It’s Time to End Georgetown’s Curse of the Phonebooth with a Tyler Adams Dunk

Since March 7, 2015, there has been a curse on the Georgetown Hoyas and their home court, Capital One Arena. The game at the arena that was formerly known as the Verizon Center, and the MCI Center before that, saw a triumphant return of Georgetown legend Tyler Adams. Adams—now an assistant coach at Jackson State—scored the opening bucket of the game against Seton Hall that day. The Hoyas, led by John Thompson III, called timeout for the substitution but did not reciprocate by allowing a bucket. Instead, Georgetown, took the 2-point lead all the way to a 73-67 win.

The resulting curse was not Adams’ fault at all, but it’s time to right that wrong by allowing Adams to score the first basket of the Jackson State game on Saturday. Yes, that’s right, Assistant Coach Tyler Adams needs an opening dunk at the Phonebooth to finally reverse the curse for the Hoyas!

The many struggles of the once-illustrious program are well documented. Since that game against Seton Hall, Georgetown has a record of 107-147 overall and 40-105 within the BIG EAST. Of course, that includes the COVID year where the Hoyas played at McDonough and ended up winning the conference tournament, but generally things have been pretty dismal for Georgetown over the past 8 years.

As a refresher, the 6-9 forward came to Georgetown along with classmates, forward Mikael Hopkins (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) and guard Jabril Trawick (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends). Four games into his freshman year, he was diagnosed with a heart ailment that ended his basketball career.

Adams remained a part of the team, assisting in practice, traveling with the team and cheering on his teammates during the games on the bench. Head Coach John Thompson III referred to him as a “junior coach.” Adams remained on scholarship during his time at Georgetown.

“When my situation came about I didn’t want to mourn or be sad and be a burden on the team, my main focus was just keeping a positive energy and helping the guys out,” Adams said during his senior year. “Whether that was wiping the floor or helping Josh (Smith) or Mikael (Hopkins) with their…