Beginning Monday, June 21st, 2004 CHN began unveiling 144 Team previews in 144 Days. CHN ranked the nations top 144 teams, and is unveiling one per day leading up until the opening day of the 2004-05 Season.

Bookmark the 144 Teams in 144 Days home page, and check back each day to see which team is previewed next.

#33 George Washington Colonials

Atlantic 10

2003-04: 18-12, 11-5, 3^rd

2003-04 postseason: NIT

By Joel Welser

The Colonials were on a roll before losing four of their last six games a season ago including a thrashing at the hands of Xavier in the A10 tourney and a first round loss to Virginia in the NIT.  Neither of those games were very pretty, but GW returns five starters and all eight players that averaged over ten minutes per game.  Head coach Karl Hobbs will have his squad ready to win the big games this time around.

Who’s Out: Forward Tamal Forchion played in 26 games last year as a senior averaging 3.6 points and 1.7 rebounds.  He won’t be tough to replace with a whole host of players looking to take on a bigger role.  Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall and Omar Williams are proven forwards, while Alexander Kireev, Jaz Cowan, Dokun Akingbade, Wesley Green and Rock Battistoni will all have to fight for more minutes off the bench in the crowded George Washington frontcourt.  Guard Greg Collucci has also run out of eligibility.  Collucci saw action in 27 games, averaging 3.4 points in 8.1 minutes per outing.

Who’s In: The only newcomer is Maureece Rice.  The 6-1 guard will add more depth to a solid backcourt.  Rice will have to compete with Ricky Lucas and Lafonte Johnson for time off the bench.  Senior T.J. Thompson is the leader of the backcourt, but a pair of talented sophomores will see more minutes this year.  Swingman J.R. Pinnock and point guard Carl Elliott should stay on the floor limiting the amount of time the newcomer should see.  Rice will get his chance early though.  He is an explosive shooter and can rack up some huge numbers if given the opportunity.

Who to Watch: T.J. Thompson led the team in scoring last year with 13.2 points.  He also managed 2.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.3 steals per outing.  Thompson will have to be the senior leader of the backcourt with Pinnock and Elliott still being relatively inexperienced.  Thompson has started at the point since he arrived in DC, but with Elliott on the floor as well, there are multiple ball-handlers that are also scoring threats.  Thompson is the only projected starter that is a senior.  He’ll feel the pressure of leading a team with high expectations, but the senior leader shouldn’t have a problem leading GW back to the big dance.

Projected Conference Rank: With St. Joe’s and Xavier losing tons of talent, this is George Washington’s year to regain their prominence of the 90s.  The frontcourt is deep and the backcourt is talented.  An opening match against Wake Forest in the Preseason NIT should show how talented GW will be, but even a bad loss to Wake won’t diminish the expectations of the Colonials.  A 1^st place finish in the A10 will keep George Washington atop the Atlantic 10 for years, but more importantly get GW back to the big dance for the first time since 1999.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

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Email Joel Welser: jwelser_chn@ameritech.net

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