Colonial Hoops

Garrett Johnson appears on A-10 Insider podcast talking about his medical challenges and the season

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:26:00 +0000

This is pretty cool, GW forward Garrett Johnson was on the A-10 Insider podcast the other day talking with the hosts about his tumors and other medical issues, and his and the team's success this year. Nice to see GW on a national platform like this, and Johnson represents the university and himself really well. Seems like a good kid.

You can get the episode on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or anywhere else. The interview starts around the 7 minute mark but the part before talks about GW too. The title is "Garrett Johnson on His Incredible Journey and Impact at George Washington."

Johnson if you recall had tumors in his hip and went through chemotherapy and other medical interventions, and when he was ready to play again he tore his ACL. He's back now and playing great, and we love to see it.

Women host Northwestern and former GW Elite 8 coach Joe McKeown on Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 19:39:00 +0000

Time for some women's hoops news! The Revolutionary women host the Northwestern Wildcats led by former GW coach Joe McKeown on Sunday.

McKeown had an extremely successful almost 20 year run in Foggy Bottom, coaching the women from 1989 to 2008, including an NCAA Elite 8 appearance in 1996-97, three Sweet 16s and overall sixteen NCAA tournaments at GW. He also won five A-10 coach of the year awards, ten A-10 regular season championships and four A-10 tourney titles. As you can tell by those successes, the teams were really great in those years with a lot of fun players. McKeown left GW for Northwestern in 2008 in part to be closer to medical specialists for his family, and is still beloved in DC. He was also Big Ten coach of the year in 2020 and has led the Wildcats to two more NCAAs.

McKeown, who has been a head coaching since 1986 starting at New Mexico State, is retiring after this year and in a cool move, GW and Northwestern scheduled a home-and-home series so Joe can come back to the Smith Center for a farewell. GW has a nice article about the game and GW is also selling a neat Thanks Joe t-shirt.

Northwestern is 6-5 this season while the Revolutionaries are 7-5 under first year coach Ganiyat Adeduntan, who was formerly the head coach at Colgate.

GW beats Army, William & Mary to improve to 8-2, 56 in Torvik, 61 in Kenpom; face Delaware next

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 19:35:00 +0000

It was a fitting couple of games: George Washington, the commander-in-chief, beat Army, and then followed it up by beating William & Mary, two British monarchs.

The Revolutionaries beat Army at West Point 84-70 on Dec. 2, followed by a 99-86 win over W&M at the Smith Center on Dec. 6.

As usual, GW's high powered and multifaceted offense has been solid, and while the defense was a little bit less strong against Army, allowing them to shoot .410 from three, the Revs out rebounded Army 40-25 and limited turnovers. GW's recap has more.

Against the Tribe, GW shot 52% from the floor and had 21 assists with 11 turnovers, and also won the rebounding battle. Up one at halftime, GW pulled away in the second, outscoring the Virginians by 12 in the half. Here's the official recap.

The good guys dropped a little bit in national rankings, to 61 in Kenpom and 55 in Torvik, but still a solid place to be at this point in the out of conference schedule.

GW still has four players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Rafael Castro with 16.1 and Garrett Johnson with 14.9 mostly off the bench, and five more players average from 7-10 points per game.

Photo from GW Today

Throwback: rushing the court after GW's Atlantic 10 tourney championship in 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Here's a fun video -- rushing the court at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ after GW won the A-10 tourney in 2007.

GW was the 3 seed and earned a first round bye, then beat St. Joe's and Saint Louis, then 4 seed Rhode Island who upset 1 seed Xavier (back when Xavier was in the league.) Maureece Rice was named most outstanding player of the tournament. GW was 23-8 that year behind junior Rice, seniors Carl Elliott, Regis Koundjia and Dokun Akingbade and sophomore Rob Diggs. Karl Hobbs was the coach, in his 6th year.

GW, at the time known as the Colonials, went on to get an 11 seed in the NCAA tourney but sadly got smoked by Vanderbilt in the first round, 77-44 in Sacramento. Here's the full team stats for the season. This was the third and final NCAA tourney for Hobbs at GW, who was fired after the 2010-11 season.

Florida ended up winning the championship that year, their second year in a row, beating Greg Oden and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Some consider that Florida team one of the best ever college basketball teams.

