The 2005-06 men’s basketball team was one of the best in recent GW history. A 27-3 overall record, perfect 16-0 conference record, 15-0 home record and a NCAA Tournament win, the program’s last, all secured its spot in the school’s history books.
Then two of the team’s top three scorers left the Colonials the following year.
Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock – a dominant 6-foot-5 shooting guard who led the team with 14.5 points per game – was selected 58th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA draft. Pops Mensah-Bonsu – a towering 6-foot-9 forward who led the team with 38 blocks, shared the second top-scoring spot with 12.6 points per game and was the team’s second-best rebounder averaging 6.7 rebounds per game – graduated in 2006.
Sound familiar? Last season, shooting guard Maurice Creek led the Colonials with 14.1 points per game while forward Isaiah Armwood averaged 12.7 points, tied for second most on the team with then-sophomore Kethan Savage, along with a team-high 8.4 rebounds per game and a team-high 1.55 blocks per game.
The parallels are eerily similar. Although the 2013-14 campaign was not as overwhelmingly successful as the 2005-06 season, the Colonials’ 24-9 record was good enough to get them their first NCAA bid in seven years, while a 14-1 home record, the second-best in GW history, helped resuscitate hoops in Foggy Bottom.
Now that Creek and Armwood are gone, will this year’s team be able to compete at the same level without two of their top scorers? If history repeats itself, the answer is yes.
The season following Pinnock and Mensah-Bosu’s departures, the team was left with a number of solid returners, most notably junior Maureece Rice and senior Carl Elliott.
Rice was a talented guard who, just a few years prior, surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia high school career scoring record. He led the 2006-07 team with a staggering 15.8 points per game and 505 total points scored on the season.
It’s hard not to draw comparisons between Rice and Savage. Following a break-out sophomore season cut short by injury, the junior is expected to be even better this year, with outlets like Sports Illustrated projecting him to finish 72nd in scoring in the nation.
Two other members of the junior “core four” returning this year, forward Patricio Garino and point guard Joe McDonald, are poised to have Elliott-esque seasons. A dynamic point guard, Elliott averaged 12.9 points and dominated the 2006-07 team with 154 total assists.
Even comparing junior Kevin Larsen with then-sophomore Rob Diggs or senior John Kopriva with then-senior Regis Koundjia isn’t far fetched. That team also had a total of six freshmen on their roster, compared to this year’s five, making the parallels between the two teams almost undeniable.
So how far did that team fare seven years ago? They finished with an overall record of 23-9, won the A-10 Championship and received an NCAA Tournament bid at a No. 11 seed.
If GW were to win the A-10 Championship this season, it would be the first time since, you guessed it, that 2006-07 team.
For the superstitious, this bodes well for the upcoming season, which will see a team in such a similar situation. But one could argue this team may have even more advantages.
The chemistry and experience of the four starting juniors will bring an invaluable edge to this year’s team. The Colonials also have a more talented freshmen class that will likely contribute in a bigger way, in addition to the leadership of head coach Mike Lonergan.
But of course, the past is the past. With all comparisons aside, only time will tell if this group can make some history of its own.
