Georgetown basketball was once a hot ticket. Now it is giving them away.
The men’s basketball program once transformed the private, Jesuit school with just more than 3,500 undergraduate students into a national power and a national brand. Four decades later, the man at the centerpiece of that rise — because he was the dominant center on John Thompson’s teams —
oversees that program from the sidelines. “There’s a lot of angry feelings amongst alumni and students and fans. I don’t think a lot of people care to follow this team. That desire kind of left a while ago.” There’s so much evidence of that. The latest data point: On the night the Hoyas gave away tickets to an arena that seats 20,356 people for basketball, only 3,526 folks showed up for free tickets. When the public address announcer introduced the Siena starters, the fans in the student section turned their back on the court and chanted, “Let’s go, Hoyas!” — a mock disrespect that is tradition. There were 19 of them...