Maryland Terrapin and Georgetown Hoya basketball fans only have to wait a little longer to see their teams battle it out in the Alumni Basketball League (ABL). Maryland fans will see Anthony Cowan Jr., Melo Trimble, Damonte Dodd, Terrell Stoglin, Sean Mosley, Ekene Ibekwe, and Byron Mouton take the floor for the College Park Boys. They're led by owner and general manager Travis Garrison, who played for the Terps from 2002-2006. Georgetown fans will see Jagan Mosely, Rodney Pryor, Greg Whittington, Aaron Bowen, Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and Greg Monroe take the floor for Dawg Talk. General manager Chris Wright leads them, and he played for the Hoyas from 2007-2011. Game time is 8 pm at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland, on Saturday, August 6. General admission tickets are $25. Garrison doesn't believe this will be all fun and games for one second. Guys are playing to win. He knows his team will be ready. "…When I was talking to Chris Wright from Georgetown, he reminded me and said, 'Oh yeah, last time we played you guys there, we beat you guys by 20.' So it was already getting things riled up, but I mean, like I said, these guys are competitive, they're professionals, and then it's Maryland versus Georgetown. It's bragging rights right here. So it's definitely going to be exciting, and it's going to be a game to watch."
What is the ABL?
It's a player-owned and operated basketball league that puts the power in the players' hands. They are guaranteed compensation each game, get to re-engage with college basketball fans and alumni, and renew storied rivalries. Former NBA Player and Missouri alum Kareem Rush founded the league with Jake Jackson. Both men played basketball at Missouri. Before there was a discussion amongst ABL leadership about teams, rosters, and promotion for the league, there was a "Rivalry Renewed" charity game for Rush's "Rush Forward Foundation" and the Boys and Girls Club back in July 2018. Notable Kansas Jayhawk and Missouri Tiger alumni included:
Brandon Rush (Kansas)
Cole Aldrich (Kansas)
Mario Chalmers (Kansas)
Marcus Denmon (Missouri)
Michael Dixon (Missouri
Keyon Dooling (Missouri)
Plans to get the league rolling were put on hold two years ago due to COVID-19, but this east coast matchup looks to get the league off to a great start with some highly competitive basketball for DMV area bragging rights.
"We're going to bring the fans back [to see] the guys they loved and cheered for so many years. Unfortunately, a lot of guys didn't make it to the NBA. They were either college stars, or the fans loved them," Garrison said. "So we're giving the fans, the people that supported them throughout their careers, a chance to see them come back and play in person. Also, we're giving [players] the opportunity to take advantage of [being] in more in control of a league of their own."
What is Garrison most excited about?
Seeing the players' excitement. They're returning home to an area where they cultivated relationships with coaches, players, and fans. Whether the players are homegrown or not, they're still excited to come back to College Park.
"[Several] guys I spoke to are excited to be back in front of the fans. Some of the guys are not from here. The West Coast, Terrell Stoglin's from Phoenix. They're just ecstatic to get back, in a sense, to home and play in front of fans again. …As you get older, you start reminiscing and thinking about the college days, like, 'Man, those were some great days.' Now we get to relive that, come back home and play in College Park in that arena in front of the fans."
Garrison also wanted to point out that some guys he reached out to fill the roster had reservations. The reception was a mixed bag. He understood that hesitancy comes with the territory of new ideas.
"…When you don't know what it is when I probably first announced this, people were like, "What is this?" But now they're starting to see it catch fire, and they're like, "Oh my goodness. Okay. All right." But that's with anything that you're doing. If it's new and people don't know what it is or understand it, [, there's] a question mark until they see it light up, and the fire gets bigger. [Then] it's like, "Ah, okay. Okay. I see it now."
Maryland-Georgetown basketball history and impact on the game
You may not believe this, but as much as these two programs have meant to the DMV in terms of recruiting, coaching, and the talent that they've produced, there is only a small sample size of games played between them.
The Terps have the upper hand over the Hoyas with a 3-1 series lead dating back to November 15, 2016, when the Terps narrowly escaped the Verizon Center with a 76-75 win.
Trimble and Cowan Jr. combined for 33 points, seven assists, six rebounds, and four steals. Justin Jackson followed behind with 17 points and seven rebounds.
LJ Peak was the high point man for the Hoyas with 21 points, including 10 free throws. Dawg Talk teammates Pryor and Mosely combined for 17 points and seven rebounds.
Garrison knew who he wanted to play immediately.
"Why not Georgetown?" Everybody always wanted to see the Maryland/Georgetown matchup. It never happened often or at all, so I just thought it'd be cool for fans here to see that matchup with guys from their schools in this area."
The fans and players want to know one thing. Who's better, Maryland or Georgetown?
"So it's like when guys are older, and they have conversations where they play pick-up ball, or they're just having conversations like, "Oh yeah, we would've beat you guys back then if we would've played you guys."
The ABL is giving the College Park Boys and Dawg Talk a chance to do something about it.
Garrison believes that this matchup being the first official game that the ABL kicks off says a great deal about how much the Washington D.C. area has impacted the game of college basketball.
