Have you heard about GW Basketball???

GW and the DC Metropolitan area are often known for their incredible college basketball environment. In this area, we have the Big East powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas, the NCAA qualifying George Mason Patriots down the road in Fairfax, along with the American University Eagles and a little ways away, the Final Four Men's Virginia Commonwealth Rams. But enough talk about our foes! The George Washington Men's Basketball team finished the 2010-2011 season on the cusp of an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament appearance (with a 5th place finish), but lost in an upset qualifying tournament game to St. Josephs, finishing with an overall 17-14 record. In addition, the GW Women's Basketball team had a rebuilding season, advancing to the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament in Lowell, MA where there season ended with a loss to Dayton.

But this year is a whole new season!!!!!

The GW Men's Basketball team has a new face. The new head coach of GW's mens team, Mike Lonergan,  is the former head coach at the neighboring college of the Catholic University of America before serving in his most recent post as the head coach and catalyst of an emerging strong basketball program in Bennington, VT with the American East Conference's University of Vermont Catamounts. The GW men's team will face a tough schedule this year, traveling to Syracuse (#5), UC Berkeley (#18), Harvard, and Kansas State, along with taking on strong conference opponents like Richmond, Xavier (#15), Temple and Duquesne. On top of it all, the men will be taking on the VCU Rams in the 17th Annual BB&T Classic hosted at the Verizon Center here in DC's Chinatown. GW's Tony Taylor was selected to the A-10 Pre-Season first team and will be a great leader for a tough season ahead. It should definitely be an exciting season so look for GW on the headlines and on ESPN and such.


The GW Women's Basketball team will have a schedule that keeps them closer to home, so that just means that much more action for us to see here at the Charles E. Smith Center. The Women will play local foes like Georgetown, UDC, American, George Mason, William & Mary, but also take on foes from larger conferences like the Auburn Tigers, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Virginia Tech Hokies. Mike Bozeman will lead these ladies to what is sure to be a fantastic season here in his 4th with GW and I am so pleases that I will get to see more of the games now that ALL of the band will be at ALL of the Women's games :)

If you are coming up for a tour, make sure you buy some tickets so you can go catch some of the action and feel what the sports environment is like here at GW. Come root alongside the Colonial Army (the student fan section that fills up a side close to the floor level) or watch from home and cheer, root on, and raise high your Buff and Blue!!!

I will continue to update you on the basketball season as I a.) love college basketball and b.) am a part of the band (Colonial Brass) and at every game. Feel free to ask me any questions and best of luck to those of you applying Early Decision about now and for those of you working on your applications. Keep up the good work and reach out if I can help you in any way!

Peace, Love and Hippos

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu