Eat your heart out Bradley Cooper (COL ’97); Indiana Pacers player and fellow College alum Roy Hibbert (COL ’08) has a gig on the popular NBC show Parks and Recreation!

The Thursday evening serial follows the misdeeds and shenanigans of a small-town Indiana parks and recreation department. Deputy Director Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, tries to hold the department together despite the incompetence of her staff, especially the entrepreneurial Tom Haverford (played by Aziz Ansari), and the obstructionism of her anti-government director Ron Swanson, played by Nick Offerman.

Another NBA personality, former Indiana Pacers star Detlef Schrempf, previously appeared on the show, first as a special guest on a city-wide telethon and then as a consultant for Tom Haverford’s Entertainment 720 media group. Schrempf broke the news of Hibbert’s appearance on Twitter.

Lots of fun on the set of Park & Rec. Aziz Anzari & Ben Schwartz are hilarious! Gotta give it up for Roy Hibbert for his first acting gig!

We can only hope that Hibbert measures up to Swanson’s high standards of greatness.

h/t Ball Don’t Lie, Photo by Patrick Nell

Former Hoya Roy Hibbert got off to quite a start in his NBA career, picking up a flagrant foul and ejection from his first preseason game for an errant elbow. But no elbow to the face could ever be as painful as the above video. Skip ahead to 2:56 to see Roy barely edge out a fan in a game of knock-out at the Pacers’ “Fan Jam” earlier this week. Then, if you can stomach it, move along to 3:43 to hear his rendition of the Fresh Prince theme.

The NBA has some charming pictures of Big Roy and the Indiana Pacers’ other new recruits. The set starts out bland (Roy with a basketball! Roy with a basketball next to a teammate!), but evolves into a set of glamor shots, with captions like “Roy Hibbert means business” and “Brandon Rush lightens the mood”.

Check out the jump for Roy wondering who is the fairest one of all.

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A Georgetown basketball star has been the prize of a Draft Day trade.  The Hoyas’ beloved big man Roy Hibbert, who was pegged to fall somewhere in the early 20′s in the draft, worked his way up to the 17th spot where he was drafted by the Toronto Raptors.

But like Georgetown teammate Jeff Green, who was selected by the Celtics last year only to be traded immediately to Seattle, Hibbert had no chance to imagine a future north of the border before talks of a trade to the Indiana Pacers. Hibbert will join Kansas star Brandon Rush, who was traded to the Pacers via the Portland Trailblazers on Draft Day.

It’s difficult to imagine a long, successful career in the NBA for Hibbert.  His size, passing and solid all-around fundamentals might make him effective, but his athleticism (read: rebounding) is beyond suspect at this point.  Expect to see Big Roy get his two-step hook shot thrown back in his face a few times before he figures out the NBA’s bigger, faster style.

After the jump, Patrick Ewing Jr.’s chances.

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We were all worried there for a minute, but as it turns out, Roy Hibbert’s going to be all right. The big man was picked up by the Toronto Raptors as the 17th pick of the draft, despite a bitchy scout report that Hibbert would “need a parachute on draft day.” According to media, Roy will ultimately end up playing in an Indiana Pacers uniform. This will require some trades, in a process not unlike when a younger you needed a Wartortle card but only had a bent Clefairy.

Patrick Ewing Jr. also scored big, going to the Sacramento Kings as the 43rd pick.

Congratulations, boys. 6 weeks out of college and you already have jobs.

Staying another year at Georgetown is looking like a bad idea for Roy Hibbert’s NBA draft prospects, according to a Washington Times article:

Hibbert was not among the 16 prospects invited to watch the NBA Draft from the green room in Madison Square Garden in New York, and one anonymous NBA scout suggested to the Boston Globe that Hibbert would need a parachute to slow his free fall down the draft board.

JTIII shows up to give the obligatory booster quote, but even he doesn’t sound optimistic. At least the Seattle SuperSonics are supposedly interested in him. Maybe Seattle (and the rest of us) will be treated to another Green-Hibbert match-up.

Update: Things might not be so bad–the Washington Post makes Roy sound like a cool cucumber. Just goes to show you can’t trust the Reverend Moon, not even with basketball.

