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1953–54 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

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1953–54 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball
ConferenceIndependent
Record11–18
Head coach
Assistant coachHugh Beins (1st season)
Captains
  • Joe Carroll (1st year)
  • Lou Gigante (1st year)
Home arenaMcDonough Gymnasium
Seasons
1953–54 NCAA men's basketball independents standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 3 Holy Cross   26 2   .929
No. 17 Seattle   26 2   .929
No. 5 Duquesne   26 3   .897
No. 6 Notre Dame   22 3   .880
No. 2 La Salle   26 4   .867
Dayton   25 7   .781
Louisville   22 7   .759
No. 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
No. 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 (Calif.)   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 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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 6'0 N/A G Sr. Washington, DC, U.S. Gonzaga College HS
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 Daniel Grochowski
(also spelled
Grohoski)
6,1 N/A F Jr. Glen Lyon, PA, U.S. N/A

1953–54 schedule and results

[edit]

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

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site
city, state
Regular Season
Wed., Dec. 2, 1953
no, no
Baltimore W 110–59  1-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Sat., Dec. 5, 1953
no, no
Saint Peter's W 69–60  2-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Mon., Dec. 7, 1953
no, no
Mount St. Mary's W 93–83  3-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Sat., Dec. 12, 1953
no, no
St. Joseph's W 75–71  4-0
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Mon., Dec. 14, 1953
no, no
Xavier L 54–74  4-1
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Wed., Dec. 16, 1953
no, no
Loyola Maryland W 92–79  5-1
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Fri., Dec. 18, 1953
no, no
at No. 20 La Salle L 49–58  5-2
Philadelphia Convention Hall 
Philadelphia, PA
Mon., Dec. 28, 1953
no, no
vs. Detroit
Motor City Tournament
L 66–72  5-3
Detroit Olympia 
Detroit, MI
Tue., Dec. 29, 1953
no, no
vs. Wayne State
Motor City Tournament
L 48–62  5-4
Detroit Olympia 
Detroit, MI
Thu., Jan. 7, 1954
no, no
at No. 12 George Washington L 64–88  5-5
Uline Arena 
Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 9, 1954
no, no
Maryland W 58–56  6-5
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Tue., Jan. 12, 1954
no, no
at New York University W 75–67  7-5
Madison Square Garden 
New York, NY
Sat., Jan. 16, 1954
no, no
American W 59–46  8-5
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 23, 1954*
no, no
at St. Francis (NY) L 52–77  8-6
II Corps Armory 
Brooklyn, NY
Wed., Jan. 27, 1954
no, no
at No. 2 Duquesne L 56–69  8-7
Duquesne Gardens 
Pittsburgh, PA
Thu., Jan. 28, 1954
no, no
at Youngstown State L 74–78  8-8
South Field House 
Youngstown, OH
Sat., Jan. 30, 1954
no, no
at John Carroll L 88–97  8-9
Cleveland Arena 
Cleveland, OH
Tue., Feb. 2, 1954
no, no
Pittsburgh L 73–80  8-10
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Sat., Feb. 6, 1954
no, no
at Fordham L 51–68  8-11
Rose Hill Gymnasium 
Bronx, NY
Wed., Feb. 10, 1954
no, no
at No. 16 Navy L 75–110  8-12
Dahlgren Hall 
Annapolis, MD
Sat., Feb. 13, 1954
no, no
Virginia L 78–85  8-13
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Tue., Feb. 16, 1954
no, no
at Mount St. Mary's W 65-54  9-13
Alumni Gymnasium 
Emmitsburg, MD
Thu., Feb. 18, 1954
no, no
at No. 11 Maryland L 50–53  9-14
Ritchie Coliseum 
College Park, MD
Sat., Feb. 20, 1954
no, no
Niagara L 56–69  9-15
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Wed., Feb. 24, 1954
no, no
at American W 56–49  10-15
Clendenen Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Sat., Feb. 27, 1954
no, no
Temple W 61–59  11-15
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Tue., Mar. 2, 1954
no, no
No. 9 George Washington L 67–79  11-16
McDonough Gymnasium 
Washington, DC
Thu., Mar. 4, 1954
no, no
at Penn State L 54–61  11-17
Recreation Hall 
State College, PA
Sat., Mar. 6, 1954
no, no
at Saint Francis (Pa.) L 80–109  11-18
Doyle Hall 
Loretto, PA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 42. Warren Buehler
  2. ^ The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 88. Lou Gigante
  3. ^ "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches". Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  4. ^ sports-reference.com 1953-54 Independent Season Summary
  5. ^ sports-reference.com 1953-54 Polls
  6. ^ "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Rosters 1950-51 to 1959-1960". Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  7. ^ a b The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Player Directory: Jersey Numbers
  8. ^ The Georgetown Basketball History Project: 1950s Seasons
  9. ^ "The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Records vs. All Opponents". Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  10. ^ sports-reference.com 1953-54 Georgetown Hoyas Schedule and Results
  11. ^ 2012-2013 Georgetown Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 61.