Jan. 2, 2008
There are always growing pains when you begin your college career.
You have to get used to being away from home. There's the added responsibility, for many, to feed themselves for the first time in their lives. There's an adjustment in the classes you take and there's an adjustment in the work load you have. Then there's also the added adjustment of getting to know new people.
For two of the freshmen on the Georgetown men's basketball team - guards Austin Freeman and Chris Wright - that was one of the easiest parts for them when they came to college.
Freeman, a 6-4, 210-pound guard who comes to Georgetown from DeMatha High School, and Wright, a 6-1, 190-pound guard from St. John's Catholic in the District, grew up just a few minutes from one another in Prince George's County, in Maryland.
They have both played basketball competitively since elementary school. They met when they only about 10-years-old, with the teens joking about someday playing together.
Freeman committed to Georgetown in November, 2005 and Wright followed later that season.
So after seeing each other on the court for the better part of the last eight years, two of the top All-Met players during the last four years would finally get a chance to play together on the hardwood on the Hilltop.
Both players had stellar careers in high school. Freeman, the first DeMatha player to come to Georgetown in more than 20 years, averaged about 22.4 points and 7.1 rebounds last year, was named the Met Player of the Year and led his squad to its third-straight Washington Collegiate Athletic Conference (WCAC) Championship.
Wright became the first player to be named All-Met three times since Adrian Dantley of DeMatha did so from 1971-73. He averaged more than 30 points a game for St. John's Catholic High School and finished his career with more than 2,000 points.
Many people, including Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III, were excited about the duo joining a Hoya team that was coming off a 30-7 season in which the team won the BIG EAST's Regular Season and Conference Championship and reached the Final Four.
During the course of that 2006-07 season, the Hoyas announced the addition of Omar Wattad, a 6-5, 185-pound guard from Johnson City, Tenn., and Nikita Mescheriakov, a 6-8, 241-pound forward who is originally from Minsk, Belarus.
Wattad, who played at Science Hill High School, was a two-time all-state selection and finished his career with 2,191 points. Mescheriakov, whose older brother, Yegor, was a standout at George Washington, came to the United States prior to the 2006-07 season and played basketball at St. John's Prospect Hall in Maryland.
The contributions for this quartet of freshmen - the class of 2011 - has been impressive.
Freeman and Wright are both averaging more than 15 minutes per game (19.6 and 16.4). Freeman, who made his first career start against Fordham on December 31, has made his mark in the scoring column, ranking fourth on the team with 9.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 15 points during the team's impressive win over Jacksonville on December 9. Wright, who missed the first part of practice with an injury, has been equally impressive. A lightning-quick guard, he is averaging 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Wattad has appeared in five games, hitting a three-pointer in four of those appearances, and Mescheriakov was eligible to make his first appearance for the Hoyas on December 31.
"They all are learn fast, they learn extremely fast," Thompson said. "They are extremely willing to be part of the group. You have a couple of guys, stating the obvious, Chris (Wright) and Austin (Freeman), who have been very good players and very well known in this city for a long time, but they come in as freshmen, as willing freshmen, and I think that's important."
And like any freshman, the ability to be willing, to be flexible, is what makes the transition to college the easiest.
By Mike "Mex" Carey
Sports Information Director
