1942–43 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team

1942–43 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball
1943 edition of Ye Domesday Book
NCAA tournament, Runner-up
Conference	Independent
Record	22–5 (.815)
Head coach	Elmer Ripley (7th season)
Captains	Dan Kraus (1st year) Billy Hassett (1st year)
Home arena	Tech Gymnasium
Seasons ← 1941–42 1945–46 →

The 1942–43 Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team represented

The previous season, Georgetown had posted a 9–11 record, after which all but three varsity players had either graduated or left school for military service in World War II. For 1942-43, Ripley fielded a young team consisting of three seniors, a junior, and ten sophomores (at a time when freshmen were ineligible for varsity play under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules), leading to the team being nicknamed the "Kiddie Korps." However, the sophomores were a particularly talented group Ripley had recruited primarily from the New York City area, and had led the 1941-42 freshman team to a 20-1 record.^[2]

One of the talented sophomores to join the varsity from the freshman team this season was

One of the more notable games of the regular season came in January 1943 against the Quantico Marines, a United States Marine Corps team composed of former college players that was favored to beat the Hoyas. The Marines led through most of the game, but Georgetown mounted a comeback to close to 52-48 with two minutes left to play, at which point Ripley put talented sophomore point guard Dan Kraus into the game. Mahnken used a head fake to open up a shot for himself and then scored to make the score 52-50. The Marines did not score on their next possession, and sophomore Georgetown guard Jim "Miggs" Reily made a set shot to tie the game at 52-52. Kraus then stole the ball from Quantico on the Marines' final possession; with time running out, Ripley shouted "Shoot!", and Kraus scored on a 15-foot (4.6-meter) shot as time expired to give the Hoyas a 54-52 upset win. According to legend, the Marines were so angry over Kraus's steal and game-winning last-second basket that the Georgetown team required an armed escort after the game for protection.^[2][6]

On February 11, 1943, the Hoyas defeated longtime rival

In the tournament quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden, Georgetown faced New York University, which had defeated the Hoyas 16 times in their last 21 meetings dating back to the 1921–1922 season and was the 2-to-1 favorite of New York City sportswriters, but Georgetown won in an upset, 55-36, with Mahnken scoring 18 points for the Hoyas. In the semifinals, the Hoyas were 3-to-1 underdogs to DePaul under first-year head coach Ray Meyer and led by their dominating center George Mikan. Following Ripley's strategy for the game, Kraus and Georgetown sophomore guard Billy Hassett kept Mikan busy in the middle while Hoya center Mahnken scored with outside shooting. The plan did succeed in allowing Georgetown to score, but also left Mikan fairly free to score for DePaul at the other end; despite this, Georgetown closed to 28-23 when Hoya guard Lloyd Potolicchio scored on a 50-foot (15-meter) shot at the buzzer at the end of the first half. The Hoyas pulled ahead in the second half, but Mahnken fouled out with 10 minutes left. Ripley put Henry Hyde, seven inches shorter than Mikan, in to play center. Hyde managed to keep Mikan in check, and Georgetown upset DePaul 53-49, prompting a Hoya fan to shout "Believe it or not...by Ripley!", a quote which received wide publicity.^[2] Hassett, a very reliable passer and outside shooter for the Hoyas, had 11 points in the game.^[2][5][8]

Georgetown faced Wyoming, led by center

The performance of the "Kiddie Korps" raised hopes for an extended period of college basketball success for Georgetown. Later in 1943, however, the school suspended all of its athletic programs for the duration of World War II. With no basketball team to coach, Ripley left Georgetown to coach at Columbia, and the collegiate careers of many of Georgetown's players came to an end. Mahnken served in the military, then pursued a professional basketball career instead of returning to Georgetown. Hassett transferred to Notre Dame and completed his college basketball career there.^{[2][5][8][15]}

Georgetown would have no basketball program during the 1943–44 and 1944-45 seasons. After World War II ended in August 1945, the school would resume athletic competition and put together a varsity men's basketball team for the 1945–46 season. After two years at Columbia, Ripley had committed to coach Notre Dame in 1945-46, and those Georgetown players from the 1942–43 team retaining eligibility to play – notably Kostecka, Kraus, Potolicchio, and Reilly – had not yet returned from military service. Georgetown would field a virtually all-walk-on team in 1945-46, and Ripley and his eligible players from 1942-43 would not return to Georgetown until the 1946–47 season.^[15]

The Hoyas would not appear in a postseason tournament again until the

Sources[3]^{[5][6][8][16][17]}

After World War II military service, sophomore guards Dan Kraus, Lloyd Potolicchio, and "Miggs" Reilly and sophomore forward Andy Kostecka all returned to play on the 1946-47 team.^[18] Junior guard Bob Duffey was killed in action in Germany on November 13, 1944, during his World War II service.^[2][19]

Sophomore center-forward

Sources[21]^[22][23][24]

It was common practice at this time for colleges and universities to include non-collegiate opponents in their schedules, with the games recognized as part of their official record for the season, and the games played against