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LOCATION: Washington, DC
CONFERENCE: Atlantic-10 (West Division)
LAST SEASON: 20-9 (.690)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 13-3 (1st)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 2/3
NICKNAME: Colonials
COLORS: Buff & Blue
HOMECOURT: Charles E. Smith Center (5,000)
COACH: Tom Penders (Connecticut '67)
record at school 20-9 (1 year)
career record 498-328 (28 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Rob Wright (Paul Quinn '83)
Bonzie Colson (Rhode Island '89)
Tommy Penders (Texas '95)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 18-21-15-24-9
RPI (last 5 years) 78-53-86-38-42
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in NCAA first round.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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They don't normally call basketball a game of inches. It can be, however, when your most indispensable player is only 64 inches tall. In 1998-99, George Washington rode the shoulders of 5-4 do-everything Shawnta Rogers to an NCAA bid under new coach Tom Penders. Most thought Rogers would have a big year under the run-and-gun Penders, but few thought he would become the best "little man" in college basketball. Rogers, with a stat line that read 20.7 ppg, 4.0 apg, 6.7 apg and 3.6 spg, was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. He combined with 6-9 forward Yegor Mescheriakov (17.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg) to provide as good a one-two offensive punch as there was in the country. Both are gone, leaving Penders just one double-figure scorer on the roster. 6-4 junior wing Mike King (15.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg) is a good player, maybe very good, but the Colonials are in no way a 20-win team again without their big guns from a year ago. Whether they spend this season rebuilding or reloading is a question that only a year's worth of games can answer. Rogers was that good as a senior. Yet Penders, whose second victory this season will be the 500th of his career, did not reach that plateau by conceding an entire year before it starts. "It's Mike's turn to step up and be a leader," Penders said. "He doesn't have to carry the team, but he's going to have to show the younger players the consistency it takes to be a winner. Mike has been there."
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT B+ BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT C+ INTANGIBLES B-
Lost in the shuffle of The Shawnta Rogers Show is that George Washington was the league's second-worst defensive team (.453 field-goal percentage against) in 1998-99. The Colonials got away with it because they had so many scorers. Occasionally, even that wasn't enough. Against the best of the A-10, GW typically struggled. They were ripped at Xavier (81-61), Temple (72-56) and by Rhode Island (94-78) in the conference tournament. Then Indiana ended their season with a 108-88 pasting in the NCAA Tournament. What we think is that, unless Monroe and Brown replace the points of Rogers and Mescheriakov as true freshmen, George Washington will be rebuilding, not reloading, as the next century arrives. GW may make the NIT, but even a winning season is no guarantee. |
Actually not. The sculpted swingman played in only 17 games as a freshman due to eligibility and injury problems. As a sophomore, he shot only 23.8 percent from three-point range as GW's third offensive option. Then again, Penders' history at Texas was always to turn at least one player per year into a dominant scorer. King will have to be that guy if the Colonials are to win. Replacing Rogers at point guard is diminutive junior college transfer Bernard Barrow. The 5-8 Barrow is compared to his predecessor in stature, but his 8.7 ppg at Kilgore (Tex.) CC do not suggest he will score anywhere near Rogers' level. Barrow, who prepped at St. Raymond's HS in the Bronx, N.Y., did lead his league with 8.9 apg. According to A-10 recruiting analyst Jeffrey Bartash, Barrow "is not going to beat you with his scoring. [But] he knows how to run a team, get the ball to players in the right spot and lead the charge defensively. His presence should make the loss of Rogers less stinging." Two more newcomers, 6-3 freshman Chris Monroe and 6-1 freshman SirValiant Brown, will also compete for starting jobs. A so-called power guard who could almost play forward, Monroe posted 23.6 ppg and 10.4 rpg at Good Counsel HS in Hyattsville, Md. Brown yes, that is his real first name is not a true point, but a scorer who slashed his way to 28.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg at Robert E. Lee HS in Springfield, Va. Both will play as rookies. At least one will likely start in a three-guard lineup also featuring King and Barrow. Even more important is what Monroe and Brown represent; namely, a very successful foray by Penders and his staff into the local recruiting market. It is no secret that Penders' predecessor, Mike Jarvis, frequently made his mark with foreign talent. "GW is located in one of the best recruiting areas in the country," Penders said. "The high school coaching and level of competition that players receive in the greater Washington and Baltimore area is second to none. It only makes sense to concentrate on this very fertile area." Maybe next year, Penders can be equally successful at signing local frontcourt players. In the meantime, he will have to make due with holdovers. A pair of 6-8 juniors, Pat Ngongba (7.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Antxon Iturbe (3.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg), have extensive starting experience, but neither is a primary offensive threat and neither can score outside the lane like Mescheriakov. Other frontcourt players with starting experience include 6-9 senior Francisco de Miranda (4.9 ppg, 34.5 rpg, eight starts) and 7-0 sophomore Albert Roma (1.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 11 starts). de Miranda was GW's most improved player as a junior and was also the second-best shooter (.529) on the team. Roma still has a ways to go to become GW's "center of the future," as he has been labeled. Roma did miss one game in 1998-99 with an injury that may never have occurred before in college basketball. He cut his head on a classroom light fixture and sat out a February date vs. St. Joseph's. The long list of returnees also includes 6-3 sophomore Dorien Brown (2.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg), who may make Penders' long rotation. 6-8 junior Valery Khamenia (2.1 ppg, 0.6 rpg) joins 6-8 soph Jason Smith (1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg), 6-6 senior Sam Anyan (three appearances), 6-3 senior Daniel Soares (six appearances) and 6-2 senior Mark Lund (six appearances) among the deep reserves.
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