On Georgetown's end, you have a legendary coach in the late John Thompson II. John Thompson III continued his father's coaching legacy. Then there are Hoya greats and NBA Hall of Famers Allen Iverson, Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing, and Dikembe Mutombo, who gave those fans an exciting brand of Georgetown basketball.
The Hoyas had a strong grip on the sport as a Big East powerhouse in the 80s, winning one national title in 1984 and going to several Final Fours with Thompson II and Ewing leading the team.
During Wright's playing days with the Hoyas, he and Clark were leading scorers, All-Big East selections, and played in the NBA. Sims and Monroe were All-Big East selections as well. Monroe (seventh overall, 2010 NBA Draft) and Otto Porter Jr. (third overall, 2013 NBA Draft) were two of the Hoyas' highest draft picks in the first round in recent memory.
For Maryland, Gary Williams was a staple for the program during his coaching career, and the 2002 national championship win over Indiana still brings joy to so many. Maryland fans will remember Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, and Lonnie Baxter making big plays back in the day.
In recent memory, Anthony Cowan Jr., Melo Trimble, Aaron Wiggins, Kevin Huerter, Bruno Fernando, and Jalen Smith provided the Terps faithful with excitement during their time.
Wiggins (Oklahoma City Thunder), Smith (Phoenix Suns), Fernando (Atlanta Hawks via 76ers trade), and Huerter (Atlanta Hawks) were drafted in the last four years under Mark Turgeon's leadership.
Smith, Fernando, and Huerter are all with different teams now looking to make their mark.
Trimble and Cowan Jr. have been playing well overseas.
Trimble is now with the Shanghai Sharks (China) of the China Basketball Association (CBA). During the 2021-22 season, for the Galatasaray NEF Istanbul Basketbol Super Ligi (BSL) team in Turkey, he averaged 16.6 points and 4.4 assists in 36 games and shot 56 percent from the field and 41 percent from the perimeter.
Cowan Jr. now plays for the Greek Basket League (GBL) team ASP Promitheas Patras. In 2021-22, he averaged 14.5 points, 5.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per game in 26 games for the GBL's Aris Thessaloniki. He shot 39 percent from the field and 30 percent from the perimeter.
We can't forget about the 2004 ACC Tournament that Garrison and Ibekwe were a part of. John Gilchrist, Jamar Smith, Nik Caner-Medley, and Chris McCray were leading scorers for a Terps squad that went 20-12 (7-9 ACC) that year and fought hard to win the ACC Tournament as a sixth seed. They did it with wins over the No. 15 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, No. 17 North Carolina State Wolfpack, and No. 5 Duke Blue Devils.
"The most memorable [moments] for me are the Duke and Maryland games. Beating Duke several times, the ACC Championship, and the 2004 ACC Tournament [was great]. We went in on the bubble and weren't expecting to do too much and ended up winning the whole thing," Garrison said, reflecting on his Maryland playing days. It is one of the most memorable ACC Tournaments in history, given what we had to do to win it. So that's probably the most memorable right there."
Garrison reflects on Maryland pride, Gary Williams, and being a student-athlete
You know that Maryland pride is real if you've been to enough Maryland games at Xfinity Center over the years. Cheers ensue when fans see some of Maryland's best and brightest basketball players say to the fans that they have Maryland pride.
Garrison feels that same pride and joy in giving back to the Terps basketball program that poured into him when he was a player.
"A lot of pride. Through me posting certain messages and [seeing] the fans' reactions to them, I didn't know things [would] take off so fast. Hearing the interaction and how fans are excited, they're looking forward to this. They get to see their players, who they rooted for [all these] years, come back. So to hear their excitement and how they're enthused, the [players] are looking forward to it. To see that excitement again brings back memories of what Maryland basketball and the program are all about. [Also], how much the fans still support and love the guys."
Garrison reflected on what he learned from Gary Williams. While the two clashed at times, what Williams taught him sunk in later.
"To maximize your time. Maximize your time and be versatile. Normally, I'm very open and transparent about [us bumping heads] because of my stubbornness and not wanting to buy into what he was trying to do with me. He and I had talks years later [about] what he was trying to do to make me more of a complete player; maximize the time there, and maximize the moment, which I didn't do. I take those lessons and apply them to life now when speaking to the other guys I may have the opportunity to talk to."
Playing in front of almost 17,000 fans at home and in one of the best conferences in college basketball at the time helped prepare Garrison for what he faced playing overseas.
"Playing against those great players, night in and night out, I don't care who you're playing; it's going to be a dog fight. Dealing with all the ups and downs you may face game in, and game out prepared me for professional basketball because you go to different countries, cultures, and lifestyles and have the battles [on the court]. So it definitely prepared me for sure."
As a student-athlete, Garrison wanted to blend in as one of the students. He wanted to make sure they knew that even though he was a basketball player, he was approachable; easy to talk to and hang out with. "So I definitely enjoyed those moments, just hanging out with other students. But also the camaraderie I had with my other teammates, the fun we had, the joking around, and going to battle with them."
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