The video features foam tricorner hats and the old creepy GW mascot giving some high fives. It also includes Kangy the Kangaroo, a fan favorite from those days -- an inflatable kangaroo who did various hijinx. Here's more about him, before we knew he was called Kangy.

It's not my best camera work, probably recorded on a Flip Video recorder (remember those) or a digital camera, with lots of jostling, but hey, pretty fun.

I was there for I think all the games, it was a really fun run. And we had a blast in Atlantic City, which is kind of a weird, grimy place. I remember we spent a lot of time at Irish Pub. Which is actually the name. Pretty solid bar though. There was a Trump Plaza Casino in AC next to Boardwalk Hall, which later went out of business and was demolished. Who bankrupts a casino? (I wonder what happened to that guy.)

Anyone else make it to Atlantic City that year?

Revolutionaries drop 2 of 3 at Cayman Islands Classic, beating Middle Tennessee, losing to McNeese and Murray State, now 6-2 on the year

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +0000

GW had a hard time against teams that start with M and end in State, beating only Middle Tennessee State and losing tough ones to McNeese State and Murray State over the last three days at the Cayman Islands Classic. The Revs are now 6-2 and 65 in the Kenpom ratings, 55 in Torvik.

Today against Murray State, the Racers shots 53% from the floor and 40% from three and out rebounded the Revs 40-30, beating GW 96-95. Sadly I don't have FloSports so I wasn't able to watch it. Rafael Castro had yet another double-double with 26 and 11 and five other GW players were in double figures.

The middle game against MTSU yesterday, GW won handily 92-79 and kept the Blue Raiders at bay most of the game. Castro led all scorers with 21 and six Revs had at least 8. Here's the GW recap.

In the first game against McNeese State, one of the top defenses statistically, GW had 24 turnovers which was the main determinant, and lost 92-86. Here's GW's article.

McNeese ended up taking the overall championship of the event.

An unfortunate result for a solid tourney against some tough mid-major teams, hopefully GW can learn from their issues and come back stronger. Seems like turnovers is a big one.

On the bright side, the good guys are averaging 92 points a game and shooting 51.7% for the season while holding opponents to 43%. Both Rafael Castro and Garrett Johnson are averaging more than 15 points per game and Tre Dinkins, Christian Jones and Bubu Benjamin are all averaging at least 10. Johnson and Dinkins are both shooting over 45% from three as well. It's a fun, deep team.

GW's next game is Dec. 2 at Army, which will be on ESPN+. The women's team will also be heading to the Caymans for the same tourney in a few days.

New shirt alert! The 2016 NIT championship team

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000

What a team

As you might know, we here at Colonial Hoops make shirts (and sweatshirts, stickers, etc.) A friend reached out that we should make a 2016 NIT Championship shirt to go with some like the 1992-93 lineup, the 2005-06 team and other great teams. And they were totally right, so we did.

The lineup features three future NBA players with F Yuta Watanabe, F Tyler Cavanauth and G/F Patricio Garino all playing in the league. Point guard Joe McDonald was named to the All Tournament team and currently is on the GW coaching staff, and C Kevin Larsen currently plays in the Spanish pro leagues.

You can see that shirt and all our others here at our shop.

GW clobbers UMBC 89-52, improves to 5-0 and 52 in Pomeroy rankings

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:13:00 +0000

Another game, another big win for the Revolutionaries. GW won 89-52 at the Smith Center over the UMBC Retrievers. The team was tough on defense all game, holding UMBC to 17 points in the first half and 33% shooting for the game. GW had a balanced attack with five players in double figures and another four with at least 5 points.

The Revs shot 54% from the floor and a blistering 48% from three (13/27) and also outrebounded the Retrievers 43-29 to go with 18 assists versus 11 turnovers. A big game all around.

Garrett Johnson led all scorers with 16 points in just 20 minutes -- in fact, nobody played more than 23 minutes, with 10 players getting at least 10 minutes. Nice to see that depth, which was also mentioned in the post game press conference. Rafael Castro and Luke Hunger both had double doubles with 13 points and 15 boards plus 2 blocks for Castro and 13 and 10 for Hunger. Also scoring in double figures were Luke Hunger (13), Christian Jones (13) and Bubu Benjamin (11). Jean Aranguren had 6 assists and 5 points. Here's the official recap.

