At No. 12 in the nation, George Washington's men's basketball team boasts its highest ranking since 1956. At 8-0, the Colonials are off to their best start since 1953-54.
"When you look at George Washington, don't you think we're overachieving a little bit?" Colonials coach Karl Hobbs asked as he team bused from Washington, D.C., to Raleigh on Wednesday.
Tonight's game at No. 19 N.C. State should tell.
While the Wolfpack (10-1) has thickened its skin with a four-point win at Alabama, a 13-point victory against Notre Dame and a three-point loss at then-No. 14 Iowa, GW has played, and topped, only one tough opponent so far -- then-No. 21 Maryland.
Seven double-digit victories against the likes of Kennesaw State and Maryland-Eastern Shore had the Colonials rated only 332 out of 334 teams in Jeff Sagarin's strength-of-schedule rankings through Wednesday, compared to the Wolfpack at 307.
But while State sees this game as an opportunity to raise that ranking, which could favorably influence NCAA seeding come March, Hobbs said he has learned from past experience not to think that far ahead.
"Last year, we beat Maryland and Michigan State, and we were 21-7 going into the conference tournament final -- and word was we were still a bubble team,'' said Hobbs, who returned four starters from last year's team. "... What we do this early in the year just doesn't matter as much as what we're doing late in the year.
"That's what we're preparing for."
Like a true overachiever, GW has done so well so far because of day-in-and-day-out effort, Hobbs said, although junior Danilo Pinnock's 15.8 points per game, junior Carl Elliott's defense and senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu's 7.8 rebounds per game surely have helped.
"They spread the floor, they have really good guards, they get to the basket," N.C. State sophomore Gavin Grant said. "We just have to concentrate on our on-the-ball defense. I'm looking forward to this game. It's kind of like a New York City game."
When the energetic, foot-stomping Hobbs took over the George Washington program in 2001, he said he planned to build the team on character. At a smaller school like Washington, D.C.-based GW, he knew he couldn't successfully recruit instant stars like Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen and Khalid El-Amin immediately, as he did as an assistant coach at Connecticut. But he said he figured he could bring in talent that had the ability and the willingness to get better.
"And if you look at the stats, all of our guys have improved every year," he said.
So has GW's record.
After two 12-win seasons, the Colonials advanced to the NIT in 2004, then earned the program's first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last season. According to the school's media guide, home attendance has increased 40 percent over the past three years. Television appearances have gone up, as well.
"They were an NCAA Tournament team a year ago, and I think they return just about everybody from that team," said N.C. State coach Herb Sendek, who added he's not surprised that the Colonials are ranked so high, so early. "I think most everybody thought George Washington was a preseason top-10 team in the country."
Overachievers? Bah.
Perhaps tonight will tell.
"There's been a lot of excitement, a lot of intrigue, I guess you could say [around campus]," Hobbs said. "People are just generally pleased with our success."
TONIGHT WHO: George Washington at N.C. State
WHEN: 7 p.m. today
WHERE: RBC Center, Raleigh
TV: FSN
NO. 12 GW AT NO. 19 N.C. STATE 7 TONIGHT; RBC CENTER TV: FSN; RADIO: WPTF-680
CHALK TALK
George Washington (8-0) has had 12 days off since its last game. N.C. State (10-1) got only a one-day break after moving this game up a day because of the football team's bowl game on Saturday. "Ideally, I'd like to have some more time,'' Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. "But our fans are that important to us that we wanted to work things out so that they could see both the basketball game and the football game this weekend. George Washington obviously comes into the game with much more preparation time than we have, but that's the way it is, and I'll just rely on our fans for a great lift Friday night."
GW'S PROBABLE STARTERS
No.; Name;Ht.;Yr.;Pos.
1 Omar Williams6-9sr.F
8.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
3 Mike Hall6-8sr.F
14.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg
21 P. Mensah-Bonsu6-9sr.F
12 ppg, 7.8 rpg
2 Danilo Pinnock6-5jr.G
15.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg
25 Carl Elliott6-4jr.G
10.4 ppg, 4.3 apg
NCSU'S PROBABLE STARTERS
No. NameHt.Yr.Pos.
13 C. Bennerman6-4sr.F
10.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg
3 Ilian Evtimov6-8sr.F
12.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg
33 Cedric Simmons6-9so.C
11.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg
14 Engin Atsur6-4jr.G
11.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg
22 Tony Bethel6-1sr.G
7.1 ppg, 2.6 apg
NEXT GAMES
GW: Wednesday at Temple
NCSU: Tuesday vs. UNC-Greensboro
"When you look at George Washington, don't you think we're overachieving a little bit?" Colonials coach Karl Hobbs asked as he team bused from Washington, D.C., to Raleigh on Wednesday.
