SAINTLY SCHEDULING: Georgetown Expected to Host Mount St. Mary’s and St. Francis in MTE

In case you missed it, news and tweets about the Hoyas

If you didn’t see the tweets the other week, Ed Cooley and your Georgetown Hoyas are reportedly scheduling Mount St. Mary’s and St. Francis as part of the second iteration of the “Georgetown MTE.” While there was hope from the fanbase that the Hoyas may get an invite to an early tournament this season, the possibility of GU joining any Feast Week festivities appears to have withered on the vine. Adding Mount St. Mary’s (KenPom rank 249) and St. Francis (354) does not inspire fan confidence that Georgetown will perform much better than last year’s KenPom ranking of 192. Maybe the news changes, but Rocco Miller correctly broke the first news of the stay-at-home MTE at last May.

Last season, Georgetown faced Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday, November 18th winning 83-72 in front of a reported attendance of 4,648, followed by a narrow overtime victory over American on Sunday, November 19th, 88-83 (attendance 4,755). Cooley mentioned in a post-game press conference that the back-to-back games were meant as a challenge to help with the BIG EAST Tournament, but admitted that it was not likely a good idea to play that early, with an injury-hampered roster, on such little rest. Perhaps these games will be a Friday and Sunday to give them a break.

While the roster may not be complete yet, preseason expectations unfortunately follow scheduling matchup hype (or lack there of). Adding early wins could help with team chemistry, but scheduling even just a bit better competition may boost NET if a program were expecting to be near the tournament bubble. Moreover, potentially losing to teams of this caliber early in the season, can send a team and fanbase into a tailspin. Why add unnecessary drama?

Scheduling these two as an MTE, instead of traveling to face multiple Power 5 programs, feels like a lose-lose proposition even if the Hoyas win each by 20 points. Unfortunately, this MTE scheduling news seems to confirm fan concerns of another potential year of sub-mediocre product on the floor. Are they digging deeper?

As of right now, Georgetown’s schedule looks like this:

• Mount St. Mary’s (Georgetown MTE in mid/late-November)
• St. Francis (Georgetown MTE in mid/late-November)
• at WVU (expected to be the week after Thanksgiving)
• Notre Dame (home; likely mid-December)
• at Syracuse (December 14th)

Any May momentum has all but faded for the Hoyas. With no men’s basketball news coming from the Thompson Center in weeks, the level of competition in this MTE speaks even louder than normal. Apathy is making a stronger case each day.

Whispers from insiders that Georgetown would soon add a center and/or a potential ‘25 recruit seem in doubt. Are there any legitimate 15-mpg bigs available? Did Cooley aim too high with the transfer portal and miss out on solid options?

We know news is coming. Freshmen typically arrive on campus in early June and Kenner League starts up in July. The future seems bright, but just so far away.

Here are some other links:

NBC, TNT Sports expected to broadcast Big East men’s, women’s basketball games in 2025-26: Sources | The Athletic

While Fox Sports will remain the top partner, both NBC, which will feature most of its games on Peacock, and TNT Sports, which operates the streaming service Max, are anticipated to add a large number of games.

The financial terms of the expected new agreements are not yet known. The agreement is not yet formalized and the other incumbent, CBS Sports — which does a smaller package of games — is still holding discussions.

NBC Sports, TNT Sports, Fox Sports and the Big East declined to comment.

The potential moves by NBC Sports and TNT Sports continue their buying sprees, that are centered around the competition over the rights to the NBA. NBC is joining ESPN and Amazon Prime Video in completing legal paperwork to make it partners with the NBA on 11-year deals.

Big East 2023 tax filings show slight decline in revenue, increase in payouts | Paint Touches

In terms of how the conference makes its millions, it reinforces the point why I’m so attuned to TV ratings all season. The Big East received $50.5M just from its media deal, primarily with FOX Sports, the first time since the reformation the conference broached the $50M mark. That sum made up almost 60% of the total revenue.

And what that pie graph also does is reiterate how vital the NCAA Tournament credits are for the conference, as they make up almost 1/3rd of the revenue. The $23.9M the conference earned was once more a record for a single year, a 3.6% jump from 2022.

Dybantsa Makes Moves | Hoya Nation

As a 6-foot-8 wing/forward with extraterrestrial athleticism and a freakish above the rim game, AJ Dybantsa has steadily ascended his way to no.1 in the 2025 class and a five star designation, per Rivals.com.

Dybantsa, who has flourished with a three level scoring repertoire and an adeptness for creating his own shot, recently transferred from Prolific Prep (CA) to Utah Prep.

Georgetown is one of the latest offers for the high rising Dybantsa, who is projected to be the top overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. Dybantsa, who holds an offer from Georgetown, has picked up recent offers from Arizona State, Brigham Young, Rutgers, USC, Utah, and Brigham Young.

NIL-driven Las Vegas college basketball event set with Alabama vs. Houston among marquee matchups | CBS

The Players Era Festival, a one-of-a-kind revolutionary regular-season men’s basketball event to be held in Las Vegas this November, was formally announced Wednesday. Its primary marketing/selling point is based on the one facet of the college sports landscape that has changed the NCAA environment over the past three years: name, image and likeness compensation for players.

Alabama, Creighton, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M have all committed to play in the event, with seven of those eight schools signed on for the next three seasons, sources told CBS Sports. (Oregon previously committed to the 2025 Maui Invitational.) In a college sports first, the Players Era Festival will also include $1 million NIL payouts for all participating schools. Players will have future earnings opportunities through long-term NIL contracts, sources said. CBS Sports extensively reported on the details of the event in early May.

The Players Era Festival will be played as two four-team formats during the week of Thanksgiving. According to sources, brackets are planned as such: Alabama (SEC), Houston (Big 12), Notre Dame (ACC) and Rutgers (Big Ten) is one multi-team event; Creighton (Big East), Oregon (Big Ten), San Diego State (Mountain West) and Texas A&M (SEC) the other. Teams from the same conference cannot play each other in MTEs, per current NCAA rules.