The good guys have climbed to #52 in the Pomeroy rankings (aka KenPom) and 48 in Torvik. This has got to be one of the highest rankings for the team in a while. On GWHoops, "The Dude" noted that GW's KenPom was 226 when Chris Caputo joined the program. There's also a whole lot of green on those Torvik metrics, indicating really good performance (though admittedly I am not too familiar with those analytics.)

It's great to see the Revolutionaries playing well and looking like a fun team. Up next is McNeese State on the 23rd in the Cayman Islands. Anyone going?

Throwback: the GW basketball alumni game from 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 16:44:00 +0000

I've been uploading and posting some GW videos (feel free to subscribe) and the most recent one I came across was this footage I took from the 2017 GW basketball alumni game featuring a lot of big names and fan favorites: Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Shawnta Rogers, Mike Hall, Zeek Armwood, all-time leading scorer at GW Chris Monroe, and a bunch more. Some old timers also participated briefly, and it was a fun scene all around. I hope they do this more frequently!

Anybody else you notice from the clip?

GW improves to 4-0 with big wins over Old Dominion and American

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 01:44:00 +0000

The good guys are doing well so far! The Revolutionaries are 4-0 to start the season with big wins over ODU 96-73 and American, 107-67. So far the team is averaging a 24 point margin of victory.

Per the press conference after the Old Dominion game, this is the first time in school history that the team has begun 4-0 in 3 straight seasons which is exciting. Hopefully this year turns out better than those previous two.

That said, the games have been fun. It seems like there is a deep team and they seem to be having fun playing together. Six GW players are averaging over 10 points per game, which is always a great problem to have. It reminds me of the 2004-2008 teams that had a ton of success with a deep, athletic squad.

Garrett Johnson is back from a mild injury earlier this year and is averaging 15 points a game in his two games so far, which is great to see after his medical issues in previous years. Trey Dinkins has been a revelation and is averaging 14.3 ppg, followed by Rafael Castro at 14 and then Tyrone Marshall, Bubu Benjamin and Christian Jones all above 10 points per game. And there's not a big drop-off either, Trey Autry, Jean Aranguren, and Luke Hunger are all averaging at least 7.5 points. Anybody can contribute any game, it seems like.

The team is shooting pretty well, 51% from the floor and34% from three plus 73% from the free throw line, and is averaging 12 boards more per game than their opponents.

The biggest remaining test for the Revs is Florida on Dec. 13 but there are some other good games coming up -- McNeese State, Middle Tennessee, and Murray State are all up next at the Cayman Islands Classic.

Let's go! Raise High!

GW retiring Yinka Dare's jersey on Dec. 6, former Colonials star and NBA player

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:36:00 +0000

GW great Yinka Dare is getting his #33 jersey retired at the Smith Center on December 6. Dare, who passed away in 2004, was one of the stars of the 1992-93 NCAA Sweet Sixteen squad (mentioned here, when Pres. Clinton came to the game) which was his freshman year. That remains the furthest GW has gotten in the NCAA tournament. They lost to the Fab Five Michigan team, which later vacated that game and many others due to recruiting violations.

Dare was A10 rookie of the year that year. He also led the team to the second round of the NCAA tourney the next year. He averaged 13.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game over his two year career and was beloved in Foggy Bottom.

After his sophomore year, he declared for the NBA draft and was taken 14 overall in the first round by the New Jersey Nets and played four years for the team. He was GW's second ever first round draft pick, after Joe Holup who was a star for GW in the 1950s. Dare's NBA career was less successful with his best season in 1995-96 where he played in 58 games and averaged just under 3 points a game and 3.1 boards per game.

Dare was also posthumously inducted into the GW Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. Dare sadly died of a heart attack at age 32.

Pretty cool of GW to do this!

Throwback: Rushing the court for GW's win at the 2007 Atlantic 10 championship

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Another throwback from YouTube! I went to the games in Atlantic City for the A10 tourney and enjoyed GW's great run. The Colonials won the tourney that year. A fun video and hopefully something we see more of!

Need the 2025-26 GW basketball schedule? We got you

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 02:47:00 +0000

It's basketball season again, finally! Here's the full schedule for both the men and women for the season, for ease of access.

