The winner of the Northern Iowa-Georgetown game will play the winner of No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 15 seed Davidson on Sunday, March 19.

Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III and the Hoya basketball team gathered at the Leavey Center on campus with more than 200 students, staff and fans as the Selection Show aired on CBS.  The Hoyas had to wait until the final bracket was announced to see where they were headed and who they would be playing, but a loud roar broke out after the Georgetown name appeared on the screen.

“As the selection show went on, I wondered if they forgot about us,” Thompson said afterward to reporters.  “You get anxious, you get extremely anxious. This is an exciting time for our team. It’s an exciting time for our campus.  But once you see Northern Iowa pop up, you know it’s time to get back to work.”

The players were equally excited, especially seniors like Brandon Bowman (Santa Monica, Calif./Westchester) and Ashanti Cook (Inglewood, Calif./Westchester).  “The longer you wait, the more you get nervous,” Bowman said. “I was sitting next to Jeff (Green) and Pat (Ewing) and we were all saying, ‘What if this? What if that?’  Ultimately, we felt pretty good about (our chances of) getting in.  I was personally hoping for San Diego (two hours from his hometown), but we’re going to Dayton to play Northern Iowa and we’re excited.”

This will be the 23rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Hoyas, who enter the big dance with a 21-9 overall record.  Georgetown advanced to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament with wins over Notre Dame (67-63) and Marquette (62-59), before falling to Syracuse (58-57).

Georgetown was one of a record eight BIG EAST Conference schools who were selected to play in the NCAA Tournament, joining No. 1 seeds Connecticut and Villanova, No. 5 seeds Pittsburgh and Syracuse, No. 6 seed West Virginia, No. 7 seed Marquette and No. 10 seed Seton Hall.

The last time the Hoyas were selected to the NCAA Tournament was in 2001, when the 10th-seeded Hoyas advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, one of nine times Georgetown has gone that far. 

Northern Iowa enters the NCAA Tournament with a 23-9 overall record. They went 11-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference, but were beaten in the first round of the league tournament by MissouriState.   The Panthers, who have lost five of their last seven games, have a pair of wins over nationally-ranked teams this year, beating then No. 12 Iowa (67-63 in overtime) and posting a 54-50 win at LSU.

A game time for Friday’s matchup with Northern Iowa will be announced on Monday.

Georgetown University is a proud member of the BIG EAST Conference – the largest and most diverse athletic conference in the country. It was formed in 1979 and represents the athletic interests of 16 member institutions including the University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut, DePaul University, Georgetown University, University of Louisville, Marquette University, University of Notre Dame, University of Pittsburgh, Providence College, Rutgers University, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, University of South Florida, Syracuse University, West Virginia University and Villanova University. The BIG EAST has captured 25 national championships in six different sports and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series. For more information on Georgetownathletics, please visit www.guhoyas.com. For more information on the BIG EAST Conference and its membership, please visit www.bigeast.org.