If political pundits have taught us anything this primary cycle, it’s that we shouldn’t be listening to political pundits.  McCain, now the G.O.P. front-runner, was declared dead over the summer (his campaign, that is—he’s not that old), the press all but pronounced Hillary the Democratic nominee earlier this year, and the New Hampshire Democratic polls were about as wrong as wrong can be.

Fortunately, Mike Madden over at Salon.com has found one indicator that has been consistently spot-on: our very own Georgetown Hoyas.

As it happens, the Hoyas have been a near-perfect predictor of McCain’s fortunes this year. The last time Georgetown lost a game was the night before the Michigan primary, when Pitt beat them 69-60; the next day, Romney beat McCain. The day of the South Carolina primary, where McCain narrowly beat Mike Huckabee to avenge his 2000 loss to George W. Bush, the Hoyas crushed Notre Dame.

Madden wrote this before the Hoyas played last night and before the primary results came in, so he had a little prediction.

So who do the Hoyas play tonight? Big East bottom-dwellers South Florida. Playing in D.C., the Bulls are probably bigger underdogs than Romney is (though his loss to Huckabee in West Virginia, orchestrated by McCain strategists at the last minute, doesn’t bode well for him). If they can pull off the upset, surely Romney can, too. But if the Hoyas hang on to win, as expected, McCain might do the same. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. Eastern — just in time for the polls to close.

Prescient, Mr. Madden.

The system will really be put to the test on Saturday though, when the Hoyas play at Louisville and Kansas, Louisiana, and Washington all have their primaries.  Given their recent romps of Marquette and Rutgers, I imagine that Louisville is going to put up quite a fight.  But rest easy, Senator McCain.  No one can stop Big Roy.

Via The Van Buren Boys

JT III and a few of his players talked to the media this afternoon about their game tomorrow against Seton Hall, West Virginia cheers and Bryon Jansen’s three pointer at the end of the St. John’s game.

Roy Hibbert:

On the maturation of Vernon Macklin: He’s been working really hard in practice—getting his moves down pat. We do a lot of moves together before and after practice, and it is really beginning to show. The sky-hook and the two-foot hook are his main moves, and whenever he gets in the open court he does his job. I’m trying to get like him in the open court.

On defending Macklin’s hook shot: I’ve blocked it a couple times. Obviously I see it so many times and we learn different techniques [to defend it], but I’m not going to give it away. But there is a way to block it.

On difference between Roy and Vernon: He’s a different player. He’s a lot leaner and quicker, so he makes quicker moves. I’m usually banging against two or three other people, but he’s learning that too.

On Bryon Jansen’s three: I was happy. He works hard so it was great to see that at the end of the game.

Jessie Sapp:

On returning home to New York: It was fun. To be in New York and play that kind of game, where we dominate the whole way—it was fun. Having my family there, and my friends and fans enjoyed it, it was a fun atmosphere. My family had tickets, and then other people were buying tickets leading up to the game so there were maybe 60 or 70 [friends and family].

On his recent outside shooting streak: I just take what’s there. I want to show people that I can do that along with being a leader on this team.

On Bryon Jansen: It meant a lot. That guy works hard, he’s one of the hardest working players I’ve ever seen. For him to make that shot meant a lot and I was proud of him.

On Patrick Ewing Jr: He’s a passionate player. He loves the game and he brings that to the table each and every game. People might mistake that for attitude, but it’s a positive vibe and when he’s energetic and I’m energetic, we all get energetic.

On WVU fans’ insults: I watched the game the day after and I heard it on the tape. I guess it was ‘Sapp is crap.’ I mean, that wasn’t very creative but they tried. I can’t even say what they said to Pat.

Jon Wallace:

On rebounding: We all need to make a conscious effort of pursuing the ball—long rebounds and rebounds around the rim.

On facing Seton Hall: We are going to have to get back quick in transition and identify the ball early on. They get a lot of penetration and kickouts for open shots so we need to shut down that aspect of their game. Top to bottom they may have one of the quickest lineups in the conference. We have the size so we need to close down the lane and cut off the drives to be successful.

On Bryon Jansen: Bryon is one of those guys that comes in every day to practice. He’s not necessarily worried about the minutes he’s going to get to play. He just wants to help us out in any way. He was very excited, I’m pretty sure you could tell from the emotion he showed that it was a pretty big moment for him.