Men's basketball

Date Time At Opponent Location Tournament Result

Oct 18 (Sat) 6 p.m. Home Georgetown Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center) L 64-73 (scrimmage)

Nov 3 (Mon) 8 p.m. Home Maine Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center) W 67-47

Nov 8 (Sat) 1:30 p.m. Neutral South Florida Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun Arena) Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off

Nov 12 (Wed) 7 p.m. Home American Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Nov 15 (Sat) 6 p.m. Home Old Dominion Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Nov 19 (Wed) 7 p.m. Home UMBC Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Nov 23 (Sun) 5 p.m. Neutral McNeese State George Town, Grand Cayman (John Gray Gymnasium) Cayman Islands Classic

Nov 24 (Mon) 5 p.m. Neutral Middle Tennessee George Town, Grand Cayman (John Gray Gymnasium) Cayman Islands Classic

Nov 25 (Tue) 7:30 p.m. Neutral Murray State George Town, Grand Cayman (John Gray Gymnasium) Cayman Islands Classic

Dec 2 (Tue) 11 a.m. Away Army West Point, NY

Dec 6 (Sat) 6 p.m. Home William & Mary Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 10 (Wed) 7 p.m. Home Delaware Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 13 (Sat) 2:30 p.m. Neutral Florida Sunrise, FL (Amerant Bank Arena) Orange Bowl Classic

Dec 22 (Mon) 12 p.m. Home St. Mary's (MD) Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 31 (Wed) 4 p.m. Away Richmond Richmond, VA

Jan 3 (Sat) 2 p.m. Home La Salle Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 6 (Tue) 8 p.m. Away Dayton Dayton, OH

Jan 10 (Sat) 3 p.m. Home Loyola Chicago Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 14 (Wed) 7 p.m. Home Davidson Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 19 (Mon) 5 p.m. Away George Mason Fairfax, VA

Jan 24 (Sat) 3 p.m. Home Richmond Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 27 (Tue) 8 p.m. Away Saint Louis St. Louis, MO

Jan 31 (Sat) 2 p.m. Home Fordham Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 4 (Wed) 7 p.m. Away Saint Joseph's Philadelphia, PA

Feb 7 (Sat) 2 p.m. Away Duquesne Pittsburgh, PA

Feb 10 (Tue) 7 p.m. Home Rhode Island Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 13 (Fri) 7 p.m. Home George Mason Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 17 (Tue) 8 p.m. Away VCU Richmond, VA

Feb 24 (Tue) 6:30 p.m. Away La Salle Philadelphia, PA

Feb 27 (Fri) 7 p.m. Home Dayton Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Mar 4 (Wed) 7 p.m. Home St. Bonaventure Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Mar 7 (Sat) 2 p.m. Away Loyola Chicago Chicago, IL

Mar 11 (Wed) TBD Neutral TBA Pittsburgh, PA (PPG Paints Arena) ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP

Women's basketball

Date Time At Opponent Location Tournament Result

Nov 3 (Mon) 5 p.m. Home District of Columbia Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center) W 86-47

Nov 7 (Fri) 7 p.m. Away Temple Philadelphia, PA

Nov 11 (Tue) 6 p.m. Home Howard Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Nov 17 (Mon) 7 p.m. Away Longwood Farmville, VA

Nov 21 (Fri) 7 p.m. Away Georgetown Washington, DC

Nov 23 (Sun) 2 p.m. Home Morgan State Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Nov 28 (Fri) 1:30 p.m. Neutral Miami George Town, Grand Cayman (John Gray Gymnasium) Cayman Islands Classic

Nov 29 (Sat) 1:30 p.m. Neutral Charlotte George Town, Grand Cayman (John Gray Gymnasium) Cayman Islands Classic

Dec 3 (Wed) 6 p.m. Home Dayton Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 6 (Sat) 1 p.m. Home Brown Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 10 (Wed) 7 p.m. Away Delaware Newark, DE

Dec 14 (Sun) 2 p.m. Home American Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 21 (Sun) 1 p.m. Home Northwestern Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 28 (Sun) 2 p.m. Home Coppin State Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Dec 31 (Wed) 1 p.m. Away St. Bonaventure St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

