The 1937–38 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

during the 1937–38 NCAA

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season.

Fred Mesmer Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Freder ...

coached it in his seventh and final season as head coach. The team was a member of the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference (EIC) and played its home games at Tech Gymnasium on the campus of McKinley Technical High School in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The Georgetown Basketball History Project: Home Courts
/ref> The team finished with a record of 7–11 overall, 5–5 in the EIC,
/ref> and had no postseason play.

Season recap

Senior Harry Bassin was lead

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for the team and averaged 6.8 points per game. In the last game of his collegiate career, the season finale at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, he scored a career-high 16 points in Georgetowns overtime loss.The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 99. Harry Bassin
/ref> Junior forward Joe Murphy scored 18 points at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

against

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and led the team in scoring. He finished the season averaging 7.8 points per game.The Georgetown Basketball History Project: The Top 100: 92. Joe Murphy
/ref> Senior forward Mike Petrosky was the teams second leading scorer, with only three fewer points for the season than Murphy, and averaged a career-high 7.7 points per game. He was also among the best rebounders, although rebounds were not yet recorded as a game or career statistic.
/ref> During conference play, Georgetown finished with a 5–5 record and was the only team to defeat

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. Temple finished the season at 9–1 in conference play, 23–2 overall, and went on to win the

1938 National Invitation Tournament The 1938 National Invitation Tournament was the 1938 edition of the annual NCAA basketball competition. It was the inaugural National Invitational Tournament and was won by Temple. Selected teams Below is a list of the six teams selected for ...

. Overall, the Hoyas finished with a 7–11 record and had no postseason play. When

Elmer Ripley Elmer H. Ripley (July 21, 1891 – April 29, 1982) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball at seven different schools and for several professional teams. Early life Ripley was born in Staten Island, New York on July 21, ...

, who had served as Georgetowns head coach from

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1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

during Mesmers time as a Georgetown player, expressed interest in returning to Georgetown for a second tour of duty coaching the Hoyas, Mesmer stepped aside at the end of the season to allow Ripley to take over the program the following year. Mesmer had coached Georgetown for seven seasons with an overall record of 53–76, that record partly reflecting the universitys reduced emphasis on sports during his coaching years. Although his teams had gone 36–20 (.643) at home, they had managed only a 17–56 (.233) record on the road, and this had led to only two winning seasons during his tenure. Despite this, he was a popular figure in Georgetown sports throughout his time both as a player and as head coach.

Roster

Sources Senior

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Tom Nolan would go on to serve as Georgetowns head basketball coach from

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

, and as the schools

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coach until the end of the 1978 season. Sophomore

Francis "Reds" Daly was

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in the

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on February 22, 1945, during

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military service.

1937–38 schedule and results

SourcesThe Georgetown Basketball History Project: 1930s Seasons
/ref>2012-2013 Georgetown Men's Basketball Media Guide, p. 59.
/ref> , - !colspan=9 style="background:#002147; color:#8D817B;", Regular Season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1937-38 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball seasons

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located at Washington, D.C. The Georgetown's athletics department fields 24 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the Natio ...

Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team