Ewing Jr:

On opposing fans: I hear it. You can’t block out the huge signs or all the expletives they throw out at me during the game, but it’s something that I’ve been dealing with my whole life and I accept that it’s going to happen. I have no problems with it. In the games where the crowd has tried to kill me I’ve definitely had good games. It’s also an asset because it takes pressure off of Roy, DaJuan, Austin, Jessie or any of the other players. Taking the pressure off of them helps them play better also.

On playing at Madison Square Garden: I love to go to the Garden, it’s my favorite place to play. Any basketball player loves the Garden, it’s the basketball Mecca of the world. When I’m out there I’m having fun just like any other game, but it’s always special to play there. I wouldn’t say I was more comfortable there—I’m comfortable in every game, but it’s nice to go there and play and see my dad’s jersey up in the rafters.

On Bryon Jansen: It’s good to see the people who don’t get a lot of recognition for what they do go out there and show what they can do. Bryon works hard every day in practice. Half the time people get mad at him because he is being real physical and they don’t like it, but he works just as hard or harder than everyone else. He’s always in there after practice getting up shots. We will go on away trips and he’s always the guy who says, ‘Yo guys, let’s go to the weight room and lift some weights or something like that’ and we are all like, ‘Bryon, are you serious? We’ve got a game tomorrow, what are you talking about?’ But his work ethic—for him to score those points, especially in the Garden where everyone wants to show what they can do, it’s great. Everyone was proud. I was telling Coach, ‘Let’s run an iso[lation] for Bryon, he needs to get a shot, he needs to get some points on the board.’

On Jansen’s bank shot: I just asked him if he called it. He said he called it—I didn’t hear him though. But in a game a basket’s a basket.

JT III:

On Seton Hall: They are a very good offensive team. They lead our league in scoring and their perimeter people not only make shots, but they can get to the basket and get to the foul line. They put pressure on the defense and no one has found a way to slow them down yet. We just hope they have a bad day.

On the post play:  It’s improving. And I’m happy in that sense, but we have to keep going in the right direction. We have to continue to throw it down, and not just to Roy and Vernon, but to other people.

On Vernon Macklin:  He has developed, and he is still developing. Obviously playing behind Roy, he doesn’t get the opportunity to show his skills as often as he’d like. His options have been limited. But he has worked extremely hard and still has a long way to go, but I think he will get there. At this level there is that pressure, that dialogue and frustration as kids grow and improve. He’s a McDonald’s All-American and realizes he has to get better, but the same thing happened at Princeton with kids I recruited who didn’t have all those accolades. We have 13 guys who want to play, so that’s the balance.

On Bryon Jansen: You have to be happy for him. It’s Madison Square Garden and he hits a three-point shot. We each have our part to do, and the caring and the work that he brings to our team—it’s very similar to Tyler [Crawford], to tell you the truth. He had a big offensive rebound a couple possessions before that could have been a 1-and-1 or a shooting foul.

Vernon Macklin:

On learning from Roy:  I can take a lot of things from Roy. His smartness on the floor, his passes in the post—I can take a lot from his game.

On free throw shooting:  It really is all mental. I just think too much. I just don’t want to miss. I go up there thinking ‘I can’t miss this free throw,’ I just need to clear my mind and go up there and start making them.

On getting more playing time:  I’m still learning, I’m still watching Roy and Pat. I’m going to keep working hard until my time.

On what he can improve:  I need to get some rebounds. To stay out there longer I need to be able to rebound and defend, not just score.

On the team’s transition game:  In the Big East, every team you play knows everything about you, so you need to give them some different looks. It’s hard to run sometimes in the Big East. It’s very exciting to see what can happen this year and next year, but we are going to keep with the Princeton [offense] now.

On having to wait for his chance:  At first it was tough, but then you know playing behind Jeff [Green] and Roy—you learn a lot. At first I didn’t understand, but I’m getting more mature, I’ve learned.

On practice/the hook shot:  I work on the hook every day, left and right. We break up a lot into groups and work on moves. You don’t know what Roy is going to do when you guard him, either power or speed. So watching him and playing against him every day—when I get on the court and guard someone I just visualize Roy.