Jan 3 (Sat) 1 p.m. Away La Salle Philadelphia, PA

Jan 7 (Wed) 11 a.m. Home Rhode Island Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 11 (Sun) 12 p.m. Home George Mason Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 14 (Wed) 6 p.m. Away Duquesne Pittsburgh, PA

Jan 17 (Sat) 2 p.m. Home Loyola Chicago Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 21 (Wed) 6 p.m. Away VCU Richmond, VA

Jan 25 (Sun) 2 p.m. Home Fordham Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Jan 28 (Wed) 6 p.m. Home Saint Louis Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 1 (Sun) 2 p.m. Away Dayton Dayton, OH

Feb 7 (Sat) 1 p.m. Away Davidson Davidson, NC

Feb 11 (Wed) 11 a.m. Away Saint Joseph's Philadelphia, PA

Feb 14 (Sat) 2 p.m. Home La Salle Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 18 (Wed) 6 p.m. Home Richmond Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 21 (Sat) 3:00 p.m. Away George Mason Fairfax, VA

Feb 25 (Wed) 6 p.m. Home St. Bonaventure Washington, DC (Charles E. Smith Center)

Feb 28 (Sat) 2:30 p.m. Away Rhode Island Kingston, RI

Mar 4 (Wed) TBA Neutral TBA Henrico, VA (Henrico Sports & Events Center) Atlantic 10 Basketball Championship

Cool throwback: Bill Clinton attends GW's upset of #1 UMass in 1995

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 15:00:00 +0000

This is awesome: a clip (narrated by longtime GW broadcaster Byron Kerr I believe) is a nice recap of GW's huge upset over John Calipari's #1 UMass team in front of Bill and Chelsea Clinton.

UMass was a powerhouse in those days, and GW was solid too under head coach Mike Jarvis. Jarvis led the team to four NCAA tourneys, including a Sweet 16 in 1993. They lost to the Fab Five Michigan team, who later vacated all those wins due to various NCAA violations.

Season begins today, Nov 3! Women at 5pm, men at 8pm at the Smith Center

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 21:19:00 +0000

It's basketball time again in Foggy Bottom! The season starts today! The GW women face UDC at 5pm and the men face Maine at 8pm, both at the Smith Center.

The men's team has been getting some buzz, such as the Eye on College Basketball podcast saying they could win the A-10, and the Revolutionaries appearing in various mid-major top 25 polls. They also supposedly played tough against Georgetown in a scrimmage a few weeks ago. We'll see how it goes!

Here are the official previews:

Women's preview: Women’s Basketball Opens 2025-26 Season vs. UDC

Men's preview: Men's Basketball Tips Off Season Monday vs. Maine

The Hatchet's annual preview is up too.

Throwback: fan hits half court shot at GW-Charlotte game, 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 02:25:00 +0000

I was looking through old videos I uploaded and found a fun one - a fan hits a half court shot at the GW-Charlotte game on March 4, 2006.

The fan has two tries and missed the first but drills the second, and celebrates by tearing his shirt off and running around.

It was a great game too, the last game of the season and the famous buzzer beater that gave GW an 86-85 victory, which meant the good guys finished 16-0 in the Atlantic 10 and got an NCAA bid. The Colonials (at the time) fell in the A10 tourney so this win definitely helped.

In the tourney, the Colonials (at that time) beat UNC-Wilmington before losing to Duke in Greensboro. They got a rough seed, despite being 26-2 and #6 in the AP poll, partially because star forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu was injured. And in my opinion, GW got hosed by the refs. I understood all the hate about Duke by witnessing it in the person. Credit to Coach K for working the refs. But it was a great season and fun run.

Check out the relaunched GW NIL, Friends of George, and help support student-athletes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 22:47:00 +0000

NIL collectives, or name-image-likeness collectives, are important these days, as college student-athletes can finally make some money. GW launched Friends of George a few years ago, and after some changes to the law and how NILs work, they've just recently relaunched it, with new leadership, a new website and new logo.

NIL collectives are huge for recruiting, and also just help support student-athletes in general, who always have a busy schedule. There's a great video from new GW athletic director Michael Lipitz on the Friends of George site as well.

There are a few ways to participate and help out: donate to the NIL collective, or work directly with athletes -- maybe you run a business, it's a great way to help student-athletes directly and set up your own NIL deal with them.

