Fresh off wins against Baltimore-area foes, Georgetown and Maryland will meet on Friday in a critical early-season, non-conference clash. It’s been nearly ten years since the DMV area giants faced off in a home-and-home series. In 2015 and 2016, Maryland won both meetings (75-71 and 76-75). Both programs have undergone significant changes since then.

Maryland moved on from long-time coach Mark Turgeon in 2022. After a disastrous season under Danny Manning, Maryland hired Kevin Willard away from Seton Hall, thinking they had found their next long-term solution and program leader. After three seasons, Willard…unceremoniously… fled Maryland for Villanova and the Terps pivoted to lure Buzz Williams to College Park from College Station and Texas A&M.

Georgetown also did some stuff! No need to rehash that. They won a conference tournament – surely everything was great. At least..fine. It all worked out. Also, there was Qudus Wahab, who played for both Maryland and Georgetown (twice). Time is a flat circle; everything that happens has happened before and will happen again.

And now, these two programs will reengage the critical geographic rivalry. Ed Cooley called it “an important game.” He was talking about the importance of Georgetown and Maryland regularly playing each other, but boy, is this year’s game between the two teams particularly significant…right now.

For a Georgetown team that looks poised to push for a Tournament spot after blitzing Kentucky at Rupp Arena, this is as close to a must-win game for Georgetown as you could get this early in the year. A win puts Georgetown in a great position to go 8-3 or 9-2 in non-conference, putting them in a good spot heading into conference play with at least one big away win on their resume. A loss obviously hurts their record, but it could hurt even more down the line as the year-one Buzz squad could very well have an up-and-down year and wind up lower than their preseason KenPom ranking of 34.