Tonight's game at No. 19 N.C. State should tell.
While the Wolfpack (10-1) has thickened its skin with a four-point win at Alabama, a 13-point victory against Notre Dame and a three-point loss at then-No. 14 Iowa, GW has played, and topped, only one tough opponent so far -- then-No. 21 Maryland.
Seven double-digit victories against the likes of Kennesaw State and Maryland-Eastern Shore had the Colonials rated only 332 out of 334 teams in Jeff Sagarin's strength-of-schedule rankings through Wednesday, compared to the Wolfpack at 307.
But while State sees this game as an opportunity to raise that ranking, which could favorably influence NCAA seeding come March, Hobbs said he has learned from past experience not to think that far ahead.
"Last year, we beat Maryland and Michigan State, and we were 21-7 going into the conference tournament final -- and word was we were still a bubble team,'' said Hobbs, who returned four starters from last year's team. "... What we do this early in the year just doesn't matter as much as what we're doing late in the year.
"That's what we're preparing for."
Like a true overachiever, GW has done so well so far because of day-in-and-day-out effort, Hobbs said, although junior Danilo Pinnock's 15.8 points per game, junior Carl Elliott's defense and senior Pops Mensah-Bonsu's 7.8 rebounds per game surely have helped.
"They spread the floor, they have really good guards, they get to the basket," N.C. State sophomore Gavin Grant said. "We just have to concentrate on our on-the-ball defense. I'm looking forward to this game. It's kind of like a New York City game."
When the energetic, foot-stomping Hobbs took over the George Washington program in 2001, he said he planned to build the team on character. At a smaller school like Washington, D.C.-based GW, he knew he couldn't successfully recruit instant stars like Richard Hamilton, Ray Allen and Khalid El-Amin immediately, as he did as an assistant coach at Connecticut. But he said he figured he could bring in talent that had the ability and the willingness to get better.
"And if you look at the stats, all of our guys have improved every year," he said.
So has GW's record.
After two 12-win seasons, the Colonials advanced to the NIT in 2004, then earned the program's first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last season. According to the school's media guide, home attendance has increased 40 percent over the past three years. Television appearances have gone up, as well.
"They were an NCAA Tournament team a year ago, and I think they return just about everybody from that team," said N.C. State coach Herb Sendek, who added he's not surprised that the Colonials are ranked so high, so early. "I think most everybody thought George Washington was a preseason top-10 team in the country."
Overachievers? Bah.
Perhaps tonight will tell.
"There's been a lot of excitement, a lot of intrigue, I guess you could say [around campus]," Hobbs said. "People are just generally pleased with our success."
TONIGHT WHO: George Washington at N.C. State
WHEN: 7 p.m. today
WHERE: RBC Center, Raleigh
TV: FSN
NO. 12 GW AT NO. 19 N.C. STATE 7 TONIGHT; RBC CENTER TV: FSN; RADIO: WPTF-680
CHALK TALK
George Washington (8-0) has had 12 days off since its last game. N.C. State (10-1) got only a one-day break after moving this game up a day because of the football team's bowl game on Saturday. "Ideally, I'd like to have some more time,'' Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. "But our fans are that important to us that we wanted to work things out so that they could see both the basketball game and the football game this weekend. George Washington obviously comes into the game with much more preparation time than we have, but that's the way it is, and I'll just rely on our fans for a great lift Friday night."
GW'S PROBABLE STARTERS
No.; Name;Ht.;Yr.;Pos.
1 Omar Williams6-9sr.F
8.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg
3 Mike Hall6-8sr.F
14.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg
21 P. Mensah-Bonsu6-9sr.F
12 ppg, 7.8 rpg
2 Danilo Pinnock6-5jr.G
15.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg
25 Carl Elliott6-4jr.G
10.4 ppg, 4.3 apg
NCSU'S PROBABLE STARTERS
No. NameHt.Yr.Pos.
13 C. Bennerman6-4sr.F
10.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg
3 Ilian Evtimov6-8sr.F
12.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg
33 Cedric Simmons6-9so.C
11.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg
14 Engin Atsur6-4jr.G
11.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg
22 Tony Bethel6-1sr.G
7.1 ppg, 2.6 apg
NEXT GAMES
GW: Wednesday at Temple
NCSU: Tuesday vs. UNC-Greensboro