The first option is probably best for most GW supporters, but the second is good for businesses. Check it out and help out. You can donate monthly (the best bet) or as a one-off. I just started a monthly one myself.

You can sign up for email updates here as well.

Good, informative GW season recap video from GW Radio and Bleav In DMV Hoops podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 19:04:00 +0000

The hoops season is (sadly) over -- but that doesn't mean we stop talking about it. Recently the Bleav In DMV Hoops podcast did a season recap video/podcast on GW's year with host Matt Modderno and GW hoops experts Liam O'Murchu and David Korn who work for GW Radio. Pretty good stuff, worth a watch.

If you want more GW basketball news and discussion, check out GWHoops, the message board

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 23:05:00 +0000

Revs fans! (And Colonials fans too!) If you're reading this, you probably like GW basketball. As you have noticed this blog is less active than it used to be, though I try to post regularly.

However, a great source for GW basketball news, discussion, comment, etc is GWHoops, the message board. It's free to join and a great place to read or talk about games, analysis, recruiting, future matchups, and so on, to see analysis and offer your own, and just generally participate in the GW basketball community. I've also legitimately made friends from the board, met up with some folks for games or to watch on TV, and so on.

Folks talk about both men's and women's hoops there too.

Check it out!

https://gwhoops.boardhost.com/index.php

GW is selling customizable jerseys! Here are some ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:29:00 +0000

Good news! GW and a company called Kampus Klothes are selling customizable GW basketball jerseys. I'm glad, it's been several years since you could buy a jersey. The deadline to buy them is December 21st, so move quickly!

The jerseys are customizable, so you can put your name or some other name on there, but there is a caveat: you can't use any current or former players' names, due to licensing and such.

I tried just "Yuta" with number 12, to see if maybe just a first name was OK, but they refunded my order.

So here are a few other ideas from us at Colonial Hoops.

George, #21 or #76

A classic, with 1821 for GW's founding or 1776

Revolutionary or Revs, #76
Other famous revolutionaries with related years, like when they started their struggle, or won in some cases

Guevara #53 or #59, Zapata, Castro, Lumumba, Robespierre #93, L'Ouverture #91, etc.

GW dorms, like New Hall, Ivory Tower, Thurston with numbers like the streets

New Hall #23, Thurston #19, etc.

Smith, #22 or #23

For our beloved Smith Center and the streets it's on

Whale Killer, #21

After Pops Mensah-Bonsu (I am guessing nicknames are OK)

Auerbach, #40 or #2

Red Auerbach, GW alum and Hall of Fame coach. He graduated from GW in 1940 and had the number 2 jersey retired by the Celtics (in honor of him being the 2nd most important coach after the team's founder)

Lindys, #00 (or any number)

The great former campus bar, Lindy's Red Lion at 20th and I

Those are just a few ideas. What do you have in mind?

Check out the Colonials Hoops shop. Do you like shirts? Sweatshirts? Hoodies? Aprons? We got you

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 22:27:00 +0000

Do you like shirts? Sweatshirts? Hoodies? Aprons? We got you! Since there is a bit of time before the next game, I decided to reorganize the Colonial Hoops shop a lot with some older favorite designs and some newer ones. Check them out! Lots of colors available too.

Colonials on YouTube: 2004-2005 A-10 champs season highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:30:00 +0000

Next up in some great YouTube finds is the 2004-2005 season highlights, the year GW won their first Atlantic 10 tournament championship. The team featured a lot of greats like Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall, T.J. Thompson, Carl Elliott, Danilo Pinnock, Omar Williams, T.J. Thompson and a young Maureece Rice. A fun video of a great run that ended in a defeat in the NCAA tournament in Nashville to Georgia Tech. (I was there!)

Some great GW highlight videos on YouTube: 1993 Sweet 16 run

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Sun, 17 Sep 2023 08:01:00 +0000

If you're like me you're looking forward to college basketball. I was browsing YouTube for GW highlights and found some good ones called Colonials Top Moments by the usefully named GWFanVideos. Here's a fun, quick one about the 1993 team where the Colonials made a run to the Sweet 16 by upsetting Missouri in the first round, beating fellow first round upset Southern U., and losing to Michigan and the Fab Five.