Basketball Head Coach John Thompson III and senior center Roy Hibbert stopped in the lobby of McDonough Gymnasium after practice today to answer a few questions about the team and the upcoming match-up with Jim Calhoun and the UConn Huskies. Tip-off is slated for 2 pm at the Verizon Center.

Roy talked about facing Hasheem Thabeet, what the team has been doing well and how he’s going to improve.

On facing the Big East rebounding leaders: “We’re just going to make sure we play very conscious of that, make sure we box out and rebound, Coach has been stressing that. We have to do our part to limit them to one shot and make sure we get the rebounds.”

On how the team has prepared in practice: “Attention to detail obviously, and also we’ve been doing a lot more drills in rebounding and Coach has been getting on us when we play live [scrimmage].”

On his play in the DePaul game: “I just wanted to be more aggressive from the start. I did my part and tried to make sure I got rebounds, and the rebounds led to more buckets for myself on the offensive end.”

On facing Hasheem Thabeet: “I’ve played against him before, I played against him in the summer, so it’s just going to be another game. He does a really good job blocking shots, and I think he’s gotten better offensively. He’s gotten a lot better this year so I’m just going to have to adjust.”

On Thabeet’s athleticism: “I’ve seen him do some dunks that I didn’t think he could do as a 7’3” – 7’4” guy, so he’s pretty good and I’m going to do my part to keep him off the boards and limit his points.”

On the team’s play against Rutgers: “We were focused, but we needed to focus on other things. Our defense played a good part—we started off the game 11-0, I think, in the first couple of minutes. I thought that it was very important to us in limiting them to one shot and just trying to be good defensively.”

On what he can do to improve: “I’m most likely the biggest guy out there, except for this coming game [with Thabeet]. I need to get more rebounds, that’s my department, I need to step up and get more.”

JT III talked about freshman Austin Freeman’s success, the challenges of the Big East and Hibbert’s draft pick.

On the team’s overall performance: “I’m fine with where we are right now. I’m comfortable with many different groups and many different combinations [of players]. That being said, we must continue to get better. We must continue to improve, we must still make progress as the year goes on.”

On the high profile opponents in the next two games (UConn and Pitt): “League play has started. So everyone we play is going to be really good, from now until the end of the year. I haven’t looked at the next couple games, to be quite honest, but I just know that we are in league play now. So now you start to figure out, sift through and sort out to see how you are and where you stand.”

On the importance of league play: “I think that that is what should be important to every team in every conference. It is what determines whether you get to the post-season or not.”

On whether or not Austin Freeman’s success is surprising: “No, not at all. I’m not surprised. The game comes very easily to him.”

On Hibbert’s play: “Obviously every move he makes, every game he plays and every time he touches the ball is going to be critiqued and analyzed—as it should—you know with his stature as one of the best players in the country. He has progressed, and much like our team, he has gotten better. Roy Hibbert is a basketball player who happened to be 7’2” and a center. He is involved at a high level in every aspect of the game. A lot of people just look at the stat sheet, but the nature of how we do things and the personnel we have on our team is that it is going to be spread out. He does a good job of knowing when it’s his turn and when to help his teammates.”

On the fall of Hibbert’s projected draft position:“I haven’t looked at that. We have at least 14 games left, and when the smoke clears at the end of the day we can pick our head up and see where we stand, and he can pick his head up and see where he stands—he’s going to be okay.”

On the team’s early Big East success: “Winning on the road is key for any team in any conference. Our league is so competitive and it is so difficult to win games at home or away, so the ability to go out and get two road wins to start league play is huge for us.”

Photo by Nicole Bush, Staff Photographer

It’s certainly too early to say whether or not Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert will enter the NBA Draft, but in their first press conference since declaring, they said some surprising things. Green, apparently, is leaning towards staying at GU more than Roy, though most pundits say Green is the player who is more NBA-ready in a year when the draft has a glut of good centers.

At least they’re good examples to the kiddies, though: “School is only going to be here four years,” Green said. “The NBA will be there forever. You can’t just give up that. That’s a big thought in this process. Either way, I’m going to come back and get my degree.”