10/21/2002

Friday night in Georgetown saw a party atmosphere of a different kind on 10/18. More than 2500 screaming Hoya fans packed McDonough Arena on Georgetown's campus for their first introduction to the 2002-2003 Men's and Women's basketball teams.

"We delayed our public kickoff because of the Columbus day weekend. Many of our students would have missed this chance because they would have been traveling. Judging by the turnout and the enthusiasm, it looks like we made the right call." said Coach Craig Esherick.

After a student/faculty game, with Coach Esherick as a guest referee, (which the students won for the second consecutive year) the fans were entertained by The Hoya Kick line, several student dance groups, jugglers and guest DJ's from Hot 95. The  popular pizza box stacking relay race resulted in personal pan pizzas for a quarter of the students in attendance.

The Women's team and Men's team were introduced with some brief comments by Coach Knapp and Coach Esherick. Both coaches expressed the team's gratitude for the great turnout and desire for the same enthusiastic support throughout the year. A 3-point shooting contest between the guards of both squads followed and the evening wrapped up with a brief scrimmage of the men's team.