Let's go Revs! GW drops Colonials in favor of Revolutionaries nickname

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Fri, 26 May 2023 22:31:00 +0000

Hopefully, at long last, the "moniker" saga is over: GW has decided on a nickname and it's Revolutionaries, or Revs for short.

The school narrowed down the options replace Colonials to four: Blue Fog, Ambassadors, Sentinels, and Revolutionaries. In my opinion, Revolutionaries is the best of the bunch. I also saw tons of people on Twitter and elsewhere who were super unhappy with Blue Fog, it seemed to be a very polarizing name. I've seen some dislike for Revolutionaries, but it seems like a lot less than the other options, and in general, the response has been positive.

Sentinels is kind of a weird one as it's a low ranking position compared to George Washington, who was the commander in chief. Ambassadors is a little bit more on the nose, but still not exactly what George was, though the school does have a lot of connections to foreign policy. Personally, I liked just Fog without the Blue, but that wasn't an option.

Of course, there's the broader issue if GW should have changed the name in the first place and drop Colonials, but that's kind of already decided, a fait accompli.

I do like the name -- it's distinctive and also talks about what GW wants to be: a place where you can make a big difference, have revolutionary ideas and things like that.

And now GW has the funny distinction of being the most syllables of any Division 1 team name. Suck it, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers! We're number one, baby!

I wonder if GW is going to sell the old gear like jerseys and signs and things like that. I would definitely buy some.

And in case anyone is wondering, I'm going to keep the blog name as Colonial Hoops. It's a throwback now!

GW accepting suggestions for new mascot, releases principles for the the "moniker", no Hippos

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 04:38:00 +0000

The university sent out a press release today about the search for the replacement for the Colonials mascot, or as GW loves to call it, the "moniker." We wrote about this before (and added some name ideas) and, and this press release include some news: GW won't consider Hippos or any variations of that.

The release also talked about the guiding principles for what the name should be:

Shaping the Future: This will honor GW’s long history developing students into leaders, doers and thinkers.
Free to Be Bold: This will symbolize the university’s trailblazing spirit.
At the Center of Power: This will reflect the energy and drive that brings the GW community to Washington, D.C., to be changemakers on the world stage.

You know, a bit corny, but not too bad.

GW is also accepting suggestions for the name until January 31.

Personally I think it's good news they aren't considering Hippos or related variations, I didn't like it and I heard from a lot of alumni who didn't either. GW did included an interesting bit about the name:

In releasing the guiding principles, the university also shared that “Hippos,” or variations of it, will not be considered in the moniker selection process. As a moniker, it would not align with the guiding principles and received negative feedback during engagement events from various members of the community, including student-athletes who are closely identified with the moniker in competition. The hippo and statue on campus will remain an important part of the university’s traditions.

Makes sense! I can see how athletes wouldn't want to be call the Hippos.

I did see mixed reactions online and a fair amount of people were disappointed they wouldn't pick Hippos. Ryan Puleo also made an interesting point about that on Twitter:

90% of people who wanted the mascot to be "hippo" have never been to a GW sports game

Probably fair.

I was OK with River Horses, which sounds kind of cool. However, I prefer something like Revolutionaries.

Related, I made a "moniker" farewell tour shirt, like a band tour shirt. Enjoy.

Check out Friends of George, new NIL collective for GW athletes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew W) — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 05:35:00 +0000

This is pretty cool -- a group of GW alumni and donors have set up Friends of George, a name, image and likeness (NIL) collective. The idea, from their site:

Every student-athlete that has ever donned a George Washington University uniform understands that they carry with them the great tradition of generations of those that have come before them. Friends of George was formed to help empower those student-athletes to maximize all the endeavors they undertake while in Washington, DC, both on-and-off the field. The alumni and fans that support George Washington student-athletes believe that each is destined to do amazing things, and are committed to working tirelessly to ensure that every current and future Colonials. has the opportunity to leverage the power of their name, image and likeness to build a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

I like it. I think it's too early to see what they've done, but the board members are all GW alums and longtime donors with a lot of business experience, so it looks like a good group. The FAQs say 80-90% of money raised will go to the student athletes.

You can "subscribe" (donate) on the site monthly and get some merch in return, like shirts, meet and greets, autographed memorabilia and other cool stuff.

Nice to see GW fans getting into the game with this, it's a big deal for the future of college basketball.