George Washington Colonials
Atlantic 10 (23-8, 11-5)
Seed: #11
East Region
RPI: 71
Big Wins:
12/3 Virginia Tech (63-62), 3/8 vs St. Joseph’s (58-48), 3/9 vs St. Louis
(60-40)
Bad Losses:
11/26 at Providence (67-86), 1/31 at Dayton (69-84), 2/3 at St. Louis
(53-63)
Last NCAA
Appearance: 2006, Second Round loss to Duke
Coach:
Karl Hobbs (1-2 in 2 NCAA appearances)
Probable
Starters:
Carl Elliott,
Senior, Guard, 13.1 ppg, 4.9 apg, 5.1 rpg
Maureece Rice,
Junior, Guard, 16.2 ppg, 2.1 apg, 3.6 rpg
Rob Diggs,
Sophomore, Forward, 10.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.9 bpg
Regis Koundjia,
Junior, Forward, 7.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg
Dokun Akingbade,
Senior, Forward, 7.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg
Key
Roleplayers:
Noel Wilmore,
Sophomore, Guard, 2.9 ppg
Damian Hollis,
Freshman, Guard, 5.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Travis King,
Freshman, Guard, 5.6 ppg, 2.5 apg
Why They Can
Surprise:
George
Washington battled through the A-10 Tournament to secure a bid in the NCAA
Tournament for the third straight year. Coach Karl Hobbs’ group wins games
with an efficient, quick offense and a stifling defense. The Colonials might
lack the star power of years past, but Maureece Rice and Carl Elliott
deserve some accolades.
Rice leads the
team with 16.3 points per game and is the lone threat from behind the arc.
The junior makes 43.8% of his shots from long range, but is not afraid to
get to the basket either. Elliott flirted with the NBA before opting to
return for his senior season and Colonial fans are sure glad he did come
back to the nation’s capital. With 13.1 points and 4.9 assists per game,
Elliott is the catalyst of GW’s offense. On the defensive end, the backcourt
will take risks and rack up the steals.
Why They Can
Disappoint:
All five
starters average between 3.6 and 5.5 rebounds per game. Rob Diggs, Regis
Koundjia and Dokun Akingbade are decent rebounders, but nobody on the team
will dominate the glass. Diggs has become a big scoring threat this year,
but lacks the bulk to battle on the glass. Akingbade will nab some offensive
boards for easy put back buckets, yet somebody has to step up on the
defensive glass against bigger opponents.
Who To
Watch:
The bench is
slim and young with Damian Hollis, Travis King and Noel Wilmore being the
only options. Hollis and King are decent scorers, but all of them have
trouble coming close to replacing the production of Rice and Elliott. If the
subs need to play big minutes, George Washington will need them to do more
than just come in and hit a three ball.
Joel’s
Bracket Says: First Round loss to Vanderbilt
