WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's basketball team sent its four freshmen up to New York City to participate in the BIG EAST Conference's Freshmen Fundamentals, now in its fifth year of existence. Freshmen Fundamentals is a program designed to educate and assist men's basketball student-athletes in the transition from high school to the elite level of BIG EAST basketball on and off the court.
 
Over the course of the weekend, GU's Myron Gardner, Timothy Ighoefe, Qudus Wahab and Malcolm Wilson spent time with the men's basketball freshmen from the other nine member institutions and participated in programming focused on the issues the players face on a day-to-day basis.
 
In addition to the programming offered by the league, the trip afforded the student-athletes an opportunity to take a tour of Madison Square Garden, the site of the BIG EAST Men's Basketball Tournament as well as the venue of three of the Blue & Gray's regular season games with the 2K Classic and a St. John's matchup all occurring at the Garden.
 
FRESHMEN FUNDAMENTALS: A CLOSER LOOK

• The formal sessions began with Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, who conducted a mental health awareness discussion.
• A former player panel was moderated by former St. John's standout and FOX Sports analyst Tarik Turner and featured Villanova's Ryan Arcidiacono, Seton Hall's Michael Nzei and Connecticut's Donny Marshall, who also serves as a television analyst for FOX Sports.
• The players also heard a talk on Relationship Management and Safety from Kalimah Johnson, founder and executive director of SASHA (Sexual Assault Services for Holistic and Awareness) Center in Detroit, Michigan. Johnson and student-athletes had an interactive discussion on personal relationships and safety.
• Dell Demps, the former general manager of the NBA's New Orleans Pelicans, spoke to the freshmen about careers in professional basketball.  He explained how NBA teams evaluate college players, noting a player's character can be as critical as his basketball skills. 
• On Sunday morning, the players heard a media training session from Dave Popkin, a versatile broadcaster who has been a CBS Sports Network basketball play-by-play broadcaster among other assignments. 
• The players were taken on a tour of Madison Square Garden, the home of the BIG EAST Tournament. Joel Fisher, MSG's Executive Vice President of Marquee Events and Operations, welcomed the players, relayed some of the storied history of the tournament and told them there is nothing quite like playing in front of a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. 

 
The Hoyas open the season on Wednesday, November 6 when Georgetown welcomes Mount St. Mary's to Capital One Arena for a 7 p.m. matchup. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
 
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Men's basketball season tickets and mini-plans are currently on sale for the 2019-20 season. To purchase season tickets, visit WeAreGeorgetown.com/buyseasontickets; to purchase mini-plans, visit WeAreGeorgetown.com/miniplans. For more information and early notification when single game tickets and group tickets go on sale, please add your name to the Men's Basketball Ticket Interest List at WeAreGeorgetown.com/interestlist. Tickets for the 2K Empire Classic are currently available. For ticket information, please visit WeAreGeorgetown.com/EmpireClassic.