California, here they come.
Fresh off of an Atlantic 10 tournament championship, GW’s men’s basketball team drew an 11 seed and a match-up with sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The game will be played Thursday in Sacramento at 5.15 p.m. EST.
At a gathering at Smith Center to watch the seeding announcements, players and coaches seemed to be pleased to draw the Commodores, who went 20-11 in the regular season, good enough for third in the Southeastern Conference.
While analysts like ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb called Vanderbilt, who lost five of its last 10 games, “over-seeded,” GW head coach Karl Hobbs said his team’s opponent is “a very good shooting team” and “an excellent passing team.”
“When you get in the tournament, you’re obviously going to be playing against a very good basketball team,” Hobbs said. “I think they’re a very good basketball team.”
GW will have an edge if it can use its trapping defense to force Vanderbilt to play the Colonials’ preferred style: up tempo, Hobbs said.
“The one area where we have an advantage is our speed,” he said. “We really think that our speed will be the difference in the game, as well as our rebounding.”
The seeding came as a surprise to many, who thought that the Colonials’ relatively weak strength of schedule would result in a 13 seed. Potential match-ups with Maryland, Duke and Texas drew reactions from the crowd watching on the Smith Center’s screen, with fans seeming to want to play the first two, but not the latter. Texas has the likely national Player of the Year in freshman Kevin Durant, who is from the Washington area and is friends with GW forward Rob Diggs.
This will be the fourth game GW has played in California this year, with the team going 1-2 in its first three contests. Hobbs said that he wants to leave for Sacramento as soon as possible so his team can adjust to the time difference and its surroundings.
“I like the fact that we’re going out west,” Hobbs said. “That way.we can stay focused and I think that’s good for us.”
Senior captain Carl Elliott echoed Hobbs’ sentiments, pointing to the team’s recent run through the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City.
“I think we play our best basketball when we’re away and we’re together,” Elliott said. “It gives us a chance to bond as a team.”
If GW advances past Vanderbilt, it will play the winner of third-ranked Washington State and 14th-ranked Oral Roberts. Winning that game would place the Colonials in the Sweet 16, where a potential match-up with second-ranked rival Georgetown awaits in East Rutherford, N.J.
Hobbs is not looking that far ahead yet. Despite the favorable seed, he is quick to mention his team’s underdog status, an approach that worked for Hobbs and his team in Atlantic City.
“The nice part about GW is we’re never the favorite,” Hobbs said.
