughna had a strong season, shooting 48.2% from the field. Over the course of three consecutive games in February 1971 against American, Loyola, and New York University (NYU), he scored 76 points and pulled down 50 rebounds, and in the NYU game alone he grabbed 11 rebounds and scored 35 points, the only 30-plus-point scoring performance in a single game by a Georgetown player during the 1970s. During the season, he led the team in scoring in 14 games, including 10 of the last 11.^[1] White, meanwhile, scored in double figures in 21 of the season‍ 's 26 games and averaged 14.2 points per game,^[2] and Weber closed out his collegiate career by scoring in double figures 13 times, shooting 44% from the field, and leading the team in assists for the second straight year with 100.^[3]

Magee‍ 's hope that the 1970-71 team would build on the success of the previous year went unfulfilled: The team played very poorly on defense^[2] and, after opening 3-5 and then winning six of its next eight to improve to 9-7, it returned to the pattern of the teams of the latter half of the 1960s, losing seven of its last 10 games to finish the season with a record of 12-14 and have no post-season play. Magee‍ 's relationship with the team deteriorated as the season wore on. Praising only Laughna – when asked what lineup he would use for the team the following season, he said, "Laughna and four others" – Magee otherwise openly blamed the year‍ 's results on the performance of his players, specifically calling White "a disappointment" in an interview with the campus newspaper The Hoya.^[2] White did not return to the team for the following season because of academic issues, presaging a dismal Hoya performance in 1971-72.^[4]

The 1970-71 team was not ranked in the Top 20 in the Associated Press Poll or Coaches' Poll at any time.^[5]^[6]

Roster

Source^[1]^[2]^[3]^[7]^[8]

#	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
10	John Connors	6'7"	N/A	G/C	So.	New York, NY, U.S.	Cardinal Spellman HS
12	Don Weber	5'8"	160	G	Sr.	Ridgewood, NJ, U.S.	Don Bosco Preparatory HS
14	Dick Zeitler	5'11"	N/A	G	Sr.	Seaford, NY, U.S.	Archbishop Molloy HS
22	Tim Mercier	5'10"	N/A	G	Sr.	Jersey City, NJ, U.S.	St. Peter's Preparatory School
30	Mike Geoghegan	6'4"	N/A	F	So.	Cincinnati, OH, U.S.	St. Xavier HS
32	Bob Hannan	6'3"	N/A	F	Sr.	Paterson, NJ, U.S.	St. Mary HS
34	Tom McBride	5'10"	N/A	G	So.	South Lake, NJ, U.S.	Staunton Military Academy (Staunton, VA)
40	Ed MacNamara	N/A	N/A	F	Sr.	Dumont, NJ, U.S.	Bergen Catholic HS
42	Mike Laughna	6'7"	210	F	Jr.	North Caldwell, NJ, U.S.	Saint Benedict's Preparatory School
44	Art White	6'7"	190	F	Jr.	White Plains, NY, U.S.	Archbishop Stepinac HS
52	Mark Mitchell	6'8"	N/A	C/F	Jr.	Chicago, IL, U.S.	Loyola Academy
54	Mark Edwards	6'5"	N/A	F	So.	Hyattsville, MD, U.S.	DeMatha Catholic HS

1970–71 schedule and results

Sources^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]

Date	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site
Regular Season
Tue., Dec. 1, 1970	Rensselaer	W 62–52	1-0	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Dec. 5, 1970	at St. Joseph's	L 60–72	1-1	Palestra
Mon., Dec. 7, 1970	at William & Mary	W 88–71	2-1	George Preston Blow Gymnasium
Sat., Dec. 12, 1970	at St. John's	L 74–81	2-2	Alumni Hall
Wed., Dec. 16, 1970	at Navy	L 69–76 ^2OT	2-3	Halsey Field House
Sat., Dec. 19, 1970	Maryland	W 96–79	3-3	McDonough Gymnasium
Tue., Dec. 29, 1970	vs. Wake Forest (Gold Coast Classic)	L 88–90	3-4	West Palm Beach Auditorium
Wed., Dec. 30, 1970	vs. Creighton (Gold Coast Classic)	L 79–80	3-5	West Palm Beach Auditorium
Sun., Jan. 3, 1971	Brown	W 80–76	4-5	McDonough Gymnasium
Thu., Jan. 7, 1971	Randolph–Macon	W 71–54	5-5	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Jan. 9, 1971	Boston University	W 95–78	6-5	McDonough Gymnasium
Wed., Jan. 13, 1971	at Columbia	L 68–80	6-6	University Gymnasium
Sat., Jan. 16, 1971	at Seton Hall	L 69–74	6-7	Walsh Gymnasium
Sat., Jan. 30, 1971	at Fairleigh Dickinson	W 71–59	7-7	Campus Gymnasium
Mon., Feb. 1, 1971	at Fairfield	W 78–65	8-7	New Haven Arena
Thu., Feb. 4, 1971	Connecticut	W 98–75	9-7	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Feb. 6, 1971	at American	L 57–60	9-8	Fort Myer Gymnasium
Tue., Feb. 9, 1971	at Loyola Maryland	L 69–75	9-9	Alumni Gymnasium
Thu., Feb. 11, 1971	at New York University	W 91–80	10-9	Madison Square Garden
Sat., Feb. 13, 1971	at Rutgers	L 53–58	10-10	College Avenue Gymnasium
Tue., Feb. 16, 1971	Boston College	W 67–66	11-10	McDonough Gymnasium
Sat., Feb. 20, 1971	at Penn State	L 75–84	11-11	Recreation Hall
Mon., Feb. 22, 1971	at George Washington	W 84–76	12-11	Fort Myer Gymnasium
Wed., Feb. 24, 1971	at Holy Cross	L 72–109	12-12	Worcester Memorial Auditorium
Sat., Feb. 27, 1971	Manhattan	L 78–86	12-13	McDonough Gymnasium
Thu., Mar. 4, 1971	#13 Fordham	L 68–81	12-14	McDonough Gymnasium
*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

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