On Monday November 27, 2006 at 7:30 PM at the Verizon Center in downtown Washington, DC the Georgetown Hoyas will host first year head coach Ronny Thompson and his Ball State University Cardinals. The game will be an intriguing matchup from a personal standpoint between the two Thompson brothers that will be leading their charges against one another for the first time. John and Ronny Thompson are the second set of coaching brothers in NCAA Division I Men's basketball. The Jones brothers at Yale and Columbia are the other two.

The Ball State roster also has a couple of players with Hoya ties. Ahmad Cook, a 6-foot freshman point guard is the brother of former Hoya Ashanti Cook and 6-foot-4 combo guard Rashaun McLemore was monitored a bit by the Hoya staff.

The Cardinals come into the game with a 2-3 record coming off three consecutive losses to UT-Chattanooga at home as well as Kansas and Western Kentucky in the Las Vegas Invitational. They are led by two seniors 6-foot-6 forward D'Andre Peyton and 6-foot-3 Julien "Skip" Mills.

The Hoyas look to continue to gain some momentum after winning at Fairfield University 73-60, which was a bounce-back game after suffering the humbling home defeat to Old Dominion. Georgetown was led by 6-foot-9 freshman DaJuan Summers who made his first start and immediately provided the Hoyas with some of the scoring punch that made him a top 25 prospecting coming out of high school in Baltimore, MD.

The game will be televised nationally on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), but you'll have to check with your local cable provider to verify whether they carry it or not.

The Hoyas need to continue to get the freshmen some playing time and for sophomore guard Jessie Sapp to continue his aggressiveness. If Summers continues to score in bunches like he did against Fairfield, it's going to be hard to get him out of the starting lineup. Getting the other two freshmen, Vernon Macklin and Jeremiah Rivers involved should also help the Hoyas in the long run. Macklin figures to be one of the main backups for Roy Hibbert when he needs a blow or is in foul trouble, so Macklin needs to develop a comfort level out there.

The stars have to play like stars. Everyone knows that Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert are vital to the success of Georgetown, now they have to play like the stars they are every single game. Green cannot afford to get himself into foul trouble like he's had in these last couple of games. He has to get himself into a rhythm and he won't be able to do that unless he can stay on the floor.

Perhaps most importantly, the Hoyas need to make sure they're ready to get everyone's best shot every night on the court. As Georgetown continues to make strides as a program, other teams around the country have taken notice and are ready to make sure the Hoyas don't take flight against them.