1907–08 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

The 1907–08 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented Georgetown University during the 1907-08 Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States college basketball season. Maurice Joyce coached the team in his first season as head coach.^[1] Georgetown was an independent and played its home games at the Convention Hall at 5th and K Streets NW in downtown Washington, D.C.^[2]

Joyce had introduced the new sport of basketball to Washington, D.C., in 1892 – the year after its invention by James Naismith – and had fostered its development there over the next 15 years as Director of Physical Education at the Carroll Institute. In the autumn of 1906, Georgetown had hired him as its athletic director with an eye toward developing a men's basketball program at the school, and he had founded the program late that year, in time to field Georgetown's first team in the 1906-07 season. That team had had no coach, relying instead on an elected student manager to provide leadership, monitor the team's finances, and schedule games and practices – roles now performed by the school's athletic department and coach. For Georgetown's second season in 1907-08, Joyce formally became the team's first head coach, although this did not diminish the role of the student manager, who continued in his duties; rather, the head coach acted as a teacher and faculty advisor, available to provide advice to the players during games rather than lead the team on the court. It was not until the late 1920s that the modern role of the head coach as in-game leader emerged.^[1]^[3]

During its inaugural season in 1906-07, Georgetown had played only four games, three of them against George Washington. George Washington had won two of the three games, led by center Fred Rice. When George Washington decided not to field a basketball team for the 1907-08 season, Joyce convinced Rice to enroll in Georgetown University Law School and play for the Hoyas in 1907-08. Rice starred for Georgetown for three seasons before graduating from the Law School.^[3]

Dubbed the "Champions of the South"^[3] and considered the first great team in Georgetown men's basketball history,^[3] the 1907-08 squad finished the season with a record of 5-1.

Roster

Sources^[4]^[5]

Name	Height	Position	Class	Hometown	Previous Team(s)
George Colliflower	N/A	G	Grad. Stud.	Washington, DC, U.S.	Georgetown Preparatory School (North Bethesda, MD)
James Colliflower	N/A	F	Grad. Stud.	Washington, DC, U.S.	Georgetown Preparatory School (North Bethesda, MD)
John Crogan	N/A	F	Fr.	Washington, DC, U.S.	N/A
Richard Downey	N/A	C	Grad. Stud.	N/A	N/A
Bill Rice	N/A	G	Grad. Stud.	Kingston, NY, U.S.	N/A
Fred Rice	N/A	C	Grad. Stud.	Washington, DC, U.S.	George Washington University

1907–08 schedule and results

Sources^[6]^[7]^[8]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Wed., Dec. 18, 1907 no, no	vs. Maryland	W 58–3	1-0	Carroll Institute Washington, DC
Fri., Dec. 20, 1907 no, no	Columbia	W 22–18	2-0	Convention Hall Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 11, 1908 no, no	at William & Mary	W 62–8	exhibition	Convention Hall Washington, DC
Sat., Jan. 18, 1908 no, no	Fordham	W 25–14	3-0	Convention Hall Washington, DC
Fri., Jan. 24, 1908 no, no	at Virginia	W 42–19	4-0	Fayerweather Gymnasium Charlottesville, VA
Fri., Jan. 31, 1908 no, no	Virginia	W 64–12	5-0	Convention Hall Washington, DC
Fri., Feb. 21, 1908 no, no	at Fordham	L 29–31	exhibition	Savage School Gymnasium New York, NY
Sun., Mar. 1, 1908 no, no	Fordham			Convention Hall Washington, DC
Sun., Mar. 15, 1908 no, no	at Pennsylvania	L 17–33	5-1	Weightmann Hall Philadelphia, PA
*Non-conference game. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

References

[coach-1] The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Head Coaches

[homecourt-2] The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Home Courts

[roots-3] The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Basketball's Roots at Georgetown

[roster-4] The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Rosters 1906-07 to 1909-1910

[5] Georgetown Basketball History Project: All-Time Player Directory

[schedule-6] Georgetown Basketball History Project: 1900s Records

[7] The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Records vs. All Opponents

[8] sports-reference.com 1907-08 Georgetown Hoyas Schedule and Results

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v t e 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–present) Capital Centre (1981–1997) Capital One Arena (1997–present)
Rivalries	St. John's UConn
Culture & lore	History Hoya Saxa Jack the Bulldog There Goes Old Georgetown 1989 Princeton game Above the Rim
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
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 1999–2000 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 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics